23rd Sunday after Trinity 2024

Before we get into it, let me pray and ask for the Lord's blessing.

Lord, we ask for your blessing.

Lord, your blessing looks different at different times to us different people.

Lord, some of us will be greatly encouraged to continue on in a steadfast way

after reading your word and this time together this morning.

Other people will feel conviction in their soul and be so moved and strengthened

to seek amendment of life and strength to obey.

Still others, Lord, will feel a weight just lifted off.

Maybe it's a combination of all three.

Maybe there's other things.

But Lord, we are your people.

We come to you for blessing.

And we trust you that you know what we need far greater than what we think we need.

And we pray all of this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Truth matters.

It's what we're about here at our church.

Truth is a very important thing.

Not truths, not a specific kind of truth, but truth, capital T, truth.

Because truth produces good outcomes.

And conversely, untrue things produce not just not good outcomes, but horrendous outcomes.

So you see that consequences flow downstream from truth or a lack thereof.

An example of this.

Truth, when it is embraced and applied, results in good things.

We think of the embrace that all people are made in God's image and have equal dignity before God.

So something like the abolition of apartheid in South Africa.

Beautiful thing.

Truth applied produced a good, godly, righteous outcome.

Conversely, an untruth or an anti-truth or a deceptive lie has catastrophic consequences.

A hundred and forty-ish years ago until maybe the 60s or 50s.

For sure not, at least in the 40s.

Eugenics was the rage.

There was this idea that we could purify and perfect the human race.

And we would do that in two ways.

By breeding favorable ethnicities and qualities, but eliminating ones that were unfavorable.

This was a lie.

It produced evil things.

So you see that truth matters greatly.

And the application of that truth, it's a very important thing.

We come to the scriptures expecting to hear truth and to know truth.

Why?

Because God has created all things.

He is good and he has revealed himself to us in the words of scripture as truth.

So as we approach Acts 17, we will see Paul travel to Thessalonica, the capital of Macedonia.

Later he'll go to Berea, as Ken read.

And he will attempt to convince people of the truth.

The importance of it.

And how, from the scriptures point of view, at the core of capital T truth,

is that Christ is the Messiah.

That Jesus is the Messiah.

He is the Savior.

And that at the core of that truth claim is the resurrection.

And he proves it by appealing to the source of truth.

That is, the scriptures.

We'll also see that just because the truth is proclaimed doesn't mean the truth will be embraced.

And therefore, there will be a cost associated with the truth.

So, we'll break up our text, Acts 17, 1-15, in two big chunks and then one smaller chunk.

The first big chunk is the primacy of the resurrection as the core of truth.

The second is the clarity of scriptures as the source of truth and also the cost of believing the truth.

And that little bit, I'll have a few different references, but we're going to primarily stick in the first two points.

So, we'll jump into it.

Again, if you have one of these scripture journals, Acts 17, starting in verse 1, it's on page 98.

And we'll look first at the primacy of the resurrection as the very core of truth.

So, Paul is on his second missionary journey.

If you remember, he departed in the beginning of Acts 16 from Barnabas.

He took Silas with him.

He took Timothy with him.

And he went to Philippi.

He saw some wonderful fruit in being, as he shared the gospel, as he evangelized.

And he was tossed in prison.

And even still in that situation, the Lord did something miraculous.

People continued to come to faith.

And now, as Paul and company continue with the second missionary journey, they find themselves in Macedonia.

And they're heading to the capital, Thessalonica.

Interesting.

The population historians figure, and it's anywhere from 50,000 to 200,000.

I mean, that's a pretty big spread.

Regardless if it's on the lower end or the higher end, it's a very significant city.

It's a city that is self-governed.

So, it's a free city.

So, even though they have connections with Rome, they are self-governed.

They're an economic hub.

They are a cultural hub.

If you're going to spread the gospel in Macedonia, in this region, it's a good spot to go to.

There'll be the neighboring cities and towns and villages that will frequent there.

Ideas will spread.

It's a critical juncture for this missionary journey.

And as Paul's normal practice, he goes to the local synagogue.

He, it's a bit of a beachhead for him in a new city.

So, he connects with the Jews that are there.

He reasons from the scriptures.

And in this specific case, he will lay out a case that, number one, the Messiah had to suffer.

