The Glory Of The Ordinary

I want to talk this morning about the glory of the ordinary.

The glory of the ordinary.

Or as I shared with Dennis before, the glordinary.

Don't title it that unless you want to.

I don't care.

I blame it on Charles Spurgeon.

Thank you, love.

He said if you're not regularly creating new words, then what are you even doing with the English language?

That's my paraphrase of him.

So we have apostologic, which is Paul's way of thinking.

That's another combined word.

A man can't be an elder in the church if he can't manage his own home.

Can't manage the house of God if he can't manage his house.

That's apostologic.

And then we have the glory of the ordinary.

Well, let's pray and then we'll jump in here for a time.

Our Father in heaven, we give you thanks once again for the grace that is ours in Christ Jesus.

Lord, we thank you for the kindness that you have shown us, which we have not deserved.

And your faithfulness, your steadfastness in keeping us and caring for us.

Lord, we thank you for this church, for Christ's church.

And we pray today that you would strengthen your people.

That our faith would be strengthened.

That our knowledge of you would be increased.

That our affections for Christ and for one another would be raised.

And that you would equip us for the work to which you've called us.

We ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

I want to read first, before we'll get to 1 Peter 3, which will be the primary text today.

I'm going to read a segment from Zechariah chapter 14.

Zechariah 14 · chapter mention

We've just come out of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

It's now the Jewish New Year as of last week.

Coming up shortly on the 11th, it will be Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

And on the 16th, on through the 23rd, it will be the Feast of Tabernacles.

I'm not saying that so that you will all go back to Jewish roots and start having some formal

celebration of these things, though there can be some profit to that.

I'm saying that to think about something that I want to begin with in Zechariah 14.

Namely, that God is enthroned on high and remains a covenant-keeping God

and means to display his glory on real terra firma on the earth.

Tomorrow will be the one-year anniversary of the invasion from the terrorists from Gaza into different parts of Israel

in which hundreds of Israelis were killed, little babies were killed, women were ravaged and raped

in a rather makeshift operation of men flying over the border into Israel in little privately made paragliders

with generators on them.

And you have to wonder how such an elite military as the Israeli military could be penetrated by such rudimentary things.

And the answer to the question, which is also the answer to the question as to why Israel is yet preserved,

is that God is the God of Israel and has something to put on display of his glory.

And he's displaying that through their judgments, and he's displaying that through their mercies.

And that's something that we need to think about.

Zechariah 14 gives us a glimpse into what things are tending toward.

I'm actually going to read verses 8 through the end of the chapter and just give a few comments

before moving to the main text.

But I want you to understand that this is a post-exilic prophet writing here.

So this is after the Assyrian invasion and after the Babylonian invasion.

And therefore, what is being spoken of here pertains to the future.

Just after there's been a great time of trouble in verses 1 to 2,

just after God himself has planted his feet on the Mount of Olives in the following verses,

verse 4, we have this description of a time that will come when God, the Messiah,

will reign upon the earth from Jerusalem.

Verses 8 and following.

On that day, living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem,

half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea.

It shall continue in summer as in winter,

and the Lord will be king over all the earth.

On that day, the Lord will be one, and his name one.

The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Ramon, south of Jerusalem.

But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate.

Some of this sounds unfamiliar or irrelevant to you.

Just bear with me and walk through the text.

He's speaking about real places here.

This is part of my point.

To the corner gate and from the tower of Hananel to the king's wine presses.

Verse 11.

And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction.

Jerusalem shall dwell in security.

And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem.

Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet.

Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

Good luck explaining that to your children after the service.

And on that day, a great panic from the Lord shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another,

and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other.

Even Judah will fight at Jerusalem.

And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance.

And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps.

Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come up against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the king, the lord of hosts,

and to keep the feast of booths, or the feast of tabernacles, Sukkot.

This is remarkable.

This is a description.

