Christian Identity

Well, welcome everyone to Church of the Advent.

Welcome to our worship gathering here.

For those of you who are coming back, glad to see you.

And anybody that I don't know yet, I'd love to meet you after the service.

We're going to have a reception out in the courtyard since the weather is so nice.

Immediately following this worship gathering, so please stick around.

Would love to shake your hand if I haven't met you already.

My name's Tommy. I'm one of the pastors here.

And we're starting a series this week looking at one of Paul's letters that you find in the New Testament.

It's the letter that we call Philippians.

And we're going to be doing a study through this entire book.

And we're going to be tracing one of the central themes in this book.

The series is called The Joyful Life.

The Joyful Life.

One of the main themes in Paul's letter to the Philippians is the theme of joy.

And it's a unique kind of joy because it's a joy that is able to exist regardless of circumstance.

It's a joy that exists regardless of circumstance.

You know, Paul wrote this letter roughly ten years after he helped to plant the church in Philippi.

We looked at that last week.

So this is roughly 60 to 62 A.D.

And he's in prison.

And yet he's writing this letter to the people that he hasn't seen in years from prison.

And yet he makes some 15 references to joy and to rejoicing.

Even many of these are his own joy and his own rejoicing.

And you look at his circumstances and you look at the joy and it doesn't make sense.

So that's what this series is going to explore.

Where does that kind of joy come from?

And, you know, some of us are here and we're Christians.

And it's good to be reminded as we look at our own lives that, as the late John Stott once wrote in one of his commentaries,

it seems clear that the main mark of justified believers is joy.

In other words, he's saying if there's one thing that Christians should be known for, it's this inexplicable joy.

And if you're here and you're not a follower of Christ or you're not sure what you believe,

if it is possible to have a life that is full of joy regardless of your life circumstances,

might it not be worth at least exploring whether or not there is some truth to this claim?

So this is why we're exploring it.

I think it's probably relevant to everybody.

And as we get started, we're just going to look at the first eight verses.

This is Philippians 1 verses 1 through 8.

Philippians 1:1–8

And the first thing that we see out of the gate is that this book that is about joy begins by talking about identity.

In other words, Paul's saying if you want to understand where this joy comes from,

you have to start with your own identity.

In other words, what constitutes our identity as Christians for those of us who are?

And there's a word that Paul uses that sums up what the Christian identity is all about,

and that is the word saint.

So tonight we're just going to look at that word.

Because saint speaks to our identity.

You know, before the word Christian was even coined,

before it even existed,

followers of Jesus referred to one another as saints.

So this is what you see all throughout scripture.

And the word saint speaks to two things.

To who we are,

and to who we are becoming.

So that's how we're going to look at this this evening.

Let's pray for the Lord to lead us.

Our God, our Heavenly Father,

we pray and we ask,

and even as we ask,

we know that you will speak to us.

Lord, through your word,

not through what I have to say,

but through your word.

We pray that somehow,

as we look together at your written word,

that we would encounter your living word,

Jesus Christ,

that we would come face to face

with a reality of who he is,

and that that would profoundly transform us.

Lord, for your glory,

and for our good,

in your son's name.

Amen.

So as we're looking at this letter,

as I said,

Paul is writing this from prison.

He begins,

as we look at verse one,

with a standard greeting.

He's saying,

Paul and Timothy,

servants of Jesus Christ.

So that's his way of saying,

this letter is from Paul and Timothy,

and he says that they are servants of Christ Jesus.

We're going to come back to that

in subsequent weeks.

Here's the interesting part, though.

He doesn't just say,

to the people in Philippi,

like you would normally do.

He makes a point right away of saying,

to all the saints in Christ Jesus,

who are at Philippi,

with the overseers and deacons,

grace to you and peace from God our Father,

and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So the first thing Paul does,

after introducing himself,

is to remind the Philippians of their primary identity.

He reminds them of their primary identity.

And he addresses every single person in the church as a saint.

You know, if you're familiar with the Catholic Church,

you know that they canonize certain people

and set them apart and say,

well, here's all of the Christians,

but these people are saints.

