The Promise of God to a promise-breaking people

Father, we're going to look at your word. We've just sung that the Bible tells us you love us.

Father, open our eyes, open the eyes of our heart to your great love for us in the person of your Son

and his death upon the cross. This we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

David, I've told, some of you have heard this before, but I actually am very, very thankful for an atheist philosophy professor

by the name of Marvin Glass, who was the one who encouraged me to read the Bible.

Actually, if he was here, he would probably not think that was what, he would actually be maybe unhappy that that was what he caused.

But he was spectacular at virtually every class, bringing up absurd parts of the Bible to make fun of it

or to show how it was wrong. He was very good at it.

And I had to confess, I had been a Christian for a couple of years, and I have to confess

that every time he would tell this story, I would, in my mind, say, I bet he's got this wrong.

He's not telling it right. And then I'd go and look it up, and he had it right.

And I realized that I didn't know the Bible, and it was always like a challenge to my faith.

So I sort of resolved, as a result of Marvin Glass, who ran for the Communist Party of Canada

in about eight by-elections and elections here in Ottawa, ten elections.

He was a good, hardcore Stalinist atheist, and he helped me to want to read the Bible.

And it was him who sort of pushed me to finally read all of the Old Testament,

because I have to confess that when I read the Old Testament, I actually confess right now,

if some of you, many of you, that if you're a person here who's just maybe here just as seeking,

it might surprise you to know that when you read books like The Year of Living Biblically

or something like that that makes fun of the Bible,

the fact of the matter is that most Christians have never read the whole Old Testament.

So there's no chance in the world they're going to try to live that way,

because they haven't made it all the way through from Genesis to the end of Malachi,

because, frankly, the Old Testament is often unbelievably weird and regularly incomprehensible.

And so when I read the Old Testament, which I try to do every day,

I try to read quite a few chapters of the Old Testament every day,

I just read it out of obedience.

I often don't get very much out of it.

Where if I do, it's taken a long time to start to get out of it.

Today, the text that we're looking at in Galatians,

it actually assumes that you know a really classically weird story in the Old Testament.

And so we're going to look at it.

And actually, after you hear about this classically weird story in the Old Testament,

maybe it'll encourage you to, once again, try to read the Old Testament

to understand that it might look weird on the surface,

but actually, it's quite spectacularly exciting once you pierce through it.

So if you get your Bibles, it's Galatians chapter 3, which is in the New Testament,

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

not the Old Testament, but we're going through the book of Galatians.

Galatians chapter 3, verse 15.

Galatians 3:15

And Paul assumes that we know sort of a background story as he tells this.

And as you're turning to this, Galatians chapter 3, 15.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

Galatians, I mean, we don't know for sure,

but many scholars think that Galatians was the first part of what we now call the New Testament,

the first part of the New Testament that was written.

It was maybe written about 15 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

It was written to a congregation of pagans, mainly pagans, although some Jews,

but mainly pagans who had become Christians.

They live in the part of the Roman Empire that we now call southern Turkey,

mid-sort of central southern Turkey.

And the problem which has caused the letter to be written

is that they have accepted the gospel, which I'll talk about a bit more in a moment,

but they have a group of people telling them they have to be way more religious and spiritual

and that the gospel isn't enough.

They have to be more religious, more spiritual,

or they're not going to really get the benefits of the gospel.

And that's what Paul's trying to go against.

And here's how it continues.

Verse 15.

To give a human example, brothers and sisters,

even with a man-made covenant, and just pause here for a second,

some of your Bibles will say the word will.

And in the original language, it's the same word.

There's two different English words for this singular sort of idea.

And so some of your versions have chosen the word will,

and some of the versions have chosen covenant.

They're both correct, because that's the original language word.

Okay?

And I'll explain it in a moment.

To give a human example, brothers and sisters, verse 15,

even with a man-made covenant,

no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.

I'll explain this in a moment.

Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.

It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many,

but referring to one, and to your offspring, who is Christ.

This is what I mean.

The law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God,

so as to make the promise void.

For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise,

but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

Now, one of the things we have to realize is that part of the whole point of Galatians,

in fact, most of the New Testament, is that God has to deliver us from religion.

The Bible isn't encouraging us to be religious.

In fact, the Bible is the good news that God delivers us from religion,

and this is very important here to understand the difference between the promise and religion.

