Trinity Evangel Church

The children of Christian parents belong to a Covenant Home.

The idea of "Covenant Theology" is overused and misunderstood by many of those holding to it and by those rejecting it. A lot of the conversations quickly become unfruitful because terms are not only left undefined, but are not understood by the people using them. This is not going to be an argument for or against Covenantalism. But, I do need to define by terms to avoid more overuse and misunderstanding. I'm going to summarize what I don't mean and we can talk details later if you want.

When I say "Covenant Home," I am not referring to the Covenant of Grace. As described by Covenant Theologians, the Covenant of Grace includes all of the elect for salvation, from the beginning of human history to it's end. Much of the time, when people say "Covenant Home," they do have in mind the Covenant of Grace, and they include their children from the get go as legitimate members. But the kids are able to leave the covenant - go apostate - which seems strange to me if they're elect. My "Covenant Home" does not refer to the Covenant of Grace.

I'm also not referring to the New Covenant. It's often used interchangeably with the Covenant of Grace, which actually makes things more confusing. The terms, parties, and promises of the New Covenant are clear and specific in the Bible. The New Covenant does stipulate that it's members will have children, and those children are guaranteed to be believers - that is, members of the New Covenant. It's one of the promises of the New Covenant. And it's also one of the reasons why I don't mean the New Covenant when I say "Covenant Home." It's possible for Christians to have their kids go apostate today. In the fulfillment of the New Covenant, that will not be.

What am I talking about?

Malachi 2:14-15

But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.

When I say "Covenant Home," I am referring to the marriage covenant that a Christian man made with a Christian woman, with God as their witness. In that union, God gave a portion of the Spirit in order to form a Christian Household and bring up Godly children.

The context of a Christian's marital vows is with God as their witness. Man and wife covenant together in order to form a household in the presence of God. And everything that happens within that household, and everything done by that household, is done with God as witness and with a portion of God's Spirit, in order to have god-honoring fruit. It's like the Spirit of God forms a dome around the Christian family and tells them not just to be fruitful and multiply, but do so in a way and to the end that honors God. Marriage is to be fruitful. And here we see that the primary fruit of a god-honoring marriage covenant is godly children.

“What was God seeking? Godly offspring.”

Christian marriage forms a Christian family, into which children are born, and are to be brought up, within that context, to be Christians themselves. God is seeking godly children. Our marriage covenant speaks to that.

The children of Christian parents belong to a Covenant Home.

What does it mean to be a Covenant Kid?

I will be addressing our Covenant Kids. What are your responsibilities before God in your role as a kid of Christian parents?

4 main points:

Ephesians 6:1-4.

Kids are members of their households, and future heirs of it. That is their role. When the husband and wife formed their household, they both became members of it. As kids are born into that household, they are born under that covenant umbrella as members of it.

I specify that kids are future heirs, and not just members, because it's possible to be a member of a household without being an heir. I'm thinking of slaves and servants, in cultures where that makes sense. Paul, writing to the Galatians distinguishes between sons and slaves in the way that the son "is the owner of everything," and when his father says so, will inherit what is his fathers.

So, kids are members of their household and future heirs of it. What are they members and future heirs of? What is a household?

3 C's to define a household:

A household is a covenant. The husband and wife make marriage vows - mutual promises - in the presence of God, through which God's Spirit establishes a Covenant Household. You kids, are the fruit of that covenant union, and therefore, are members of it.

The kids of Christian parents, even before they profess and are baptized, from the day they're conceived, are set apart from the kids of the world by being members of a Christian household.

1 Corinthians 7:14

For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

A household is a covenant. Kids are part of the household covenant.

A household is a community. It is not a group of isolated individuals. A community is a network of relationships, that are interdependent.

Because it's founded on a covenant, a household is an inseparable community. When a husband and wife act like individuals, the household starts to unravel. And when kids act like individuals, they are being unfaithful members of their household.

Acting like an individual means that you make your decisions and perform your actions without considering how that reflects on or impacts the other people in your household.

We are always simultaneously representing at least 3 identities. Ourselves (which our first name reminds us of), our family (which our last name reminds us of), and Christ (which our baptism reminds us of).

We never act just as individuals. The Bible says that kids can bring shame to their parents. A foolish and lazy son makes his family look bad. And a wise and hardworking son makes his family look good.

There is a wrong kind of pressure that can come with that. If we're just trying to look the part in order to not embarrass our parents, we're missing the point. The point is that whenever you act, you should consider: What is this going to do for my name? For my family's name? For Christ's name?

A household is a community. Kids are part of the household community.

We've set the foundation of the household as a covenant. We've built the walls and roof around the household as a community. We can now fill the household with a culture. A household is a culture.

Ephesians 6:4

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Paideia. This is culture. A household has a certain type of culture that it takes on as it's own - standards, traditions, acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

When I tell my boys that "Kulishovs don't do that," or "our family doesn't do that," I am appealing to the standard of our household culture. Households have norms and expectations.

But here, this paideia, culture, is that of the Lord. What kind of culture should the household have and the kids be trained in? God's culture. Kids in a Christian family are to be raised, trained, and molded as Christians.

Our kids are held to Christian standards, being raised in a Christian culture, because they are a part of a Christian household.

Our kids are to be born in and molded by a Christian culture that they can't escape. And when they are launched as men and women, ungodly culture should be detestable.

The Christian Household Culture obligates it's members to worship the Lord. This goes back to Paul calling kids of Christians holy. He says there that an unbelieving spouse is "being made holy," being set apart, by the believing spouse. The light of Christ shines on them, because they're married to a believer. But the kids, he says, are holy. They are set apart for God.

All men who live under the Sun are obligated to worship the Lord, and are without excuse if they don't, because they live under the light of the Sun.

But kids in a Christian home, being molded by a Christian culture, are living under a magnifying glass that's burning the witness of the Sun's light onto their hearts. They can't escape it. That's what God intended.

Kids, God tells your dad to train and discipline you according to God's standard. Your dad controls the path you take - either for good or for evil. His role in your life is active. When your dad is setting the ground rules for you and for your house, he is doing so in obedience to God. He's supposed to be active in your training and in your boundaries - to train you in the culture of God.

The household is a culture. As part of the Christian household, kids are part of that Christian culture.

Big takeaway: you kids are not just members of the household. You are it's heirs. When you inherit what belongs to your father, you inherit this Christian culture that he trained you in. The Paideia of God. It belongs to you. Own it. And carry it forward.

Ephesians 6:1

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Objective: To do what is right in the Lord.

Colossians 3:20

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

To please the Lord.

The Covenant Household is founded with God as witness and with a portion of God's Spirit, in order to have god-honoring fruit, namely godly children. The objective for Covenant Kid's is to honor God in all that they do.

Kids are to aim to do what is right and what pleases the Lord. They are to be taught this by their parents, and are to be held to this standard from the get go. "What does God think about what you did?" should be a normal question for kids to be taught to ask themselves, whether or not they're baptized.

Many Christian parents tiptoe around this objective for there kids. They wait for their kids to figure it out on their own. "We want the desire to please the Lord to be sincere and authentic. We don't want to push it onto them." Parents are to set God's pleasure as the standard for their kids.

The pleasure of God is the kids' objective. To do what's right.

Ephesians 6:1-2

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),

The way that kids please the Lord in their role as kids is by obeying and honoring their parents.

You're not just recipients of your father's actions towards you. You also are to act a certain way toward your dad and mom. You're accountable before the Lord for how you act toward your parents.

Disobedience to parents is underrated. It happens so often, that we take for granted - both kids and parents - how seriously God views it.

Romans chapter 1, Paul lists all the debasement of the God-haters:

Romans 1.29

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

God puts "disobedient to parents" alongside murderers, haters of God, and inventors of evil.

2 Timothy 3.2

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

Disobedience to parents is presented alongside the abusive, treacherous, and conceited.

Covenant Kids are to obey their parents in the Lord, for this is right.

They are also to honor their parents. Honor is more encompassing then obey. Obedience is specific to instruction. Honor is overarching. It entails the overall demeanor and position. Do you hold your parents in contempt, or do you hold them in honor?

When we're talking about the household as Covenant, Community, and Culture, to honor your parents means to submit to and to esteem the Household Covenant, Community, and Culture. Kids are to be happy in their respect and submission to the household standards which their parents have set. It's not just about the behavior. It's about the heart, the demeanor. Honoring your parents means the kids aren't hating and begrudging having to do what their dad is telling them.

Note: "Honor your father and mother." Where obedience is directed toward "parents," honor looks different towards the father and the mother. Your dad might allow a stronger conversation without his honor being threatened. But your mom, even though she's your mom, is still a woman. The approach, tone, and demeanor should consider all of that.

The Christian Culture that the parents are raising their kids in ought to be held in honor by the kids.

The kid's Assignment: to obey and honor their parents. That's how they live out their objective to please the Lord within this specific role as members and heirs of the household.

Ephesians 6.2

“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

The kids receive an explicit promise as a result of fulfilling their assignment towards their objective. God uses positive reenforcement. God promises to bless them as a result of their obedience. Their reward is God's blessing upon them.

Some people do argue that Paul referencing the 5th Commandment means that he's bringing the New Testament Gentiles under the weight of the Mosaic Law. Reading the text does not require that kind of interpretation. Yes, he's referencing the Mosaic Law, and even quoting it here for the Gentile church. But he's doing it because it was that good, that true. "The law also says this, and includes a promise."

The reward of God's blessing for honoring your parents is stability and confident peace in your life. Unstable, anxious adults who can't hold their life together were much of the time not honoring their parents. When you're not busy uprooting what your fathers before you have planted, and fighting against the god-honoring culture that you were brought up in, but instead are furthering that effort by adding your own strength to it, God's blessing follows you as you live long and stable in the land.

The kid's reward for living out their assignment to obey and honor their parents, as they aim towards the objective of doing right in the Lord, within their role as members and heirs of the covenant household is God's blessing.

R-O-A-R

You kids are growing up to be on the attack. You are a lion cub and a young lion under the discipline of your parents. They are training you in order to one day unleash you. Like a beast on the attack, like a weapon wielded, like arrows sprung from the bow, you will be released from under your parents authority to carry and advance Christ-honoring culture, because that is your inheritance.

Young man, one day you will leave your father and mother, to start your own household with the wife of your youth, to form a covenant with your companion, with God as your witness, in order for you to beget godly children - Covenant Kids - and take further ground.

Young lady, one day you will be given to a man, as you leave your father's household and create a new one under your husband's family name. You will be responsible to nurture a Christian culture in your home in order to bring up godly children - Covenant Kids - and take further ground.

How can you set yourself up to play offense successfully?

Go and Roar, for the pleasure of God.

This passage is by far the most extensive and detailed and intimate expression of love and appreciation in Paul’s corpus. In 15:14-33 he focused on his mission of the gospel and ministry to the saints. In chapter 16 he focuses on his relationship to other saints with him in his ministry. He reveals his deep affection for those whom he had served, for those who had served him, and for those who served with him.

How does reading/studying a list of greetings compare to reading/studying a long genealogy? Both require some patience, both have some profit. Genealogies are who we're from. Salutations are who we're with.

Paul makes a personal recommendation.

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. (Romans 16:1–2 ESV)

Cenchreae was the neighboring port city of Corinth, from where Paul wrote this letter. This is the first time the word church is used in Romans, but it appears five times in this final chapter. We remember that the church is identified as where the people are, not necessarily a building with a sign (I suppose we could refer to a “church’s” building if we wanted to be precise, and yet churches as places were mentioned first sometime in the third century).

To commend was to endorse or give a favorable reference. Paul’s reference for this sister as being a servant has caused quite a stir in theological circles. The Greek word for servant is diakanon, the term from which we get deacon. KJV/NASB/ESV all translate the word here as “servant” (NIV uses “deacon” and notes that it’s referring to the office). Paul doesn’t just doesn’t use the feminine form of “deaconess” (διακόνισσα), a form not found in the NT.

Whether or not Pheobe held some official title or not, Paul commended her as a highly-proven servant of Christ and urged the church at Rome to receive her in the Lord.

Why is so much attention given to Phoebe? It is almost certain that Phoebe was the one who delivered this letter to the church at Rome, a significant responsibility. Since the letter was hand-written (by Tertius, verse 22) there probably was no second copy.

She was to be received into fellowship in a way worthy of the saints. There is unreasonable hospitality, and then there is saints hospitality. “Welcome one another as Christ as welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7).

Part of the reason for receiving her was that she had been a helper or patron. A “patron” was one who came to the aid of others, especially foreigners, by providing housing and financial aid and sometimes by representing their interests before local authorities when necessary. Phoebe was probably a woman of high social standing and some wealth, who put her status, resources, and time at the services of traveling Christians, like Paul himself, who needed help and support.

Paul offers multiple personal greetings. Greet or "salute" is used 13 times in verses 3-16, then 2 more times in verses 22-23.

Although he had not yet visited Rome, Paul names twenty-four individuals, seventeen men and seven women, along with many who are unnamed, such as those in the households of Aristobulus and Narcissus. There are Jewish names, Latin names, and Greek names. His greeting of so many specific people also confirms that Paul was aware of the circumstances in the Roman assemblies.

The first to be greeted are Prisca and Aquila, a husband and wife who were my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. This couple is actually mentioned six times in the NT. Paul first met them on his first visit to Corinth, where Prisca (with the diminutive form, Priscilla) and Aquila had fled from Rome when all Jews were driven out by the Emperor Claudius (Acts 18:2). They were tentmakers like Paul, and Paul stayed in their house while he began his ministry in Corinth (Acts 18:1-3). After working together in Corinth Paul dropped them off in Ephesus for a lengthy ministry (1 Corinthians 16:19).

They were more than fellow workers with Paul, he says they had risked their necks for my life. Then apparently sometime after Claudius died (AD 54) they returned to Rome, where they lived and ministered when Paul wrote this letter. By that time one of the congregations was meeting in their house.

Paul’s next greeting is to my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia, or “firstfruits” (KJV). He is mentioned nowhere else in the NT. Paul had kept track of him through the years and was pleased that he was now a part of church at Rome.

Then, Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. Mary was a common name among Jews and Gentiles, so we do not know where this Mary came from, how or when she was converted, or anything else except that she had worked hard for the church in Rome.

