How Spirituality and Religion Immunize People Against God

Father, we confess before you that we can get very impatient with you.

Father, we confess before you that in our culture, we like snappy slogans and really

easy to digest phrases and things that just make it, Father, so that we can at least think

we understand very quickly and easily without having to think.

And Father, we confess before you that that's what we're like.

That's partially how our culture has formed us.

And so, Father, we acknowledge that when we come to your word, that often we find it hard

to understand and difficult to understand.

And we confess before you, Father, that we're not patient with that and we're not humbled

by it, but we get frustrated with you.

And maybe, Father, we confess that we just skip over all those parts until we find a quote

we like that's easy for us to understand.

And we confess before you, Father, that we do this without even being aware that we

do it.

So, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would gently humble us and grant us penitent hearts,

Father.

Help us, Father, to be willing to have your word form us, that we might be made in the

image of Jesus as we dwell on your word.

And forgive us, Father, for trying to tame you and make you our pocket God that does what

we want when we want it.

So, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would do this work in our lives as we open your word

now.

And this we ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Is my battery dying, Andrew?

No?

Okay.

Okay.

So, just a bit of an aside.

You know, sometimes it can be odd for me.

This has nothing ever to do with the sound guys.

In fact, we should, after the service, I'll give the sound guy like a big round of applause

or offer to buy him a free coffee or something like that.

But sometimes what I hear is different from what you're hearing.

And that can sometimes just throw me off a little bit.

And obviously, anyway, there you go.

So, this week, you know, it's really funny.

I always pray every day for my sermon.

And I pray as I'm reading the Bible.

And I ask God to help me to understand the Bible.

And this week, actually, the text which Laurie just read a few moments ago, I found it to

be quite a hard text to understand.

I'll be honest with you.

I found it hard to understand.

And, like, about two or three weeks ago, I had to talk about one of the clearest texts

about homosexuality in the Bible.

And actually, ironically, that text was really, really, really, really easy to understand.

But it required lots of thought in terms of how I would talk about it in a place like

Ottawa in 2015.

But this text was just hard to understand.

And then, in the process of trying to understand, something odd happened to me this week.

I don't know if you notice it, but when I come up to the front, I have this, like, journal

notebook.

And I do all my notes.

If you were to come and see me working on my sermon, you'd see me with a pen.

I know it's very, very old-fashioned, but a pen in this book.

And you'd see me reading and making these handwritten scrawls here.

So on Saturday, when I was coming in to do some more work on my sermon, and I was in

a Starbucks, this couple looked like they were in their late 30s, early 40s.

They'd looked like they'd maybe just, one of them looked like they'd come maybe from a

yoga workout, because they had, or maybe Pilates or something.

They had the yoga mat.

And so they sit beside me, and the woman sees me with a journal like this.

And I'm, you know, looking out the window, and I'm thinking, and I'm writing things down.

And she said, wow, that's really neat that you don't see many people anymore who actually

just use pen and paper and write in journals like this.

Like, that's really neat.

Like, what are you doing?

Like, what are you writing about?

Now, here's what goes through my mind.

Like, she's paying me a compliment, right?

Like, she's basically saying, you must be deep.

Like, you're not like all these other people just with their computers.

Like, you're deep, thinking deep things, probably getting in touch with your feelings or your past.

And so I have to confess that it's a great temptation to say, oh, you know, I'm just really trying to think through things in life.

And I just like working with pen and paper.

And who knows, we'd have a conversation, and she'd go away thinking, wow, that's a deep man.

And I struggle because, you know, in fact, I'm looking at the Bible text, and I'm thinking about Romans 1, 16 to 17, and I'm going to preach a sermon.

And I struggle.

I have to confess that it was very powerful temptation for me to not say that I was working on a sermon.

And I was, it's funny, you know, it's almost like I'm going in slow motion, because the whole thing, she wouldn't have even noticed a pause.

But inside of me, I can feel this huge pressure not to say that I'm working on a sermon, but to try to have her think, and the fellow think very well of me, have the two of them think well of me.

And so I say, well, I'm, actually, all week I've been reading the Bible, and I'm sort of reading the Bible now, and I have, I make notes as I try to think through what the Bible is teaching me,

because I'm going to preach a sermon tomorrow, and I'm trying to work on my sermon.

That's what I said to her, to the couple.

And as soon as I said that, you could see the light in their eyes and their facial expression change.

Like, it was like, oh, you're one of those.

And I, and off you go.

I mean, and then the conversation ended.

In fact, to tell somebody that you're reading the Bible and want to preach a sermon is often how you stop conversations, not how you start them.

Not all the time, obviously, as you know.

And I mention that because it struck me that, that in some ways, God, I think, orchestrated that conversation to have that couple sit beside me.

And it both reveals my own heart, how I desire to be flattered and to be thought well of of the world, and how I can start to be ashamed of the gospel.

And it's a telling moment about myself.