And number two, Jesus is that suffering Messiah.

So, let's pick up in verse three.

We'll read verse three and four.

And then we'll continue on.

Verse three.

Actually, we'll skip back to verse two.

And Paul went in, that is, the synagogue, as was his custom.

And on the Sabbath day, and on three Sabbath days, rather, he reasoned with them from the scriptures.

So, Paul does two things.

He explains and he proves from the scriptures that the prophesied Messiah had to suffer.

Leading up to the first century, there was many different versions of what the Messiah would do.

Some of them derived from the biblical case of the Messiah, but others, it was like extra biblical stuff.

The Messiah would be somebody who would lead God's people against Rome.

The Messiah would be a miracle worker.

There's different views of the Messiah.

Some of them, all of them, kind of maybe touch on some truths.

But, by and large, there was no consensus.

And this idea that the Messiah would suffer seemed to be fairly foreign from the Judaic understanding of the biblical Messiah.

So, the Apostle Paul, likely he was there for longer than three weeks.

But here it says that he was there for three weeks.

We figure he was there for longer because in one of his letters to the Thessalonians,

there's a reference that he was there much longer than three weeks.

But from Luke, who records Acts in chapter 17 here, there's three weeks that he's covering.

And he is reasoning from the scriptures.

And almost certainly, Paul would have referenced Deuteronomy 21.

He would have certainly referenced parts of the Psalter, like Psalm 2 or Psalm 16.

Maybe Psalm 110.

And of course, he would refer to the servant songs in Isaiah's prophecy, especially Isaiah 53.

Very famous prophecy of the servant of God, who is the Messiah, who would suffer.

If you've gone to Handel's Messiah, it will be referenced a whole bunch.

It's beautiful.

So, the scriptures are teaching this.

And what's interesting here is that the scriptures aren't teaching it in just one spot,

but all over what we know as the Old Testament.

And not just in one portion of the Old Testament,

but the Old Testament, then as it is now, was understood to be broken up into three big sections.

It would be the Torah, or the Law.

It would be the Writings, or the Nevi'im, and something called the Ketuvim,

the Prophets, or the Major Prophets.

Three big sections that comprise the Old Testament.

And almost certainly, Paul would have referenced all of them.

All of the Bible, all of it, Paul says, he explains, and he proves,

that, testify to the suffering of the Savior to die on the behalf of his people as God's servant.

So, he establishes this very, very logical and rational way he's approaching it.

This is who the Messiah is.

So, listen, you've thought that he's this conquering, sword-drawn warrior

that's going to lead us away from Rome to establish David's throne once again.

It's not that.

You think he's just going to be a miracle worker,

doing wonderful signs and wonders.

Okay, he did it, but it's not just that.

At the core of what it means for the Messiah,

to be the Messiah, is that he will suffer.

Then he gets into this proof that Jesus is that.

And this is a key bit in all of this.

At the core of proving that Jesus truly was the Messiah,

what is the linchpin in all of this?

Is that Christ rose from the dead.

So, if Jesus just died and suffered and he stayed dead,

Paul could say, listen, this is the Messiah.

He suffered on our behalf.

But he'd say, well, there's other Messiahs that suffered on our behalf.

So what?

You say this guy, he says that guy, she says that guy.

It doesn't matter.

But at the core of what Paul is proving and explaining

is that Jesus rose from the dead.

Not the idea of Jesus rising from the dead,

but that Jesus physically, really, in a specific location,

at a real time and point in history,

at the hands of real people, died and rose again afterwards.

And certainly he would have referenced the crowds that witnessed

both the ministry of Jesus, the passion of Jesus,

and Jesus would have been scourged.

He would have been beaten to a pulp.

They would have seen that.

And then they would have seen the resurrected Jesus

who didn't have a blemish on him

apart from the nails, the nail marks in his hands and feet in his side.

And he testified to all of this.

It's like he's saying,

this is who the Messiah is,

this is who Jesus is, and I can prove it.

It's true.

And it's a big deal for Paul and his ministry

because he is staking his life on the resurrection.

And what he is doing also,

and this is a huge point in all of this,

is that Paul is connecting the Jesus of history

to the Jesus of the scriptures.