And so the very first thing, then, is if we could put up the first point, Andrew.

The trustworthy, promise-keeping God promised to bless.

The trustworthy, promise-keeping God promised to bless.

Yes.

Now, I've gotten out of place in my notes.

First of all, I could give you a complicated, ancient Near East example of what Paul means

by saying you can't change contracts.

Some of them you can, some of them you can't.

The best example for us, that'd be obvious in Canada,

is that if, not if, Louise and I have made a will.

We have to update it, but we've made a will,

and if we die in a car accident this afternoon, which I hope and pray we don't,

but if we die this afternoon, we can't change the will.

It's unchangeable.

So that's a good Canadian example to try to get into what Paul is trying to refer to.

Sometimes a contract or a covenant or a will can be made that can't be changed.

In our case, when you're dead, it can't be changed.

You know, when we were first making our will, somebody gave us some advice that, you know,

many people just think the fairest way to do a will is you divide up your assets equally between all of the children,

but sometimes you need to take into account if some of your children have unique needs.

You know, so for instance, let's say maybe one of our children was to become a missionary,

and missionaries, generally speaking, don't become rich,

and maybe the rest of our children went into professional jobs.

It was going to make them a good income, and so maybe we would make a will to give more money

to the child who's going to be a missionary than to the other kids,

and we make the will.

That's not the way the will is, by the way.

That's all equal.

But you make the will.

In case my kids are worried.

By the way, it's not much to spend.

If Louise and I die today, it's not very much to spend, let me tell you.

You might buy a new, I don't know, what's the cheapest car you can buy nowadays?

Some type of Nissan.

You might get a new one of those.

That would be about the extent of it right now.

But anyway, but let's say, you know, we changed our will and die with that intent,

but a week after we die, or a month after we die, the kid who's the missionary writes a book

that sells five million copies and they're rich.

And the other kids with the professional jobs all get laid off.

The situation's completely changed, but you can't change it.

Okay?

And so part of what Paul is trying to get at here is that Paul, God makes a covenant,

like a will, a contract, so to speak, with Abraham,

and this is an unchangeable thing.

That's just the way the world works, folks.

And so whatever happens 430 years later when the law is given to Moses,

well, I mean, it just, it can't change it, right?

A later development can't change the original thing.

That's sort of at the heart of what Paul is trying to talk about.

But here, you know, look at the point.

The trustworthy promise-keeping God promised to bless.

And I think in that little few verses that I read,

I think the word promise is there, promise or promises are there five times.

It's there quite a bit in the passage we're going to look at.

And for many of us, as soon as we see the word promise connected to God,

well, maybe because, you know, your back, I can't really see you very well,

a combination of my glasses and the glare,

and, you know, your back is to other people,

but many of you, your eyes might have started to roll.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, if not, your eyes rolling on the outside and the inside,

because many of us are deeply conflicted and deeply cynical about promises in general,

but promises connected to God in specific.

Maybe I am vastly more sinful than every single person here,

or maybe this is an unbelievably unique collection of exemplary holy people,

but you don't have to go in the blog sphere very far or meet very many people to understand that,

you know, the fact of the matter is, I mean, how cynical we are about promises?

How many people are upset that the liberals haven't kept their promises?

How many conservatives were upset?

I mean, how many people were really upset or surprised,

shocked that the conservatives before that didn't keep their promises?

Like, what would you say to somebody who's going around to you and goes,

I am shocked, I am shocked that the liberals didn't keep their promises?

Like, you'd go, come on, get a life.

Like, did you really believe they were going to keep those promises?

Like, that's how Canadians are.

And do we expect big corporations?

Do we expect the government?

Do we expect people to keep their promises?

No.

And many of us, I mean, many of us, you know,

in important institutions like marriage, like with parents and kids,

we're just used to the fact that in many cases promises haven't been kept.

In many cases, we withhold promises from people.

Why?

We withhold promises from people because we don't want to disappoint them when we don't do it.

I mean, I'm not saying that we all, I mean, some of us are very good at keeping promises.

I just want to get at the point that many of us have a deep type of,

we're very conflicted about believing promises, making promises, keeping promises.

We all have a history of wounds, of having been hurt by promises not kept.