But it's, the fact of the matter is, is that, you know, for many people in our culture, people who go to church, that's not a, not often a sign of, of health and maturity.

That people want to emulate us.

Now, you're probably saying, George, this is Thanksgiving Sunday.

You've just depressed the heck out of us.

Like, here we are in here.

And, by the way, I, I, I understand increasingly in our culture, I appreciate every person who's come on a Sunday morning.

You make big choices.

There's lots of other things.

And there's lots of easy drifts in our culture to do something else.

So I'm very, very appreciative of the fact that, that we're all here together this morning to be able to meet with Jesus in the presence of his people.

But we know that many people in our culture see the church and the Bible as something toxic, not as something healthy.

And it's interesting that this odd Bible text, which probably, as you were listening to it, you're thinking, what on earth is he talking about?

That, in fact, this Bible text is a warning from the Bible about how the Bible and Bible knowledge and baptism and church attendance can, in fact, be toxic.

That there's, in fact, ways of being involved in all of these things that act to immunize us against God.

And immunize us against God in, in a form of self-justification and self-righteousness that people will find abhorrent and poisonous and want to run from.

That's, in fact, what the text is largely about.

So it'd be a great help to me if you were to get your Bibles and turn in them to, to Romans.

Actually, and while you're turning to Romans chapter 2, Andrew, could you put up Romans 1 for, for us?

Romans 2 · chapter mention

I'm going to have you, if you could read this with me in a moment.

Those of you who've been coming here regularly, the way the book of Romans is written is the first seven verses sort of talk about a lot of the themes in the book.

And then Paul has some very personal types of comments.

And then it's almost as if in verse 16 and 17, those of you who are in university or have to read university papers,

it's almost as if Paul gives an abstract of the entire book in two verses.

And so week in, week out, we're going to keep sort of cycling back to this verse because it helps us to understand what's going on in the book.

If we realize that everything in the book is unpacking and helping us to understand these two verses.

So if you would read them with me, that would be great.

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.

So now, if you have your Bibles open, let's hear what Paul says in Romans 2.

Mindful that somehow or another, this that we're reading here, somehow or another serves Romans 1, 16 to 17.

So Romans chapter 2, beginning at verse 17.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent,

because you're instructed from the law,

And if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth.

One second, just want to pause here for a second.

I'm going to go back and we're going to reread this.

I'm going to read it again a second time.

But one of the things that we have to do to help us to understand what Paul is saying is we have to make a word substitution here.

And I'm not saying this because I'm trying to devalue people who are Jewish,

but this text doesn't have any sting to us.

And the text is supposed to have some sting.

And in fact, for some of us who are anti-Semitic, it's just, oh yeah, those Jewish people.

Yeah, yeah, Paul.

Yeah, you know, yeah, Bible.

Get on those Jewish people.

And so for some people, it ends up just being something that allows us to point fingers at somebody else.

And the Bible is never written so that we can point a finger at somebody else.

It's never written for us to point fingers.

And so we need to have a bit of a sense here about what Paul's doing.

And so we're going to make a word substitution because Paul is talking about how good things that God has actually provided get twisted by us

and end up making us abhorrent to people outside and end up actually keeping God far away.

It's like those of you who took the early alpha courses.

And so we're going to make a word for us.

It ends up just being a way to keep God at a distance.

So what we're going to do is that when we read the word Jew, I'm going to say Anglican.

And if you're a guest here this morning, you're Roman Catholic, what you should do is you should say Roman Catholic.

And if you're a guest here this morning and you're from a Pentecostal church, you should say Pentecostal to yourself.

And if you're Baptist, you should say Baptist.

And if you think that your denomination doesn't fit here, then this text is really for you.

Like God has led you here this morning just to realize that, you know, Reformed Presbyterian can't put that in.

Yes, you've got to put in Reformed Presbyterian, whatever it is.

I'm going to say Anglican because it would actually be really rude for me to say Baptist when I'm an Anglican.

So I'm going to say Anglican.

So now listen to this text now in light of this.

It will actually start to make a little bit more.

It's still going to be confusing, a bit dark, but it will make a bit more sense.

So Romans 2, 17.

But if you call yourself an Anglican and rely on the Bible and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the Bible.

And if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the Bible the embodiment of knowledge and truth.

You then who teach others.

Do you not teach yourself while you preach against stealing?

Do you steal?

You who say that one must not commit adultery.

Do you commit adultery?

You who abhor idols.

Do you rob temples?

You who boast in the Bible dishonor God by breaking what the Bible says.

For as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed amongst people who hang out in bars because of you.

Now that's in terms of a bit of a different text and some of us might be a little bit insulted by it.

But it becomes a different text when we put ourselves into it rather than thinking about how it refers to somebody else.

Andrew, could you put up the first point for me, please?

Baptism, church attendance, and Bible knowledge can immunize me against God.

