Real Hope

Father, we ask that you would make us good soil.

Help us, Father, to ask good and honest questions of your word.

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, Father,

so that we no longer deceive ourselves,

that we are aware of the things we say and the things we do and the things we believe.

Continue to pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, Father,

so that as you make us more honest about ourselves,

that we might more honestly come to your word.

And then continue to pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, Father,

so that as we more honestly come to your word,

that your word would come deeply and powerfully and fully into us,

so that in our day-to-day lives,

we will bear much fruit that brings not us glory, but you glory.

And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Please be seated.

So, here's the problem.

If you think about it for a second,

there's passages in the Bible that when we read them or when they're said out loud,

we go, whoa!

And then there's other things in the Bible that when,

and I'm not talking about the genealogies, you know,

that, you know, and such and such begat such and such,

begat such and such,

and, you know, our eyes are just nodding,

and our, you know, our eyes are closing, and our head nods.

I'm just talking about it's really, you know, amazing that there'll be certain passages that are read,

and we basically just dismiss them.

That's, maybe I'm being too, well, you know, that's what we do,

but we're not aware that we do it.

And I don't mean to offend you,

but certain passages make our, raise our eyes, we open our eyes,

they might make our blood boil, we might feel very threatened by them.

Others, if we're honest, it just sounds like religion.

It just sounds like the sort of thing that spiritual people say.

So, for instance, the text that we're going to look at in a moment,

the opening of that text, which Laurier read,

that text goes against a huge,

the opening few words basically disagrees with probably 90% of the professors at the University of Ottawa.

But we don't go, whoa, that text is just completely and utterly rejecting behaviorism,

it's rejecting Machiavelli,

it's rejecting much of the advice in the business school,

it's rejecting Nietzsche, the patron saint of post-modernism,

it's rejecting all of these people.

We don't think that, do we?

Because it's just religion, just the way religious people talk.

So, let's look at it, because, you know, if we have that type of problem,

that we don't hear the Bible,

for the offense that it is,

then we're not really hearing the Bible.

So, let's look at the Bible text, it's Romans chapter 15.

Romans 15 · chapter mention

Be a great help if you open the Bible yourselves and look as well,

that you join with me in looking at the text.

And we'll just, we'll read these first two verses,

I'm going to be looking at all 13 of the first verses in Romans 15,

we'll look at the rest in coming weeks.

But just look how it begins.

And listen to it again, and say to yourself,

okay, Father, I want you to help me right now,

not just to read the Bible the way Canadians read the Bible.

Because, you see, the problem with the way that we Canadians read the Bible

or hear religion and spirituality,

is that religion and spirituality is something private.

It's something personal.

It's basically analogous to sharing with people

your favorite flavor of ice cream.

And that's why we can listen to people say

all sorts of actually completely crazy and kooky things.

And it would be considered rude

if we were to attack a person,

not attack, just challenge them

for the crazy and kooky things they say of their religion.

Because if it gives them peace,

if it gives them some comfort, then that's fine.

It's just religion, just spirituality.

So, listen to this text.

First, we who are strong have an obligation

to bear with the failings of the weak

and not to please ourselves.

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good

to build him up.

Or in older translations,

which is actually more accurate,

to edify him or her.

Now just pause for a second.

You think, okay, George,

okay, what's the problem with that?

Well, Marx would say that's rubbish and bunk.

All Marxist theory would say that that's bunk.

Nietzsche would say that this is slave mentality.

This is one of the many reasons

why we should discount the Bible.

It's how slaves think.

It's how servants think.

It's not how the new man and the new woman thinks.

Ayn Rand would say this completely and utterly foolish.

Like even such popular things as the secret

or most management techniques,

they basically say that

how are we going to get more strong

and how are we going to use my strengths

to get what I want?

How am I going to organize the universe

to get what I want?

And even for many of us,

if we read Stephen Covey's

Seven Habits of Highly Successful

Effective People,

seek to understand before you're understood,

the fact of the matter is

is that we don't want to seek to understand

before we're understood.

So that we can really understand,

but so we can get what we want.

Because it's a way to manipulate people

and not give a gift to another,

the other person that we're understanding,

but ultimately give a gift to ourselves.

Because if we do that very well

in a management or an organizational context,

we get what we want.

We stay strong and the weak stays weak.

And we don't please them.

We get them to please us

thinking that they're pleasing themselves.

If you can fake sincerity,

you've got it made.

You can fake that you care about the other person.