And we, if we're honest, have actually done wounding in our lives by making promises and not keeping them.

And so many people, there's a deep cynicism and conflictedness when they see anything to do with God making a promise.

And many of us in particular have believed the promises of God and have been disappointed,

or at least we thought we believed the promises of God and have been disappointed.

And so we often say, well, that's nice, George.

Good sentence, the trustworthy God, promise keeping God, promise to bless.

That, George, is such a classic religious statement.

It is so ambiguous that you can explain away everything.

Way to go, George.

That's what some people might be thinking.

Maybe you're thinking, I never thought about that before, but that's actually really good.

No, I'm just joking.

I don't want to come here and just plant seeds of doubt.

But, I mean, that's the context within which this text of the Bible has been written.

That's why the sermon title is The Promise of God to a Promise-Breaking People,

or a promise conflicted, or a promise skeptical, or a promise cynical people.

That's who we are.

But you look at the text.

Look at verse 18.

For if the inheritance comes by law, it no longer comes by promise, but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

And all the way through this text, it keeps talking about how God has made a promise to bless.

If you could put up the next point, Andrew, that would be very helpful.

In fact, underneath this text, or behind this text, because Paul's hearers must have known about it,

and we don't pick it up, but there's in fact a story behind this text that Paul is referring to.

And in it, the trustworthy God doubles down to show that he will keep his promise.

And we're not going to read the text.

It would have to be a whole sermon on it.

But later on, and it might be very hard, one of the problems with reading Genesis 15

is how you translate the word offspring, and it's the problem in the original language of singular and plural.

But I'll just give you a summary of the story.

Here's the story that Paul is sort of referring to.

It's really, it's one of those classic, weird Old Testament stories.

God says to Abraham, Abraham, I want you to take, I think it's four animals,

I want you to take four animals, I want you to kill the four animals,

and then I want you to cut the animals in half, and I want you to lay them out on the ground

so there's one half on one side, the other half on the other side.

I want you to do that.

Abraham goes, he kills the dog, kills the cat, kills the parrot, kills the budgie,

as a modern example.

Lays them out on the ground, because he cuts them in half, and he lays them in a row.

And then the next thing you know is, as God puts Abraham into a deep sleep,

and while Abraham is in a deep sleep, all of a sudden there's a torch that goes through between the animals,

and a pot that's full of, that's smoking, goes between the animals,

and then God speaks to Abraham in a dream and promises that he's going to bless him.

That's pretty weird, right?

But here's what's actually quite spectacular about this story,

and you know, this just comes from study.

In the ancient world at that time,

that's how contracts or covenants were made between the Lord and the vassal.

Okay, so this is me making a contract with Apple,

or Google,

you know, or the government,

and them with me.

Now what happens when you make a contract,

I'm the little guy,

I'm the minnow,

I'm the minion,

I'm the little guy,

what happens when you make a contract with a powerful person?

It's all stacked towards the powerful person, right?

In the 60s,

in the 70s,

in the 80s,

there's a very,

at the time,

famous African-American comedian,

a comedian by the name of Dick Gregory,

who just died a few years ago,

and he was a very important comedian for furthering civil rights in the States,

and he was also quite a part of the Vietnam War.

And one of his regular routines was that he was all in favor of the American government drafting his son to go fight in Vietnam,

pause,

as long as he got to serve beside the Rockefeller's son,

the Rockefeller's kids,

right?

Because he knew,

no, no,

that's not how it worked.

Poor African-American,

rich white guy,

their kids go to different places to fight.

You know,

some in clubs in Washington,

some in the jungles of Vietnam.

Because that's how it works in life.

So in this ancient world,

the way the contracts were made,

it's almost as if it's making a contract with the mob.

And so you cut the animals,

you kill the animals,

you cut the animals in half,

you put them down in a line,

and then the Lord makes the vassal walk between the dead animals.

Why?

You break the words of this contract,

this is what's going to happen to you.

Dead meat.

So what's so shocking about this story?

In this story,

it looks,

if you were a person in the ancient world,

you're reading this story in Genesis 15,

okay,

this is the way the Almighty God is going to work

with a normal,

ordinary,

finite human being.

Abraham,

find four animals,

cut,

kill them,

cut them in half,

lay them down,

and then everybody in the story

is waiting for Abraham to walk between the animals.