Baptism, church attendance, and Bible knowledge can immunize me against God.

See, part of the problem with this text is, like, many of the things in this text are good things.

Like, shouldn't we rely on the Bible?

And shouldn't we try to know what his will is?

And shouldn't we try to approve what is excellent?

And shouldn't we be instructed by the Bible?

And if we've done that, shouldn't we be willing to talk to the blind and try to bring light into darkness?

And shouldn't we try to be a teacher of the foolish and a teacher of children?

And shouldn't we acknowledge that the Bible is the embodiment of knowledge and truth?

Like, George, isn't that what it's supposed to be?

Well, it is.

And part of the key in the text is the two things.

It's how the text ends and how the text begins.

You see, the fact of the matter is that sometimes the Bible really is very hard for us to understand.

Like, the Bible isn't just put out by some slick marketing guy or gal who's trying to figure out how to get a good Twitter thing that will be in 120 characters so that it can be retweeted and easily digestible.

And the fact that some parts of the Bible just require us to really think about it.

And sometimes it requires us to seek, like I had to seek the guidance of older, wiser Christians who knew the languages and all to try to get a bit of a handle on what it's talking about.

But it can be very, very, it can be difficult.

But in the beginning of the text, it talks about relying on the Bible and boasting in God.

And at the end of the text, it obviously is the case that they're relying on the Bible and boasting in God in a way that it shouldn't be.

And so here's a little bit about what it's a very, very fine line.

It's as if you're going along a mountain ridge and you can go down one side or the other.

And it makes a big difference whether you're going down one side or the other.

Maybe one side is into the wilderness where you'll get lost and end up suffering grievous harm.

And the other side is where you'll go back to where your campsite is and you'll have a wonderful meal with your friends and just be so happy that you've had a wonderful day.

And, you know, it's a little bit of a way to maybe get at it is two different ways to boast in your wife.

I'm going to use that as an example because I'm a man.

I am so grateful that Louise has put up with me for 34 years.

In a couple of weeks, we'll have our 34th anniversary.

In late September, 40 years ago in late September was the first time I ever laid eyes on her.

And I thought she was the most lovely person I'd ever seen.

And I really wanted to meet her.

And I still think she's the most lovely person.

And I'm just so glad that she's married to me and she's put up with me.

And it fills me with gratitude.

It really does.

And I've probably embarrassed her and she'll be upset with me afterwards.

But hopefully she's not too upset because it's true and it's heartfelt.

How does a man with a trophy wife talk about his wife?

Very, very different.

A rich man with a trophy wife will boast in his wife in a very, very, very different way.

Both will talk about how excellent their wives are.

But everything about it is completely different.

And, you know, relying on the law and relying on the Bible.

See, here's the thing that the Bible is going to get.

I'm going to try to give you another illustration about this.

Imagine for a second that I was to write out for my kids.

Louise and I, let's say, we're going to be gone for, let's say we're going for a month or two.

And, like, when we were in our previous church, we lived in a rectory.

And so people would drop around all, you know, would drop around.

And quite a bit.

In fact, sometimes they would just come and walk into our house without knocking.

But that's a separate story.

Louise would come downstairs.

There's somebody sitting in our living room.

But that's a whole other story.

Anyway, so imagine that we sit down and we write out a list of instructions about how it is that you handle guests.

And the kids get all excited.

And every day they read the instructions about handle guests.

And every day they go through brief ceremonies or rituals about how to handle guests.

I'll be the guest.

This is what you say.

And then you say this.

And I say this.

And you say this.

And I say this.

And actually, it becomes, in a sense, part of their identity.

It's something that helps to form and structure their day.

That every day they read about from the letter from dad and mom about how to handle guests and what to do when guests come.

But then when a guest actually comes, they might hate it.

Because guests are messy.

They don't follow the script.

They show up.

They sit in your room.

You know, it's a lot easier just to read the instructions about handling guests.

And having ritual and reenacting how you should handle guests.

For some people, it becomes that that's what they really like.

But actually, having a guest is a pain in the butt.

And that's what can happen with God.

You know, it can be, and I'm going to use an Anglican example, that Anglicans can get all caught up.

You would not believe the controversies that can happen about, you know, in the Lord's Supper and what words you should say after the words of institution.

And whether the Gloria, we don't do the Gloria, so some of you don't even know what that is.

Whether the Gloria for a communion service should be at the beginning of the service or whether it should be at the end.

And whether you should wear this robe or that robe, or whether you should lift your hands this much or this much, or not lift your hands at all.

Or whether you should bow or never bow.

And there's a whole pile of big things about it.

But the fact of the matter is, why did Jesus institute baptism?

I mean, sorry, the Lord's Supper.

Why did he institute Lord's Supper?

It was the whole, if you read the whole gospel, the implication is that when we celebrate communion later on, that Jesus is present.

The Bible says that we're two or more present.

Jesus is in their midst.