I'm convinced of the time which is called the thousand-year reign of Messiah,

where Christ is ruling on the earth over the nations.

Magnificent.

Delegates from the nations are coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of tabernacles with the redeemed Israel.

This is all happening on real terra firma, on earth, on land.

This is not a symbolic picture with little Cupid angels, fat babies in heavenly diapers,

shooting arrows at romanticists, and playing harps on clouds.

This is the fulfillment of what God has promised upon the earth.

Verse 17,

And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, the lord of hosts,

there will be no rain on them.

So the prophet says that during this time, this millennial reign of Christ,

the nations that will not honor the king, who is called here the lord of hosts,

it's not some future merely human king,

he's called the lord of hosts,

if they refuse to celebrate the feast of tabernacles,

then God will withhold rain from them, and their crops will not grow.

Actual judgment from God in real future time.

And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves,

then on them there shall be no rain.

There shall be the plague with which the lord afflicts the nations

that do not go up to keep the feast of booths.

This is one of the reasons we know that Zechariah is not speaking about the new heavens and the new earth here.

Because there is still some recalcitrance and rebellion from certain nations.

And we also know that it's not a statement of this age,

because the lord of hosts himself is physically present in Jerusalem,

ruling over Israel and the nations as king.

This is a remarkable passage that Martin Luther arrived at in his commentary in Zechariah,

and once he got to chapters 12 to 14,

the first time he made a go at it, he wrote,

I have no idea what this passage is speaking about.

And the second time he made a go at it,

he just gave up and didn't write anything.

And so his commentary on Zechariah was never finished.

And it's because he was fixed within an amillennialist frame of thinking.

And there was no denying here that this was a post-exilic prophet

who was not prophesying about the Babylonian exile.

And there's no doubt that it could not either have been about the Roman dictatorship over Israel,

or AD 70, because it concludes with Christ, or God in the text, Yahweh,

planting his feet on the Mount of Olives and ruling right there.

See?

I'm still getting at something here.

It's not an eschatology message.

Might sound like it so far, but it's not.

But it is, but it's not.

This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations

that do not go up to keep the feast of booths.

And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses,

Holy to the Lord.

And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar.

I'm not going to get into whether or not,

or what the nature of some kind of tabernacle, temple would be during this millennial time.

That's for another discussion.

You can wrestle through it.

Like Adam said, wrestle through it for the next week and see what happens.

But whatever this time is where the Lord himself is ruling from Jerusalem,

it says every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts,

so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them.

And there shall no longer be a trader or merchant in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day.

In other words, no more foreigners manipulating the worship of God in the lives of God's people.

There will be no tables to overturn there.

The Lord will be there, but he will not be overturning tables.

He will be ruling over the nations.

And for the first time in the history of Jerusalem and of Israel and indeed of the world,

every pot, the most rudimentary elements of travel, of carriage, and of cooking,

whether it's for ceremonial meals or whether it's house to house in Jerusalem,

every one of them will be counted holy to the Lord.

For the light of Messiah will permeate everything.

Years ago when I was thinking about this passage for the first time and breaking my brain over what in the world it could mean,

I consulted David Barron's commentary, which I commend to you.

It was a student of Adolf Zephir, some of you know that name.

And in David Barron's commentary, once I arrived at chapter 14,

I found him writing that this idea of bells on horses and pots, ceremonial pots,

and the cooking pots from house to house in Jerusalem being called holy,

he said that concept is the glorious goal and climax of vision and prophecy altogether.

And I thought to myself, what in the heck is he talking about?

How could bells on horses and pots cooking meat be the glorious goal and climax of vision and prophecy altogether?

And I came to understand ultimately what he meant was,

in that day, the righteousness, peace, and joy of Messiah will permeate everything.

It will all be regarded holy.

There will not be this sputtering of affections in God's people,

the sputtering of secularism in our hearts,

by which we function part of the day as functional atheists,

and part of the day maybe in a devotional time,

or when a brother calls us up to confess sin or something like that,

as those who are eager to worship our God.