Paul calls Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, which indicates that they were not only fellow Jews (there were many other Jews in the list who didn’t receive this title), but they were probably Paul’s relatives, along with Herodian (verse 11) and Jason and Sosipater (verse 21). They apparently were at one point my fellow prisoners, which could have been anywhere since Paul was often in prison (or it could simply be saying that they had been imprisoned for the sake of the gospel like Paul).

In verse 8 Paul greets Ampliatus who was my beloved in the Lord. The next two saints were Urbanus and Stachys.

Apelles was a relatively rare name. Here Paul says he was the approved in Christ. The word “approved” carries the idea of being tried and tested and was used of precious metals that had passed tests for purity.

Paul’s next greeting was to a group of believers whose names and number we do not know. They are simply identified as those who belong to the family of Aristobulus, who himself is not identified. Because he is not greeted, it seems he was probably not a Christian himself. At least one commentator has suggested that Aristobulus may have been the brother of Herod Agrippa I and the grandson of Herod the Great. So maybe this household was a group of believers within the imperial household.

As with Andronicus and Junias (verse 7) Paul greets Herodian as my kinsman, so a relative to Paul. Like Aristobulus, Narcissus was probably not a believer, but some of his household were in the Lord.

In verse 12 Paul greets and commends three women. The first two, Tryphaena and Tryphosa were possibly twin sisters (since it was common to give children names form the same Greek root). Persis was the beloved, suggesting (from the definite article) that she was loved by everyone who knew her and who had been a beneficiary of her hard work in the Lord.

Rufus was chosen in the Lord. This doesn’t refer to every Christian’s election, but more like we might say an extraordinary Christian – a choice man.

The specific greeting to (Rufus’) mother, who has been a mother to me as well does not mean that Rufus was Paul’s natural brother, but that Rufus’ mother had somewhere and in some way during Paul’s travel and ministry, cared for him as if he were her own son.

Paul makes no comment about Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, and Hermas. The mention of the brethren with them indicates that the five names here were leaders of one of the many assemblies of believers in Rome. In verse 15 Paul greets another assembly of saints, which included Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympia.

Finally, verse 16: Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. The kiss gesture of greeting seems more cultural, so not required for us, though a gesture of welcome is certainly appropriate.

Who doesn’t like to hear their name mentioned aloud from up front (only some, ha)? There’s nothing wrong with names; God included these in His Word. Nothing wrong with expressing thanks for specific people.

There were many in the network of saints (“in the Lord” - ἐν κυρίῳ - used in verses 8, 11, 12 (x2), 13, and 22; and see “in Christ” - ἐν Χριστῷ - in verses 3, 7, 9, 10). Men and women. Working, suffering, supporting, the kind of people worth standing with.

From the end of Romans 15 and into chapter 16, Paul uses 6 different words beginning with the preposition meaning "with."

We are IN so we recognize our WITHS. I urge you to be, or to excel still more at being, anti-isolatist. We want to be with you, not without. Saints love the saints they're WITH. Saints are stronger because of their WITHS.

One of the saints in our body has fought the good fight, finished her race, kept the faith. She has endured and her faith has been an encouragement to all those who have loved the Lord’s appearing. Beloved, work with and suffer with and stand with and sing with each other. Our WITHS are our strength.

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5–6 ESV)

**The children of Christian parents belong to a Covenant Home.**

The idea of "Covenant Theology" is overused and misunderstood by many of those holding to it and by those rejecting it. A lot of the conversations quickly become unfruitful because terms are not only left undefined, but are not understood by the people using them. This is not going to be an argument for or against Covenantalism. But, I do need to define by terms to avoid more overuse and misunderstanding. I'm going to summarize what I don't mean and we can talk details later if you want.

When I say "Covenant Home," I am not referring to the Covenant of Grace. As described by Covenant Theologians, the Covenant of Grace includes all of the elect for salvation, from the beginning of human history to it's end. Much of the time, when people say "Covenant Home," they do have in mind the Covenant of Grace, and they include their children from the get go as legitimate members. But the kids are able to leave the covenant - go apostate - which seems strange to me if they're elect. My "Covenant Home" does not refer to the Covenant of Grace.

I'm also not referring to the New Covenant. It's often used interchangeably with the Covenant of Grace, which actually makes things more confusing. The terms, parties, and promises of the New Covenant are clear and specific in the Bible. The New Covenant does stipulate that it's members will have children, and those children are guaranteed to be believers - that is, members of the New Covenant. It's one of the promises of the New Covenant. And it's also one of the reasons why I don't mean the New Covenant when I say "Covenant Home." It's possible for Christians to have their kids go apostate today. In the fulfillment of the New Covenant, that will not be.

What am I talking about?

Malachi 2:14-15

> But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.

When I say "Covenant Home," I am referring to the marriage covenant that a Christian man made with a Christian woman, with God as their witness. In that union, God gave a portion of the Spirit in order to form a Christian Household and bring up Godly children.

The context of a Christian's marital vows is with God as their witness. Man and wife covenant together in order to form a household in the presence of God. And everything that happens within that household, and everything done by that household, is done with God as witness and with a portion of God's Spirit, in order to have god-honoring fruit. It's like the Spirit of God forms a dome around the Christian family and tells them not just to be fruitful and multiply, but do so in a way and to the end that honors God. Marriage is to be fruitful. And here we see that the primary fruit of a god-honoring marriage covenant is godly children.

“What was God seeking? Godly offspring.”

Christian marriage forms a Christian family, into which children are born, and are to be brought up, within that context, to be Christians themselves. God is seeking godly children. Our marriage covenant speaks to that.

**The children of Christian parents belong to a Covenant Home.**

What does it mean to be a Covenant Kid?

I will be addressing our Covenant Kids. What are your responsibilities before God in your role as a kid of Christian parents?

4 main points:

- The Covenant Kid's Role

- The Covenant Kid's Objective

- The Covenant Kid's Assignment

- The Covenant Kid's Reward

Ephesians 6:1-4.

# The Covenant Kid's Role

Kids are members of their households, and future heirs of it. That is their role. When the husband and wife formed their household, they both became members of it. As kids are born into that household, they are born under that covenant umbrella as members of it.

I specify that kids are future heirs, and not just members, because it's possible to be a member of a household without being an heir. I'm thinking of slaves and servants, in cultures where that makes sense. Paul, writing to the Galatians distinguishes between sons and slaves in the way that the son "is the owner of everything," and when his father says so, will inherit what is his fathers.

So, kids are members of their household and future heirs of it. What are they members and future heirs of? What is a household?

3 C's to define a household:

- Covenant

- Community

- Culture

## Household As Covenant

A household is a covenant. The husband and wife make marriage vows - mutual promises - in the presence of God, through which God's Spirit establishes a Covenant Household. You kids, are the fruit of that covenant union, and therefore, are members of it.

The kids of Christian parents, even before they profess and are baptized, from the day they're conceived, are set apart from the kids of the world by being members of a Christian household.

1 Corinthians 7:14

> For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

A household is a covenant. Kids are part of the household covenant.

## Household As Community

A household is a community. It is not a group of isolated individuals. A community is a network of relationships, that are interdependent.

Because it's founded on a covenant, a household is an *inseparable* community. When a husband and wife act like individuals, the household starts to unravel. And when kids act like individuals, they are being unfaithful members of their household.

Acting like an individual means that you make your decisions and perform your actions without considering how that reflects on or impacts the other people in your household.

We are always simultaneously representing at least 3 identities. Ourselves (which our first name reminds us of), our family (which our last name reminds us of), and Christ (which our baptism reminds us of).

We never act just as individuals. The Bible says that kids can bring shame to their parents. A foolish and lazy son makes his family look bad. And a wise and hardworking son makes his family look good.

There is a wrong kind of pressure that can come with that. If we're just trying to look the part in order to not embarrass our parents, we're missing the point. The point is that whenever you act, you should consider: What is this going to do for my name? For my family's name? For Christ's name?

A household is a community. Kids are part of the household community.

## Household As Culture

We've set the foundation of the household as a covenant. We've built the walls and roof around the household as a community. We can now fill the household with a culture. A household is a culture.

Ephesians 6:4

> Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Paideia. This is culture. A household has a certain type of culture that it takes on as it's own - standards, traditions, acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

When I tell my boys that "Kulishovs don't do that," or "our family doesn't do that," I am appealing to the standard of our household culture. Households have norms and expectations.

But here, this paideia, culture, is that of the Lord. What kind of culture should the household have and the kids be trained in? God's culture. Kids in a Christian family are to be raised, trained, and molded as Christians.

Our kids are held to Christian standards, being raised in a Christian culture, because they are a part of a Christian household.

Our kids are to be born in and molded by a Christian culture that they can't escape. And when they are launched as men and women, ungodly culture should be detestable.

The Christian Household Culture obligates it's members to worship the Lord. This goes back to Paul calling kids of Christians holy. He says there that an unbelieving spouse is "being made holy," being set apart, by the believing spouse. The light of Christ shines on them, because they're married to a believer. But the kids, he says, are holy. They are set apart for God.

All men who live under the Sun are obligated to worship the Lord, and are without excuse if they don't, because they live under the light of the Sun.

But kids in a Christian home, being molded by a Christian culture, are living under a magnifying glass that's burning the witness of the Sun's light onto their hearts. They can't escape it. That's what God intended.

Kids, God tells your dad to train and discipline you according to God's standard. Your dad controls the path you take - either for good or for evil. His role in your life is active. When your dad is setting the ground rules for you and for your house, he is doing so in obedience to God. He's supposed to be active in your training and in your boundaries - to train you in the culture of God.

The household is a culture. As part of the Christian household, kids are part of that Christian culture.

Big takeaway: you kids are not just members of the household. You are it's heirs. When you inherit what belongs to your father, you inherit this Christian culture that he trained you in. The Paideia of God. It belongs to you. Own it. And carry it forward.

# The Covenant Kid's Objective

Ephesians 6:1

> Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Objective: To do what is right in the Lord.

Colossians 3:20

> Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

To please the Lord.

The Covenant Household is founded with God as witness and with a portion of God's Spirit, in order to have god-honoring fruit, namely godly children. The objective for Covenant Kid's is to honor God in all that they do.

Kids are to aim to do what is right and what pleases the Lord. They are to be taught this by their parents, and are to be held to this standard from the get go. "What does God think about what you did?" should be a normal question for kids to be taught to ask themselves, whether or not they're baptized.

Many Christian parents tiptoe around this objective for there kids. They wait for their kids to figure it out on their own. "We want the desire to please the Lord to be sincere and authentic. We don't want to push it onto them." Parents are to set God's pleasure as the standard for their kids.

The pleasure of God is the kids' objective. To do what's right.

# The Covenant Kid's Assignment

Ephesians 6:1-2

>Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),

The way that kids please the Lord in their role as kids is by obeying and honoring their parents.

You're not just recipients of your father's actions towards you. You also are to act a certain way toward your dad and mom. You're accountable before the Lord for how you act toward your parents.

## Obey Your Parents

Disobedience to parents is underrated. It happens so often, that we take for granted - both kids and parents - how seriously God views it.

Romans chapter 1, Paul lists all the debasement of the God-haters:

Romans 1.29

> They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

God puts "disobedient to parents" alongside murderers, haters of God, and inventors of evil.

2 Timothy 3.2

> For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

Disobedience to parents is presented alongside the abusive, treacherous, and conceited.

Covenant Kids are to obey their parents in the Lord, for this is right.

## Honor Your Father and Mother

They are also to honor their parents. Honor is more encompassing then obey. Obedience is specific to instruction. Honor is overarching. It entails the overall demeanor and position. Do you hold your parents in contempt, or do you hold them in honor?

When we're talking about the household as Covenant, Community, and Culture, to honor your parents means to submit to and to esteem the Household Covenant, Community, and Culture. Kids are to be happy in their respect and submission to the household standards which their parents have set. It's not just about the behavior. It's about the heart, the demeanor. Honoring your parents means the kids aren't hating and begrudging having to do what their dad is telling them.

Note: "Honor your father and *mother*." Where obedience is directed toward "parents," honor looks different towards the father and the mother. Your dad might allow a stronger conversation without his honor being threatened. But your mom, even though she's your mom, is still a woman. The approach, tone, and demeanor should consider all of that.

The Christian Culture that the parents are raising their kids in ought to be held in honor by the kids.

The kid's Assignment: to obey and honor their parents. That's how they live out their objective to please the Lord within this specific role as members and heirs of the household.

# The Covenant Kid's Reward

Ephesians 6.2

> “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

The kids receive an explicit promise as a result of fulfilling their assignment towards their objective. God uses positive reenforcement. God promises to bless them as a result of their obedience. Their reward is God's blessing upon them.

Some people do argue that Paul referencing the 5th Commandment means that he's bringing the New Testament Gentiles under the weight of the Mosaic Law. Reading the text does not require that kind of interpretation. Yes, he's referencing the Mosaic Law, and even quoting it here for the Gentile church. But he's doing it because it was that good, that true. "The law also says this, and includes a promise."

The reward of God's blessing for honoring your parents is stability and confident peace in your life. Unstable, anxious adults who can't hold their life together were much of the time not honoring their parents. When you're not busy uprooting what your fathers before you have planted, and fighting against the god-honoring culture that you were brought up in, but instead are furthering that effort by adding your own strength to it, God's blessing follows you as you live long and stable in the land.

The kid's reward for living out their assignment to obey and honor their parents, as they aim towards the objective of doing right in the Lord, within their role as members and heirs of the covenant household is God's blessing.

# Conclusion:

- Role: Member & Heir of the Household Covenant, Community, and Culture

- Objective: To please the Lord and do what's right

- Assignment: Obey and honor your parents

- Reward: God's blessing on your life

R-O-A-R

You kids are growing up to be on the attack. You are a lion cub and a young lion under the discipline of your parents. They are training you in order to one day unleash you. Like a beast on the attack, like a weapon wielded, like arrows sprung from the bow, you will be released from under your parents authority to carry and advance Christ-honoring culture, because that is your inheritance.

Young man, one day you will leave your father and mother, to start your own household with the wife of your youth, to form a covenant with your companion, with God as your witness, in order for you to beget godly children - Covenant Kids - and take further ground.

Young lady, one day you will be given to a man, as you leave your father's household and create a new one under your husband's family name. You will be responsible to nurture a Christian culture in your home in order to bring up godly children - Covenant Kids - and take further ground.

How can you set yourself up to play offense successfully?

1. Be a faithful member of your family covenant - Live in your ROLE

2. Do what is right and pleasing to the Lord - Live in light of your OBJECTIVE

3. Obey and honor your parents - Live out your ASSIGNMENT

4. Receive God's blessing - Live out of your REWARD

Go and Roar, for the pleasure of God.