It's all about, we gather to be present with Jesus in the company of his people.

And you do communion to remember that Jesus died on the cross for us.

That when we put our faith and trust in Jesus, we enter into a covenant that Jesus has made available for people like us to enter into a covenant.

And that God will never let us go and that Jesus is coming back.

And it's all about Jesus.

It's not just about us following instructions about it.

Like, in a sense, it's all about being open to God.

That God might actually show up.

That God might actually be real.

And so what this text is saying is that there's ways.

And in fact, actually, later on in Romans chapter 10, you can look at it if you want.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 10, verse 4.

Romans 10:4

Paul, in fact, like, because he keeps following up his argument.

He says that Christ is the end of the law.

That everything in the Old Testament is pointing to Jesus.

Everything in the Old Testament is pointing to the fact that God would send a deliverer and that that's Jesus.

Everything is all about that and receiving him.

Not just going through ceremonies to enact what happens when the Messiah comes,

but that when the Messiah comes that you recognize him and you receive him.

The guest shows up.

And he's sovereign and he's messy.

But everything's about him.

Everything's about him.

And so this Bible text is saying that, you know, we can be baptized, we can attend church,

and we can know the Bible, and there's ways of doing that that actually immunize us against God.

That it ends up being that the Bible and baptism and church attendance ends up becoming a way of justifying yourself

and me justifying myself, and it's all about my self-righteousness,

and it's all about me being moral and me being moral in the ways that I want to be moral,

and it ends up sort of being all about me or my tribe

and not about God.

And this is true of liberal churches, which have their own problems,

but it's also, it can end up being in Orthodox churches.

Like, it's really odd.

Like, in many Reform-type churches, which talk about election,

and election is this wonderful truth that God actually calls us.

It's that when we, like, if today the Holy Spirit is putting a pressure on you

and you realize that it's time for you to give your life to Jesus,

it's never that you think of this before God does,

but that God is always calling you.

That every single person you meet today,

even if they complete, even if the mention of God makes them fly into a rage,

that you will not meet a single person today

that God, in a sense, is not right beside them saying,

I've sent my son to die for you.

I'm really hoping that you will turn to him and come to me

so that you can be my adopted child and I can be your heavenly father.

You will not meet a single person that God is not calling that to.

But for some people, the doctrine of election ends up becoming something

that you have to try to figure out what you have to do

to show that you're elected or have a particular feeling.

And in an odd way, that whole doctrine of election

ends up being a way to immunize us against God,

to sort of justify us doing all sorts of things

that we just completely miss it.

But it becomes a way of keeping God distant

because we're looking for the proof of it or something,

or we have to feel it,

or we have to be worthy of it,

and it has nothing to do with worthiness,

has nothing to do with any of those things,

and it becomes a doctrine that keeps us far from God.

You could go on and on and on and on,

that unless you have the certain feelings and certain,

you know, in certain traditions,

I was at a Christian weekend a couple of weeks,

a couple of years ago,

and it really struck me that people there,

unless they felt they had an emotional experience

that involved tears,

that they could not know that God loved them

or that Jesus was their Savior.

And it ended up being a very odd type of time

where you could really see that they spent the whole time

trying to work up certain experiences and feelings.

And they might be horrified to think

that they've taken the Bible

and their confidence in the Bible

and used it in such a way to actually keep God distant.

Now they're looking for a certain experience,

not Jesus,

not God.

And in fact, they'd look down their noses

at people who say that they've come to trust Jesus

as their Savior and their Lord,

who haven't wept those tears or had that experience.

It would lead them to feel superior

and look down their nose.

Just as many Anglicans will look down their nose

and feel superior at others

because they don't wear the robes,

they don't have the liturgy,

they don't have this.

There's an old joke that we Anglicans

are very, very open-minded.

We understand that many people worship God

in whatever way that they choose

and we worship whatever way that makes right to them

and we worship God in the way

that he's told us to worship God.

So, you know, we're following God

and the rest just are following their own.

It's all sorts of ways

to look down your nose at other people

and therefore, you're actually hearing the Bible

and using church membership

and good Bible knowledge to be superior,

to make yourself right with God,

to look down the nose of others

and keep God distant.

So, some of you might say,

oh, by the way,

just that one little phrase

about robbing temples,

what that's all about is

that we know,

we all know

that we shouldn't have an idol up here.

We shouldn't have Venus

or Zeus

or Hermes

or Adonis

or any of these other Greek gods

and goddesses up here.

We all know that that's,

we should never have that.

But how many of us

throughout the week

worship Venus?

I mean, what's pornography about

other than worshipping the goddess Venus

and the goddess Eros

and paying them homage

and serving them?

And we would never have a statue

for mammon up here,

but how many of us,

and it's not necessarily

the people with more money,

how many of us, in fact,

worship the god mammon

and pay him homage?