And that day, according to the apostles,

God shall be all and all,

and Christ shall have the preeminence.

And this is a picture of that.

Did you see that thing?

How long has that been there?

Thank you, Dennis.

Well, I really would commend a deep study of Zechariah,

the whole book, but chapters 12 through 14 are remarkable in this respect.

And I have never read an amillennialist, postmillennialist, supersessionist commentary

on those passages that was coherent at all.

Even the times of suffering described in Zechariah 14, 1 to 4 in Jerusalem,

houses being pillaged, half of the city exiled, women being raped.

It's a horrible scene.

October 7th was a precursor, a picture of this time of Jacob's trouble

about which the prophets and the Lord Jesus speak.

Jeremiah 30, Daniel 12, Matthew 24, etc.

One of the commentaries said,

this description of Jerusalem is the description of global persecution

against the church throughout the whole of the church age,

which is one of the most ludicrous slights of hand that I've ever seen in exegesis.

Anything to remove the issue of Israel from the consciousness of the church.

Why is that, brothers and sisters?

Well, I'm not going to answer that question because we got to get to 1 Peter 3.

I'm not going to answer that at length.

But let me suggest to you that Satan has a scheme by which to disfigure the person

and glory and will of our God.

And if in any way he can get us to twist what is in God's word,

or to take, as Spurgeon said, to take God's meaning,

to tear it from his own words,

then to that degree will something of our worship also be disfigured.

And if Israel and the land and Jerusalem and the Jewish people

are no longer significant in any way to the purposes of God,

then there are supernaturally promised prophecies

that will find actual fulfillment for which we're not looking at all.

We're not praying about it.

We're not thinking about it.

It's totally removed from our doctrine,

from our prayers,

from our expectations.

And we may find,

in certain respects pertaining to Israel

or to other things pertaining to the Lord,

that in the day of his coming,

we are taken unawares,

when we should have been discerning better.

Jesus scolded the religious leaders

for being able to discern when a storm was coming in,

but not to be able to read what he called the signs of the times.

Well, I'm going to leave that there

and move into this glory of the ordinary,

because I've just read a passage that is rather unordinary.

This is a magnificent, terrifying, glorious, wonderful thing to think about.

And yet there's a sense in which all of the cataclysm

and judgments and remarkable mercies

that are poured out upon the earth copiously in the last days

are leading to something that is very ordinary,

and yet full of glory.

The glordinariness of the picture God gives us here.

And I wonder if you are aware that you, being in Christ,

have been swept up into that majestic narrative.

And that we sitting here today is another page or two

in the volume of church history, redemptive history.

Here we are singing to the lamb that was slain together

and hearing of him and loving him together

and praying that God would sanctify us

and teach us to discern the body

and teach us to build one another up.

This is a slice of church history.

It is ordinary, and yet it's not ordinary.

Do you see?

There is new covenant glory that has come to us in Christ.

If we could see who we really are in Christ,

our mouths would drop open.

There is a time coming when we shall be like him,

1 John 3, 2,

where we shall see him as he is.

But, brothers and sisters, we already are this.

And the Lord uses the ordinariness of the ordinary

very often to keep us in a place

by which we must walk according to faith

and not according to feelings.

There's a glory to be displayed through the church.

Paul calls it the demonstration of the manifold wisdom of God

through the people of God in Ephesians 3, 10.

It is the very holiness of God.

It is the very love of God.

It is rivers of living water.

It is a testimony, a confession, a witness.

It is the governance of God.

It is all things for us,

slowly but substantially becoming communion with him.

This is the fruit of justification.

This is what is at work in this church

and in every true church.

The grace of God in these ways.

Yet it appears ordinary very often

and we can lose touch with its sacredness and power.