This passage is by far the most extensive and detailed and intimate expression of love and appreciation in Paul’s corpus. In 15:14-33 he focused on his mission of the gospel and ministry to the saints. In chapter 16 he focuses on his relationship to other saints with him in his ministry. He reveals his deep affection for those whom he had served, for those who had served him, and for those who served with him.

How does reading/studying a list of greetings compare to reading/studying a long genealogy? Both require some patience, both have some profit. Genealogies are who we're from. Salutations are who we're *with*.

# Commendation (verses 1-2)

Paul makes a personal recommendation.

> I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. (Romans 16:1–2 ESV)

Cenchreae was the neighboring port city of Corinth, from where Paul wrote this letter. This is the first time the word **church** is used in Romans, but it appears five times in this final chapter. We remember that the church is identified as *where the people* are, not necessarily a building with a sign (I suppose we could refer to a “church’s” building if we wanted to be precise, and yet churches as places were mentioned first sometime in the third century).

To **commend** was to endorse or give a favorable reference. Paul’s reference for this **sister** as being a **servant** has caused quite a stir in theological circles. The Greek word for servant is *diakanon*, the term from which we get deacon. KJV/NASB/ESV all translate the word here as “servant” (NIV uses “deacon” and notes that it’s referring to the office). Paul doesn’t just doesn’t use the feminine form of “deaconess” (διακόνισσα), a form not found in the NT.

Whether or not Pheobe held some official title or not, Paul commended her as a highly-proven servant of Christ and urged the church at Rome to receive her in the Lord.

Why is so much attention given to Phoebe? It is almost certain that Phoebe was the one who delivered this letter to the church at Rome, a significant responsibility. Since the letter was hand-written (by Tertius, verse 22) there probably was no second copy.

She was to be received into fellowship **in a way worthy of the saints.** There is unreasonable hospitality, and then there is *saints* hospitality. “Welcome one another as Christ as welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7).

Part of the reason for receiving her was that she had been a helper or **patron**. A “patron” was one who came to the aid of others, especially foreigners, by providing housing and financial aid and sometimes by representing their interests before local authorities when necessary. Phoebe was probably a woman of high social standing and some wealth, who put her status, resources, and time at the services of traveling Christians, like Paul himself, who needed help and support.

# Salutations (verses 3-16)

Paul offers multiple personal greetings. **Greet** or "salute" is used 13 times in verses 3-16, then 2 more times in verses 22-23.

Although he had not yet visited Rome, Paul names twenty-four individuals, seventeen men and seven women, along with many who are unnamed, such as those in the households of Aristobulus and Narcissus. There are Jewish names, Latin names, and Greek names. His greeting of so many specific people also confirms that Paul was aware of the circumstances in the Roman assemblies.

The first to be greeted are **Prisca and Aquila**, a husband and wife who were **my fellow workers in Christ Jesus**. This couple is actually mentioned six times in the NT. Paul first met them on his first visit to Corinth, where Prisca (with the diminutive form, Priscilla) and Aquila had fled from Rome when all Jews were driven out by the Emperor Claudius (Acts 18:2). They were tentmakers like Paul, and Paul stayed in their house while he began his ministry in Corinth (Acts 18:1-3). After working together in Corinth Paul dropped them off in Ephesus for a lengthy ministry (1 Corinthians 16:19).

They were more than fellow workers with Paul, he says they had **risked their necks for my life**. Then apparently sometime after Claudius died (AD 54) they returned to Rome, where they lived and ministered when Paul wrote this letter. By that time one of the congregations was meeting **in their house**.

Paul’s next greeting is to **my beloved Epaenetus**, who **was the first convert to Christ in Asia**, or “firstfruits” (KJV). He is mentioned nowhere else in the NT. Paul had kept track of him through the years and was pleased that he was now a part of church at Rome.

Then, **Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.** Mary was a common name among Jews and Gentiles, so we do not know where this Mary came from, how or when she was converted, or anything else except that she had worked hard for the church in Rome.

Paul calls **Andronicus and Junia**, **my kinsmen**, which indicates that they were not only fellow Jews (there were many other Jews in the list who didn’t receive this title), but they were probably Paul’s relatives, along with Herodian (verse 11) and Jason and Sosipater (verse 21). They apparently were at one point **my fellow prisoners**, which could have been anywhere since Paul was often in prison (or it could simply be saying that they had been imprisoned for the sake of the gospel like Paul).

In verse 8 Paul greets **Ampliatus** who was **my beloved in the Lord.** The next two saints were **Urbanus** and **Stachys**.

**Apelles** was a relatively rare name. Here Paul says he was the **approved in Christ**. The word “approved” carries the idea of being tried and tested and was used of precious metals that had passed tests for purity.

Paul’s next greeting was to a group of believers whose names and number we do not know. They are simply identified as **those who belong to the family of Aristobulus**, who himself is not identified. Because he is not greeted, it seems he was probably not a Christian himself. At least one commentator has suggested that Aristobulus may have been the brother of Herod Agrippa I and the grandson of Herod the Great. So maybe this household was a group of believers within the imperial household.

As with Andronicus and Junias (verse 7) Paul greets **Herodian** as my **kinsman**, so a relative to Paul. Like Aristobulus, **Narcissus** was probably not a believer, but some of his household were in the Lord.

In verse 12 Paul greets and commends three women. The first two, **Tryphaena** and **Tryphosa** were possibly twin sisters (since it was common to give children names form the same Greek root). **Persis** was **the beloved**, suggesting (from the definite article) that she was loved by everyone who knew her and who had been a beneficiary of her hard work in the Lord.

**Rufus** was **chosen in the Lord**. This doesn’t refer to every Christian’s election, but more like we might say an extraordinary Christian – a choice man.

The specific greeting to **(Rufus’) mother, who has been a mother to me as well** does not mean that Rufus was Paul’s natural brother, but that Rufus’ mother had somewhere and in some way during Paul’s travel and ministry, cared for him as if he were her own son.

Paul makes no comment about **Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, and Hermas**. The mention of the brethren with them indicates that the five names here were leaders of one of the many assemblies of believers in Rome. In verse 15 Paul greets another assembly of saints, which included **Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympia**.

Finally, verse 16: **Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.** The kiss gesture of greeting seems more cultural, so not required for us, though a gesture of welcome is certainly appropriate.

# Conclusion

Who doesn’t like to hear their name mentioned aloud from up front (only some, ha)? There’s nothing wrong with names; *God* included these in His Word. Nothing wrong with expressing thanks for specific people.

There were *many* in the network of saints (“in the Lord” - ἐν κυρίῳ - used in verses 8, 11, 12 (x2), 13, and 22; and see “in Christ” - ἐν Χριστῷ - in verses 3, 7, 9, 10). Men and women. Working, suffering, supporting, the kind of people worth standing with.

From the end of Romans 15 and into chapter 16, Paul uses 6 different words beginning with the preposition meaning "with."

1. συναγωνίσασθαί - sun-agonisasthai (15:30) = with-struggle

2. συναναπαύσωμαι - sun-anapousomai (15:32) = with-rest

3. Συνίστημι - sun-istemi (16:1) = with-stand

4. συνεργούς - sun-ergous (16:3, 9, 21) = with-work

5. συγγενεῖς - sun-geneis (16:7, 11, 21) = with-born

6. συναιχμαλώτους - sun-aichmalotous (16:7) = with-prisoned

We are IN so we recognize our WITHS. I urge you to be, or to excel still more at being, anti-isolatist. We want to be with you, not *without*. Saints love the saints they're WITH. Saints are stronger because of their WITHS.

----------

## Charge

One of the saints in our body has fought the good fight, finished her race, kept the faith. She has endured and her faith has been an encouragement to all those who have loved the Lord’s appearing. Beloved, work with and suffer with and stand with and sing with each other. Our WITHS are our strength.

## Benediction:

> May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5–6 ESV)

I keep lowering my bucket into this paragraph and my bucket keeps coming back up full. The main body of the letter ended in Romans 15:13; now we’re reading parts most consider unremarkable, the last chapter and a half of Paul’s extended good-bye. Verses 22-33 contain "Paul's Plan to Visit Rome" per the ESV section heading, and so be it. But he could have just said, “Hope to see you soon. Amen.” There’s more to it.

The point of this section concerns Christians sharing and extending the network of blessings in Christ and for Christ.

Paul wanted to visit the believers in Rome, to encourage and be encouraged by them, and then to have them help him on his way west into Spain to preach the gospel where Christ had not yet been named. These were his partnership plans in verses 22-24. But he had a stop to make first, that was in the opposite direction from where he was in Corinth. He’d been collecting a contribution for the saints in Jerusalem who needed aid. This was his service project described in verses 25-29. We got into this part last time.

And we’ve got some TABs open, that is, Truths About Blessings.

The contribution/koinonia (verse 26) increased camaraderie/koinonia between Gentile and Jewish Christians. Material blessings were not merely redistributed, they were given away for sake of building a network of support that increased thanks, unity, and witness, which are spiritual blessings.

The 6th TAB is key to the paragraph as it explains Paul’s personal investment in the service project. He calls the money koinonia, he postpones his mission for this money, and he asks for prayer that the money would be accepted. He knew the material blessings were doing more than putting food in the saints’ mouths.

We pick up in verse 28, When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by you. The ESV is fine, really, but the KJV captures a unique phrase, “when I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit” Delivered fits with how we talk about packages, but “sealed” suggests more about identity, value, and security. It mattered that the entire gift arrived at the right address, along with the explanation card, so to speak. Paul sealed the deal. And why fruit? The metaphor connects the blessings shared out as the yield of root and branch blessings shared in.

This project was worth postponing his missionary push into Spain, even though he expected that their company would be a great support. I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. Is Paul going to bring the blessing to them or is he going to benefit from the blessing from them? It’s probably more one big-blessing cloud, with the fullness of the blessing due to Christ’s pleasure at their connection.

The blessing of Christ enables and obligates koinonia.

Prior to partnership to push into Spain, Paul urged them to strive together to bless the saints. He did not ask the Roman Christians to contribute materially, but they could join the battle spiritually.

I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf,

It’s the same way he started Romans 12:1. I prefer “urge” (as in NASB), though “beseech” has the right amount of unusual (Tyndale, KJV). He wants them join with him in his effort, to “fight along with” him. It’s a form of sunagonizomai, and maybe you hear agonize in the middle, the struggle; he urges them to “with-struggle.” There are a couple fronts he’d be fighting, mentioned in verse 31, but he’s urging them to enter the fray as they pray with him.

Note the Trinitarian appeal: by our Lord Jesus and by the love of the Spirit to God (the Father).

There are two requests: that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints. He wanted protection and reception.

We happen to know from the book of Acts that on his way to Rome a prophet named Agabus saw Paul in Caesarea and prophesied that Paul would be arrested in Jerusalem, and the believers there urged Paul not to go (Acts 21:8-12). And actually, Paul was arrested in Jerusalem, and you may remember the 40 men who made an oath not to eat or drink until they killed Paul (Acts 23:12-13). He did need protection.

As for his request for reception, it stands out, because what kind of principle keeps poor people from accepting money? And these are saints, serving the same Lord, having the same Spirit of love. Why would they not be glad to get the relief?

One of the great middle-to-late first century problems in the church was a “too-good-for-them” attitude from Jewish Christians to Gentile Christians. The believing natural branches weren’t so sure about the grafted-in believing wild branches. Some were suspicious about, if not actually bigoted against, the nations (ta ethne) receiving the blessings of Christ. It's as if they were sons of Jonah, irritated that the Ninevites repented.

They should have known, and welcomed, better.

For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. (Romans 10:11–12 ESV)

How ironic if the Gentile koinonia/contribution would have been rejected, if their token of peace would have provoked the Jews to prefer their poverty. Paul prayed that the material blessings would be received and increase spiritual riches.

The desired outcome: so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. Did Paul make it to Rome? Even he knew that his ambitions depended on God’s will. This is such a proper frame, so Deo volente or even D.V., “God willing,” belongs with letters in English by people who knew Latin and the Lord.

And a benediction: May the peace of God be with you all. Amen. It’s a good word, not the final one in the letter, and God of peace returns in 16:20. The phrasing rings true from earlier descriptions in the chapter:

Prayer and ministry is a spiritual battle, and we strive together to bless the saints.

I can’t help but think about other problems that all this could have caused. Is this fair? What about all the other poor people? What about the poor in Rome, did Paul even think about them? Blessings make jealousable, and that can go wrong. Are you supposed to give money to people with bad attitudes? What about all the people dying who hadn’t heard the gospel?

Paul knew it was good. Christians (receive and) share and extend the network of blessings in Christ and for Christ. Koinonia has a lot of faces. Participate in, and pray for, the extending of blessings by God's will.

Serve the God of peace not to avoid troubles but so that you are not troubled in troubles. Strive to see the blessing of Christ extended in a way that might make some people mad. That’s okay, the God of peace will soon crush all His enemies. The God of peace is WITH YOU.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (Romans 16:20 ESV)

I keep lowering my bucket into this paragraph and my bucket keeps coming back up full. The main body of the letter ended in Romans 15:13; now we’re reading parts most consider unremarkable, the last chapter and a half of Paul’s extended good-bye. Verses 22-33 contain "Paul's Plan to Visit Rome" per the ESV section heading, and so be it. But he could have just said, “Hope to see you soon. Amen.” There’s more to it.

The *point* of this section concerns Christians sharing and extending the network of blessings in Christ and for Christ.

Paul wanted to visit the believers in Rome, to encourage and be encouraged by them, and then to have them help him on his way west into Spain to preach the gospel where Christ had not yet been named. These were his partnership plans in verses 22-24. But he had a stop to make first, that was in the opposite direction from where he was in Corinth. He’d been collecting a contribution for the saints in Jerusalem who needed aid. This was his service project described in verses 25-29. We got into this part last time.

And we’ve got some TABs open, that is, *Truths About Blessings*.

1. Spiritual blessings and material blessings can/should be distinguished. Categories are good.

2. Spiritual blessings are greater than material blessings. Priorities are proper.

3. Spiritual blessings are rooted in God's work through the Jews. “To the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

4. Spiritual blessings are no guarantee of material blessings.

5. Spiritual blessings are not threatened by material blessings. All are yours.

6. Spiritual blessings can be increased by the right use of material blessings.

The **contribution**/*koinonia* (verse 26) increased camaraderie/*koinonia* between Gentile and Jewish Christians. Material blessings were not merely redistributed, they were given away for sake of building a network of support that increased thanks, unity, and witness, which are spiritual blessings.