One of the guys

that gives me a hard time

at Starbucks,

he, whenever I see him

with his Lotto 649 tickets,

you can see why I don't make any,

nobody comes to faith through me,

I say to him,

ah, you're worshipping

the goddess Fortune today,

paying her homage

with your Lotto 649 tickets.

And he gets grumpy

and he'll come back at me

later on about something,

but we don't go to temples

to worship them,

but do we secretly

come in to rob them

so that in the secret places

of our heart

we worship those idols?

You see,

in all of these things,

what Paul,

this is all part of a long argument

from Paul,

and a long argument

from Paul

is that we need

a righteousness from God

that will make us right with God,

that we need God to act

because we can't fix ourselves

to make ourselves right with God.

We need God to act.

There is no way

that we can make ourselves

right with God,

and that that's not only true

for people who are part

of the gay pride parade,

and it's not only true

for people who are,

every night they're closing the bar

and they stagger home drunk,

but it's also true

for people who go

to Reformed Presbyterian churches

and Pentecostal churches

and Vineyard churches

and Anglican churches,

that everybody

has to understand

that they need God

and they have to receive

something that only God

can do for them.

Everybody has to,

and that's what Paul's trying to,

he's going through

a whole series

of different scenarios,

trying to leave nobody out,

that they will come

to realize that unless God

acts with effective power

in a way that's right,

we can't be right with God.

God has to act

with effective power

in a way that is right,

to make us right with himself,

and he's done it in Jesus.

So some of you might say,

George, this is,

okay, well,

this is a different take,

and I know you're going to talk

about the next few verses,

but George,

are you saying

that you sin less

than other people?

Like, you're talking

as if you understand

this text,

and you've seen

through what's going on.

Are you saying

you're superior

because you've seen

what's going on?

That's, by the way,

always a great temptation

for us.

It's one of the things

that just shows us

the depth of our sin

is that even at moments

when we have

a real aha moment

and breakthrough with God

that instantly

we can feel better

than other people.

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

But are you saying, George,

that you sin less?

Or that people

who hear this sermon

are going to sin less

than other people?

And if I'm reading

this correctly,

isn't the Bible

warning people against you?

In fact, George,

are you saying

that the Bible

is one of those

really, really cynical texts

that warns people

against itself

and is sort of like

just a really cynical

type of thing?

No, that's...

This is where

seeing the really weird thing,

because this was already...

The first few verses

are just puzzling.

But all of a sudden,

it seems to us

that out of the blue,

God's...

Paul's talking about circumcision.

How does circumcision

help this text,

this dilemma?

And it's like

a puzzling type of thing.

And it's...

Here's one of those things

where the parts of the Bible

sometimes that are most weird

can often be the type

that the texts

that are actually going to help us

to get to understand

if we're patient with them.

So let's look at Romans.

This...

What happens?

So Paul's...

Romans 17 to 24,

chapter 2,

now verse 25 and following,

where he talks about circumcision.

It goes like this.

For circumcision...

So it's just gone

verse 24.

Remember,

for as it is written,

the name of God

is blasphemed

among the Gentiles

because of you.

That's one of the literary clues

to help us to understand

that all those good things

that he was talking about,

that somehow these good things

have gotten rotten.

they've gone putrid,

that there's something in there

which is of death

because, you know,

the Bible's telling him

to re-look at these things

and try to understand these things

because verse 24,

and he quotes the Bible

to let us know

that this is the case.

And so verse 25,

he continues,

for...

In other words,

it's following on from this.

For circumcision indeed

is a value

if you obey the law.

But if you break the law,

your circumcision

becomes uncircumcision.

But one moment,

just before we read any further,

we already understand

that nobody keeps the law.

Does that mean

that everybody's uncircumcised?

That everybody...

And maybe here,

if you're gonna...

And later on we'll see,

but...

Well, I'll just read

with circumcision,

but you might want to put

in the word baptism there

rather than circumcision.

So if a man

who is uncircumcised,

verse 26,

keeps the precepts of the law,

will not his uncircumcision

be regarded as circumcision?

Then he who is physically

uncircumcised

but keeps the law

will condemn

you who have the written code.

And here what this word

condemn means is

not that they're a judge,

but that they give evidence.

That's what it means here.

In other words,

it would be as if...

One of the things,

if you...

I don't know how many of you

have ever lived

in really small towns,

like really small towns.

When we lived in Eganville,

I think they advertised

a population of 2,000,

but it was probably

less than that.

And there was this young guy

that our family knew,

and he was getting a little bit,

putting on a little bit of weight.

He was only like 13 or 12

or something like that.

And his parents told him

that he wasn't allowed

to eat potato chips

and other types of things.

And I guess all the time

they would tell him,

you're not allowed

to eat these things

after school.

So one day,

he'd bought himself

a big bag of potato chips.

And on his way home,

he stopped,

and it was a nice sunny day,

and he stopped at a bench

and he ate the bag

of potato chips.