In 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 9 and following,

1 Thessalonians 4:9

the apostle Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica,

now concerning brotherly love,

you have no need for anyone to write to you

for you yourselves have been taught by God

to love one another.

For that indeed is what you are doing

to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.

But we urge you, brothers,

to do this more and more

and to aspire to live quietly

and to mind your own affairs

and to work with your hands as we instructed you

so that you may walk properly before outsiders

and be dependent on no one.

What a wonderful passage.

I cannot help but imagine the apostle Paul

a week after perhaps having raised Eutychus from the dead

or having the sense of triumph

in a new church that had been planted

in one of those pagan cities.

And there he is in a season

where the church is not supporting him financially,

which he had back and forth,

and spending 40 or 50 hours

making canopies out of leather

for buildings

and interacting with centurions

because he was a Roman citizen

and interacting with them

as he's making a canopy

for the new station

for the soldiers that are moving into this town,

whatever.

He's giving himself to mundane things.

He's aspiring to live quietly.

Everything for him in new covenant grace

has become precious.

And the glory of Zechariah 14

that will permeate the earth,

the glory of God will cover the earth

as waters cover the sea.

That glory is already being tasted

and demonstrated in the life of the apostle.

This is what gives him the kind of heart

and the kind of wisdom

to see the church in the way that he sees it,

to be able to esteem the weakest of members

and not merely men who are elders

or men or women who are most gifted,

but to love the body of Christ.

This all comes from Paul's awareness

of the sacredness

of that which the world deems ordinary.

I'm reading a biography,

a few of you guys in the Workman's Trust

at least know about this,

about an international ministry leader

that was discovered to be in multiple affairs

and even abusing minors

and all of this really horrible, horrible story.

But there was a point in his life

where the man writing the biography

who was his Bible college roommate

and was the guy that helped him

start the ministry in the 1980s

was talking to another leader

from a denomination

that knew this man

who eventually would be exposed.

And that denominational leader

asked the man who's writing this book

years later,

asked him,

do you know what that leader's greatest fear is?

And the man who believed

he was so close to this man

and helped him found the ministry

and all of this said,

well, I think, you know,

probably drowning.

He doesn't get anywhere near water.

He's actually morbidly,

morbidly,

he's terribly afraid of drowning.

And he said,

well, that, okay,

that makes sense.

But that is not his greatest fear.

And he said,

well, okay,

maybe you know him better than me,

but I've been with him

for the last 10 years.

And the guy said to him,

his greatest fear actually

is that at the end of his life,

he should be counted ordinary.

That he would be ordinary.

That he would not have a ministry

that stands out.

That he would not have a name

that leaves a great impact.

That he would have no biography

written of him.

That he would not have

a special calling

among those who are

the holy ones,

the saints.

That he would not be regarded

as gifty.

That he would not be regarded

as successful.

That he would not in any way

stand out in such a way

that he could be regarded

as more than ordinary.

And in that fear,

he did all kinds of drastic things

and moved all kinds of chess pieces

and manipulative ways

that built a large organization

that was known by many,

built a semblance of devotion

even in his life

with fasting and prayer

and study and all kinds of things

when under the hood,

there were piles of poison.

And according to this man,

much of what was fueling that

was his fear of being ordinary.

We're going to have to get over that

if we're going to build the church

in a way that pleases

the one who is the head

of the church.

Because pots and pans

and bells on horses

need also to be regarded

as holy.

And the thing that makes

anything significant

is the presence

of the only one

who is worthy

of being looked upon

with worship.

And that's going to happen,

brothers and sisters.

So let's just think about

a few points

and then we'll touch

on 1 Peter 3.

Let me think for just a moment

and give comment

on the glory of the ordinariness

of this local church.

The glory of the ordinariness

of this local church.

It really should be true

of any local church,

no matter how large or small,

that the lives of the saints

are treated with reverence

and cherished and stewarded

in such a way

that even the things

about one another's lives

that don't seem impressive

or that don't stand out

are stewarded with reverence

and with the fear of the Lord

and with selfless love

toward one another.