But what happens?

No.

God puts Abraham to sleep.

And the torch and the smoking pot go between the animals.

The torch is an image of God.

The pot,

the smoking pot,

the incense,

is an image of God.

God walks between the animals.

And God makes a unilateral promise

that he will do everything that's required to bless,

and Abraham is asked to do nada,

nil,

zip.

It's a shocking promise.

In fact,

could you put up the next point?

The birth,

life,

death,

and resurrection of Jesus Christ

is God

keeping

his promise

to bless.

In fact,

even this ancient

ritual

points to the fact

that there is going to be

someone will die

for this promise

to bless,

and it's not going to be Abraham,

it's going to be God

in the person of his son.

And when I put up there

the birth,

life,

death,

and resurrection of Jesus Christ

is God

keeping his promise

to bless,

we need to understand

that if you're going back,

you just read Genesis as a book,

begin at Genesis 1,

you come to Genesis 15,

you'll know

that whatever blessing means,

it's going to have to be,

if it's really a blessing from God,

it's going to have to be

something that deals

with sin

because human beings

have put themselves

in the place of God

and sin and evil

has entered into the world.

Whatever it's going to mean

for God to bless,

it's going to have to

deal with death

because

because of Adam

and Eve's rebellion

against God,

they have brought death

into the world.

They themselves

will die

and all of their seed,

all of their offspring,

and in fact,

not only that,

whatever God

is going to have to do

to bless,

he's going to have to deal

with the fact

that human beings

now are estranged from God,

they're alienated from God,

they live their lives

with their back to God,

with their ears blocked to God,

wanting to be like God themselves.

They are far from God,

not they are far from God,

we are far from God,

I am far from God,

and whatever it's going to mean

for God to bless,

he's going to have to deal with that.

You see that

if you just read

from Genesis 1

to Genesis 15,

whatever it's going to mean,

God's going to have to deal with that.

So that when Paul comes now

to understand

that in the birth,

life,

death,

and resurrection

of Jesus Christ,

it is God keeping

his promise to bless,

that in a sense,

when you see Jesus

dying upon the cross,

you see the promise.

When you think of Jesus

dying upon the cross,

you see promise kept

for you and for me.

because the birth

of Jesus

is not just

a pleasant story

that we can have

really cool looking

greeting card pictures.

The birth of Jesus

is an invasion.

It is God

invading

our created world

to sin.

It is not

human beings

sort of genetically

engineering

or just,

you know,

in modern and all of a sense

to try to have

the perfect child

that will now develop us.

No,

it is God

breaking into

our human world.

When we see

the life of Jesus,

we see not just

somebody who lived

a full life,

in fact,

that lived a very short life.

We see somebody

who now has

an entire life

of a complete

and utter submission

and humility

and obedience

before the Father.

And it is going to be

so important

because I am not humble.

I am not obedient.

I have not lived

a perfect life.

Whatever is going

to have to happen,

there is going to have

to be someone

who has done this

for me

that can somehow

be mine

in exchange

when I receive it

by faith.

And Jesus,

of course,

in his life,

his miracles

begin to vindicate

who he is.

His teaching

explains who he is

and how he is God

keeping his promise.

And the ultimate miracle,

his death,

and then his resurrection

is God vindicating

that what Jesus

has been saying

is true.

It is vindicating

that the promise

that was begun

to be made

in Genesis chapter 12

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

and Genesis 15

and Genesis 18

and Genesis 22

and all of those

four stories

as it unpacks

this promise

of blessing

that God

is making

to Abraham,

that God

is keeping

his promise

that Jesus

does not just

die upon the cross.

He does not die

for his own sins

at all.

He dies for you.

He dies for me.

He dies for the estranged.

He dies.

God knew

that I cannot

make promises

so he made a promise.

He knows

that I often

don't keep

my promises

so he keeps

his promise.

He knows

that I often

withhold

making promises

so he did not

hold back

in making a promise.

He keeps

his promise.