He didn't realize

that a photographer

from the Eganville Leader

took a picture of him

eating a bag of potato chips

on a sunny spring afternoon.

I think it was spring.

And so, you know,

he's like an 11-year-old,

12-year-old,

whatever he was.

He never read

the Eganville Leader.

And so, you know,

the Eganville Leader

comes out a couple of days

from now,

and his mom says,

oh, I almost said

the guy's name,

which would be bad.

Oh, son,

you know we've told you

not to eat bags

of potato chips

on your way home.

You don't do that.

No, no, mom.

I don't do that at all.

Well, look what's here

in the Eganville Leader.

Who's this person

eating potato chips

in the afternoon

on their way home?

So this, in a sense,

that picture condemns him.

In other words,

by giving evidence.

And that's what's meant here.

Okay, that's how

you have to understand it.

So when it says here

in verse 27,

so verse 26,

so if a man

who is uncircumcised

keeps the precepts

of the law,

will not his uncircumcision

be regarded as circumcision?

We'll talk about that

in a moment.

But then verse 27,

then he who is physically

uncircumcised

but keeps the law

will condemn

you who have

the written code

and uncircumcision

but break the law.

In other words,

what it's saying here

is that in heaven,

there'll be lots of people

in heaven

who've given their lives

to Jesus

but they've never

been baptized.

Okay, and in heaven

and in hell,

there'll be lots of people

who are baptized

but haven't given

their life to Jesus.

That's to sort of

make it a little bit more

like relevant to us.

If you've given

your life to Jesus,

you should be baptized,

by the way.

You should seek

to be obedient to baptism.

But there'll be people

in heaven

who've given their lives

to Jesus,

never got around

to baptism

or whatever happened,

just didn't happen,

but they're in heaven

because the key thing

is something that went on

in the center

of who you are.

Not whether or not

water got,

you know,

not whether or not,

oh, you know,

you weren't really baptized

because you got baptized

as an infant

because you didn't go

underneath the water

the proper way

or, you know,

like it's not about

somehow getting the water

thing right

or even the water

itself

that the relevance of that

has to do with

something internal.

That's what the Bible

is trying to get at.

Verse 28,

for no one is a Jew,

no one is an Anglican

who is merely one outwardly,

nor is circumcision

or baptism

outward and physical,

but an Anglican

is one inwardly,

but actually here really

a member of the covenant people,

that's here where

it breaks down,

is one inwardly

and circumcision

or baptism

is a matter of the heart

by the Holy Spirit,

not by the letter.

His and her praise

is not from human beings

but from God.

So here,

if you could put up

the next point, Andrew,

my heart

needs to be circumcised

and baptized.

The Bible says,

my heart

needs to be circumcised

and baptized.

And by the way,

Paul will later on

in Romans 6

make this connection

between baptism

and circumcision himself.

But as you'll see

in a moment,

it's saying that

my heart

needs to be circumcised.

My heart

needs to be baptized.

but when I say this,

remember I began

this sermon

with the story

of me in the Starbucks

and this couple,

both but 40,

yoga mats

and sort of

complimenting me

in a sense,

wanting to start

a conversation with me

because I must be deep

and more authentic

because I'm writing

in a journal

with a pen.

pen,

I just can't type

actually.

I do like paper

and pen

and that's partially

because I'm old

and I can't type.

So is this text

saying,

George,

you've just got

to be more deep?

You've got to be

more deep.

But that's what it means

when I say that

my heart needs

to be circumcised

and baptized.

Is that just saying

that you can't be

just focused on externals?

It is partially saying that

but you've got to be deeper

as a person

and you've got to get

in touch with your feelings

and maybe get in touch

with your body

and you've got to be

in touch with your history

and you've got to be

more reflective

and you've got to think

about your family

of origin

and is that what

this text is saying?

Not at all.

Not even remotely.

Not even remotely.

Andrew,

could you put up

the next point?

The first point

was that

the point just before this

was that my heart

needs to be circumcised

and baptized

but the text

is trying to get us

to understand

that only the Holy Spirit

can circumcise

and baptize

my heart.

A journal and a pen

doesn't baptize

my heart.

A yoga mat

doesn't baptize

my heart.

taking communion

in and of itself

doesn't baptize

my heart.

Doesn't circumcise

my heart.

Look at verse 29

again.

But a Jew

or an Anglican

or a Christian

is one inwardly

and circumcision

is a matter of the heart

by the Holy Spirit

not by the letter.

His praise

is not from man

or human beings

but from God.

See,

we have to understand

the heart

here doesn't mean

feelings.

I've heard

lots of Christians

say that the biggest

journey in the

Christian faith

I should have

measured it.

I can't remember

if it's 12 inches

from here to here

or 18 inches.

I know some people

have really long necks

but whatever

some people

I don't know

is that a foot

or 18 inches?

Well, I'll say a foot

but maybe it's more.