The 6th TAB is key to the paragraph as it explains Paul’s personal investment in the service project. He calls the money *koinonia*, he postpones his mission for this money, and he asks for prayer that the money would be accepted. He knew the material blessings were doing more than putting food in the saints’ mouths.

We pick up in verse 28, **When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by you.** The ESV is fine, really, but the KJV captures a unique phrase, “when I have performed this, and have *sealed to them this fruit*” **Delivered** fits with how we talk about packages, but “*sealed*” suggests more about identity, value, and security. It mattered that the entire gift arrived at the right address, along with the explanation card, so to speak. Paul sealed the deal. And why *fruit*? The metaphor connects the blessings shared out as the yield of root and branch blessings shared in.

This project was worth postponing his missionary push into Spain, even though he expected that their company would be a great support. **I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ**. Is Paul going to *bring* the blessing to them or is he going to *benefit* from the blessing from them? It’s probably more one big-blessing cloud, with the **fullness of the blessing** due to Christ’s pleasure at their connection.

The blessing of Christ enables and obligates *koinonia*.

# Prayer Request (verses 30-33)

Prior to partnership to push into Spain, Paul urged them to strive together to bless the saints. He did not ask the Roman Christians to contribute materially, but they could join the battle spiritually.

**I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf,**

It’s the same way he started Romans 12:1. I prefer “urge” (as in NASB), though “beseech” has the right amount of unusual (Tyndale, KJV). He wants them join with him in his effort, to “fight along with” him. It’s a form of *sunagonizomai*, and maybe you hear *agonize* in the middle, the struggle; he urges them to “with-struggle.” There are a couple fronts he’d be fighting, mentioned in verse 31, but he’s urging them to enter the fray as they pray with him.

Note the Trinitarian appeal: by our Lord Jesus and by the love of the Spirit to God (the Father).

There are two requests: **that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints.** He wanted protection and reception.

We happen to know from the book of Acts that on his way to Rome a prophet named Agabus saw Paul in Caesarea and prophesied that Paul would be arrested in Jerusalem, and the believers there urged Paul not to go (Acts 21:8-12). And actually, Paul *was* arrested in Jerusalem, and you may remember the 40 men who made an oath not to eat or drink until they killed Paul (Acts 23:12-13). He *did* need protection.

As for his request for reception, it stands out, because what kind of principle keeps poor people from accepting money? And these are **saints**, serving the same Lord, having the same Spirit of love. Why would they not be glad to get the relief?

One of the great middle-to-late first century problems in the church was a “too-good-for-them” attitude from Jewish Christians to Gentile Christians. The believing natural branches weren’t so sure about the grafted-in believing wild branches. Some were suspicious about, if not actually bigoted against, the nations (*ta ethne*) receiving the blessings of Christ. It's as if they were sons of Jonah, irritated that the Ninevites repented.

They should have known, and welcomed, better.

> For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. (Romans 10:11–12 ESV)

How ironic if the Gentile *koinonia*/contribution would have been rejected, if their token of peace would have provoked the Jews to prefer their poverty. Paul prayed that the material blessings would be received and increase spiritual riches.

The desired outcome: **so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company**. Did Paul make it to Rome? Even he knew that his ambitions depended on **God’s will**. This is such a proper frame, so *Deo volente* or even *D.V.*, “God willing,” belongs with letters in English by people who knew Latin and the Lord.

And a benediction: **May the peace of God be with you all. Amen.** It’s a good word, not the final one in the letter, and **God of peace** returns in 16:20. The phrasing rings true from earlier descriptions in the chapter:

- “the God of endurance and encouragement” (15:5)

- “the God of hope” (15:13)

- “the God of peace” (15:33, 16:20)

Prayer and ministry is a spiritual battle, and we strive together to bless the saints.

# Conclusion

I can’t help but think about other problems that all this could have caused. Is this fair? What about all the *other* poor people? What about the poor in Rome, did Paul even think about them? Blessings make jealousable, and that can go wrong. Are you supposed to give money to people with bad attitudes? What about all the people dying who hadn’t heard the gospel?

Paul knew it was good. Christians (receive and) share and extend the network of blessings in Christ and for Christ. *Koinonia* has a lot of faces. Participate in, and pray for, the extending of blessings by God's will.

----------

## Charge

Serve the God of peace not to avoid troubles but so that you are not troubled in troubles. Strive to see the blessing of Christ extended in a way that might make some people mad. That’s okay, the God of peace will soon crush all His enemies. The God of peace is WITH YOU.

## Benediction:

> The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (Romans 16:20 ESV)

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

For our part we assemble this morning in obedience and in faith and it's a pretty glorious habit when we think about it to get to assemble week by week and to Lift high God's name together to lock arms and corporate worship to behold the Sun together and We now confess it together. Our help is in the name of the Lord Our call to worship this morning comes from Psalm 19 verses 1 through 6 the heavens declare the glory of God And the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are their words whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the ends of the world.

In them, he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom, leaving his chamber and like a strong man runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them. And there is nothing hidden from its heat. Let's pray together. Father, we join this morning in declaring your glory, and we join creation in that undertaking. You are the Alpha and the Omega. You are the author of creation. You are the one who has made a way for us to have fellowship with you when we were yet your enemies. In your son, we have the consummate example of initiative, responsibility, and love, and because of his work, we approach you with confidence that we will be heard and that you will be honored.

So please enable us this morning to worship you in a way that is fitting for who you are. We pray this now in Jesus name. Amen.

All of our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions land in one of two categories. So all of our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions land in one of two categories. Either we are magnifying the Lord with what we think, how we feel, what we say, and what we do. Either we're magnifying the Lord or we are attempting to usurp His glory. Either we're magnifying Him or we're attempting to usurp His glory. I say attempting to usurp because no matter what we do, we cannot detract from the glory of God. God has and will have His glory. So Satan tried and tries to undermine and usurp God's glory. Pharaoh tried to stand in the place of authority that belongs only to the Lord when he believed that the Jews should submit to him instead of the Lord. And in both cases, God ordained their feeble attempts in order to magnify himself as he does with all vessels of wrath. We cannot successfully detract from the glory of God and the more we try the more glorious he is shown to be. God's glory in human history

past and present is anti-fragile. The more we try to usurp it the more glorious he is shown to be. But that does not mean that we don't try. This is what all sin is. Not only do we refuse to submit to the Lord, but we also do so because in our minds we sit on the ruler's throne. God says, thou shalt not, and we say I shall. God says thou shall and we say I shall not. Questioning the authority of God is what got mankind into this mess from the very beginning. All of our sin is an assault on God's glory. It boils down to who we think is is in charge. Is it God or is it me? Pride is the undercurrent pulling our sin. And so the start of repentance is humility. The start of repentance is our humility. It's acknowledging our proper place before our Maker. And so as Apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 5, 6 and Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you."

So, in humility, we place ourselves under the hand of God, casting our anxieties on him. when we are anxious in our fears, it's because we refuse to humble ourselves under his mighty hand. And in that moment, our option is either to cast ourselves in God's hand, or to try to carry it in our own hand. And so what's interesting is that the Latin word, I am not an ECS graduate, but I am able to look up Latin words, The Latin word for hand is manus, or manus, manus. You guys know how to pronounce it? Manus. Manus. The Latin word for hand is manus. And it's where we get our word manipulate from. So the word manipulate means to handle in that way.

Manus, to manipulate, means to handle something towards a desired end. proud, anxious person, one who refuses to humble himself under God's hand and instead holds on to his anxieties, is constantly trying to control and manipulate the situation himself. So a few examples. An anxious dad that is displeased with his wife and kids and demonstrates it through his angry disapproval while provoking and discouraging them in order to manipulate them into submission instead of feeding his family with love and with hope. Or an anxious wife that is discontent with her portion and her station and demonstrates that by harassing her husband, whether loudly or silently, and being emotionally unstable, expecting him to address her every nagging whim in order to manipulate his actions toward her end, instead of obeying him with honor and respect.

Or an anxious church member that is bitter with the rest of the body because they claim that nobody cares and demonstrates it by sulking or complaining or guilting others in order to manipulate people's response instead of giving of themselves through service and hospitality or an anxious man that is fearful of making a decision and holding the line because his trust in God wavers and demonstrates it by his passive abdication, naively hoping that things will work out on their own as he tries to manipulate the outcome by being passive and absent instead of holding fast to his convictions with courage. Or an anxious mother smothering her kids by trying to control their desires and decisions, suffocating their will and ambition with her overly tight grip in order to manipulate them towards her own visions of controlled utopia instead of trusting God to work in and through her children.

Or an anxious teenager that doesn't get what she wants and so she feels misunderstood and tries to make the people around her feel bad and pity her in order to manipulate their attention and their change instead of being generous, lights of heart, and open-handed. When we refuse to humble ourselves under God's mighty hand, we try to handle, to manipulate, and control the situation to our own end. God, you don't understand, we say, I know what I need, I will make it happen. And so we attempt to usurp God's throne because we think we can do a better job. But like squeezing a wet bar of soap, the tighter our grip, the more out of control things get.

Our prideful efforts of controlling the situation is like starting to pull on the thread and eventually unraveling the entire rug. And yet, it's when we humble ourselves under God's mighty hand that control starts to come about. What happens? Peter says, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you. What happens when we give it all to God in humble faith? At the proper time, at His time, He exalts us. He lifts us up. He brings us into security, into joy and peace. Those who trust the Lord are never put to shame. God's glory, not our own, as we humbly cast our anxieties on Him, affects every area of our life.

When we stop trying to manipulate the outcome and instead obey God in faith, doing that which He tells us to do because we believe what He says, that's when He lifts us up. When we stop usurping His glory, He gives it to us. And so, are you casting your anxieties under God's mighty hand? Or are you trying to manipulate and control the situation to your own outcome? If this brings to light sin that needs confessing, or perhaps there are other sins that need to be dealt with, now is a good time to confess those. So you're invited if you desire and are able to kneel in humble confession before the Lord, and that I'll pray for us corporately.

Let's pray. Father, we confess that we are an anxious, proud people. We are hard to please because we are proud. We believe that we deserve more than what we have, both from you and from others. We think our needs are left unmet, and so we use the people around us, our spouse, kids, parents, siblings, friends, in order to control and manipulate them towards our end. And when things don't go our way, we are irritated, frustrated, depressed, and angry. Instead of humbling ourselves under your mighty hand, casting our anxieties on you, we attempt to control and manipulate the situation unto our liking. We attempt to usurp your place of glory and demand others bow, getting angry when they don't.

Our anxious pride affects our relationships, husbands and wives, parents and kids, siblings and friends, and the more we grasp, the less we have. Please forgive us for our lame attempts of manipulation towards our own glory. Lord, we see this sort of anxious pride manifest in the surrounding culture. Their life does not unfold as they would have it, so they clamor and fight against Your good standard.

They cheat and steal, lie and murder all to try to manipulate the outcome unto their own pleasing. But the more they strive, the less they have. Nations rage, people's plot, and yet we know that their attempts at dethroning you are vain and stupid, resulting only in their own destruction. Grant repentance and revival to the humble, to the people in our city and state. May they humble themselves under your mighty hand, so that at the proper time you would exalt them. You are God Almighty and may we always submit to you alone. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. You're invited to stand for the reminder of the assurance of your forgiveness. Our text is from Romans 3 21 through 25. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.

Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But that is not our end. By grace, we are justified in Christ. We have redemption, and by faith, we receive it. We don't live our life striving and never arriving, always reaching and falling short.

We have what God has given us and we live in light of that. We can start with God's glory and his pleasure and find our contentment and satisfaction there. We know that God cares for us and that at the proper time he will exalt us. And that's a reason for us to worship. So let's worship. Today's scripture reading is Isaiah 6, 1 through 5. Isaiah 6, 1 through 5. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings. With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called and the house was filled with smoke and I said woe is me for I am lost I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts father indeed it is our hearts desire that to you alone be the glory. As we look at a few selected scriptures that emphasize that, may we rejoice in the fact that we have such a God who is easy to glory in. And may we learn to abolish our foolish ways when we are tempted to gin up our own glory, trying to draw the attention on ourselves. Father, what a foolish foolish endeavor as Philip reminded us. And so Father, may we just be encouraged as we reflect for the next few minutes on your glory and may you be pleased with all that is said here. I pray in Jesus name, amen.

Sole diogloria, translated woodenly, this Latin phrase is alone to God, glory, which we usually state as to God's glory alone. This phrase is one of several core faith statements called the five solas and together they define what it means to stand in the tradition of reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin. And I don't know it but if you I don't know if you know it but you actually she just sang all five solas in that song. The five solas, if you're not familiar with them, are Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone, Sola Fide, faith alone, Sola Gradia, grace alone, Sola, Solas Christus, Christ alone, and Sola Deo Gloria, God's glory alone.

These solas weren't fully refined until the late 20th century, but we find origins of them in the writings of Luther, Calvin, and others. An example is found in the writings of Philip Malachthon, contemporary of Luther, who wrote, only by grace do we justify, and only by faith are we justified. These were fighting words then, and they still are today.

Most notably, the solas are at the core of reformer's departure from Roman Catholicism. I remember visiting a close childhood friend of mine a few years ago who is a ordained deacon in the Catholic Church today. We were talking about the differences in our theology and he made it clear that the Catholics reject sola fide or faith alone. I know we're talking about soli de ogloria today but let me take a quick aside to talk about the Catholic understanding of Sola Fide. Those of you with Roman Catholic family or friends might find it helpful. I finally, after years of talking to my Catholic family, finally believe I've touched on the nerve that really gets the conversation going and addresses the core issue. When you talk to your Catholic friends who have some theological chops, you will find that they react to two claims. The first claim is that Catholics believe in works salvation.

They'll really react to that. The second claim is that we are saved by grace alone through faith. Now when they hear the term faith alone, they think of what we call easy believe-ism. The idea that you can pray a prayer as a child and then live like the devil the rest of your life and ultimately be saved. And And sadly, there are some Protestants who actually hold to that belief. We would agree with our Catholic friends that this is a false idea. If we were to expand Sola Fide to address this concern, we would agree with Luther's statement that, quote, we are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.