But that's not what Paul's doing here.

Every single person in the church is a saint.

If you're a Christian,

you're a saint.

And Paul is saying,

this is your primary identity.

This is how I think of you.

Now, in our culture,

we think a lot about identity.

We talk a lot about identity.

It's a very hot topic,

debated topic.

And most of that centers around

our freedom and our desire

to be able to choose our identity,

to define ourselves for ourselves,

to get rid of social,

religious,

traditional,

institutional constraints,

and to be able to have the freedom

to define ourselves for ourselves,

the freedom to choose who we are.

We have kids.

We watch a lot of kids' movies.

A couple of days ago,

we saw a newer kids' movie

that's come out called

The Good Dinosaur.

I don't know if you've seen it.

It's pretty good.

76% on Rotten Tomatoes.

It's kind of like one of those borderline,

is it worth our two hours?

But the kids loved it.

And as I was watching this movie,

sort of my mind began to wander

and I began to think about other movies

in this kind of genre.

And I began to realize,

you know,

a lot of these movies

basically tell the same story.

It's just with different packaging.

You know,

like here it's a dinosaur

or a cave person

and here it's like a fairy

or like an Irish warrior.

But it all tells the same story

just with different sort of,

you know,

packaging.

And so if you think about these movies,

maybe you've seen them.

Shrek,

Frozen,

Shrek 2,

Shrek 3,

Tangled,

Brave,

Mulan,

Little Mermaid,

Kung Fu Panda,

Kung Fu Panda 2,

How to Train Your Dragon,

Fantastic Mr. Fox,

Book of Life,

Maya the Bee,

I could go on and on.

They all tell a very similar story.

And what's that story?

It is be true to yourself.

Right?

Get rid of what your parents expect of you.

Get rid of what the culture expects of you.

Get rid of all of the things that are,

get rid of these expectations that are on you.

Get rid of all of that.

Figure out who you are

and express that to the world.

Be true to yourself.

I mean,

listen to our music.

Eminem's beautiful.

Casey Musgrave's Follow Your Arrow.

Meghan Trainor's all about that bass.

Lady Gaga sings it perfectly.

She sings,

Don't hide yourself in regret.

Just love yourself and you're set.

Right?

That's a powerful claim.

All you have to do is love yourself

and you're set.

We might think of this

as a kind of secular gospel of our age.

Maybe the gospel of our age.

In other words,

the good news for the world.

This is the key to happiness

and joy and fulfillment.

Be true to yourself.

Get rid of all constraints.

Choose your own identity.

Express that to the world.

Love yourself and you're set.

And you know,

I have to admit,

there's something very compelling

about this as an idea.

You know,

there's this kind of a documentary,

sort of a series of vignettes

with different celebrities and such

called Human.

If you've not seen this,

it's really, really worth your time.

Well,

and it's good,

I was going to say,

it's good for understanding culture.

If you really want to understand culture,

watch kids' movies.

Honestly,

it's one of the best ways

to understand where our culture is

and where we're going.

Watch kids' movies.

It'll tell you right away.

But,

you should also watch Human.

It's really fantastic.

And there's,

Cameron Diaz gets on there

and she starts talking about fame

and how you shouldn't build your life on fame.

That doesn't lead to happiness.

And as a preacher,

I'm thinking,

preach it.

This will preach, Cameron.

And she says,

this is,

you're going to,

life is going to be empty.

And, you know,

we agree with that, right?

And if she was saying,

don't build your life on wealth,

don't build your life on success,

don't build your life on notoriety,

don't build your life on,

you know,

this, that, or the other,

we would,

even if we're doing it,

we would agree,

Cameron, you're right.

Even though I'm doing that,

I shouldn't be doing that

because that's empty.

But then she goes on

and she says,

the way to be happy

is to be true to yourself.

See,

and then you hear that

and you think,

oh, that's a good message.

You know,

I want to do that,

I want my kids to do that,

we should,

I want to be true to myself.

It's compelling.

But the only problem is,

it doesn't actually work

in real life.