And this greatly matters because Jesus was a real person.

And like I said, he suffered at a real point in history,

at a real location, at the hands of real people.

And if that didn't happen, then it's all for nothing.

Some of you are YouTube philosophy junkies.

You know the different corners of the interwebs.

Jordan Peterson had a debate with Richard Dawkins

not too long ago.

And Richard Dawkins being one of the world's,

if not the world's most famous atheist,

and Jordan Peterson being growingly,

increasingly the most famous Canadian we have,

or at least a Canadian intellectual.

Anyways, I didn't watch the whole thing.

I watched snippets of it.

One of the bits of this debate

had to do with Dawkins pressing Peterson

on if the Bible,

if he believed that the Bible characters literally existed.

So he pushed him on,

surely you don't believe in a literal Cain and Abel.

And Peterson was, oh, maybe.

Maybe there were,

but it was the idea of a literal Cain and Abel

he wanted to push.

And then it got to the bit of the resurrection.

Surely you don't believe

that Jesus literally rose from the grave.

There was a man named Jesus,

and he physically,

like you get cameras there,

and you'd see him rise from the grave.

And Peterson had this kind of non-committal,

I don't know, maybe.

But the point of all of this was,

it doesn't really matter.

Because it is the idea that Jesus rose from the grave,

it's the idea of the resurrection,

it's what it represents,

that that's what really matters in the end.

And it's so remarkable how a man can be so close to the truth,

but so far away.

So close, yet so far away.

And if you're honest,

in your less faith-filled days,

can you not relate to Jordan Peterson?

I like the idea of the risen Christ,

but if somebody pushes me,

gun to my head,

did he really physically rise from the grave?

I don't know, yes,

but maybe you say it sheepishly.

You want to say yes,

but you're afraid of what it would make you look like.

I would say for myself,

if I'm pressed on this,

this is maybe one of the impediments

for me not being brave enough to share my faith.

I'm going to have to say,

well, actually at the core of our faith

is that a physical man,

at a real point in history,

physically rose from the grave.

And he wasn't swooning,

he wasn't in a coma,

he wasn't, I don't know,

having like one breath every two minutes.

He was dead, and then he was alive.

And I would,

if I'm being honest,

in my less faith-filled days,

I don't really want to even talk about that.

I don't want to go there,

I want to feel like I'm a respectable person.

Whether or not I look like one,

I want to feel like one.

And I think as a society,

and as people,

we struggle with this for two big reasons.

I think the first one,

I'm not going to dive into this,

I think the first reason is

we are fed a steady diet of a scientism,

science is good,

but a scientism and an empiricism

and a materialism

that says what we see is all there is,

there's no such thing as a spiritual world,

there is no such thing as the metaphysical,

what we see is what we have.

And the second thing,

and this is what we'll spend a bit of time on,

is that as, again,

as a society,

I'm painting with a large brush here,

but we enjoy the boundary

that separates myth from fact.

Myth is great,

for from it we can understand

all sorts of wisdom and truth,

lessons learned, morality,

but we wouldn't affirm myth

as anything other than fiction.

We can learn a lot from the story

of Icarus or Oedipus or Hercules

but are we going to actually say

that these characters are real?

They're fictional.

But it doesn't matter if they're real

because for myth,

what we gather from it

is the enduring lessons to be learned.

And I think that is why

we can struggle with embracing

the Christian faith,

even as Christians,

as it is proclaimed here

by the Apostle Paul.

we like that boundary

between myth and fact.

So in this view,

Jordan Peterson is spot on.

I mean, he would even say

that this is the myth,

the myth of myth,

and he's not entirely wrong with that,

but he would say

this is the idea,

that it's the idea

of the resurrection,

the idea of Christ physically

transcending all of the evil

and death

to incorruptibility.

The idea of that

is what we should

mentally ascend to.

But in the end,

Jesus

is not fact.

The resurrected Jesus

is not fact.

He is myth.

The Apostle Paul

is not

playing around

with this.

He is

saying,

no,

this is fact.

It's fact.

He physically

rose from the grave

because everything else

hinges on it.

C.S. Lewis,

he beautifully

articulates this

in one of his writings

called God in the Dock,

and I'm just going to quote it

rather than summarize it,

because who am I

to summarize, Lewis?