And Jesus'

death

is a death

for me

and his resurrection

is a resurrection

for me

and a vindication

that God

has kept

his promise

and that when we

read the gospels

we are reading

the story

of the promise

that has come

and the promise

that is kept.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Just as a bit

of an aside

a bit of a plug

one of the things

at the conference

the apologetics conference

that's coming up

in just a couple

of weeks

Mike Lacona

has just written

a book

about a year ago

published by Oxford

University Press

on the reasonableness

and some of the

historical evidence

for the resurrection

of Jesus

and if you're wondering

I mean there is

in fact

surprisingly good

reasons to believe

that Jesus really did

in history die

and rise from the dead

and I encourage you

to go to that conference

to come

Mike Lacona

is going to begin

a talk

specifically around

that issue

I encourage you

to come

encourage you

to bring your friends

but here

so some of you

might say

okay George

this is sort of

I mean it is

a little bit interesting

to think of Jesus

as the promise

and the promise kept

but

I'm still

not entirely sure

what difference

it makes

well here's the

huge difference

it makes

and Paul's going

to start to try

to explain it to us

if you could put up

the next point

Andrew

needing to perform

is a very different

way to live

than living

by

believing God's

promise

there are two

mutually exclusive

and contradictory

ways of living

by contradictory

I mean you either

do one or the other

you can't do both

needing to perform

is a very different

way to live

than living

by believing

God's promise

if somebody told me

that I don't know

this would never happen

that if you just

merely come to a

ballroom in a hotel

and we're going to

give you

five luxury days

all for free

in a luxury hotel

or condo

and then you go there

and in fact

well there's this cost

this cost

this cost

this cost

you have to sit

through this talk

and this sales pitch

and then if you don't

do that

you don't really get that

you get something different

dang it all

it's not a promise

there's a whole pile

of things I got to do

just in case you ever

get a phone call

or an invitation

for something like that

you know

it's a completely

different way

to live

all religion

all spirituality

is all based

on needing

to perform

and it might be

that in

you know

some very harsh

religions

it's very harsh

laws

and very harsh

rituals

that you need

to perform

it might be

that if you're

far more spiritual

you just have to

make sure you vote

for the green party

stop eating gluten

become a vegan

and that's all

you have to do

to go to heaven

I mean

it might be

that's the difference

between spirituality

and religion

often

and sorry

that's a terrible

thing for me to say

I apologize

I didn't mean

to offend

I really didn't

but the fact of the matter

is that spirituality

and religion

is not different

both of them

involve

needing to perform

it just might be

that the standards

are different

and the standards

are higher or lower

but Bible here

Paul is trying

to communicate

that the promise

living by

believing a promise

is very very different

there's a man

in the church

who has

for the last

several years

very graciously

allowed Louise

and me and the kids

to go to his cottage

for free

so one day

he said

George

how do you like

to go to my cottage

and be there

for a week

for free

he sent me an email

what do I have to do

to get that promise

I have to respond

I have to believe him

and all I had to do

was respond

when I got my equivalent

to an MDiv

what did I have to do

well George

you've got to study

for three years

you've got to fulfill

these diocesan requirements

you've got to fulfill

these academic requirements

you've got to get

that you have to pass

you've got to do this

you've got to do that

completely different

way of living

believing a promise

and needing to perform

and that's what Paul

is trying to communicate

they're completely

and utterly

different ways

to live

and the gospel

is good news

of God

making a promise

to bless

and the blessing

is going to deal

with sin

and it's going to deal

with death

and it's going to deal

with our estrangement

for God

and it's a promise

of something

that God will do

and it's the news

which I'm now

passing on to you

not only that God

has made a promise

but that he's kept it

and it's not news

of new rituals

new therapies

new things to do

new rules to keep

it's news of a promise

kept

which can be

for you

some of you

might say

okay George

that's very interesting

but one second here

I thought you're

sort of in favor

of things like

the Old Testament

and things like

the Ten Commandments

like George

like aren't you

sort of in favor

of like you shall

not commit adultery

I know your wife's

in favor of you