If you fake that it really matters to you

what they think and say,

you've got it made.

It's all about faking.

But when we hear this text,

we just sort of say to ourselves,

oh yeah,

you know,

we are strong,

have an obligation to bear the whalings of the weak.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Let's get to something a little bit more interesting.

But not realizing that this particular text

actually really strikes us

at the heart

and is basically viewed as nonsense

by the world.

And in fact,

if we're honest,

we actually sort of are,

if we actually start to really say,

one moment,

like,

okay,

like,

the Bible's serious about this?

Like,

it actually means this?

Like,

it means this in the same way

it means you shall not take innocent human life?

Or,

like,

it really means it?

And then we're going to get a bit frightened.

Because in fact,

the critiques of Nietzsche

and Marx

and all,

that it will lead to us being doormats,

becomes very,

very,

it becomes a threat to us.

And,

and,

and what's more,

it's not just something that describes

what goes on purely inside of the church,

just amongst Christians.

In fact,

you know,

this often happens.

I,

I often,

I get to a passage of the Bible.

Like,

if you go to,

one of the things that's so wonderful

about listening to megachurch passages,

pastors,

getting their blog,

you know,

listening to their sermons,

one of the things that's so wonderful about them

is that they can basically spend

20,

30,

35 hours a week

just working on their sermon.

Because they have other people

do all the other stuff in the church.

So,

you know,

in many of them,

they'll,

they'll read like three or four or five commentaries

and almost map out most of the book

before they actually work on a specific sermon.

I don't have that luxury.

I sort of just

deep,

dig with,

deal with each text as it comes.

So,

you know,

one of the things you can do for me

is just pray that I can open the Bible well.

And anyway,

one of the things is,

last week,

I,

I talked about the strong and the weak

and I,

I,

if I could go back in time,

I,

I would,

I would reuse,

I changed my language for last week.

Because I think chapter 14

was primarily talking about

what's life amongst,

for Christians.

And 15

is a bit how you live

both with Christians,

but more importantly,

how you live with the world.

And so last week,

really the whole contract,

you know,

those of you who weren't here,

you're just going to make any sense.

But really,

I should have said that

the difference was between,

you know,

a gospel mindset

and a legalistic mindset.

That's really what chapter 14

was going on.

And this week,

they use a different word

for weak here

in chapter 15

than they use in chapter 14.

And they bring this idea of strength.

And this now does sort of mean

what we understand generally by strength.

That in terms of some people

have just better looking,

they're stronger,

they have more economic resources,

their IQs are higher,

their EQs are better.

They've had better families,

better genetics,

better opportunities,

live in a better society,

have a whole pile of things.

And there's also weak people.

And how do strong people

deal with weak people?

And the key to the change

is that it uses the word neighbor.

And some of us remember

that famous parable by Jesus

when the Pharisee says,

but who is my neighbor?

And Jesus teaches us

that basically the neighbor

is every person we meet.

And that's what it says.

Look at it again.

We who are strong

have an obligation

to bear with the failings

of the weak

and not to please ourselves.

Let each of us

please his neighbor

for his good.

And actually,

it should probably be translated

for his the good,

which doesn't make good English,

but that's what the good

is mentioned

in the original language

to edify him.

So just before we get any further,

we're going to come back

to this text a little bit later

because it's of its significance.

The text here isn't telling people

who are strong

to become weak.

And it's not telling those of us

who have strengths

that we just become doormats.

It's actually telling us

something very profound

and powerful.

Because the normal way

that we always want to behave

is to please ourselves

and to make sure

that we're always cared for

and take care of ourselves,

that our needs are met.

And the stronger you are,

the easier it is

to make sure that that happens.

And the stronger you are,

the richer you are,

the easier it is

to completely and utterly

ignore those who are weak,

to try to step around them,

to try to step away from them,

to try to step on them,

to crush them,

because dang it,

they're irritating sometimes,

aren't they?

And that's the normal thing.

And so what's this text telling us?

It's telling us that

if we, in some of our areas,

are the strong,

we don't live to please ourselves.

That what's going on

with the people around us,

the people that are weak,

the people who are at a big reception,

you know,

in the government or in business,

that the no accounts,

the nobodies,

the ones who are off by the side,

not talking to anybody,

that we're not to go into the room

just looking to see

if we can spend some quality time

with the people who are above us

so we can kiss a little bit of butt

and get better known

and maybe get a promotion

and get ahead,

but we're actually to look at the weak,

look for them,

and that we're seeked to walk towards them,

not away from them.