That's what Seth

was encouraging us toward

during the Lord's table.

But I wonder if you all

get discouraged at all.

I've known this feeling

of discouragement

many times in my life.

We had a house church

for about 11 years

that we led

and there were many times

where I thought to myself,

what are we doing here?

Where I thought to myself,

okay, is this really fruitful?

And I thought to myself,

man, are these guys

ever going to become elders?

Good grief.

What's taking so long?

And I thought to myself,

are we, are we bearing fruit

in such a way

that glorifies Jesus?

And I also thought, remarkably,

partly owing to that one ministry

that I mentioned earlier,

to people that I knew from there

who looked upon our little church

in a condescending way, frankly.

I have no other way to put it.

That's what it was.

I also felt a sense

of inferiority at times.

I also felt to myself,

I don't know if I should

be doing this anymore.

Well, I don't think any of you

are deeply discouraged

about Christ's church.

I haven't heard anything like that,

though I'm sure you've had times

where you have felt discouraged.

And I want to just re-up you

as a people to remember

that there is glory

in the ordinariness

of this local church.

There is glory here.

What makes you significant

is not your good looks,

though you're all decent.

Or your giftedness,

though there's giftedness here.

What makes you significant

is the same thing

that will make the bells

on the horses

in future Jerusalem significant.

The very light of Christ,

the preeminent one.

And he is here with you

by the Holy Spirit.

You are being made

into a temple

for God's dwelling

by the Spirit.

Ephesians 2.

There is glory

in that ordinariness

in this local church.

Do not despise

the day

of small beginnings.

And by which I don't mean

Christ's church

will one day be a mega church.

I mean,

do not despise

the day

when God is continuing

to shape you

as a people

who know what it means

to walk

in the fear of the Lord

and the comfort

of the Holy Spirit

together.

Because what is knit

in these days

is what will be

the foundation

for who will come,

who will be saved,

who will be discipled,

and whom you send out

to plant and nurture churches

in other places.

What the timber

and essence

of your life together

is,

is what will be replicated

as you go on

seeking to build up

this local body

and ultimately

sending others out

in days to come

by the grace of God.

Do not despise

or overlook

the glory

of what's happening here

because,

however ordinary

it very often feels,

it is precious

to God

and he shed his blood

exactly for it.

This is a slice

of church history.

This is becoming

a new theme for me.

Just making myself

more aware,

we just finished

the church history course

in the Workman's Trust

and I couldn't help

but realize a few things.

Number one,

that all of these figures

in church history

were notably flawed

and that every one of them

God sustained.

every one of them

that was counted faithful

at the end of their lives

with all their sins

and weaknesses,

God kept them

and they went to the grave

with a testimony

of his faithfulness.

May it be the same

for every member

of this church.

There's glory

in this local church.

Number two,

I have four.

The glory

in regular hardships.

Well,

we hear this all the time.

We hear this again.

Yes,

you do.

Yes,

I do.

Life

is hard.

Being a mother

of little children

is difficult.

Being a single person

who wants to get married

is difficult.

Being a man

who is seeking

to grow up

and to eventually

be appointed

as an elder

is chastening

and sifting.

Being a Christian

in a fallen world

that hates Christ

is to live

in a mode

of resistance

in one sense

for all of our life.

You must go through

many hardships

to enter the kingdom

of heaven,

the apostles said.

Life

has within it

sufferings.

One Bible school

president

spoke to his

graduates well

on their graduation days.

They were going off

to pastor churches

in other parts

of the world

by teaching them

with a,

what do you call it?

What do you call it?

A speech

at a graduation thing?

Yeah,

commencement speech

and the title of it

was,

to these men

who are going to be pastors,

thou shalt have spells.