This is what he says,

quote,

The heart of Christianity

is a myth,

which is also a fact.

The old myth

of the dying God

without ceasing

to be myth

comes down

from the heaven

of legend

and imagination

to the earth

of history.

It happens

at a particular date,

in a particular place,

followed by

definable

historical consequences.

We pass

from a balder

or an Osiris,

dying nobody knows

where

or when,

to a historical

person crucified

under Pontius Pilate.

By becoming fact,

it does not cease

to be myth.

That is the miracle.

For this is the marriage

of heaven and earth,

perfect myth

and perfect fact,

claiming not only

our love

and our obedience,

but also our wonder

and our delight.

If we are to set

our hope,

and I mean

our eternal hope,

if we are to set

our hope

on the idea

or the ideal

of the resurrection

of Christ,

we are setting

our hope

on something

that is flimsy

and that will not

stand up

under the weight

of our hope.

There's a huge difference

between putting our hope

in the idea

of the risen Christ

and in the physical

risen Christ.

There's a huge difference.

The Apostle Paul

here is saying

to put your faith

in the risen Christ,

the physically

risen Christ.

Everything in Christianity

rises,

no pun intended,

and falls

on the literal

resurrection.

And if this is

the truth,

if this true myth

is also a true fact,

it changes everything,

for it means

that the sin,

if we're,

again,

this is all under

kind of like the umbrella

of like extreme honesty,

the sin that we cannot

expunge

out of our own

lives,

out of our own hearts,

is forever dealt

with on the cross.

It means our deep desire,

if again,

we're being brutally

honest,

that we can never

have fulfilled

in the things,

the experiences

or the people

that are in our lives

or that we hope

to enjoy one day,

those deep desires

for transcendence

and purpose

won't just be found

but will be never-ending

in Christ.

It means that

our deep desire

for friendship

that seems to be elusive

will be found

forever in Christ.

I'm telling you,

those things can't happen

if you just mentally

ascend to this idea

of Christ

being resurrected.

It has to be

rooted in

fact.

The second point

in this

and it's connected

to the first point

is the clarity

of scripture.

So what Paul does here

is that he appeals

to truth

in fact

not from his

vast knowledge

and he would have

had vast knowledge

from rabbinical teachings

or experiences

but from scripture

itself.

So

verses

the second point

verses 10 to 15

we'll look at the

clarity of scripture.

I'll read this

whole portion here

and then we will

take a look at it.

It says this,

verse 10,

the brothers

immediately sent

Paul and Silas

away by night

to Berea

and when they

arrived they went

into the Jewish

synagogue.

Now these Jews

were more noble

than those in

Thessalonica.

That's just to say

that they were

more open-minded,

more open to

reason,

that they were

more eager for

truth.

They received the

word with all

eagerness examining

the scriptures

daily to see

if these things

were so.

Many of them

therefore believed

and not a few

Greek women

of high standing

as well as men.

I'll actually

pause there

and then we'll

jump into that

last bit

later on.

So the Bereans

are rightly held

up as an

exemplary example

of how to

approach scripture

and truth claims

if you've been

around church

for a while

especially a

church that

holds up

scripture

you will hear

it being said

we want to be

a church like

the Bereans.

We want to

dive into

scripture.

We want to

know scripture,

examine scripture

and I would

say that is

wonderful and

beautiful and

that's what

this church

is, the hope

for this church

is as well.

So there's hard

work.

It means not

being gullible.

It means being

discerning.

It means doing

the hard work

of reading well

and having

one's mind

changed.

If it needs

changing.

It means being

committed to

the authority

and primacy

of the scriptures

above all

else.

It means to

put into

practice what

you believe.

To be a

Berean.

This is what it

means.

It's to live

your life and

to form your

habits and

thoughts around

God's word.

But here's the

thing.

We read about

the Bereans

and the

importance of

diving into

God's word

as if, and

I'll touch on

this a bit

more, as if

the Bereans

all made

individual order

to Amazon or

chapters and

got their

vegan leather

Bible.

Beautiful.

And then went

home 5 a.m.,

5.30 a.m.

before the

cock crowed,

had a coffee,

did their

devos, dug

into the word

that way.