being in favor

of that particular

commandment

and I know

you're in favor

of her

believing in that

commandment

so George

like what are you

just saying

that you just

have to believe

this

like how

okay

that's what

Paul's going

to keep talking

about

let's look

at 19 to 23

in fact

Paul asked

the question

but by this aside

this is just

a little really

you know

this is one

of the shocking

things about

look at verse 19

why then the law

and then you're

going to look

down at verse 21

is the law

then contrary

to the promises

about

here's just a little

bit of an aside

this is one

of the things

which is so shocking

about the Bible

how the Bible

forms you

you know

there's all

sorts of

religions

and spiritualities

and maybe

many Christians

who mistakenly

say don't ask

that question

just believe

the Bible

always encourages

us to ask

honest questions

that's part

of the reason

I was only

within the

biblical world

that science

was able

to develop

because science

develops

on the idea

amongst other

things

that it is a

good thing

to ask

a question

and the Bible

models for us

that we should

ask good

questions

if you read

the Gospels

when people

ask Jesus

a false

question

because it's

not really

a question

it's just

trying to

get him

in trouble

he's very

subtle

but whenever

anybody asks

him an honest

question

he gives

him an answer

anyway

verse 19

why then

the law

why then

the Ten

Commandments

George

why then

things about

sacrifices

why then

things about

how you care

for the poor

how you care

for the environment

why then

the law

verse 19

next part

it was added

because of

transgressions

in other words

we'll get to

in other words

George

if you haven't

noticed

people

do bad

things

and screw

up

you know

you know

it's so funny

there's so many

times you see

about people

wanting to be

centered

but what

happens

you want to

be centered

but what

happens if

your center

is getting

revenge

what if

your center

is racism

what if

your center

is self-love

and narcissism

like the

primary advice

of our culture

is completely

and utterly

ignorant

of the fact

that we do

evil

I mean

you read

the national

post

the globe

and mail

I mean

the national

post

a little

while ago

there was

a whole

big glossy

insert

all around

different types

of spiritual

practices

like being

centered

and being

focused

but the

problem is

too many

of us

are focused

around

racism

and self-love

and narcissism

and pride

and anger

and envy

and greed

and gluttony

Lord don't

help me

be centered

help me

to be

de-centered

I want

to be

centered

on your

promise

because if

I'm centered

on myself

boy am I

in trouble

and boy are

my kids

in trouble

and boy is

my wife

in trouble

anyway

sorry

not sorry

that's what

the Bible

is saying

why then

the law

well why

because in

case you

haven't noticed

people do

bad things

and they do

bad things

without being

apologetic

they do

bad things

because they

like doing

bad things

they do

bad things

and then they

get mad at

people who

point out

that they've

done bad

things

that's all

encompassed in

this simple

line it was

added because

of transgressions

because of

transgressions

continue not

until the offspring

should come to

whom the promise

had been made

and it was put

in place through

angels by an

intermediary

now an

intermediary implies

more than one

but God is one

I only have nine

minutes left

I can't go into

that the main

thing is that

the same one

God there's one

will and one

mind and one

God behind all

of this thing

so the same

God who

ultimately

creates the

promises

ultimately the

one even

though it's

done through

an intermediary

who wanted

the law

so God

doesn't

contradict

himself

you've got to

remember that

verse 21

is the law

then contrary

to the promises

of God

what does Paul

say

certainly not

for if a law

had been given

that could give

life then

righteousness

would indeed

be by the

law

just as an

aside

if you bring

a corpse

to a yoga

class

it'll still

be dead

at the end

if you say

morning and

evening prayer

over a corpse

it'll still

be dead

if you read

the if you

tattoo the

ten commandments

on a corpse

it's still

dead

for if a law

had been given

verse 21

that could give

life then

righteousness

would indeed

be by the

law

but the

scripture

imprisoned

did I skip

something

no I didn't

okay

but the

scripture

imprisoned

that sounds

mean

everything

under sin

so that

the promise

by faith

in Jesus

Christ

might be

given to

those who

believe

now before

faith came

we were

held captive

under the

law

imprisoned

until the

coming faith

would be

revealed

so just

pause

that all

sounds

really

really

mean

and extreme

if you could

put up the

next point

Andrew

it's not

actually

it's very

helpful