In other words,

you're going to have

sufferings,

tribulations,

things are coming

your way

that are going

to humble you,

sift you,

reveal things in you

that you didn't know

could be revealed

when you thought

you were so sanctified

in that area

and now there's

a new season upon me

and why am I being proud?

Why do I have envy

against this other brother

or sister?

Why am I doubting God?

Why do I have anxiety

over this?

What's going on?

I thought I was already

matured beyond this.

And the Lord says,

I discipline you

because I love you.

And I want your joy

in me to be so full

that it will spill over

onto others.

And for that to happen,

you're going to have

to go through

my fatherly squeeze.

And I am faithful

to continue

to squeeze.

Well,

that will include

regular hardships.

In a sermon called

The Happy Christian,

I was pleased to hear

Daniel Bergthold

teaching Sunday school

this morning

and went to the Sunday school

class and then

prayer meeting

then came here.

And he quoted

out of this,

although I'll have to tell

him later

if he ever hears this,

he quoted

the popular paraphrase.

He didn't actually quote

what Spurgeon says,

so,

but you know,

but we're all growing still.

In the sermon,

Charles Spurgeon,

sermon called

The Happy Christian,

Spurgeon said,

the worldling

blesses God

while he gives him

plenty.

You ever heard

an unbeliever

thank God

for something?

I mean,

I get a promotion

or whatever,

thank God in heaven.

You know,

God doesn't know

the Lord from Adam.

But the worldling

blesses God

while he gives him

plenty.

But the Christian

blesses him

when he smites him.

The Christian

blesses God

when God

smites him.

He believes

him to be

too wise

to err

and too good

to be unkind.

He trusts him

where he cannot

trace him.

Looks up to him

in the darkest hour

and believes

that all

is well.

This is right

at the heart

of so many

precious hymns

that have been

written

throughout the years

and this must

be maintained

and cultivated

by the church

an awareness

that we will

suffer hardship

and there will

be sufferings

even in many

places

if not most

by the time

this whole thing

is wrapped up

persecution

against the church

and we must

be able

to discern

our father's

heart

if we can't

trace exactly

what his hand

is doing

in every instance

this is vital

there's glory

in regular

hardships.