And to quote, true believers are busy accomplishing the good works God has prepared for them. This is all summed up well in Ephesians 2, 8-10, which tells us, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your doing, it's the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no man may boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So we're not saved by works, but we're created for works. The key takeaways from these verses are, we are saved by grace alone through faith. This salvation is a gift from God and not a reward for our good works.

God has prepared good works for us to perform as an expression of our faith, but not as a condition of our salvation. That in a nutshell is the proper understanding of sola fide. The other objection Catholics raised that I mentioned earlier is the claim that the Catholics believe in works salvation. There's a key theological concept that Roman Catholics get wrong. They conflate sanctification and justification into one ongoing process. Many Catholics look at you funny when you talk about justification. I was just talking with my sister recently and I kept using the word justification. She says, I'm not familiar with that word.

I haven't heard that word. And she is a very devout Catholic to this day into her 70s. It is in a theological term most are familiar with. They are taught that sanctification is an ongoing process which we agree with. But they also believe that they are growing in justification at the same time that they are being sanctified. So as they're being sanctified, they are also being justified. They conflate the two together. If you're tracking with me, a devout Catholic believes the works that they do are an expression of their faith, like reformers do, but they also believe that their good works are increasing their justification before God.

Undoubtedly, there are members of the Catholic faith who too get it all messed up and really do believe that their works are what saves them. This idea that good works play a role in one's justification comes right out of the decrees from the Council of Trent, which was written as a response to the Reformation movement started by Luther. Take your Catholic friends to the Council of Trent. Most of them haven't read it, don't even know about it, and yet that is still the core of Catholic theology.

So paraphrasing here, the Council of Trent declared, in Caches, they declared that if anyone says that good works are not necessary for maintaining one's justification and increasing in it, let him be anathema. Reform theology says justification is a part from works.

Justification is a one and done event when we are saved. The righteousness of Christ was credited to our account, the theological term is imputed. Having been made righteous or justified by grace through faith, we are now being sanctified, conformed to the image of Christ through the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit. So everybody agrees about the sanctification process, but it's the point of justification. We say one and done. They say ongoing and increasing. The next time you get into a discussion with your Catholic friends, drill in on the difference between justification and sanctification. Once they understand the difference, they don't know what to do with verses like Romans 4-1 which says, therefore since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Did you catch the past tense there?

Having been justified. I found with my own Catholic family members that drilling in on this theological distinction moves the conversation forward. Now leaving this aside let's get back to discussing the solely Dale Gloria. You might think that of the five solas this one would be the least controversial. Who is going to argue with to God be the glory alone? As As mentioned earlier, Roman Catholics have taken a very vocal stand against some of the other solas, such as scripture alone and faith alone, but they have never made a statement against the idea of to God be the glory alone. Later, after we look at some of the controversies surrounding proper worship, we're going to look at some of the controversies surrounding proper worship, and we're going to see if they in fact do support this doctrine of solely Dale Gloria or not.

Several years ago, I read a book titled God's Glory Alone, the majestic heart of Christian faith in life, what the reformers taught and why it still matters by David van Drunen. In the book, van Drunen wrote, solely deo gloria can be understood as the glue that holds the solace in place or the center that draws the other solace into a grand unified whole. author said, Sole Day of Gloria, is the logical implication of the other four points. This makes sense when you think about it. When you put together faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, and scripture alone, you eliminate any opportunity for men to take any kind of boast in their own accomplishments. You are forced to declare to God, be the glory alone.

As you take a closer look at this doctrine, I've structured my message into two sections. You can use these as the main points as you follow along. And those two sections are arguments for the doctrine and controversies over it, and secondly, application of the doctrine. So first, arguments for the doctrine and controversies over it. So what does Soli Deo Gloria mean exactly? The three concepts we need to grasp to understand this doctrine are God, glory, and alone. If you understand those, you got the doctrine wired. I suspect most of you have a notion of what is meant by God and alone, but what about glory? If we want to be sure that God alone gets the glory, we need to understand what is meant by the term glory.

And I'll attempt to come up with a working definition in a few minutes. For now suffice it to say that whatever glory is, it belongs to God alone. So where did this doctrine originate? You can find it contained within the body of the Reformers' writings, but as I mentioned before, it and the other solas were never systematized as we know them until much later.

There is no reason, though, to doubt that the Reformers would have supported these five doctrinal truths even though they might have quibbled over some of the minor details. For example, John Calvin would have no problem with solely day of Gloria. He wrote, we never truly glory in him until we have utterly discarded our own glory. The elect are justified by the Lord in order that he may glory in them and in none else. In reading about what the reformers thought about the idea of Soli Deo Gloria, I was surprised at first to find that Luther was opposed to something he referred to as the theology of glory, and in its place he argued for the theology of the cross. In 1518 the head of the Augustinian order in Germany, Johannes Staupfitz, which Luther belonged to that order, called for a meeting where Luther could express his concerns. This meeting is known as Heidelberg, Disputation. Luther was already known as a pot-stirrer in his community and some of them wanted him just to be silenced, but Staupitz was

sympathetic to some of Luther's views and wanted to give him a fair hearing so he set up this meeting. So Luther's thesis that he brought to this meeting contained 28 points that he wanted to present for consideration and point 21 was titled A Theology of Glory. A theology of glory calls evil good and good evil. A thought theology of the cross calls the thing what it actually is. So that's a already a curious opening statement. Now I'm just going to read a few excerpts from this disputation that will shed some light on what he was bothered by. So under the heading of theology of glory which he objected to hear some statements he made. He who does not know Christ does not know God hidden in suffering. Therefore he prefers works to suffering, glory to the cross, strength to weakness, wisdom to folly, and in general good to evil. Another quote, these are the people whom the Apostle calls enemies of the cross of Christ for they hate the cross and suffering and love works and the glory of works thus they call the good of the cross evil and the evil of a deed good."

And one more under that theology of the first point where I just what I just lost here. He says, because men do not know the cross and hate it they necessarily love the opposite, namely wisdom, glory, power, and so on. Therefore they become increasingly blinded and hardened by such love, for desire cannot be satisfied by the acquisition of those things which it desires. Just as a love of money grows in proportion to the increase of the money itself, so the dropsy of the soul becomes thirstier the more it drinks. This holds true of all desires as Christ shows in John 4 13 when he says everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. So the theology of glory were those are all under that heading. Now the theology of the cross but just a few there. The remedy for curing desire does not lie in satisfying it but in extinguishing it.

He who wishes to have much power, honor, pleasure, satisfaction in all things must flee rather than seek power honor pleasure and satisfaction in all things. This is the wisdom which is folly to the world. Undoubtedly Luther had verses like Matthew 20 26 you 27 in mind which says but whoever would be great among you must become the servant of all and whoever would be first among you must be your slave. I think we would agree with all of the sentiments that Luther just expressed there. It turns out that he actually doesn't have a problem with Soli Deo Gloria. It was only that as people were rejecting the idea of the cross, can we skip the cross part and can we just get to all the good stuff in the glory part? And that was Luther's concern is that the route to glory, if you will, is through the cross and not by just going after works and seeking or glorying those works. Luther, in fact, would have been all for this doctrine.

He was trying to show in this disputation how trusting and human achievement blocks our ability to see the glory of God He wrote it is not a fit It is not sufficient for anyone and it does not him no good to recognize God in his glory and majesty Unless he recognizes them in the humility and shame of the cross. You have to take the whole package Then drew num summed up Luther's theology of the cross this way To behold the glory that to behold the God of glory we must behold God beaten mocked and crucified to gain everlasting the attitude we must utterly humble ourselves and find refuge only in a cursed cross." So what about Calvin? What did he have to say on the subject? He wrestled with an issue sometimes raised when saying the glory belongs to God alone. He saw a problem in that statement. The issue is this, does saying to God alone be the glory mean that there is no glory to be found in his creation, specifically in man? Must man be totally debased for God to get all the glory? On the one hand we would say well

yeah we are debased, but on the other hand doesn't Scripture also say we are God's image bearers and we have been created a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory and honor. Comes out Genesis 127 in Psalm 85. Calvin was an ardent defender of God's glory but he also recognized that God manifests his glory in his creation, both the firmament and mankind. He wrote, in every part of the world some lineaments of divine glory are beheld. Calvin believed that glory does belong to God alone, but he then manifests that glory in his creation.

And creation should reflect that glory back to the Creator. Calvin reconciles the tension between God's glory and man's debasement by saying this, two ends must be kept especially in view. Namely, that the glory of God be maintained and unimpaired and that our consciousness in the view of this tribunal be secured in peaceful rest and calm tranquility. So yes to God be the glory alone but in that we also can stand before that holy God and be peaceful rest and calm tranquility. The point is this God belong to God to God belongs all the glory, but that doesn't mean man grovels in self-loathsome-ness.

One of the beautiful things about the gospel is that God manifests his glory by reconciling men to himself and then invites them to share in his glory. That in turn gives believers, as Calvin said, the peaceful rest and the calm tranquility. In Romans 8 17 confirms what Luther and Calvin's understanding of the issue are. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God and if children then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. So now that we've looked at some of the origins of the doctrine we need to talk briefly about the terms in it. I mentioned earlier the three key concepts, God, glory, and alone. So I'm assuming again we know what God and alone means, so I'm only going to deal with glory, or more specifically the glory of God. Let's talk about that. When you think about God's glory, what comes to mind? What does it mean to say He's glorious? I imagine most of us would do

better at recognizing a display of God's glory than trying to define it. Merriam Webster, if we turn there, describes glory like this. Praise, honor, or distinction extended by common consent. Something that secures praise or renown. A state of exaltation. Okay, doesn't help a whole lot. John Piper said in an interview, he said defining the glory of God is impossible because it's more like the word beauty than the word basketball. And I thought to myself, thanks John, that was really helpful. He goes on to explain that a basketball is something you could explain reasonably well to someone who has never seen one before, but how do you describe the word beauty? He then takes a stab at defining the glory of God by first considering the holiness of God and then observing in Scripture where the holiness of God and glory are used together. He defines the holiness of God as God being distinct and separate into a class all by himself.

There's nobody else like God. Infinite perfections, infinite greatness, infinite worth. Holiness is what he is and it is his uniquely. Ain't nobody else in the universe that's holy. Piper then observes in Isaiah 6.3, the passage Dave read this this morning, the scene where the angels are crying out, holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of His, not holiness, but full of His glory. From Piper's definition of holiness and the connection to glory seen in Isaiah, he defines the glory of God as the infinite beauty and greatness of His holiness or manifold perfections put on display. So let me just give you a word picture that'll help summarize that. Imagine a flawless diamond made up of infinite number of facets. It's already impossible to imagine but try to imagine that. And that diamond is being struck by God's holiness. And then what's given off all of that radiation coming off all those facets of that diamond is the glory of God. You might be thinking all this background on

Soli Deo glory is great but it doesn't matter if we can't back it up scripturally. So following are six observations from scripture that clearly support this doctrine. First, glory uniquely belongs to God and he guards it jealously. You shall worship no other God for the Lord whose name is jealous as a jealous God, Exodus 3414. I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols, Isaiah 42.8. Secondly, we are told that all glory should be given to him. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we can ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen. Ephesians 3 20 and you can also look at 1st Timothy 1 17 and Romans 16 27. So whatever you so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10.31. A third observation from Scripture is God judges harshly those who glorify themselves.

Just two quick examples. Remember Nebuchadnezzar? And he had built that tremendous empire in Babylon. And the one day when he was looking out the windows he says, oh look at this awesome nation that I have, my power, I have built this thing and then he hears out of heaven these words, O King Nebuchadnezzar to you it is spoken the kingdom is departed from you and you shall be driven from among men and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field and you shall be made to eat grass like an ox and seven periods of time shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will as out of Daniel 4 29 through 33. Second example is Herod.

Remember Herod? He had given a speech to the people and they were all clapping and applauding and saying this is the voice of a God and Herod was just drinking it all in and sucking in all that glory for himself and it says and immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not give God the glory and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last Acts 12 21 through 23. Fourth observation, all things ultimately find their origin and purpose in God. For from him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory forever amen.

Romans 11 36, fifth observation, receiving glory from other sources inhibits our beliefs. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God, John 544, and then the sixth observation. The glory of God is what is transforming us, and we shall with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. Second Corinthians 3 18. These verses all support the doctrine of solely day of Gloria, and yet even though all the glory belongs to God, consider Psalm 8 3 through 5 which shows again his graciousness to let us share in that glory. It says there, when I look at the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is a man that you are mindful of him and the Son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and have crowned him with glory and honor. It is crazy, it is crazy to think of how

often we see glory elsewhere given that God wants to share his glory with us.

Where are we going to find anything even close to that? Moving on I want to briefly consider a controversy Reformed Christians have with Roman Catholics over this doctrine. You might find this helpful again as you are witnessing to your Catholic friends. If you were to ask your Catholic friends if they believe in solely day of Gloria, they mostly likely would say yes. The problem arises with how they venerate Mary and the various saints. We would say that they give honor to these in a way that is reserved for God alone. They would argue back that what they offer to marry in the Saints is different. And to get around this charge, that they worship Mary in the Saints, they have defined three levels of honor. In Latin those terms are latria, which is reserved for the Trinity, dulia, which they give to Saints, and then hyperdulia, or superdulia, they give to Mary. These levels of veneration were first identified at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. And part of the reason for the meeting was to settle the concern

that several of the bishops had with the practice of venerating icons. They were saying, hey, this looks a lot like worship that's reserved for God. And the Pope and others were saying, no, no, this is fine, it's different. And so they came up with those terms. The practice of venerating these icons had been banned by Constantine V, but it wasn't a settled issue and hadn't been accepted by all. So they called for this second council to discuss the topic. We don't have time here to delve into the three terms, but suffice it to say they differ only in degree of adoration or honor paid to the recipient.

Perhaps more telling to help us answer the question if there is difference would be to just to look at a couple quick quotes that come straight out of the Catholic the catechism of Catholic doctrine found on the Vatican website as well as a quote I think I want one quote here from one of the past popes and so as I read these and there's just two of them three of them as I read these ask you if it sounds like it is compatible with the doctrine of solely day of Gloria to God alone be the glory. So from Pope Leo the 13th, talking about the value of the rosary. He said, no man goeth to Christ, but by his mother. And then from the Catholic doctrine, one of the fundamentals of Catholic doctrine.