And this whole area here,

what talks about

bearing up with their weaknesses,

it's another way of expressing

walking a mile in their shoes.

That not only is it telling us

that we're to,

rather than just please ourselves,

actually notice the weak

and be concerned for them,

but that in a sense,

we're to use our strength

to try to see the world

as they see it.

Now, it's not saying here

that the way the weak view the world

is always right.

It's not saying that.

They're sinful, fallen human beings

just like the strong.

But it's calling us,

the bearing of their weaknesses

is to,

let's just for a second,

George,

I know it might be hard,

you know,

but just look at the world

from the perspective

of a handicapped person,

you know,

physically or mentally handicapped

or a person who's just very poor

or a person who's had

unbelievably terrible things

happen in their lives.

Just for a moment,

before you judge,

before you ignore them,

before you step on them,

notice them.

And,

George,

they're walking around

bent over

with these burdens.

get under their burdens

as well.

How does the world look?

And then,

as you think about them,

what will actually

be for their good

that you have the power

to do?

Not what they want.

I mean,

street people,

to be honest,

if you give them money

in the city of Ottawa,

they want it

because they'd like

to get alcohol

or drugs.

To give them money

is actually not their good.

But to see them

and say,

I'm going to give money

to the Salvation Army

to help them,

that actually might be

their good.

Or it might be

that you actually buy them

something nutritious

to eat.

I'm not going to get

into all the details,

but you see what I mean?

That's the difference.

And not only that,

but to edify them,

which means to bring them

closer to God.

That's to be your heart.

And to do this

really for them,

not the way

I described earlier

where you can learn

a certain set of techniques.

One of those techniques

is that if you appear

to listen to a person,

if you learn how to make

the proper eye contact,

if you learn how to put

your hand on their shoulder

the right way,

or give them the right

type of handshake

and the right type of nod,

as if you're really

listening to them

and you're really concerned

and you really care for them,

but you're doing that

just as a matter

so you can make

your own pitch

to get them on your side,

when you do that,

you're giving a gift

to yourself.

You're using your strength

for yourself.

You're not using your strength

for the person who's weak.

That's the great challenge

of the text.

It's the great challenge

of the text.

Now, the question could be,

like I can just imagine,

the question would be,

okay, well, George,

that all sounds very,

very nice in principle,

but why, or should I

bother to do that?

I mean, George,

I have a lot of stress

in my life.

You know, frankly,

I deserve the good things

I've gotten.

In fact, isn't it

with the advertising things?

You know, you deserve this.

You deserve that car.

You deserve that holiday.

You deserve this.

You deserve that type

of experience.

Like, George,

why should I bother?

And here's part of the problem

that we as Christians have.

Maybe it's one of the reasons

why we feel a little bit

uncomfortable speaking

about these things

or even making a case

for such things

in the business school

or in the philosophy

or social sciences academy

because at the end of the day,

the primary reason

that they give in this text

to do this,

well, what is the text?

Let's look at it.

Verses three and four.

Why?

And notice how

in the English Standard Version

it uses the word for.

In other words,

like why?

It's answering the why question.

Like, why on earth do this?

Even if you've explained

what it means,

like why on earth bother?

Well, why?

For Christ did not please himself,

but as it is written,

the reproaches of those

who reproached you

fell on me.

For whatever was written

in former days

was written for our instruction,

that through endurance

and through the encouragement

of the scriptures,

we might have hope.

So the problem is,

to Nietzsche,

well, that's not what Jesus did

and that's not what

the Bible teaches.

Oh!

That's probably what people would do.

Oh!

If they're not going,

oh!

Like, that's the way

to end the conversation

at a cocktail party.

That's the way

to hear the whole class squirm

in, you know,

philosophy 101.

And, you know,

and of course,

you might have to be more,

you know,

as innocent as a dove

and as clever as a serpent

in terms of how you argue

these things in classes.

But, I mean,

the thing that will

immediately come back is,

well, gosh,

good grief,

George,

don't tell me

you're actually going to claim

that this is just because

of what the Bible teaches

and,

and,

George,

George,

George,

George.

Don't you know that?

The Bible,

like, you look at the Bible

more closely, George,

and don't,

when you look at the Bible

more closely,

like, you know,

you look at it, George,

it's filled with contradictions,

it's filled with all sorts

of confusing stuff,

people can hardly understand it,

doesn't give you

any encouragement,

like most people

when they read the Bible,

let's be honest, George,

most people,

even Christians,

when they read the Bible,

they don't get encouragement,

hope,

they're bored with it.