But that's

almost certainly

not the case

because Amazon

didn't exist.

No, but

because nobody

had a Bible

in their home.

So what this

means is that

the Bereans,

they were

Bereans together.

It's a huge

aspect to all

of this.

So we'll get

into this in a

moment.

I just wanted

to point that

out.

The passage

here provides

two very

important principles

or guardrails

as we want

to be Bereans

ourselves.

The first

is this,

and it's a

combined doctrine,

two combined

doctrines from

the Reformation.

The first is

the clarity of

Scripture,

or if you

like fancy

words,

the perspicuity

of Scripture.

And then

combined with

that is the

doctrine of

sola scriptura,

that Scripture

alone is the

ultimate and

chief authority

for faith and

practice.

So, we'll get

into the second

principle in a

minute, but for

the first

principle, this

idea of the

clarity of

Scripture with

the authority

of Scripture.

The Reformation

sweeps across

Europe in the

16th century.

The Reformers

were committed

to not change

for the sake

of change,

but to

reform the

church so

that it

would come

back under

the authority

and practice

of the

biblical

witness.

No church

doctrine or

practice was

exempted from

being scrutinized.

Scripture would

be what would

be applied to

everything.

So, as a result

of reading Scripture

in the proper

authoritative place,

the church was

reformed and

salvation was

assured and

Christ became

central once again.

The Scriptures

were held to

their rightful

place.

So, the

English

Reformation,

this was included

in the English

Reformation.

I'll read two

of the 39

articles of

religion that

defines English

Reformed

theology.

This is like a

key, key

document for

the English

Reformation.

This is what

Article 6 says.

Holy Scripture

contains all things

necessary for

salvation.

Consequently,

whatever is not

read in Scripture

nor can be

proved from

Scripture cannot

be demanded from

any person to

believe it as

an article of

the faith.

Nor is any

such thing to

be thought

necessary or

required for

salvation.

By Holy

Scripture is

meant those

canonical books

of the Old

and New

Testament whose

authority was

never doubted

within the

church.

In verse 20,

Article 20 says

this,

the church has

authority to

decree forms of

worship and

ceremonies and

to decide in

controversies

concerning the

faith.

However, it's

not lawful for

the church to

order anything

contrary to

God's written

word.

Nor may it

expound one

passage of

Scripture so

that it

contradicts

another passage.

So although

the church is a

witness and

guardian to

Holy Scripture,

it must not

decree anything

contrary to

Scripture,

nor is it to

enforce belief in

anything additional

to Scripture as

essential to

salvation.

Too long,

didn't read.

Scripture is

at the very

top,

ultimate authority.

The church has

a place,

a very important

place,

but the church

cannot overstep

its bounds for

authority.

Scripture and

Scripture alone is

the ultimate

guiding authority

for practice and

belief in the

church.

So we start with

Scripture and go

from there.

A pope in

Italy or France

cannot speak

doctrine into

existence that

must be believed

no matter how

much it goes

against Scripture

and if one

doesn't believe

it, damnation

is, you're at

risk of eternal

damnation.

No, no, no,

no, no.

Scripture itself

is the ultimate

authority.

Therefore, it's

been put back

into its place.

This is one of

the gifts of the

Reformation.

However, and

this is a big

however, sola

scriptura and

this idea of

the clarity of

Scripture does

not mean you

or I get to

determine whatever

doctrine we

believe based

on our

interpretation of

the Bible.

It's a very

important aspect

of what it

means to be a

good, godly,

Bible-believing

part of the

church, member

of the church.

We don't

trade one

pope or

papacy in

Italy for a

papacy within

our own home,

as if we are

the ones who

make judgments

ex cathedra on

doctrine or

practice.

So, it's

very important

that, and

this is not

my idea,

this is from

well, the

reformers, but

a theologian, a

more recent

theologian named

Keith Matheson,

sola scriptura

does not mean

solo scriptura,

so it does

mean that

God's word is

for God's

people, which

is to say that

we ought to be

reading and

wrestling with

God's word

together.

So, if you

think of

scripture as

having two

guardrails around

it, number

one, that

scripture is

clear, any of

us can read it

if we are true

believers and

trust that the

Holy Spirit is

going to reveal

to us essentials

of the faith.