Christ alone truly offered the sacrifice of the atonement on the cross. Okay, so far so good. the power of the grace of redemption merited by Christ, married by her spiritual entering into the sacrifice of her divine Son for men, made atonement for the sins of man, and merited the application of the redemptive grace of Christ. In this manner she cooperates in the subjective redemption of mankind. Anybody hear any problems there? Okay. And then from Pope Pius the 9th in a doctrinal statement he made. All our hope do we repose in the most blessed virgin, in the all-fair and immaculate one who has crushed the poisonous head of the most cruel serpent and brought salvation to the world, in her who is the glory of the prophets and apostles, the honor of the martyrs, the crown and joy of all the saints, in her who is the safest refuge and the most trustworthy helper of all who are in danger, in her who with her only begotten son is the most powerful mediatrix and conciliatrix in the whole world." Now folks that is flat out heresy. If you just woke up from your nap, that's heresy.

Okay. I'll let you be your own judge. What do you think? Does it sound like Rome? Does that sound like worship being given to Mary? So I would suggest to you that the Catholics cannot claim solely Deo Gloria. Let's talk about the application of the doctrine. So what application does this doctrine have for our lives? What would giving God the glory alone look like? We've already read a key verse earlier. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. That answers the scope of when to give God's glory, which is whenever you do whatever you do. It's pretty all encompassing. Whatever role you have in life, husband, father, son, wife, mother, daughter, employer, employee, do it to the glory of God.

When we think about applying this doctrine, there are a couple of things that come to mind. First, consider that one of God's greatest displays of his immeasurable glory was to sacrifice his son on a cross on our behalf. If this is how the creator displays his glory, then what should our reflection of that glory look like? If humility and sacrifice are not promally displayed through our lives, then we are not reflecting God's glory, but we're seeking our own. This doesn't sit well with man's understanding of glory, and it's been a stumbling block both to the Jews and unbelieving Gentiles. It is inconceivable to them that God would even condescend to man's level.

Vain glory is so wicked that the Apostle John lists the boastful pride of life as one of the three major sins that define all that is in the world. observation. Consider how God does not hoard his glory but wants his children to share in it. Romans 8.30, and those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified. When you consider that God is totally self-sufficient and does not need us for anything, it is beyond remarkable that he delights himself by letting us share in his glory. God doesn't get anything out of the bargain. It's not like I just need a whole bunch of reflectors.

You know, we're not adding to God's glory. We're just getting to share into it. This again sets a pattern for how we act in relationship to others. Do we hog the limelight? Do we struggle with sharing the credit or recognition? Is our focus on getting the attention or are we more attentive to others? Third observation, think about why we would ever want to pursue our own glory when God inviting us to share in his. The Psalmist says it well in Psalm 8410, For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tent of the wickedness. Any glory that we gin up for ourselves is like a milliwatt light bulb next to God's jigawatt flood lamp. Do you guys know how bright a milliwatt is? An LED, you know how bright an LED is, that's seven watts. So now divide that by a thousand, you know, now you have how bright our glory is next to God's jigawatt flood lamp.

Human pride and glory are laughable in the light of God's glory. To put it in more biblical terms, why would we be happy drinking out of dirty, broken cisterns when we can drink from an abundant, never-ending fountain of living water? Jeremiah 2, 13. Fourth observation and final. Use the means that we've been given to drive vain glory out of our hearts. Some of those means are prayer, corporate worship, implicit trust in Him no matter the situation, obedience to His word, consistent gratitude and thanksgiving. Neglecting one or more of these areas leaves us vulnerable to the enemy's attacks and will make the glory of men look more attractive than the glory of God. Prayer reminds us how dependent we are on God for everything. We're reminded that we can do nothing on our own. Every heartbeat and every breath we take only happen because he has decided to make it so. As we pray from a right heart it forces us into greater humility and greater appreciation for who God is in all his glory.

Similarly, corporate worship helps us orient our thinking rightly. We draw encouragement from fellow Christians who are looking to glorify God rather than self. Lone ranger Christians just don't survive very long in a world system driven by lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. Trusting God is a daily exercise in learning not to lean on our own understanding. When we don't do this, our accomplishments become an opportunity for us to boast in ourselves and our failures are an occasion for us to curse our bad luck. Trusting in God helps us to see that both victories and defeats come from Him, and if If we trust that He is good and just, we can glorify Him in both those situations.

Obedience to God's word drives solely dado glory into our heart because sin impairs our relationship with God and blinds us to His glory. Sin always begets more sin, which makes the glory of God dimmer and dimmer in our eyes. And lastly, receiving what God gives with gratitude causes us to glory in Him because we are acknowledging that He is the source of all that we receive. When we forget to be thankful, when we forget to be thankful, we increase in our sense of entitlement and we become grumpy when we don't receive what we think we deserve. By being consistently thankful for what we receive, it keeps us, again, oriented back to the giver of life.

For as much as the doctrine of solely day-o-glory makes sense, it is shocking how often we don't give God the glory alone. We so easily accept the fool's gold that Satan offers from the real thing. When we honestly consider the options before us, the only sane response is to agree that God alone gets the glory. As image-bearers, man is never the source of his own glory. our best we are only a reflection of His glory. A mirror can never produce a glorious image on its own. It can only reflect or distort the original image. In Matthew 5 16 Jesus charged his disciples with these words, let your light shine before others so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. The light he is referring to is the reflection we give off when we live solely Deo Gloria. Then let me finish this morning with a quote from our friend John Piper. He said, we are all starved for the glory of God, not self. No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem. Why do we go?

Because there is greater healing for the soul in beholding splendor than in beholding self. Let's pray. Father, a lot of words there, a lot of thoughts, but what does stand out is solely day of Gloria. And in moments like these, as we're honest with ourselves and we reflect, we have no choice but to agree that yes to you alone belongs to the glory. But Father, we are sinful people and prone to error and perhaps even before this day is out, one or more of us are gonna turn to those old broken cisterns and try and suck some glory out of them. Help us, Father, to learn to not be so foolish.

May you quicken us, enliven us, drill this doctrine into our hearts and that that would become our life's aim to live in such a way that you alone are getting the glory in us and through us and may we take deep satisfaction in being recipients of sharing in that partaking in that glory may we be good reflectors of it to those around us we just ask this in your son Jesus name amen when I found out Jim was going to preach on solely day of Gloria I started considering the question of how should solely day of Gloria help frame our thinking about communion. I believe that focusing on God's glory will help us celebrate robustly, but we need to know why. Every week we have an opportunity to grow in the grace of our Lord by sharing this table. First, we learn that we are here because of Jesus Christ. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2.4, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved.

Glory to God alone that he sent his Son to die for our sins and to take on the punishment that we deserve. Glory to God that his grace through Christ is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age. We can praise our Father that his Son Jesus died for our sins but that he is also actively saving us from our sins each day. Here we celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Glory to God alone. We didn't do anything to earn or deserve this. It is all free gift. Second, we learn that we are here for one another. The author of Hebrew tells us, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as a as a habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Beloved, my charge for you is this. Let Souli Dale Gloria be the song of your soul. If the chief end of man is to glorify God alone, Souli Dale Gloria, and enjoy him forever, then acknowledge him, acknowledge his kingdom where you are. Running after God's glory is a game changer. Go out this week and remember that you were created for God's glory. Jesus is coming back. Seek the Lord. We have the Holy Spirit, and because of that, we should know our roles and do the best solely Dale, Gloria characters that here and now that we can don't hold back. So now it is my prayer now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before his presence of his glory with great joy to the only God our savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory majesty dominion and authority before all time now and forever. Amen.

Beloved, my charge for you is this. Let Souli Dale Gloria be the song of your soul. If the chief end of man is to glorify God alone, Souli Dale Gloria, and enjoy him forever, then acknowledge him, acknowledge his kingdom where you are. Running after God's glory is a game changer. Go out this week and remember that you were created for God's glory. Jesus is coming back. Seek the Lord. We have the Holy Spirit, and because of that, we should know our roles and do the best solely Dale, Gloria characters that here and now that we can don't hold back. So now it is my prayer now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before his presence of his glory with great joy to the only God our savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory majesty dominion and authority before all time now and forever.

Since all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable, that includes the personal intros and final messages in a letter. Some of the info is historically significant and clarifies our picture of life in Bible times, here of Paul's travels and toils and concerns. Some of the details resonate for our own gospel growth, examples of projects and perspectives and prayers can still be relevant in our own context. We're not trying to get to Spain via Rome, but we're totally concerned with the blessing of Christ and serving the saints.

Paul's tells the Romans his plans in verses 22-24, explains his relief project in verses 25-29, and makes his prayer request in verses 30-33.

Paul almost apologizes for not having been to Rome yet. Why would they have expected his visit? Probably because they were (or at least thought themselves to be) the Gentiles of Gentiles. All the places from Jerusalem to Illyricum belonged to the Roman Empire. If God called Paul as a ministering priest to present an offering of non-Jews to God (verse 16), that offering wouldn’t be complete without Romans. How can you have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the bread? The bread in this case was never far from Paul's mind or mission.

But he'd been busy working the middle. This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you, namely, his bold ambition to preach Christ where Christ had not yet been named (verse 20). But now, since I no longer have any room to work in these regions, he'd "fulfilled" the work (verse 19), and since I've longed or many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain. Spain was unreached territory, he desired to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. He says again in verse 28, "I will leave for Spain by way of you."

[map from Corinth, Jerusalem, and Spain]

He expected mutual encouragement and edification and enjoyment. He wanted them to expect his company, and he expected their company, to be satisfied with enjoyment in their presence. He would make a visit, they would visit together.

He believed that they believed the gospel; he'd heard the reports of their faith, but without so many problems (like reports out of Corinth and Colosse and Galatia and Philippi). Romans is more systematic in explaining gospel theology than those other letters that requires more specific instructions.

Rome was a destination for Paul, just not a final home. His language suggests that Paul might be looking at Rome as a new base of operations. Antioch had been his church-hub, but first century travel and communication made sense for moving the whole support network west. Sharing their company was more than a means to an end, but partnership to push west was his goal.

He had something else to do first. At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. Southeast was the opposite direction out of Corinth from Rome. But while taking the good news to new places he'd been taking up a collection for old friends.

For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. We happen to know that moneys came in from more than those two locations, and we know this because Paul talks about this collection a lot (including 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, 2 Corinthians 8-9). It was personal to him, and he wasn't sure it would be well received (see verse 31). He not only talked about it and supported it, he traveled with it. Why?

A couple things to note. First, the word contribution is koinonia, usually translated as “fellowship”; these funds were a token of fellowship. It's not just that some Haves donated to some HaveNots. It's not mostly a rich and poor, which we know because some gave out of “their extreme poverty” (2 Corinthians 8:2). This gift meant sharing, it was an expression of Gentile-to-Jew blessing. The contribution created more good than was previously there.

Second, the blessings are ordered and connected by Paul. They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if ta ethne have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.

The share is the verb form of koinonia. The nations/Gentiles shared some of the nation’s/Israel’s share.

These are not categories we made up, we get them from God's Word. The ESV has spiritual (blessings) and material (blessings), and that resonates, even though “spiritual things” and “material things” would be the more basic translation (KJV, NASB). But blessing is in view, certainly by verse 29, and the general terms work against our narrowing tendencies.

Spiritual blessings belong with the gospel of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the power of God in the gospel for salvation to everyone who believes. Spiritual blessings include divine revelation and truth, forgiveness and peace, obedience and joy, knowledge of God's inseparable love and hope. Spiritual blessings include knowledge, goodness of character, and community of one anothers and body life. Spiritual blessings include identity and giftedness and purpose. Spiritual blessings include all the things that make us jealousable, including the ability to properly evaluate and steward material blessings. These are unseen things that belong with our eternal weight of glory.

Material blessings are tangibles, things such as food and clothing (and with these we can be content, see 1 Timothy 6:8), fruit and profit. These blessings include money to buy needs and even assets, money to invest in business and futures, and money to have in order to give away. Material blessings are cans of peaches, which go best with the spiritual blessings of a can-opener so we can enjoy them (an old illustration from Doug Wilson). “The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and He adds no sorry with it” (Proverbs 10:22). Tools build and bless others. Children and grandchildren are actually fleshy blessings and not necessarily spiritual ones (see Psalm 17:14).

God gives gracious benefits, of different kinds, and we can observe at least these truths:

Being poor is not more spiritual, though saints can be poor, as in Jerusalem. There is no prosperity gospel.

And there probably should be another truth added.

This is part of why Paul cared so much about the contribution, and what he hoped it would accomplish.

In the Millennial Kingdom, the New Covenant package of blessings includes new hearts and restored land and fruitful trees and whole/healthy bodies. For now, it is a spiritual blessing to recognize and give thanks for material blessings. God is the ultimate source of both, the response of joyful thanks and stewardship apply to both.

Paul knew that koinonia in Christ could be expressed and INCREASED through koinonia in cash/coin. The Christians throughout the Roman Empire were at early stages of changing Western Civilization due to their God-given blessings, and the saints in the chosen nation weren't sure about it yet.

This collection increased koinonia (between Gentile and Jewish Christians). Material blessings were not merely redistributed. More and better blessings (for all) were created by the giving (of some). That work continues today in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

More to come in the paragraph.

With all your blessings—spiritual things and material things—you ought to share and serve and bless. Give as the Lord your God blesses you. Give and it will be given to you. Give in order to create MORE blessings, more fellowship, more joy, more true wealth.

May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. (Romans 15:33 ESV)

Since all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable, that includes the personal intros and final messages in a letter. Some of the info is historically significant and clarifies our picture of life in Bible times, here of Paul's travels and toils and concerns. Some of the details resonate for our own gospel growth, examples of projects and perspectives and prayers can still be relevant in our own context. We're not trying to get to Spain via Rome, but we're totally concerned with the blessing of Christ and serving the saints.

Paul's tells the Romans his plans in verses 22-24, explains his relief project in verses 25-29, and makes his prayer request in verses 30-33.

# Partnership Plans (verses 22-24)

Paul almost apologizes for not having been to Rome yet. Why would they have expected his visit? Probably because they were (or at least thought themselves to be) *the* Gentiles of Gentiles. All the places from Jerusalem to Illyricum belonged to the Roman Empire. If God called Paul as a ministering priest to present an offering of non-Jews to God (verse 16), that offering wouldn’t be complete without Romans. How can you have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the bread? The bread in this case was never far from Paul's mind or mission.