And now,

if you had done something

that you're all like me,

you want to sit

in that little chair,

pull yourself up

in a ball,

you get all red,

you don't know

what to say.

And I don't know

if I'm going to entirely

help you know

what to say,

but I want to,

here's one of the things

I pray for myself

every week

as I'm working

on the sermon.

One of the things

I pray for myself

is that I will actually

hear and understand

the questions

that people have

about the Bible text,

that I try to think

about some of the people

that I talk about

on the street

and in other places,

the objections

and the criticisms

that would have

about the Bible.

And I try to,

I pray that the Lord

would help me

to hear the questions

that people have,

the objections

that people have,

and then the very next

thing I pray

is that I would be

unashamed of the Bible,

that I would be

unashamed of the gospel,

that I would be

unashamed of the

whole counsel of God,

and that the Lord

would help me

to listen to the Bible

deeply.

Now, the Bible here

is making a huge claim.

Just think about it

for a second.

Look at this again,

verse 3 and 4.

Verse 3,

for Christ did not

please himself,

but as it is written.

So, Paul is making

a claim about

what Jesus did,

and now he's going

to quote the Bible.

The reproaches of those

who reproached you

fell on me.

And that's from Psalm 69.

And what he's doing,

Paul is saying

that that psalm,

that really,

when we read that psalm,

we're listening

to Jesus speak.

And that psalm

was written

maybe a thousand years

before Jesus,

but when we listen

to that psalm,

we're listening

to Jesus speak.

And then he's making

a very, very,

very big claim

for whatever was written

in former days,

a thousand years earlier,

and in our case now

three thousand years ago,

and in our case

in the book of Romans

two thousand years ago,

that that was written

for our instruction.

That when David

or whoever wrote

that psalm,

it not only ministered

to his generation,

but the people,

the next generation,

it was ministering

to them

and every generation,

including us,

in postmodern Ottawa,

that it was written

for our instruction

that through endurance

and through the encouragement

of the scriptures,

not just this text,

but all of the scriptures

that make up the Bible,

we might have hope.

This is a huge claim.

Andrew,

if you could put up

the first point,

only the God

who speaks

could create a book

that speaks instruction

and hope

to every people group

and every generation.

That's what the claim is

that's being made

here in the text.

Only God,

only a God who speaks,

only the God who speaks,

who is not silent,

a little bit of a nod

to Francis Schaeffer,

only he could create

a book

that speaks

instruction and hope

to every people group

and every generation.

See,

what the text is here,

and this is the consistent

message of the Bible,

it's the consistent message

of Jesus,

is that ultimately

God was responsible

for the creation

of the Bible.

He used many different

human authors,

he used many different

literary genres,

but ultimately

God was the one

who created the book

and God was the one

who caused it

to be recognized

as coming from him

and God is the one

who has preserved it.

Remember,

when Paul was writing this,

which has now also

become part of what

we understand

as the Bible,

the Christian faith

was an unbelievably

tiny minority

that was to suffer

horrendous persecutions

by the state,

and yet the Bible

has been preserved.

And what this text

is telling us

is that the Bible

is sufficient

to give us hope.

This is a great,

this is a great challenge

to us

because you see,

many Christians

don't believe

that the Bible

is sufficient

to give us hope.

We actually think

that if we get together

it would be better

to listen to,

I don't know,

like a famous speaker

or a couple of YouTube videos

or something like that

because, you know,

at the end of the day,

I don't know if the Bible

can actually give us hope

and encouragement

and endurance

because, you know what,

my words are better

or the words

of this particular poet

or singer,

they're actually better

at creating endurance

and hope,

but the Bible is saying

that it's the one

that's sufficient

to do that.

And this text

is telling us

that we can understand

the Bible,

that ordinary people

can understand the Bible.

They might have to be

in community,

we might have to learn

from each other,

we might have to listen

to those who've gone before us,

but that ordinary people

can understand the Bible.

And it's telling us

that everything in the Bible,

that God created

all of it to be written for us,

and that it all speaks

about Jesus.

That's a huge claim,

and that claim

can only be true

if God is the ultimate

author of it

in terms of having it created.

Now, just to note

before I go on

with some other objections

to it,

because there's a huge

objection in the modern

and post-modern mind

to the text,

and the objection is,

but George,

why is it that the Bible

is boring?

Why is it that the Bible

are you allowed

to say that in the church?