They say the longest

journey in the Christian faith

where the Christian faith

begins is where

the 12 inch journey

from here to here

and what they mean

is that you have feelings.

That's not reading

the text correctly.

It's not telling you

to have certain feelings.

That's actually

sort of a real trap

that a lot of Christians

fall into

to try to have

the right feelings.

The heart

in the Bible

is always the command

center of who you are.

The command center

of who you are.

And, you know,

that command center

it's partially

it's, you know,

how you understand

what to do

is partially

from feelings

partially from

you know,

emotions

partially from

a sense of beauty

or a sense of love

and partially

sometimes it's a matter

of thinking

sometimes it's a matter

of knowing

what's right and wrong.

There's a variety

of things that

work at the command center

of who we are

because human beings

are deep and complex

and emotions

and the mind

and morals

and beauty

all have an impact

in terms of us

making decisions

but the heart

doesn't refer to

a certain type

of feeling

it's always referring

to the command center

of who we are.

And this image

of circumcision

which is so weird

so it's seen

that the command center

of who Sinclair is

has to be circumcised.

In the ancient world

when the Jewish people

were first given

the right of circumcision

there were other

ancient peoples

that practiced circumcision

pagans who practiced

circumcision

and when they practiced

circumcision

I mean scholars

now looking back on it

and trying to read

the documents

think that it symbolized

one of two things.

It symbolized

in a sense

a token of human sacrifice

that when that part

of the male anatomy

was cut off

it's symbolizing

that a human being

has died for you

and sometimes

it was used

to symbolize

they think

that the power

of life

that that's sacrificed

on your behalf.