But he'd been busy working the middle. **This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you**, namely, his bold ambition to preach Christ where Christ had not yet been named (verse 20). **But now, since I no longer have any room to work in these regions**, he'd "fulfilled" the work (verse 19), **and since I've longed or many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain.** Spain was unreached territory, he desired **to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while**. He says again in verse 28, "I will leave for Spain by way of you."

[map from Corinth, Jerusalem, and Spain]

He expected *mutual* encouragement and edification and enjoyment. He wanted them to expect his company, and he expected their **company**, to be satisfied with enjoyment in their presence. He would make a visit, they would visit together.

He believed that they believed the gospel; he'd heard the reports of their faith, but without so many problems (like reports out of Corinth and Colosse and Galatia and Philippi). Romans is more systematic in explaining gospel theology than those other letters that requires more specific instructions.

Rome was a destination for Paul, just not a final home. His language suggests that Paul might be looking at Rome as a new base of operations. Antioch had been his church-hub, but first century travel and communication made sense for moving the whole support network west. Sharing their company was more than a means to an end, but partnership to push west was his goal.

# Service Project (25-29)

He had something else to do first. **At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints.** Southeast was the opposite direction out of Corinth from Rome. But while taking the good news to new places he'd been taking up a collection for old friends.

**For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem**. We happen to know that moneys came in from more than those two locations, and we know this because Paul talks about this collection a *lot* (including 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, 2 Corinthians 8-9). It was personal to him, and he wasn't sure it would be well received (see verse 31). He not only talked about it and supported it, he traveled with it. Why?

A couple things to note. First, the word **contribution** is *koinonia*, usually translated as “fellowship”; these funds were a token of fellowship. It's not just that some Haves donated to some HaveNots. It's not mostly a rich and poor, which we know because some gave out of “their extreme poverty” (2 Corinthians 8:2). This gift meant sharing, it was an expression of Gentile-to-Jew blessing. The contribution *created* more good than was previously there.

Second, the blessings are ordered and connected by Paul. **They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if *ta ethne* have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.**

The **share** is the verb form of *koinonia*. The nations/Gentiles shared some of the nation’s/Israel’s share.

These are not categories we made up, we get them from God's Word. The ESV has **spiritual (blessings)** and **material (blessings)**, and that resonates, even though “spiritual *things*” and “material *things*” would be the more basic translation (KJV, NASB). But blessing is in view, certainly by verse 29, and the general terms work against our narrowing tendencies.

**Spiritual blessings** belong with the gospel of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the power of God in the gospel for salvation to everyone who believes. Spiritual blessings include divine revelation and truth, forgiveness and peace, obedience and joy, knowledge of God's inseparable love and hope. Spiritual blessings include knowledge, goodness of character, and community of one anothers and body life. Spiritual blessings include identity and giftedness and purpose. Spiritual blessings include all the things that make us jealousable, including the ability to properly evaluate and steward material blessings. These are unseen things that belong with our eternal weight of glory.

**Material blessings** are tangibles, things such as food and clothing (and with these we can be content, see 1 Timothy 6:8), fruit and profit. These blessings include money to buy needs and even assets, money to invest in business and futures, and money to have in order to give away. Material blessings are cans of peaches, which go best with the spiritual blessings of a can-opener so we can enjoy them (an old illustration from Doug Wilson). “The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and He adds no sorry with it” (Proverbs 10:22). Tools build and bless others. Children and grandchildren are actually fleshy blessings and not necessarily spiritual ones (see Psalm 17:14).

God gives gracious benefits, of different kinds, and we can observe at least these truths:

1. Spiritual blessings and material blessings can/should be distinguished. Categories are good.

2. Spiritual blessings are greater than material blessings. Priorities are proper.

3. Spiritual blessings are rooted in God's work through the Jews. “To the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

4. Spiritual blessings are no guarantee of material blessings.

5. Spiritual blessings are not threatened by material blessings. All are yours.

Being poor is not more spiritual, though saints can be poor, as in Jerusalem. There is no prosperity gospel.

And there probably should be another truth added.

6. Material blessings used rightly can increase spiritual blessings.

This is part of why Paul cared so much about the contribution, and what he hoped it would accomplish.

In the Millennial Kingdom, the New Covenant package of blessings includes new hearts *and* restored land and fruitful trees and whole/healthy bodies. For now, it is a spiritual blessing to recognize and give thanks for material blessings. God is the ultimate source of both, the response of joyful thanks and stewardship apply to both.

# Conclusion

Paul knew that *koinonia* in Christ could be expressed and INCREASED through *koinonia* in cash/coin. The Christians throughout the Roman Empire were at early stages of changing Western Civilization due to their God-given blessings, and the saints in the chosen nation weren't sure about it yet.

This collection increased *koinonia* (between Gentile and Jewish Christians). Material blessings were not merely redistributed. More and better blessings (for all) were created by the giving (of some). That work continues today in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

More to come in the paragraph.

----------

## Charge

With all your blessings—spiritual things and material things—you ought to share and serve and bless. Give as the Lord your God blesses you. Give and it will be given to you. Give in order to create MORE blessings, more fellowship, more joy, more true wealth.

## Benediction:

> May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. (Romans 15:33 ESV)

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

There's a good chance everyone here tonight has grandparents living or dead, is a grandparent, or will be a grandparent someday. Actually, it's better than a good chance. It is a fact. It is likely that most of us, when we reach the end of our lives, will hold the title of grandparent or great grandparent. That will be true of most of us.

When that time comes, what will be the measure of a life well spent out of all the accomplishments that might be credited to us which will really stand out and earn us a well-done, thou good and faithful servant from the Lord? What one theme, if it isn't true at the time of our death, will diminish every other theme that might be said of us. I believe the answer to those questions comes down to two related things. At the time of your death, can it be said that you kept the faith and that you handed it down, that you kept the faith handed down by your fathers and did you pass it on to the next generation? Those two things will help determine if you lived a life worth living and if it will go on beyond you. If that is all that can be said of us at the time of our death, it will surpass in greatness all the combined accomplishments of those who of whom said two things, those surpass the accomplishments of all those who it cannot be said of them. Jesus said, what will it profit a man if he gains the

whole world and yet forfeits his soul? That's a very sobering question and it should make us passionate about cultivating and imparting faith while we have the opportunity. Grandparents are a very important part of that process.

Psalm 103.17 says, the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. And then in Deuteronomy chapter 7 we read there about Moses reviewing with Israel God's law and then also reminding them of the blessings that come from obeying it and the curses that come from disobeying it. In verses 9 through 10 we see there that he said, know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandment to a thousand generations and repays to their face those who hate him by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face." Pretty serious words there. It's clear from Scripture that existing generations, existing generations, are not meant to be like marbles in a bag that teach up, touch each other only incidentally. Done wrongly, generations

related by blood act like marbles in the bag sharing in their marbleness but their relatedness to each other is limited to only occasionally bumping into each other and often to the irritation of the other marbles in the bag. Love for God and instruction in righteousness is meant to flow from one generation to the next like headwaters feeding a river and this implies a level connectedness between the generations that is not what we normally see today. Proverbs 17 6 paints a picture of the intergenerational connectedness that I'm scratching at. It says grandchildren are the crown of the agent and the glory of children is their fathers. Grandchildren are grandparents crown and fathers are our children's glory.

Does that describe the way we usually think about these relationships? The usual pattern in our culture is for a couple to marry, raise kids to a certain age, send them off to live their own lives, and then settle into a well-earned retirement.

If the parent-to-child relationship is intact, then the parents can look forward to spending holidays with a family in between golf vacations and spoiling the grandkids on their birthdays. Throw in the occasional overnighter at Grandma and Grandpa and you have the gist of the American experience for older folks. Now I'm being a little bit facetious here, but only a little. Before I get to my main point, here's a few fun facts about grandparents in America. The baby boomers of which I'm a member have become the grandparent boom. Today about 70 million Americans are grandparents and they have an average of five to six grandkids. That's 24% more grandparents kicking around than just 20 years ago. 62% of those grandparents live 50 miles or more away from their closest grandchild and 40% of them are actually still in the workforce. This abundance of grandparents won't last long because the birth rate today is about half of what it was when the baby boomers were being born and they don't expect that to increase. The fact that so many

grandparents live a good distance away from family already sits the stage for the relational marble effect that I described. We've been using our Sunday nights, as you know, these teaching times to talk about the household of God and what the Bible has to say about the various roles within it. We've already looked at husbands and wives and fathers and mothers and so tonight we're going to take a look at the role of grandparents inside of the household of God. And so I have one point, one simple proposition to make to you tonight, and that is when living generations with a common ancestry act like marbles in the bag rather than pearls on a string, they are missing out on God's intended design for propagating the faith and they risk losing it altogether. In In biblical terms, household responsibility extends beyond the four walls we call home.

Our responsibility encompasses preceding and succeeding generations in our family line. Technically our responsibility is more extensive than that, but for our purposes tonight, I'm just going to focus on our intergenerational responsibilities. Our culture tends to divide life up into three basic seasons of life. Childhood, where we are being prepared for a future. The productive years, where we grow our family and contribute to society. And then finally, the leisure years of retirement were not much as expected of us by others. This model for life is far from scriptural. Psalm 92, 12 through 15 gives us an illustration of what the life of a righteous person is like.

It says, the righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord. They flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age. They are ever full of sap and green to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him." The psalmist here compares the life of a righteous person to a palm tree. Palm trees live for many years and they can produce fruit for up to 150 years. When he says the aged are like palm trees, he's not inviting them to retire to palm springs. It's a call to remain fruitful and especially to declare that the Lord is upright.

Now some might argue I'm stretching this intergenerational responsibility too far. After all, doesn't the Bible say, therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh? He'll leave it in cleav it. Matthew 19.5. Doesn't this show that a couple's responsibility to their son ends when he leaves home and takes a life? Yes and no. Clearly the nature of the relationship changes and certain parental responsibilities do come to an end. A man who has started his own family is no longer required to obey his parents but he's still required to honor them. In addition to that there are scriptural examples of parents ongoing duties to adult children and by extension grandchildren including things like exhorting them to keep the faith. Just two examples I'll share with you.

The first chapter in the book of Job describes how righteous Job would offer sacrifices to God just in case any of his adult children had sinned and cursed God. He took responsibility for their sin even though he wasn't personally guilty. He was burdened by his children's well-being and he acted on their behalf. He took ownership for his kids even though they were adults. An example of failure to take generational responsibility comes from the life of Eli, the temple priest, just prior to Samuel. He had two adult sons, Hophni and Phineas, who were also priests and they were guilty of continuous gross sin. But Eli did not step in and put a firm end to it. Apparently he did say, hey guys not cool but he could have gone further in exercise in his authority and he didn't. And in 1st Samuel 3 13 we read what God revealed to Samuel that he was about to do to Eli's family. He said, I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever for the iniquity that he knew because his sons were blaspheming God and he did not restrain them. That's God speaking. In

In the following chapters we read how Israel foolishly and superstitiously asked Eli's sons to bring the Ark to the battlefront against the Philistines, thinking that would somehow give them the upper hand. It doesn't go well and the two sons are killed along with thousands of other Israelites. The Ark is captured and Eli, when he hears the news, falls off his chair and breaks his neck and dies. These are just two examples where men of God with adult children did or didn't take their household responsibility seriously. I've mentioned in previous sermons the example from Judges 2.10 regarding the generation that came after Joshua's generation.

This is the group of people so after Joshua and all of his peers, after they all died, It says, and all that generation of Joshua also were gathered to their fathers, and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. That is a shockingly short amount of time for an entire generation to lose the faith handed down to them. What intergenerational failure was going on to let that happen?

What about Deuteronomy 4 9 where the people were explicitly told only take care and keep your soul diligently Lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life Make them known to your children and your children's children If only they had had the mindset that's found in Psalm 71 17 through 18 where the Psalmist says oh God from my youth you have taught me and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds So even to old age and gray hairs, oh God do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. Obviously there are limitations to how far a parent can go to prevent a wavered child or grandchild from sinning, but the principle is that they have a a responsibility to act in whatever way they can. I grew up in an era where religion was considered a private affair. It was important to have religion, but it wasn't something talked about. Later, as I was raising my own kids, that generation,

that time period, there was a tendency among parents to rely on things like private school or Sunday school to do the heavy lifting when it came to passing on the faith. And then grandparents were still a distant third to all of those resources, if at all. The point I'm making is that there is a significant gap between how important we say faith is and how much effort we put into raising our children and grandchildren in it. It isn't our hostility to the faith that's killing its transmission, it's our passivity.

Gail and I have been blessed over the past nine months to have had one of our sons and his family live with us for five months and now to have our daughter and her family living with us for the foreseeable future and there's actually a chance that my 14th grandchild will actually be born under my roof in April or May given how fast she delivers. Many mornings I'll be sitting in my office with my noise canceling headphones on with my eyes closed as I'm praying. And it's become regular to have one of my grandkids come in and tap me on the arm to see what I'm doing. And I just love pulling them up into my lap and talk to them about what I'm reading in the Bible. And almost always I talked to them about their responsibility to take what their parents and grandparents are teaching them and to make it their own. I tell them that someday they will be responsible to tell their children these things. I just had a date with Chloe, our six-year-old, yesterday over a plate of spaghetti and meatballs and I was

explaining to her righteousness and what that term meant and why our righteousness wasn't good enough to get us into heaven. So every opportunity we have to impart the faith into them. I have the same conversations with my older grandkids, as well as my adult children. Of course, my walk better matched my talk. Lest hypocrisy drive them away. And Gail and I have been blessed that our kids welcome this input into their household lives. I know not every grandparent here today has that blessing, and I'm going to address that in a few minutes. in a sort of crass way you can think of what I'm describing as drip marketing.

That's where the marketeers keep dripping ads to you, whatever way they can, in the hopes that you'll buy from them. In biblical terms, it's line upon line, precept upon precept. It is believing that God will reward personal righteousness combined with faithful witness by driving faith into the hearts of the next generation. It should be clear that the ability to transmit your faith is predicated on a solid relationship. If you don't have a relationship where your input is welcome, you have some work to do. One tip I'll throw out to parents of children who are either out of the home or are getting close to it is respect the fact that they aren't going to always agree with you on everything.

I've seen a lot of parents of adult kids, or soon to be adult kids, make that mistake. They still insist that the kid has to think exactly like them, and that just sets the stage for conflict and animosity. It's when you finally learn to realize that they have a different way of thinking. Obviously on the essentials of the gospel, you know, die on those hills. There's a whole lot of things we don't have to die on that we parents foolishly die on, and we alienate the relationship. If you foolishly die on the wrong hills, you'll alienate the relationship and seriously impair your ability to speak into their lives when they really need it.