You know,

maybe I've surprised

some of you

because maybe

you've always read

every part of the Bible

and never found

a single bit boring.

Maybe I'm the only one.

Anyone who says that,

we're going to have

confession later,

not private confession,

but public confession,

because nobody here

would believe you.

And then the other thing

is that we hear

that God created the book,

but then we have

problems with it

because we expect

the book to be perfect.

Now, I'm not saying

that the Bible

is imperfect,

but what I'm saying

is that the Bible

doesn't measure up

to human standards

because God created it.

And human standards

change by culture.

Just think about it

for a second.

I don't know how many

of you can read

some 19th century novels,

but if you try to read

a book by Charles Dickens,

like it seems as if

Charles Dickens' books

are all like this fat.

They go on and on

and on and on

and on with descriptions.

And in the 19th century,

somebody who loves

a book that's this fat,

they'd look at the Bible

and say,

it's too short.

We like tweets.

We love Twitter.

We look at the Bible

and say,

it's so long.

Gosh, it's long.

You expect me to,

whoa.

And then we look at it

and okay,

and I'm like this as well.

You know what I love

in the paper?

I love in the paper

where there's

a complicated thing

and I can look

in the paper

for a diagram

with numbers

and arrows

that shows how

it begins here

at this time

and then Mr. Smith

and Mrs. Jones

walk from here

to there

and then they did this

and there's an arrow.

I love that.

But people read

the Gospels

and it doesn't do

like that.

Like you read

the Gospels

and it's,

you know one of the

problems with the Gospels?

That there's

four or five

or six different ways,

like just if you

take Jesus from,

you know,

him entering

into Jerusalem

and it's not

that the Bible

contradicts itself,

but there's

five or six

or seven

different ways

to draw a diagram

like that

that puts it

all together

and that drives

us mad.

Why couldn't

God do it?

The standards

that fit

with math

geek

types

like me.

And you know

what was a huge

offense for most

of the ages

that knew Greek?

the Bible

is written

in crappy

Greek.

It's written

in the type

of Greek

that,

you know those

people who

when they all

went to high

school and they

just all did

the applied

or lower

things and

then work in

service,

you know how

they speak?

That's how the

Bible's written.

It's not written

for posh,

it's not written

in the way that

really,

really highly

educated people

who went to

Oxford and

Cambridge speak.

Greek.

It was written

in lower

working class

slave Greek

and for many

centuries it

bugged the

heck out of

well-educated

people.

And if you read

it, it's all

filled with

broken sentences.

There's a part

of the psalm

where it's obvious

that he's doing

an anagram where

every verse

begins with the

right Hebrew

letter and

then all of a

sudden it just

doesn't work

because I guess

the writer

couldn't figure

out how to

make it work.

And it's in

the Bible and

that bugs us.

The Bible's not

making a claim

that it's perfect

by our cultural

standards.

It's making a

claim that the

God who speaks

has caused

his word to

be written

and that it

has the power

to give

encouragement,

endurance,

and hope to

every people

group in

every generation.

And here's

another thing.

You can put

up the next

point and I'm

not smart enough

to figure this

out myself.

It's an

adaptation from

a guy who

wrote over

500 years

ago.

God is the

source of

endurance and

hope.

He gives

both by his

Holy Spirit.

That's what

Romans 15 is

going to teach.

But he uses

his word as

his instrument.

Brothers and

sisters,

friends in

Christ,

we've got to

trust that if

we open the

Bible and pray

and read it

that God

does something.

And we've

got to trust

that we can

listen to the

accusations and

reproaches and

criticisms and

honest questions of

the world.

And we cry out to

God and say to

God, I don't have

the vaguest idea in

the world how to

answer this, but I

trust your word.

Help me to be

unashamed of the

gospel and to

listen to your

word and let your

word do its work

in my life.

One of the

reasons, I won't

go into it right

now, but one of

the reasons, because

somebody just this

week was asking me

why on earth you

should trust the

Bible and like very

simply it's like it's

there's a range of

reasons for it.

But the bottom line

reason for it is that

Jesus believed this.

And Jesus said that

he was going to die

and rise from the

dead and then he did

die and rise from the

dead and Jesus

vindicates the

teaching, the

resurrection of

Jesus.

Paul who wrote

this, he knows

that why?

Because he was an

eyewitness to the

fact that Jesus had

truly died, that the

grave was empty and

that he had risen from

the dead.

He was an eyewitness.

This is what Jesus

teaches.

And so Paul says,

you know what?