But for the Jewish people

when they're given

the right of circumcision

in Genesis chapter 17

Genesis 17 · chapter mention

and then later on

in the law

they're given

the right of circumcision

and it's all

from a different

it's all within

the context

of a covenant

and it's very interesting

it's in your groin

and grace

if you look at

Genesis 15

and then read

Genesis 17

you get both

aspects of it

but it's as if

God enters into

a relationship

with the people

of Israel

and within this

relationship

he says

I will be your God

and you will be

my people

and if you

don't act

as my people

then there's going

to be these punishments

these things

that will befall you

if you break

a covenant

with me

if you break

the ten commandments

if you break

them with me

and there's this scene

in Genesis 15

where an animal

is killed

and the parts

of the animal

are set in both sides

and then you have

this symbolic

acting out

as if they walk

between the killed

parts of the animal

and then in Genesis 17

it's all come

to a conclusion

as circumcision

is given to them

and circumcision

is in a sense

an acting out

of the covenant

that if you fail

to keep this covenant

with God

you are circumcised

to say

I will enter

into covenant

with you God

you will be my God

I will be your child

and I know

that you will provide

for me

and you will do this

and if I break

the covenant

I will be cut off

I will be like

this dead animal

that's killed

and

actually

could you put up

Romans 1 16 to 17

you want to say this

with me please

this is where

we have to understand

now why the circumcision

image comes here

I know it's 40 minutes

I have to wrap this up

could you read this

with me

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

so what we see

in this text

is that

it is the power

of God

that God

needs to act

with effective power

and he needs

to act

with effective power

in a way

that's right

and he has to act

with effective power

in a way

that's right

to make us

right with him

and we're going

to understand

and receive this

by faith

in other words

not by anything

that we've done

but by God

doing something

for us

that we can't

do ourselves

so what is it

that we understand

about the person

of Jesus

person of Jesus

is he's come

from God

and he gets

cut off

on our behalf

in a sense

he

circumcision

is like reading

the instructions

of the coming

of the guests

but when Jesus

dies upon the cross

before that

in John's gospel

he's introduced

as the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world

and on the cross

Jesus cries out

my God

my God

why hast thou

forsaken me

and Jesus

is cut off

from God

not because of

what he has done

in and of himself

but he dies

in my place

I deserve

to be cut off

from God

because I have

broken and violated

his moral laws

I have used

even the Bible

in a way

to further

my self-righteousness

and my boasting

in myself

and I have used

the Bible

even the good things

that come from him

in such a way

and I deserve

to be cut off

from God

I am cut off

from God

and Jesus

is cut off

from God

in my stead

so that when I put

my faith and trust

in Jesus

he took

my cut offness

and in exchange

offers me

his status

as God's child

God's son

and what he does

for me

in the cross

has to be applied

to me

only God can do it

and the Holy Spirit

does it

by in a sense

circumcising

my heart

what he does

for me

enters into me

as I enter

into him

what's the symbolism

of baptism

the symbolism

of baptism

which takes

the place

of circumcision

is that

I deserve

death

I will die

and I deserve

to die

and I am

separate from God

and I deserve

to be eternally

separate from God

and I can't fix

that myself

and most of the time

I don't even want

to fix it

and Jesus

takes my death

and my doom

and dies

my death

and my doom

and if I put

my arms out

to him

he reaches down

from heaven

and takes me

to himself

and in that

unbelievable exchange

of faith

because I can't

even reach up

to Jesus

my arms are way

too small

but he can reach

me

and when he

reaches me

he takes

the death

and the doom

that I deserve

and on the cross

he dies

my death

he takes

upon himself

my doom

and as he

holds me

he gives me

his life

and his status

as God's child

forever

and that has

to come

only God

can do that

and put that

into the command

center of my life

the center

of who I am

Andrew

could you put up

the fourth point

please

having a circumcised

heart

does not mean

that I sin less

than other people

it means that I

by sheer grace

have been made

right with God

through Jesus Christ

having a circumcised

heart

does not mean

that I sin less

than other people

it means that I

by sheer grace

have been made

right with God

through Jesus Christ

God acts

with effective

power

in a way

that is right

to make me

right with himself

and as the gospel

grips us

this deep

seated

temptation

within us

to justify

ourselves

to keep

God

at a distance

you see the problem

is that when

religion

becomes

when church

membership

and baptism

in the Bible

all ends up

becoming a means

by which

we in a sense

are trying to

make ourselves

right with God

then when

sin

comes before us

well we're

completely and

utterly caught

because it

means that our

whole status

with God

is completely

and utterly

in question

and ruined

so we pretend

that we don't

we deny

we explain away

we ignore

we repress

we do all of

those types of

things because

we can't actually

face the fact

that we're doing

wrong

and that our

whole project

of trying to

make ourselves

right with God

is doomed

to failure

but as the gospel

grips us

there's this

odd dynamic

that can go

on in our

lives

as the gospel

grips us

as it grips

us

that we can

never make

ourselves

right with

God

that our

sanctification

is not our

justification

that we're

justified

and that only

God can make

us right with

himself

as that grips

us

that nothing

in my hands

I bring

simply to the

cross I cling

as that grips

us

and as people

point out

George you're

a sinner

do you know

what you did

do you know

whatever that

thought or that

thing that you

said

I mean part

of me wants

to deny

part of me

wants to

repress

part of me

but as the

gospel grips

me I can

say yes

I did that

that's why I

need a savior

that's why I

need a savior

and I am so

glad I am so

grateful that my

right standing

with God does

not depend upon

what I've done

I know it can

be hard for my

ego to be

acknowledged once

again that I've

done wrong

but there can be

this on one

hand desire to

make myself

to say to

God I'm

sorry but at

the same time

a growing

confidence that

that is yet

again proof that

I need a savior

that I'm gripped

by Jesus when I'm

gripped by the

gospel

let's stand

please

I meant what I

said earlier

we'll talk in a

couple of weeks

about the

doctrine of

election but the

way to understand

the doctrine of

election is that

every single

person that you

meet today

every single

person God is

in a sense right

beside them

talking to them

and say I

so long for

you to get

off of trying

to make yourself

righteous I

long for you to

come with empty

hands to your to

my son so that I

will be your God

and you will be my

people I so long

for you to call

out to me to do

what only I can

do and I will

baptize the command

center the center

of who you are

I will circumcise

I will deal with

all of that I

will do that and

there is no person

that we meet today

that God is not

already calling to

them and he's

calling to you

and if you've been

trying to keep God

at a distance there's

no better time than

right now to rather

than keeping him at

a distance but to

stand with empty

hands and say

father with empty

hands I come

please baptize

with your

but may your

Holy Spirit

baptize my heart

may your Holy

Spirit circumcise

my heart may what

Jesus has done for

me on the cross

may that come

and define now

who I am

whatever your words

are even if it's

just you just say

Romans 1 16 to

17 again and then

say father make

that real in me

today there's no

better time than

today to do that

let's bow our

heads in prayer

father thank you

for the baptism

of the Holy

Spirit thank you

that the Holy

Spirit will

circumcise all

who call to you

in faith humbly

coming to you to

ask you to do

what only you can

do thank you for

Jesus thank you

for his death

upon the cross

thank you that you

will respond to

all who call

thank you father

that we don't

have to wait to

feel that we're

the elect we

don't have to

feel wait until

we feel that

we've that we're

good enough that

we're together

enough that we

don't have to

wait until we

were able to

fool people about

what our past

was like or what

our present is

like father we

are so grateful

that we can come

to you right now

in a sense naked

before you and

that we can come

to you and call

out to you and

ask maybe for the

first time in our

life that that the

Holy Spirit would

come and baptize

our heart circumcise

our heart that

Jesus would be our

Savior and Lord

and father for those

of us who've

already made that

transaction father

thank you that you

remind us again that

we need Jesus that

we need grace that

it's all grace

father forgive us for

our self-righteousness

and boasting thank

you father for what

Jesus has done for us

on the cross

make me make us

disciples of Jesus

gripped by the

gospel who live for

your glory

humbly facing

ourselves in light of

the cross

this we ask in

Jesus's name

amen