It's a really great idea,

but it doesn't actually work.

There's a,

there's a couple of problems with it.

The first problem

with this gospel

of being true to ourselves

is,

is actually illustrated

in another kid's movie

called The Incredibles.

And the bad guy

in The Incredibles

is a guy named Syndrome.

And Syndrome has,

has his former mentor,

he's kind of taking him

as a prisoner.

And he's yelling,

he's kind of like sounding off

at his former mentor

who,

he is now his arch enemy.

And he's saying

to Mr. Incredible,

you always tell me

to be true to myself.

But you never tell me

which part to be true to.

true.

It's so insightful,

right?

Because I have,

I have,

I have a lot of parts

of self in me,

right?

I have one part

that could,

that is completely devoted

to the,

to living a long

and healthy life.

I want to see my kids grow up.

I want to hopefully

know my grandkids.

I want to live

as long as I can.

I want to be healthy.

I want to have energy.

I want to,

you know,

I want to,

I want that kind of life.

And then there's

another part of me

that could literally

live off cheeseburgers

and whiskey.

I could literally

eat nothing

but cheeseburgers

and whiskey

and I would be

completely happy

for like two weeks.

And then I would have

to go to the hospital.

But,

but I could literally

live off that stuff,

right?

And then there's

the part of me

that's ashamed

that I'm admitting this

from up front.

You know,

now they're all

going to know

as if you didn't before

but now they're

definitely all going to know.

And,

and then there's

the other part of me

that will justify it

and say,

no,

I have a stressful job

and I deserve it

and I'm going to five guys.

Right?

And so you've got

all these parts competing,

right?

Which is the real self?

Which is the thing

that needs to be,

to which do I be true

and to,

and what needs

to be extinguished?

You know,

you've got the person

who makes the,

the,

the committed

lifelong vow

to another person.

I'm committing to you

for better,

for worse,

for richer,

for poorer,

sickness and health,

till death us do part,

I'm yours.

Looking in the eyes,

meaning it,

friends,

family,

parents,

all there,

everybody looking,

music,

I'm looking at your eyes,

I mean this

from the bottom of my heart.

Right?

Years down the road

that same person

really,

really,

really wants to sleep

with their co-worker

with whom they have found

a special connection.

Right?

A connection

that they really

haven't experienced

in their marriage.

Two,

two parts.

Which is you

and which needs

to be extinguished?

See,

a lot of people

in our culture

would say,

you know,

that's the part

that you should be true to.

Get,

get out of that marriage.

That is inhibiting

the true you.

Be true to yourself.

Which is the true self?

Right?

So,

so we aren't actually,

if you,

if I just had one

integrated whole self

and here,

it would be great

for me to be true to that.

Right?

But what about

all the little parts

of self

that I,

that I really have?

What do I do with that?

But there's another reason

that this doesn't work

and I think

an even deeper reason.

And that's this.

And I'm not going to tell you

how you feel

or what you think.

You,

you,

maybe you're different.

But I was thinking about this

in my own life this week

and I,

I just have to be honest.

Being true to myself

and loving myself

as,

as Lady Gaga

would,

would tell me to do,

it's not enough.

It doesn't cut it

with me.

You know,

loving myself,

it's just not enough.

I mean,

if we're honest,

I think deep down

we actually crave

a love that comes

from outside of ourselves.

A love,

a love that comes

from someone else

who's not me,

whose opinion matters.

That's actually

what I want.

You know,

I,

I want somebody

out there

to say,

I love you.

Right?

So another way

of saying it

is this.

Below our desire

to be able

to choose

who we are,

I think there's

a deeper desire

to be chosen

as we are.

You know,

we want the lover

who says,

out of all of the people

in the world,

I choose you.

I want you.

I want you

to belong to me.

I want to commit

to you.

I want,

I want only you

for the rest of my life.

I just want you.

That's what I want.

That's a thousand

times better

than whatever love

I can muster

for myself.

Yeah,

okay,

decent self-confidence,

working on that,

therapist is helping

out with it

and all that,

but it's nothing

compared to this person

whose opinion matters

saying,

I choose you.