God gave

the law

to sell

the problem

this church

we're very

blessed

we have

a very

very good

counsel

and one

of the

ways we

know we

have a

very good

counsel

is they

don't

always

agree

with me

thanks

be to

God

and usually

when they

don't agree

with me

it's because

they're way

wiser than

me

and they've

saved us

from a

stupid

path

sometimes

I'll ask

them to

reconsider

an issue

because what

I've

realized

is I

didn't

sell

the

problem

because I

deal with

the church

every day

it's one of

the main

things I

think about

and the

staff

think about

and we

talk to

each other

we can

start to

see a

really big

problem

and so we

come up

with a

proposal

to solve

the problem

and then the

council

or the

congregation

might say

nah

don't want

to do

it

and that's

because

I realized

afterwards

they didn't

see the

problem

and sometimes

in life

sometimes

it's a

classic

management

technique

that first

you sell

the problem

and so

that's what

Paul is

doing here

he's saying

that God

did the

law

to help

sell

the problem

the fact

of the

matter

is

imagine

for an

instance

that

you

I was

just

reading

I just

finished

reading

a novel

just

yesterday

where

a

person

who

was

in

jail

wrongly

a

detective

comes

to

believe

that

he's

innocent

and

that

in

fact

if

some

requests

for

some

DNA

were

made

it

would

probably

prove

that

he

was

innocent

of

the

crime

and

part

of

the

whole

problem

was

to

get

the

person

to

actually

want

to

make

the

request

so

if

we

just

sort

of

tame

that

just

imagine

for a

second

imagine

that

you

you're

that

person

or

maybe

you're

just

a

person

and

you

really

believe

that

this

new

DNA

evidence

will

prove

that

the

person

that's

in

jail

your

brother

or

your

sister

your

mom

or

your

dad

or

your

kid

will

get

them

out

of

jail

that

they've

been

innocent

all

along

but

when

you

go to

visit

your

child

every

time

you

visit

your

child

they

don't

actually

believe

they're

in

prison

they

believe

grim

faced

and

metal

and

concrete

everywhere

if you've

ever been

inside a

jail

for the

record

I've

only

gone

to

visit

parishioners

not

because

I

had

to

do

time

not

that

you

know

Jesus

saves

prisoners

and all

but

if you

go in

it's

just

very

concrete

and

medley

and

for

them

to

somehow

think

no

no

no

no

dad

or

brother

or

sister

I'm

not

in a

jail

I'm

in a

five

star

hotel

and

resort

I'm

eating

the

best

food

what

you

want

to

do

is

you

want

to

have

something

to

get

you

almost

want

the

jail

to

be

more

jail

like

so

it

will

break

through

their

fantasy

for

them

to

realize

they're

in

jail

so

they

can

actually

then

have

the

desire

to

ask

for

the

promise

for

the

thing

that

will

get

them

out

and

that's

what

Paul

is

saying

is

that

you

rules

his

own

laws

in

terms

of

how

a

holy

society

should

look

how

a

holy

society

should

work

how

it

should

care

for

the

poor

and

care

for

the

environment

and

care

for

marriages

and

the

ritual

thing

need

to

be

done

to

make

you

right

with

God

and

God

actually

provides

that

to

try

to

break

through

our

our

our

complete

and utter

often

refusal

to

recognize

that

we

still

sin

that

we're

going

to

die

like

it's

actually

quite

amazing

for

most

of

us

nobody

here

has

lived

forever

all

of

us

had

a

beginning

I

don't

want

to

depress

you

but

you're

all

going

to

die

unless

Jesus

comes

back

first

and

you're

all

very

limited

so

you're

all

finite

but

why

is it

that

we

so

easily

think

that

we're

like

God

why

do

we

so

easily

fill

ourselves

with

arrogant

thoughts

of

power

when

a

microscopic

germ

can

kill

us

and

God

needs

to

sell

the

problem

to

us

so

that

we

need

to

call

out

to

God

and

receive

his

promise

to

bless

and

the

law

does

something

else

just

very

quickly

because

I'm

running

out

of

time

if

you

could

wrap

the

next

point

remember

that

whole

thing

about

George

are you

saying

that

you

can

just

disregard

that

you

should

not

commit

adultery

hopefully

you believe

that

your wife

hopes

you

believe

it

and

I

know

you

hope

your

wife

believes

it

and

we

both

do

and

here

the

law

was

your

version

some

of

your

versions

will

say

guardian

some

will

say

teacher

there's

an

original

language

word

there

that

doesn't

have

an

easy

English

equivalent

guardian

sort

of

is

right

but

not

entirely

teacher

task

master

has

to

be

added

to

get

a

bit

of

a

sense

the

law

was

a

guardian

teacher

task

master

until

the

promise

came

it

was

not

the

promise

itself

in

other

words

it's

all

part

of

God

telling

us

the