God has vindicated

Jesus and his

message.

Now, some of us,

the bigger problem

that many people in

our generation have

to do with this idea

that these are words

that God has written

is that they worry

that it becomes

permission for

unspeakable evil.

Like what was the

claim of many people

who worked in Nazi

Germany during the

Nazi era?

They were just

following orders.

What happens if God

gives you an order?

And aren't there,

in fact, all sorts of

psychopaths out there

who believes that God

has spoken to them so

they can go and behead

people and rape and

kill and murder?

Isn't that what's

behind a whole pile of

holy wars?

I mean, isn't that,

I mean, one of the

problems, this isn't,

no, okay, I won't go

there, sorry.

I mean, that's one of

the, aren't, isn't

that what often happens?

Isn't there profound

religious justification

for unspeakable evils?

And isn't the Bible

filled with unspeakable

evils?

And George, if you

actually hold something

like this, isn't this

going to lead you into

doing unspeakable evil

and then just say you're

just obeying orders?

Don't take it up with me,

take it up with the big

guy.

He told me to go and

to pillage and to rape

and to murder and to

steal and to kill.

And George, don't you

say to me that that

never happens with

religion or spirituality.

And you can't.

Although it's

interesting that the

way this whole text

begins and what the

text is grounding,

is the opposite of

that, isn't it?

How does the text

begin?

What's he trying to

ground?

We who are strong

have an obligation to

bear with the failings

of the weak and not to

please ourselves.

Let us please his

neighbor for his, the

good, to edify him or

her.

So I'm going to get

back to this.

But part of the way to

answer the question is

just to continue to

listen.

What follows from this

Bible teaching?

Like what, is the

Bible here actually

telling us to go and

rape and murder?

Well, look how it

begins.

The very next thing it

does is it tells us to

pray.

Now here's the thing

for this, and we're

going to put it up at

the end of the sermon.

I'll put it up on the

screen.

But look what verses

five and six are.

Verses five and six

are a prayer.

God wrote a prayer for

you and me.

Maybe we should pray

it.

I know.

I want to be the

master of the obvious.

The reason we have to

all be masters of the

obvious is that we

ignore the obvious.

Like this is really

cool.

Verses five and six,

God wrote us a prayer.

Listen how we, what

does he want us to

pray?

In light of all of

this, verse five and

six, here's the prayer.

May the God of

endurance and

encouragement grant,

that means he's going

to give it to us,

have mercy on his

father and grant this,

to live in such

harmony with one

another in accord

with Christ Jesus,

that together you

may with one voice

glorify the God and

father of our Lord

Jesus Christ.

So the thing, the

first thing is, is

not that the text is

giving us permission,

but if we take it to

do unspeakable evil,

but it's calling you

and me to pray a

particular prayer.

And it's very, very

interesting what it's

calling us to pray for.

Look at it again.

May the God of

endurance and

encouragement, and

don't we want that?

Don't we want to be

able to endure in

good things?

Don't we want to be

encouraged?

Like, the Bible here

is saying, call out to

God.

Get on your knees.

Fall on your face in

prayer.

Stand, if that's how

you like to pray, with

eyes open or closed and

your arms stretched out

to heaven like a

three-year-old child

wanting to be picked

up by his mommy,

because he loves his

mommy and he wants to

be held by his mommy.

Call out to God, our

Father.

And ask him to

grant us such

harmony with one

another in accord

with Christ Jesus.

This is so important

for us to hear.

So what is advice

about how to get

along with people?

If you go to a

party, what do they

tell you?

Don't bring up

religion.

Right?

In Canada, you want

to get along?

Don't bring up

religion.

And here's the great

problem that's always

been a problem in the

church.

It's the consistent

problem of the

church.

Churches can have

harmony around

idols.

Churches can have

harmony around the

idol of being of the

same social class.

We're all working

class here.

We don't have

anything to do with

those toffee-nosed

people who went to

Oxford and Cambridge.

We're all upper

class.

We don't have

anything to do with

it.

We're all white.

We don't have

anything to do with

the blacks.

We're all black.

We don't have

anything to do with

the whites.

We're all Asians.

It is possible for

churches to have

harmony around the

same views on

politics, the same

views on economics,

of being in the

same social class,

ethnic class, all

these things.

And it doesn't say

pray that you can

have harmony around

your idols.

It says pray that

you can have harmony

in accordance with

Christ Jesus.

Flee idols.

Flee these things

that cause so much

war and violence

and hatred in the

world.