That lifts me

up to the heavens,

right?

I want the parent

who says,

I'm so delighted

that you're my child.

I want you to belong to me

and I will love you

for the rest of your life.

That's what I want.

And yet,

you know,

even the best lovers,

even the best,

most well-intentioned spouses,

even the best parents

love imperfectly.

We don't always love

people like that,

right?

I mean,

even in the best marriages,

sometimes your love

is conditional.

Even in the best

parent-child relationship,

sometimes that love

is conditional.

You do your best,

but it falls short.

And we're always,

my desire for that kind of love

always outstrips

what the people

in my life can provide.

My wife can't love me

that way.

She's an amazing person.

She just can't do it.

I can't love her that way.

I can't love my kids that way.

My parents didn't love me

that way.

They got close sometimes.

But it's not enough.

And that's because

we were made to find this love

not in a human being,

but in God.

It's no coincidence

that the two primary images

that God uses

to describe his relationship

with us

are what?

Marriage and adoption.

Right?

What do those two relationships

have in common?

Marriage and adoption.

They're both situations

where somebody says to you,

if you're the one being married

or you're the one being adopted,

there is somebody saying to you,

I choose you.

Not them, not them, you.

I want you.

So this brings us

to the true meaning

of the word saint.

See, when we hear

the word saint,

we tend to think of the people

who are super virtuous,

super moral, super good.

They're doing all kinds

of amazing things.

Like I said,

the Catholic Church

has canonized a number

of such people,

and we should pay attention

to these people

and learn about them,

and there are great examples

to follow, most of them.

Amazing lives,

very inspiring.

But that's not

what Paul's talking about.

It's funny,

the way we misunderstand

the word saint,

I think betrays us.

It betrays our wiring.

We are so wired,

so wired to think

that God's love

depends on our merit.

We're so wired

to think that His love

depends on our merit

rather than being something

that exists

regardless of merit.

When Paul uses

the word saint,

it's a word that means

holy or set apart.

And in the simplest terms,

a saint is someone

to whom God says,

I choose you.

Not someone who does

something or says something

or feels a certain thing

or thinks a certain thing

or acts in a certain way.

No, no, no.

We're not the subject of that.

We're the object.

A saint is someone

to whom God says,

I choose you.

So everybody

who comes to Jesus Christ,

everybody who admits

their sin,

everybody who is reconciled

through His death

and resurrection,

everybody who is baptized

and becomes

a part of the church,

then those are people

to whom God says,

you.

And how do you know

if that's you?

It's because you've

come to faith.

So if you're a saint,

it's not because of anything

you've done for God.

You haven't earned it.

It's because God

has done something

for you in Jesus Christ

through His life

and death and resurrection.

And that's why Paul says

we're saints in Christ,

in all that He's done.

So what does this mean?

It means that you can,

listen,

you can be a,

just the smarmiest,

you know,

investment banker

you can imagine.

You can just be the,

you know,

just that kind of,

you know,

I'm not going to get

into detail,

but you can kind of imagine,

you know,

you can be this kind of like,

you know,

big shot with your,

you know,

and you can,

you can have a major

wake-up call

and you can sell

all your stuff

and sell all your cars

and sell your,

your,

your Manhattan condo

and sell all of that

and you can move

to the,

to the poorest

third world country

you can,

you can find

and you can spend

the rest of your life

caring for lepers

and building orphanages

for kids

and God's not going

to love you

one ounce more.

That's not how it works.

It's not how it works.

Not for saints.

And it could be

that God actually

wired you for banking

and not orphanage building.

You know,

God wants just as many

Christians in the banking world

as he does

building orphanages.

We're supposed to be everywhere.

You can also come out of,

come out of this room

and have a major public

moral failing.

You know,

it all comes out.

You've been dishonest.

You've been lying

to all kinds of people.

It all comes out.

God's not going to love you

one ounce less.

God hates the sin

but he's not going to love you

one ounce less.

You can't affect it

because he has chosen

to put his love on you.

You didn't even ask for it.

It just happened.