So, on one

side there's the

clarity of

scripture, and

on the other

side there is

the guardrail to

make sure that we

don't become the

arbiters or the

main interpreters of

scripture.

The Bereans are

meeting daily

together.

They're opening

God's word

together.

They are wrestling

with it together.

Almost certainly

they're not reading

it inside their

heads, but they're

reading it aloud.

They are coming

together as God's

people.

I mean, I don't

think they're God's

people at this

point.

It says that then

they came to faith,

but nevertheless, as

this group of

people on the way

to faith in Christ

and they're wrestling

and they're digging

in, somebody has an

idea, yeah, that

sounds good, this is

what it says, no,

no, no, no, but

what about this

portion of scripture

that contradicts what

you just said, and

all of a sudden you

can just trust that

with the proclamation

and the reading of

scripture together in

the community of the

church that truth

prevails.

It means also that

for us, we need to,

it's a corrective for

us because we need to,

of course, by the way,

I'm not saying that we

go home and we don't

do our own personal

Bible reading, but it

means as a community of

God's people, we are

talking the scriptures

scriptures to each

other.

We are debating and

discussing, we are

being honest that maybe

we don't have as much

Bible knowledge as we

do, so we're saying,

hey, listen, why don't

you explain this to me?

Why don't you teach us

to me?

Can we read this book

together that might

illuminate something about

scripture?

How do we wrestle through

scripture together as a

community?

I mean, there's huge

implications for the

church itself.

That can't just happen on

an hour and a half on a

Sunday morning.

Mind you, what we're

doing here is some of

that.

I think what it means to

be a church that are,

that take the example of

the Bereans very seriously

is a church that reads and

wrestles with scripture

together.

It also means we can't be

snooty about the past.

We need to remember on

All Saints Day, a great

example, that there have

been saints that have gone

before us, that God in his

goodness and wisdom and

mercy and love for the

church has given insights

into the scriptures and

that we have them at our

fingertips so we can appeal

to brothers and sisters of

the past and grow together

in faith, again, centered

around God's word.

Friends, this is the

beginning of having a very

high view of church and the

place of church in our lives.

So, the centrality of the

resurrection to Jesus being

the Christ, the centrality of

the scriptures to the

understanding of who Jesus

is and what truth is and who

God is, the guardrails around

that.

But we'll see in this next

section, and this is portions

from verses 5 to 9 and 13 to 5,

that as God calls his community

together out of darkness into

the light, there will be another

community that will despise the

light and remain in the darkness

and look to snuff out the

light of Christ.

Look with me at verses 5 to 9.

By the way, this will cost us.

So, to have belief will cost.

Look with me first at verses 5 to 9

and then verses 13 to 15.

Verses, starting verse 5.

But the Jews, that is the Jews that

did not come to believe in Jesus as

the Messiah, but the Jews were

jealous and taking some wicked men

of the rabble, they formed a mob,

set the city in an uproar,

attacked the house of Jason,

seeking to bring them out to the

crowd.

And when they could not find them,

they dragged Jason and some of the

brothers before the city authorities,

shouting, these men who have turned

the world upside down have come here

also.

And Jason has received them and

they are all acting against the

decrees of Caesar, saying that there

is another king, Jesus.

And the people and the city

authorities were disturbed when

they heard these things.

When they had taken money as

security from Jason and the rest,

they let them go.

Verse 13.

This is in Berea now.

But when the Jews, again these

unbelieving Jewish people, but when

the Jews from Thessalonica heard that

the word of God was proclaimed by

Paul at Berea also, they came

there too, agitating and stirring up

the crowds.

Then the brothers immediately sent

Paul off on his way to the sea,

but Silas and Timothy remained

there.

Those who conducted Paul brought him

as far as Athens and after receiving

a command for Silas and Timothy to

come to him as soon as possible,

they departed.

Increasingly, following Christ in our

day, and I say increasingly,

maybe in the past, say two to three

generations in our time,

will seem upside down to the world

we live in.

I mean, it was upside down back here.

It's more or less in any part of the

world, following Christ looks upside

down, but in the West we've enjoyed

the benefits of Christianity and

Christendom for a long time.

Not so much anymore.