Number three

the glory

in gospel

grace

the glory

in God

with us

let us

continue to return

to the gospel

there is glory

in the gospel

and if in your

Christian life

you can find

glory

nowhere else

if God's glory

is impossible

for you

to see

the shape

of

or to feel

the nearness

of

in every area

then return

to this

that Christ

Jesus

was crucified

for you

and for this

church

for his church

return to gospel

grace

over and over

and over again

almost every song

was just gospel

infused today

which I love

and I know you

brothers and sisters

fellowship over the gospel

which I love

and I say

again

in these early

months

of this church's

existence

keep that

the foundation

and return there

always

it will dispel

our selfish

sentimentalism

our complaining

our grieving

and groaning

our divisions

our tendencies

of pride

that we have

toward one another

the gospel

of grace

cures all

and therefore

let us

return to it

constantly

it might seem

like a mundane

thing

to return there

always

but that's

where the glory

is

last point

the glory

of the cross

well there's

the glory

of Christ's cross

of which we've

been speaking

but I'm speaking

about the glory

of the disciples

cross

just for

an abbreviated

encouragement

you can go

check the

bellicose

website

some weeks

ago

I preached

on

a brother

reminded me

of it

last night

otherwise

I might have

forgotten the

title

the crippling

conflation

of Christian

crosses

there is the

cross of

Christ

which has

accomplished

its purpose

and there's the

cross of the

believer that we

must carry

we cannot

justify

ourselves

as Christ's

cross has

done

but we

must carry

our cross

in light

of his

and in

John chapter

John 12 · chapter mention

12

the Lord

Jesus said

now among

those who

went up

John tells

us firstly

among those

who went up

to worship

verse 20

of John 12

at the feasts

were some

Greeks

so these came

to Philip

who was from

Bethsaida

in Galilee

and asked him

sir

we wish

to see

Jesus

Philip

went and

told

Andrew

Andrew

and Philip

went and

told

Jesus

and Jesus

answered

them

the hour

has come

for the

son of

man

to be

glorified

truly

truly

I say

to you

unless

a grain

of wheat

falls

into the

earth

and dies

it remains

alone

but if

it dies

it bears

much

fruit

he speaks

about his

own cross

here

but then

he turns

to the

disciples

and says

whoever

loves his

life

loses it

and whoever

hates his

life

in this

world

will keep

it

for eternal

life

there is

glory

in the

dailiness

of the

carrying

of our

cross

if any

man would

come after

me

he must

deny

himself

take up

his cross

daily

and follow

me

now we

close with

1st Peter

the last

two verses

of chapter

2

and

9 verses

in chapter

3

and we'll

be done

by noon

so that's

a 45

minute

message

that's a

if you're

if you're

tending

towards

cessationism

let me

encourage you

against it

if Brian

Pirtle can

finish the

sermon

in 45

minutes

that's

miraculous

I want

us to

think about

the glory

of the

ordinariness

in terms

of our

day to

day lives

and the

governing

that God

is increasingly

giving us

as his

people

you know

in the

age to

come

whatever

it means

we're

going to

rule

and reign

with

Christ

okay

it's a

matter of

stewardship

and on that

day we'll be

able to do it

in glorified

bodies with

no sin

and no

unbelief

and no

discouragement

but he's

already giving

us stewardship

of the gospel

of fellowship

with one

another

of our

lives

of our

money

of our

relationships

for those

that are

married

of our

spouses

for those

that have

children

of our

children

and these

things are

all vital

and quite

ordinary

and abused

all the

time by

people in

and outside

the church

let us

start with

the gospel

in 1st

Peter 2

24

he himself

bore our

sins in

his body

on the

tree

that we

might die

to sin

and live

to righteousness

by his

wounds

you have

been healed

for you

were straying

like sheep

but have

now returned

to the

shepherd

and overseer

of your

souls

precious

precious

foundation

Paul warns

in 2nd

Timothy 4

3

that in

the last

days

men and

women will

acquire

teachers for

themselves

that are

self-serving

and they

will reject

what he

calls

sound

teaching

sound

teaching

which word

can be

translated

just as

readily

healthy

teaching

wholesome

teaching

I think

when we

hear

sound

as

post

post

modernist

people

that are

jealous

for

truth

now

we

think

sound

we

think

accurate

teaching

which

is

true

but

it

means

more

than

that

it's

wholesome

it's

the

life-giving

teaching

of course

it's

all

accurate

if it's

according

to

God's

word

but

it's

tending

toward

the

health

of

those

who

were

dead

and

diseased

in

sin

the

building

up

of

the

church

the

transformation

of

the

nations

which

is

why

in

Revelation

22

the

tree

of

life

is

seen

as

a

tree