This is the thing

I think that we can't get.

But the entire Christian life

is really about us

becoming more and more

grounded in this identity.

That God loves us

as we are in Christ

regardless of anything

we felt or said or done.

And then here's the paradox

is that the more

we're grounded in this identity

that God has chosen us

in Christ

set us apart

to belong

said I want you to belong

to me and be mine

the more I'm grounded

in that identity

the more it paradoxically

creates a desire in me

to become what God

has made me to be.

Isn't that weird?

Because you say

well if he accepts me

as I am

why should I want to change?

Well the weird thing is

the more you realize

that his love

is a gift

the more that fills you

with a desire

to allow him

to be the one

to define you

rather than you.

And that may not make sense

but this is why

being a saint

isn't just about who we are

but it's about

who we're becoming.

This might help

clarify it a little bit.

You know Dan Bielman

first sermon

at Advent

used an illustration

from Ben-Hur

and I'm just going to

shamelessly borrow it

because I think

it's a great image.

If you've never seen

the movie Ben-Hur

Judah Ben-Hur

at this

I won't tell you

the whole story

but at this point

that I'm talking about

he has become a slave

and there's a Roman

he's a Jew

and there's a Roman

named Quintus Arius

who's a Roman consul

and he's actually

come to love

Judah Ben-Hur

like a son

and so he petitions

for Judah Ben-Hur

to be freed

set free

and then he throws

a party

and he calls

everyone's attention

at this party

and he announces

that he's done

all the legal

formalities necessary

to adopt Ben-Hur

as his own son

and he says

young Arius

he doesn't call him

Judah Ben-Hur

he names him

gives him his own name

young Arius

is now the legal

bearer of my name

and the heir

to my property

and then he gives him

this priceless ring

off of his own finger

and he says

this ring of my ancestors

would have gone

to my son

so now it's yours

and then Ben-Hur's response

is what I want to focus on

because he responds

by saying

he takes the ring

he puts it on his finger

and he says

I shall always try

to wear this ring

as a son of Arius

should

with gratitude

affection

and with honor

so you have

this amazing

image

of exactly

what we're talking about

right

Arius

of his own free will

loves Ben-Hur

adopts Ben-Hur

gives him what

his name

he promises him

an inheritance

and he gives him a ring

as a seal of his adoption

and then Ben-Hur's response

is to say

I want to live

like your son

I want to be

like your son

and I want to do that

because of why

not fear

not guilt

not obligation

but out of

gratitude

and out of affection

and this is exactly

what happens with us

through the gospel

right

God comes and says

I love you

and I sent my son

to die for you

and he says

I want you to belong to me

in Christ

and he says

to those who come to him

and accept this forgiveness

he gives us what

he gives us his name

you're in Christ

right

he gives us

an eternal inheritance

he gives us

a seal

not a ring

but the Holy Spirit

this is a seal

that guarantees

and proves

that you belong to me

and what does this do

it engenders in us

a desire

right

it kindles in us

in a desire

we say

I want to be

in other words

I want to let go

of my sense

of who I am

and I prefer

God's sense

of who I am

that's who I want to be

I want to be the way

you see me God

that's how I want to live

because of gratitude

because of affection

and Paul goes on to say

you know

as this happens

God actually works

in us

to make that happen

to make us more

like his son

he says

in verses

three through six

I thank my God

and all my remembrance

of you

always in every prayer

of mine

for you

all making my prayer

with joy

because of your

partnership in the gospel

from the first day

until now

and I'm sure of this

here it is

that he who began

a good work in you

will bring it to completion

at the day of Jesus Christ

so all those partial selves

all those partial parts

of us

that are kind of

at war with each other

and he's saying

that God begins

to bring all of that

together

this is why C.S. Lewis

talks about

the more we give

ourselves away

the more we actually

become fully

who we were meant to be

we actually recover

ourselves

by giving ourselves

to God

because he's the one

who can make us

whole

now there are a lot

of themes

in here

that we're going

to explore

through the coming weeks

this is setting up

stuff that we're going

to come back to

again and again

and again

so tonight

I just want to pause

and I want to think