To protect your

class.

To go after the

other social class.

To protect your

economic interest.

To go after the

economic interest.

To treat people of

a different color or

a different education

or a different

ethnicity or a

different, the one

you eat in different

ways as if they're

other, as if they're

people that we

should be afraid of.

Harmony in

accordance with

Christ Jesus.

That together,

you may with one

voice.

In the Greek, you

know what it says?

With one mouth.

One mouth.

One mouth.

Glorify the God

and Father of our

Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, welcome

one another as Christ

has welcomed you

for the glory of

God.

Can you just put

that up on the

screen, Andrew?

Look at the

therefore.

Therefore.

You know, don't

please yourself.

Look to the weak.

Think of Jesus.

Think of the Bible,

the hope and the

encouragement and

endurance that comes

from it.

Think of that.

Pray this prayer.

Therefore, welcome

one another as Christ

has welcomed you for

the glory of God.

And then the next

thing which we're

going to look at

very briefly.

You know what the

implication of these

next few verses is?

Here's the implication

that you and I should

be willing to get on

our knees and pray for

the day that there are

so many people who

come to Church of the

Messiah and call Church

of the Messiah their

church home.

There are so many

people who come to

this church whose

first name is

Mohammed.

That we have to

think of nicknames for

them to tell them

apart.

Because this text is

going to answer why

is it that God wants

us to share the

gospel across class

lines, across

educational lines,

ethnicity lines?

Why is it that he

wants to share the

gospel across lines of

sexuality, of politics,

of nation?

He wants more people

to know how good he is

and praise him.

He wants from every

social group, every

people group, every

ethnic group, he wants

people from every group

to know his goodness

and his mercy and

to praise him.

Listen to this.

He's going to tell you

now how God has kept

his word and he's

going to quote from

every major section of

the Tanakh, what we

call the Old Testament.

For I tell you that

Christ became a servant

of the circumcised to

show God's truthfulness

in order to confirm the

promises given to the

patriarchs and in order

that the Gentiles might

glorify God for his

mercy as it is written.

Therefore, I will praise

you among the pagans

and sing to your name.

And again, it is said,

rejoice, O pagans, with

his people.

And again, praise the

Lord, all you pagans, and

let all the peoples

extol him.

And again, Isaiah says,

the root of Jesse will

come, even he who

arises to rule the

pagans, and in him will

the pagans hope.

And then there's another

prayer.

I'm going to put up on

the screen later.

God's giving us another

prayer to pray, brothers

and sisters.

May the God of hope,

this is what we can pray

for each other, for

ourselves and for this

church.

May the God of hope fill

you with all joy and

peace in believing so

that by the power of the

Holy Spirit, you may

abound in hope.

You know what?

We can't have too much

hope.

We eat hope.

We drink hope.

We breathe hope.

And most of us are on a

diet.

We need more hope.

We need high-calorie,

sorry vegetarians, red-meated,

high-fat hope.

We need to breathe it.

The Bible is asking us to

pray for this.

Now what about this claim?

I mean, you can see a little

bit of why we don't have to

be worried that if you

understand what the Bible is

and who Jesus is, you don't

have to worry that the Bible is

going to tell you to do

unspeakable evil.

But the main reason is a part

that I hardly talked about at

all.

It's verses three and four.

Look at it again with me,

please.

For Christ did not please

himself, but as it is

written, the reproaches of

those who reproached you fell on

me.

Everything is going to fall,

everything about this,

looking from the strong to

the weak, for the basis of

prayer to understand the

scriptures, why we can

trust them.

They're all in a sense hinged

on Jesus and who he is and

what he did.

Look again.

For Christ did not please

himself, but as it is

written, the reproaches of

those who reproached you

fell on me.

If you're a non-Christian,

you hear one of the things

that you might not know

about Christians is that we

reproach God all the time.

You know what does

reproach mean?

Completely lost my place

in my notes, folks.

But anyway, there you go.

Reproach means to accuse

of moral failure, to express

disapproval, to express

disappointment, to blame,

to discredit, to rebuke.

God, I'm so disappointed you

didn't get me that job.

You know, I find the Bible

boring.

God, I blame you.

I mean, we might not come

out and say that, although

maybe we will, you know.

And the fact of the matter

is, is that the whole world

has reproaches and

accusations against God.

Imagine for a moment that

the world was to gather, all

the people were to gather

before God, before he does

his judgment on each human

being.

And they were to express

out loud their reproaches

against God and all of the

ways that God has failed,

that God can't possibly

understand.