But increasingly for us, following

Jesus, again, as I laid out with

believing that Jesus factually

actually rose from the grave, will

look upside down to those around us.

And it might very well feel upside

down for us.

Again, we are people that have been

force-fed, a steady diet all our

lives of a modernity that denies this

idea that Jesus could have truly risen

from the grave, or denies this idea

that there's an exclusivity claim to

the Bible, or denies that the tenets of

biblical morality is life-giving and is

applied to all people.

So we will feel upside down.

Obedience and devotion will be

difficult.

But, friends, but, if we, by God's

strength, as a community, commit to

this, again, by God's strength, as a

community, commit to this, the obedience

and devotion that seems upside down will

actually be right side up.

And that our obedience and our devotion

might still feel difficult, but it will

feel less like a chore and more like a

joy.

And our loves and our affections and our

priorities will begin to change.

We will say no, not to the, to the,

say no to things, not because they are

necessarily bad, they're likely very

good, but we'll say no to them because

our society has said you have to

prioritize them.

And for us, we will say no, we are

prioritizing a different way.

So it will change our approach to our

careers and our goals and our

ambitions, the opportunities we take or

the opportunities we want to give to

our children, things we buy, the way we

invest, the charities and organizations

we donate to, or maybe we begin to

donate to charities and organizations.

How we spend our time, how we spend our

money, money, in short, as we grow in our

faith by God's strength together in him,

we will have the gospel affect every

aspect of our lives.

It will feel upside down and until we get

our balance and we'll realize, no, no, no,

this is, this is right side up living.

Jason is not talked about much in the

Bible here and then in later on in

Romans 16, there's a reference to him

just in one of Paul's greetings.

And it cost him a lot.

He was, he was clearly a man of means,

some degree of means.

He was dragged and humiliated in front of

the crowds.

He was forced to give up money that he

knew, he knew there was no chance he was,

he was going to get it back.

I mean, either, either they were going to

hold it or take it, hold it for good or

they were going to take it because

there's no way that he could stop the

crowds from inciting a mob against the

Christians and especially Paul and company.

He was unjustly treated, but you know, he

was counted worthy of being associated with

Christ.

He was.

In a lesser way, he got to participate in

the sufferings of Christ and we are reading

about him 2,000 years later.

This man enjoyed a life of faith,

participated in the community of hope,

and enjoyed the promises of eternal and

deep friendship with the triune God.

I'm telling you, I promise you, I mean,

this is what I'll promise.

I'm not promising that it's going to be

easy.

I'm not necessarily even promising that it's

going to be terribly, terribly, terribly hard.

It might.

It might not.

But I will promise this, that as you commit

to a life of devotion and obedience,

as a product of the love, in response to

the love that God has given you in Christ

Jesus, in a community, life in him will start to

seem right side up.

And you'll want to tell people, hey, listen,

I believe in the myth, but it's also a fact.

And I'm telling you, if you embrace this Christ,

it'll transform your life.

It'll cost you your life, but it'll transform your

life.

Listen, friends, as God's holy people,

let us search the scriptures diligently,

individually, but also together.

Let us revel in this myth-made fact of Christ

rising from the grave, and let's do that together.

And let us joyfully live right side up,

bearing witness to the joy that we have in Christ,

and let's do that also together.

And friends, we will enjoy the right side up

living, and we will see other people come to

faith and be rescued from a backwards existence

that is killing them.

Let us pray.

Father in heaven, we thank you for the great

example of the Apostle Paul, the great courage

that he had to suffer torture in Philippi,

and then continue on to suffer in Thessalonica,

and continue on, and in every stop,

proclaiming and making a case for the risen Christ.

Lord, proclaiming the upside-down kingdom,

that is really the right-side-up kingdom.

Lord, help us to take St. Paul's example,

and by your strength that we would walk in like manner.

And Father, we pray that you would give us courage

to trust your word.

Lord, to believe that you, by your Holy Spirit,

use your word to transform our lives.

And Lord, we pray that you'll do just that.

Gently, we ask, Lord, but deeply.

Lord, we want to grow in our faith.

We don't want to be pretenders.

We don't want to be people that have deep spiritual regrets

as we come to the end of our days,

whatever that may be.

But instead, Lord, help us to have courage

to trust in you.

We pray all this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.