about this idea

of being a saint

as Paul talks about it

and I want to think

about some implications

as we think about

what this says

about who we are

now

and who we're becoming

and I want to just

look at three

really quickly

three implications

of our sainthood

first implication

is this

in our relationships

with one another

in this community

and in our friends

and family

and all that

one of the best ways

that we can love

one another

is by reminding

one another

that we are

in fact

saints

by reminding

one another

of that

we all need

to be reminded

that we're utterly

secure

in the love

of God

right

most of the time

we either

we either remind

one another

that we're sinners

or we just

take the easy road

out and just

don't bring it up

at all

right

what I need

is to be reminded

that

that

that my identity

doesn't hinge

on my performance

up here

I need to know

that my identity

doesn't hinge

in how good

the church is doing

I need to

be reminded

that my identity

doesn't hinge

in how good

a dad I am

or how good

a husband I am

or how good

a friend I am

that it doesn't

matter

if people like me

or hate me

it doesn't matter

if people agree

with me

or disagree

with me

or criticize me

I need to be

reminded that my

identity isn't

based in any of that

it is based

squarely

completely

and utterly

in the undeserved

love of God

I need you

to remind me

of that

we need to be

reminded of that

one of the most

amazing things

that Paul

does every time

is every time

he writes a letter

to confront

sin

he starts

with

sainthood

right

so before he

gets to the sin

he says

the first thing

I want to do

is to remind you

you're a saint

you have the love

of God

it's yours

which opens

the door

to talk about sin

right

so this is the first

thing we should do

we should be reminded

again and again

and again

that we are

saints

you know the reason

that we sin

at least if you're

anything like me

I don't

most mornings

I don't wake up

and say I'm going to

sin

my brains out

today

I don't

you know

I don't do that

if you

maybe

probably

some one person

in here does

most of us don't

I mean if you do

we'll talk about it

but I don't think

you do

most of us

don't do that

most of us

don't sin

because we wake up

saying I want to

sin

we sin

because we forget

that we're saints

we sin

because we

we start looking

to other

sources

for love

and affirmation

and fulfillment

and meaning

rather than God

and so we forget

what we have

and we begin

to look elsewhere

that's why we sin

we need to be reminded

that we're saints

in Christ

the second implication

is this

is that it's connected

to the first

that I think

that we should

always strive

to remember

that God

is at work

in the lives

of people around us

that when you look

to your right

and your left

your friends

your family

your roommates

that you need

to remember

that if they're

in Christ

that God

is at work

in them

right

so the way

we tend

to remember

people

is in

snapshot form

right

you form

some impressions

of what a person

is like

and you may

know them

for 10 years

but a lot

of your image

of that person

is like a snapshot

it's that picture

that was taken

10 years ago

you know

you meet somebody

in high school

who's

you know

you knew this person

in high school

they're kind of

unpopular

and no confidence

and always quiet

and then you meet

them at your

15 year reunion

and all of a sudden

they're confident

and they're grown up

and they're mature

and they're successful

and you're like

whoa what a surprise

well why is it a surprise

it's been 15 years

a lot can happen

in 15 years

right

but it's

you're looking

at the snapshot

and you're looking

at the person

and you're like

well there's a

different

you're different

of course you're

different

it's been 15 years

why is that a surprise

think about how

this plays out

spiritually

right

if God is at work

in the people

around us

we need to expect

that

people aren't

snapshots

they're dynamic

they change

they grow

right

so I guess

my question

is this

are you giving

people in your life

room to surprise you

right

I mean so

you know

your husband

is always

is always

you know

he's always

impatient

she's always

critical

you know

he's always

you know

he's always

she's always

late

you know

he

I don't know

he always does

and says

embarrassing things

in public

you know

I mean whatever

your gripe is

you know

my friend

she only ever

talks about

herself

you know

she's a horrible

listener

right

it goes on

and on

and on

we have all

these absolute