And they might say, God,

how on earth could you

possibly understand what it

means to be human?

You're God.

You're up there.

You don't have bodily needs.

You can just do whatever you

want.

You can just, you can just

shut this down.

You can just raise this up.

You know, we can't, we can't

do anything to you.

We can't fight you.

We can't try to bring you

to court.

You can just do whatever

you want.

How on earth can you

possibly know what it

means?

And then maybe the cry would

go out.

And what does God know?

How on earth does he know

anything?

I wish that we could make

God to know these things.

Let him be the victim of

religious fanaticism, which

leads to lying and killing.

And then they, after they've

lied and they killed, they

wash their hands in

innocence.

Let him be born illegitimate.

Let him be born to a

despised subgroup in an

insignificant people group.

Let him be part of a

people group conquered by

an imperial power.

Let him not be well

educated or prosperous or

good looking.

Let him have to work at

poorly paid manual labor.

Let him lose his father

early.

Let him have a

dysfunctional family where

they do not support him or

believe in him like many of

us are.

Those who are, those who

find the whole sexuality

teaching so frustrating.

Let God, let him know what

it means to never know

sexual love.

Let him be rejected by his

half brothers and half

sisters.

Let him be misunderstood by

all.

Let him be hounded by

religious leaders and the

educational elite.

Let him be hounded by the

powerful.

Let him be arrested by the

authorities on trumped up

charges.

Let him be denied legal

counsel.

Let him be abandoned by his

friends.

Let him be beaten and

tortured.

Let him be publicly

humiliated, publicly made

naked, subject to public

ridicule, abuse and scarred.

Let him die of failure.

And then all the people would

be silenced.

The reproaches of those who

reproached you fell on me.

Andrew, could you put up Romans

1, 16 to 17?

Could you read it out loud?

I can't.

I'll try to read it with you.

For I am not ashamed of the

gospel.

For it is the power of God for

salvation to everyone who

believes.

To the Jew first and also to the

Greek.

For in the gospel the

righteousness of God is

revealed from faith to faith.

As it is written, the

righteous shall live by faith.

God does what is right to make

us right with himself.

And while human beings step on

the week, over the week, around

the week, away from the week, God

stepped towards us, weakened in

reproach, reproach and sin.

And he stepped towards us to

stoop to save us.

The same act by which he bore

our reproaches was the act by

which he bore our rebellion.

And took the doom which

properly belonged to each of us.

And dying and taking our doom, he

offered to us his destiny and his

place with the Father.

This act of human beings having

Jesus bear our reproach was the

means by which when we put our

faith and trust in Jesus, he

welcomes us.

That is his power to us if we

receive it by faith.

I'm just going to ask you all to

stand.

Andrew, could you put up the next

one?

It's the first prayer.

I'm going to invite you just to

Andrew's looking for it.

It's originally point six.

This is just an invitation to pray

these prayers with me.

I want to just encourage you right

now, if you've never given your

life to Jesus, there's no better

time than not to ignore in a sense

these prayers and just say,

Jesus, be my Savior.

Be my Lord.

I give myself to you.

Use your own words.

Your heart will lead you.

God's not looking for perfect

words.

But just say to him that you want to

be his.

And he'll take you.

He welcomes you.

He'll welcome you as his.

He turns no one away.

No matter how many reproaches you've

had against him, how successful or

broken your life, he will not turn you

away.

He will take you as his.

And you'll be his forever.

As we as a congregation, can we pray

these two prayers that God has written

for us?

Let's pray this first one.

God of endurance and encouragement,

please make us disciples of Jesus

gripped by the gospel who meditate upon

your word written.

Please grant us a Jesus-centered harmony

with one another, which flows into a

common praise of the God and Father of

our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Jesus' name, amen.

And the second prayer, God of hope,

please make us disciples of Jesus

gripped by the gospel who are filled

with joy and peace in knowing you.

Please help us to abound in hope by the

power of your Holy Spirit.

Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon

us.

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.

Draw, bring your word deeply into our

lives.

Father, help us to have the courage to be

honest with our questions and help us,

Father, to hear the cries of our city and

the cries of our nation, the cries of our

friends and the cries of our family.

Father, help us to hear their cries and be

unashamed of the gospel, unashamed of the

whole counsel of God, unashamed of you, to

pray for them, to lift them before you in

prayer, to share the gospel, to seek their

good.

Father, please use us in such a way.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus and all

God's people said, amen.

Amen.

Thank you.