whose

leaves

are

for

the

healing

of

the

nations

so

there's

the

gospel

foundation

let us

ask

in terms

of our

marriages

those

who are

married

here

if

we

are

seeing

the

glory

of

the

ordinary

or

missing

it

verses

three

and

following

likewise

wives

be

subject

to

your

own

husbands

so

that

even

if

some

do

not

obey

the

word

they

may

be

won

without

a

word

by

the

conduct

of

their

wives

when

they

see

your

respectful

and

pure

conduct

do

not

let

your

adorning

be

external

the

braiding

of

hair

the

putting

on

of

gold

jewelry

or

the

clothing

you

wear

but

let

your

adorning

be

the

hidden

person

of

the

heart

with

the

imperishable

beauty

of

a

gentle

and

quiet

spirit

which

in

God's

sight

is

very

precious

for

this

is

how

the

holy

women

who

hoped

in

God

used

to

adorn

themselves

by

submitting

to

their

own

husbands

and

Sarah

obeyed

Abraham

calling

him

Lord

and

you

are

her

children

if

you

do

good

and

do

not

fear

anything

that

is

frightening

along

these

lines

in

Ephesians

5

33

Paul

said

let

the

wife

see

to

it

that

she

respect

her

husband

let

me

just

ask

the

wives

directly

is

there

any

sense

in

which

you

might

be

slipping

into

the

sin

of

disrespecting

your

husband

are

you

making

it

your

aim

not

only

to

refrain

from

saying

the

most

drastically

disrespectful

things

but

in

the

positive

sense

are

you

seeing

to

it

by

faith

that

you

are

respecting

him

which

is

more

than

just

not

disrespecting

him

it's

respecting

him

and

I

want

you

to

know

God

has

given

you

a

gift

a

strength

and

a

power

in

the

life

of

your

husband

that

if

you

by

faith

respect

him

with

the

Lord's

glory

in

view

he

will

be

better

helped

by

you

to

be

a

godly

man

and

to

do

what

God

has

called

him

to

do

as

a

man

if

instead

you

find

yourself

giving

expression

to

the

disappointments

that

he

will

bring

to

you

you

will

find

him

more

emasculated

less

likely

to

give

himself

this

self

sacrificial

love

less

likely

to

walk

in

wisdom

more

likely

to

look

elsewhere

for

satisfactions

that

are not

wholesome

and

healthy

it

doesn't

mean

that

if

he

does

that

it's

all

your

fault

he's

responsible

but

I'm

telling

you

there's

a

government

of

God

at

work

here

in

terms

of

how

we

relate

to

one

another

and

I

want

to

ask

are

you

seeing

to

it

that

you

respect

your

husband

you

have

to

look

to

the

Lord

to

do

that

it's

not

based

on

his

performance

it's

based

on

the

your

children

let me

ask

directly

to

us

as

men

are

there

any

ways

in

which

we're

slipping

into

a

way

of

viewing

looking

upon

the

ordinariness

of

this

covenant

marriage

that

we

have

and

twisting

it

in

such

a

way

devaluing

it

in

such

a

way

that

we

are

not

fervently

loving

our

wives

as

Christ

loved

the

church

I'm

not

saying

do

you

cut

them

down

all

the

time

do

your

voice

if

that's

true

then

yes

repent

but

I'm

not

saying

bring

it

back

to

zero

here

brother

I'm

saying

look

to

Christ

repent

of

sinning

against

her

in

ways

of

commission

and

ask

are

there

sins

of

omission

ways

I

should

be

loving

her

that

I'm

not

loving

her

because

you

will

find

that

the

less

and

less

a

woman

sees

and

knows

the

love

of

her

husband

that

is

the

more

difficult

it

will be

for her to respect him.

I can't tell you how many times

I've sat down with married couples

who are having issues

and the difficulty is

the husband saying

I don't feel respected

and the wife saying

I don't feel loved.

And those feelings are not always entirely accurate

but they've always got their finger

at least on part of the pulse.

And so we need for the honor of Christ

in the ordinariness of our relations

to be relating to one another

in such a way

as God has commanded

are you

are you doing that

brothers and sisters

because that will affect

the worship of this church

the disciples that are made

the example

that is set

and

on

and on.

Lastly

verse 8

to the whole church

married and single

parents and children

finally all of you

have unity of mind

sympathy

brotherly love

a tender heart

and a humble mind

do not repay evil for evil

or reviling for reviling

but on the contrary

bless

for to this

you were called

that you may obtain

a blessing.

and so church

let us love one another

let us walk

in the fear of God

and in the comfort

of the Holy Spirit

in 1536

on this day

William Tyndale

was strangled to death

tied to a stake

and his body burned

before the people

of Brussels

because he labored

long

painstakingly

to do something

that was massive

in history

but that

day by day

must have felt

rather mundane

translating the whole

New Testament

into English

straight from the Greek

and about half