statements

that's like

looking at the

snapshot

if your friend

or your husband

or your wife

if they had

that moment

where maybe

most of the time

they're impatient

but they have

this moment

of profound

patience

would you

notice

or are you

so fixated

on the snapshot

that you don't

see that

stuff is changing

here

right

so if we're

changing

and we're

growing

and we're

maturing

and this

says

you absolutely

are

are we

noticing

this

in the

lives

of the

people

around us

and the

third thing

is related

I think

that we

should always

encourage

the growth

that we

do see

in people's

lives

we should

always

fan that

flame

one of the

great things

about this

section of

scripture

is that

Paul

notices

and points

out

evidence

that the

Philippians

are growing

you notice

he first

brings up

their

generosity

and says

every time

I pray

and every time

I think

about you

guys

it fills

me with

joy

because of

your

generosity

because of

your

partnership

in the

gospel

and then

it's no

wonder

he then

goes on

to say

and I

am

confident

that God

is bringing

to completion

the work

he began

in you

it's because

he's saying

this is

evidence

God is at

work in

your heart

in the

ten years

since I

met you

you know

last week

Lydia the

businesswoman

a former

slave girl

a civil

servant

in the

ten years

since I

met you

you've

become

so much

more

generous

look at

the

generosity

here

Christ

is at

work

praise

God

this is the

first thing

he says

I think

that we

should do

all that

we can

to notice

the evidence

of God's

work

and affirm

it

and recognize

it

for what

it is

you know

instead of

constantly

harping

on your

kids

or constantly

harping

on your

spouse

or constantly

harping

or harboring

grudges

or resenting

your roommates

or your

friends

shift it

around

and to say

rather than

focusing on

how they're

always late

notice that

one time

they're on

time

and say

that's great

you're on

time

I know

this is hard

for you

but you're

on time

this time

that means

a lot

to me

praise

God

I'm

serious

but you

have to do

it in a

non-passive

aggressive

way

because that

could be

really

passive

aggressive

so

I'll

leave it

to your

discretion

but we

should

notice

these

things

thank you

last night

last night

I knew

I know

you were

really angry

but you

didn't lose

your temper

and the

way you

responded

was really

gentle

and loving

thank you

thank you

Jesus is

working in

you

right

I just

want you

to know

that Jesus

is working

in you

if we

believe

that Christ

is at

work

bringing

his work

to

completion

we should

try to

notice

and encourage

that work

so for

all who

come to

Jesus

for all

who ask

forgiveness

for all

who are

baptized

in his

name

you become

saints

that's what

it means

to be

a follower

of Jesus

and being

a saint

means one

that what

God has

chosen you

he set

you apart

he said

I choose

you

I want

you to

belong

to me

he's

given

you

his love

not because

of anything

you said

or did

or felt

but purely

because that

is the

kind of

God

he is

and second

God is at

work in

you now

God is

bringing to

completion

the work

he began

in you

when Christ

set you

apart

making you

more and

more like

him

so what this

means is that

every saint

every saint

can say what

the great

John Newton

who's the author

of the hymn

Amazing Grace

once said

he said this

I'm not what I

ought to be

I'm not what I

want to be

I'm not what I

hope to be

in another world

but still I'm not

what I once

used to be

and by the

grace of

God

I am

what I

am

let's pray

our father

in heaven

we thank you

and praise you

for your word

and we

as we hear

this we pray

that whatever

is of you

would

remain

in a little

while we'll

share in

your supper

in the Lord's

supper

and we pray

that as we

hear this

proclamation

of your love

that as we

receive the

bread and wine

a bit later

that we

would

actually

taste it

and that in

these two

ways you

would drive

these truths

home

into our

hearts

that we

are loved

because you've

chosen to love

us

and that we

find our

identity and

meaning and

acceptance and

fulfillment there

and we pray

then that we

would trust

that you

who set us

apart are

forming in

us everything

for which you've

purposed us

we thank you

and praise you

for this Lord

in your son's

holy name

amen

m I

M valuable

is

what I

can

I

can

afford

this

might

what I

mean

is

if I

put that

my

ESP

is

I

doesn't

that

but I

I

I

don't

b

I

can

what I

can

say

there