So far, I've been discussing the responsibility of the older generation to teach the younger generation. There's also responsibility for the younger generation to learn from the older. Job 1212 tells us that wisdom generally comes with the age and implies the younger should avail themselves of it. It says wisdom is with the aged and understanding in length of days. Deuteronomy 32.7 explicitly tells the younger to seek out the older for instruction. Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father and he will show you your elders and they will tell you. Proverbs 23, 22 makes the same point.

Listen to your father who gave you life and do not despise your mother when she is old. It's tragic how little knowledge and wisdom is transmitted from one generation to the next. Safe to say, more knowledge and life experience is lost to history than is passed on. It is likely that most present here tonight know almost nothing about their great grandparents and probably very little about their grandparents.

The fault for this situation runs both ways.

The younger generation has little patience to learn from the past and does not realize how often they are repeating the mistakes of the past rather than learning from it. And the older generation buys into the lie that their time is past and it is best to get out of the way and let the next generation quote make their own mistakes. I remember as a young man listening to a man of about 80 years of age stand up in a church meeting and say as much. And I remember thinking to myself, Lord help me to never say that when I'm old. One of the best examples in Scripture describing God's plan for the propagation of the faith is found in Psalm 78 1 through 8. Listen to how many generations are identified. And this passage also contains a clear command as well as a warning to us. It says starting in 78.1, give ear, O my people, to my teaching. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their

children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might and the wonder that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn and arise and tell them to their children so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God. But keep his commandments and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. The generations mentioned in this passage extends from the past the fathers to the future, children yet unborn. The command is simple and twofold. First, teach God's commands and tell of his glorious deeds.

And second, warn the next generation to not be like those ancestors who were unfaithful to God. That last bit about warning generations to not be like those who were unfaithful tells us that everyone has something to offer the next generation, even if it's a cautionary tale from their own life. There's sometimes older generations like I blew it, I had too many mistakes, I I don't have anything to say, yes you do. Tell them about your mistakes and what you learned from it, and warn them to not repeat it. Well, this brings us to the final consideration, which is what do we do if we find ourselves a part of a generational line where the relationships are strained or one of those generations isn't a part of the faith.

Perhaps you are a grandparent who's filled with regrets about the past and it has ongoing negative consequences with your children and your grandchildren today. Maybe your parents or grandparents aren't believers or they're weak in the faith and so they really aren't much of a resource when it comes to matters of the faith. If you are the grandparent I just described, one thing you can do is to make sure that you have confessed and repented from any sins that helped create that generational barrier.

If you haven't had an honest conversation with your children or grandchildren, that might be a place to start. Humbleness on your part might be the thing that God uses to repair a damaged relationship. Sometimes you just need to come and say, son, daughter, I am sorry. Please forgive me. I made so many mistakes, but I would love to be able to build, start building something now. One of the things that has helped strengthen my relationship with my adult children is when they have seen me grow and change my mind, especially on positions they reached before I did. I can remember there were several matters of practice of faith where there truly was biblical freedom, but I was really being pigheaded and stuck on my position and trying to coerce my 19, 20 year olds to see it my way.

And one of them in particular is too much like his father. We both get pretty hot around the collar. And so one of us or both of us would be taking walks around the block trying to cool off after a heated conversation. And it's when I finally realized that I did not have to pin him down and force him to see it my way, that that actually then set the stage where he and the other siblings actually say, wow, dad was able to learn and change his mind and they actually come to me now. This was when they were 20. Now they're 35-40 and they're still coming to me and saying, dad, what do you think? I'm getting my opinion on stuff.

If you are a person without a godly lineage to look back to, then determine to break the pattern and become the first pearl on a string of faithful generations. That's kind of where I see myself. I came out of a Roman Catholic background. Gail does have a longer line of pearls on her string. But for me personally, I am the first, and I am committed to make sure it's not the last to do everything that I can. If you haven't already, begin establishing the pattern of instructing the next generation in matters of faith. Impress upon them the expectation that they will take the baton of faith and pass it on to the next children.

I'm going to look kid, I am going to hand you the baton. You're either going to run with it or you're going to drop it, but I am going to pass it on to you. And I'm going to make sure they understand the importance of that. Even if you can't look to the previous generations for an example of faith, look for what you can be thankful for and express it. If you have tended to hold them, this previous generation at arm's length, look for ways to establish a better relationship. Perhaps that overture will lead to an opportunity to share your faith with them.

Dave and I are old. We keep trying to get the younger generation to understand the secret. We know that most of you, not all of you, but most of you when you look at us and you say, you're old enough to be my father or perhaps old enough to be my grandfather, or maybe great grandfather. We look back at you and we say, you're old enough now to be interesting and actually we can have a relationship and we can have a brother, sister fellowship here. And Dave, I think is famous for saying that he's, he's whatever you are, Dave 76 or the, you know, 12 year old trapped in the 76 year old body.

But there's the opportunity for the relational dynamics are there. Well, if all of this sounds pie in the sky to you and too simplistic, could it be that the problem is your faith? Too many generational lines have settled into familiar ruts. So-and-so is never going to change. It's always been that way. It isn't worth the grief to try and change things. The list of excuses we make is endless. What is guaranteed, that is unless we rethink how the generations typically relate to each other today and break out of the norm, we will continue to see very short strands of intergenerational faith. That's almost a given. Tonight, I've only focused on the responsibility of grandparents to pass the faith onto the next generation. There's a lot more things we could have talked about.

And I've sort of slightly touched on the idea that it is hinged on relationship. You've got to have relationship. Right now with the little ones, I mentioned the date nights, all of that stuff. Let them know that grandma and grandpa actually are fun, you know, and not grumpy. They have to see us in that light and have good memories. But I've hopefully shown that a grandparent's household extends into subsequent generations There are very real duties that come with that fact. There's more that could be said about grandparents. It's a fantastic season of life and an endless source of delight, at least it should be.

And I've already mentioned that Gail and I make it a habit, we made it a habit when we were parenting, to go out and date our kids. And we've continued that practice with the grandkids, and they just really look forward to it. We found it to be a great way to build relationships that we can leverage as we work to impart the faith to them. One of my granddaughters, for example, lives in Germany, and she recently got an iPad for her 11th birthday. And while my son is still keeping her off of social media, grandma and grandpa got a special account so she can actually call us and contact us. And I just love that we're 10 hours different.

So usually when she's crawling into bed, she'll call me. We're video chatting. And so whatever an 11 year old German girl wants to just rattle on about her day and it's all silly 11 year old girl stuff, but I love it. But I always get the opportunity then to talk to her about what are you reading in the Bible? You know, what's God doing in your life? So just keep drippin', you know, drippin', drippin', drippin'. But having the relationship where she likes talking to grandpa, but then also using that then as a platform to pass the faith on. To the young parents here tonight, let me encourage you to consider that the best time to get ready to be a grandparent is now.

You are establishing patterns and expectations now that will shape what kind of relationship you have with your unborn grandkids, let alone your adult children. If you do it well now, you can look forward to some great years ahead with your children and grandchildren. Gail and I are loving these years. And you can greatly increase the chance that the intergenerational strand of faith in your family will be long and strong. OK, so that's all I had by way of notes to share with you. Now we're supposed to go into a Q&A time. I didn't prepare any questions in particular, so feel free to shoot whatever you want out there.

And anybody else feel free to chime in your responses. So any questions pertaining to grandparents and the household of God? Yeah, Dave. Yeah. Well, you got any tricks to help your sleep? Yeah, so in this day and age where everybody's moving in far places away, is there any tips or tricks to hiding the kids closer to home? I don't buy them a house. Yeah, I wish I had an answer for that. That is a curse. I mean, I've got Germany, South Carolina, Spokane, and one here in my house. And so that is a reality. I like to think, and I think TEC is starting to break that mold. We hear more and more of our young people saying, they're thinking, how can I stay in here in Marysville?

That was a big part of our motivation for starting Comfort College was to give them something to do here, not have to go there. So that's a long-term strategy is to build opportunity here in the community, jobs. We got lots of businessmen here, so there's gonna be lots of job opportunities. So we're starting to see, I guess, an opportunity to break that. But if that's your reality, then you just have to go the extra mile. I mean, for Gale and I, 90% of our vacations are going to go see the kids. Fortunately, they all pick nice places to live so they're not bad places to visit. And then, like I said, making the extra effort to stay connected through, you know, we're fortunate that we have, you know, iPads and social media and those kind of tools. So it's more work to stay connected.

But it really works. Again, I mean, it's going to be a humble brag here, okay? here, okay, but I told my daughter-in-law two days ago, I'm coming to your house for 14 days, and my daughter-in-law, and I get blasted with all these yippie, emotes, whatever, the little things, happy dance. But again, we've worked on those relationships for a long time to where it's not like, oh boy, here come the in-laws. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it can be done. You can have a meaningful relationship, but it does take that work. And you're right, there's a tendency. We get a little late, relationally lazy, and it's out of sight, out of mind.

And we don't think about it until our next birthday or holiday rolls around, so you have to... But again, if you're really thinking, I mean, I am... I'm constantly thinking, I'm going like, you know, when the day comes that I die, I may not have a lot of earthly accomplishments to point back to, but boy, I'm begging God. I'm begging God. Lord, please make all of my children and grandchildren and even the ones that are on board, make them a member of the elect. And I'm just by faith operating on that. I mean, I talked to all my kids and my kids are believers and only a few of my grandkids have made professions of faith.

they're all very young, but I am talking into their life as if they are Christians. And just saying, look baby, this is part of what it means to be a Martin. You know, we follow Jesus. It's like I don't even give them an option. But then I make sure, and one of my pet phrases I use with them is we talk about Christian monkeys. And I say, right now, you're Christian monkeys. You do what Christians do because that's what we're teaching the monkey to do. But at some point, this has to be your faith. You can't be a Christian monkey forever. At some point, it has to become your reality. Let's just keep beating that drum.

And then again, hopefully we, Grandma and Grandpa are fun. And they enjoy the relationship. So hopefully God uses all of that together to really make them embrace the faith. Other questions, comments, thoughts, other suggestions? about what up and then start a crash. And Gail and I saw, because we came across the lake, when we changed, it made both sets of grandparents go, oh, what happened here? And it turned out all right, but it took almost a decade to know where you think it was coming from. But if you really relate to your kids, then even if they move away, those phone calls you immediately you get back on the level that you know your own community.

I mean, your grandchildren and your son and daughter all live in Germany, and that way around the world. And yet, you wouldn't even talk with them. I mean, right away, that's what's going to happen. Yeah. Don't give up. It's kind of funny to watch the two of my sons who are a little more on the rebellious edge than their teenage years, if turned out to be more conservative than their old man. So we'll sit on my back deck with our glasses of whiskey and be talking when we were talking about how to respond to the COVID nonsense that they were trying to talk me off the ledge. I was like the crazy, I was the rebellious one, but am I missing any hand waving here?

I just really want to impress guys. I want to really impress, I hope I got the message across. We've got to do a lot better job of getting the generations communicating, relating, being connected, not like marbles, valuing what they all bring to the table. If we keep this semi-isolation, you do your thing, I'll do my thing, we'll get together on holidays. That's a formula for disaster for passing on the gospel, let alone having much of a satisfying life, I think. Revah, were you going to say something? Not just, I mean, it's such a weird, they love the way the kids are. They're polite and respectful, and so that's all awesome, but they don't love the idea of us that our life, the foundation of our life, is the Lord and scripture.

And so it's really hard to honor. And you know, how do you honor someone who's saying your things? How do you honor someone who's saying, you are way watching in children? You know, it's just, it's a really hard place to be. And I guess for me, that, and ever so, I guess, something that we struggle with a lot is, And we want to maintain relationships with our parents and how our kids know their grandparents. But there's so much negativity and the grace of the Lord is that the kids can totally stand up for their beliefs and of course, grandparents are much more receptive to hearing it from them than they did from us.

But all that, we are so thankful for you and Gail, the lights, for all of the families here who are willing to stand in that house. Yeah. So that reality is that reality. Now as believers, you guys continue to let your lights shine and by faith you hope and believe that perhaps someday got Mike. They'll come to Christ. Meanwhile, you know, Bazin and Xander, you guys are pearl number two on the line. All right? Let's make it three or four. So, all right? So, you see the contrast. And so, but you have that responsibility to take the faith that your parents are imparting to you and keep it going. You know, and all the other young people here, I could say the same thing.

So like I said, I'm, you know, I got three, we got three pearls on the Martin line. Well, on my side of the line, three pearls. So far, Gail's got more pearls on her string, but. Also, it shouldn't be pressure. I mean, the price, there's price pressure to stay, to try to stay there because everything's so expensive. And so you could also be super proactive and say, hey, if you want to stay, We want to figure out a way to make this work, whatever that looks like. Because in my head, I would way rather give my kids and my grandkids a blessing when I can see them than what I'm involved in. And so to be thinking ahead of, you know, like, you have teenagers, okay, we're talking about, like, what are you gonna do when you grow up?

Where do you wanna go? And, like, if you wanna stay here, we need to start playing about, are we gonna get a house together? Those kinds of things, I think those are good conversations. Yeah, I mean, and a hearty amen to that. My daughter, and the reason they're in our home is they were living in a 900 square foot house in Kenmore with three kids and then number four on the way, and 900 square feet's a little cozy. And there's no way they were going to do a contingent purchase of a home. And so we had suggested a year or two ago, sell it, move in, bite the bullet, do the commute to Bellevue. That's where their church is at and stuff.

And they thought about it for a while. And then their pastor came to them and said, you know, you ought to sell your house and move in with Esther's parents, which is kind of another funny side story, because now their Bellevue friends are like, your living with Esther's parents. Are you OK? Do we need to pray for you? To them, it's like really weird and foreign. But they're going, oh, no, it's going great. My son-in-law sat down with me. There today, he said, dad, can we go out to lunch? And I thought, well, what have we done? Don't know why I went there first in my thinking. But so we had lunch. He says, no, I just want to see how it's going.

Are we driving you crazy? Is it going OK? I'm saving a lot of money right now. should I be giving you some money? I said, this is just one way for me to pass on generational wealth. Keep your money, save it up for your next house. We've actually been talking about maybe generational living with them, but problem is they want Bellevue, we want Marysville, so that's a problem. But beyond that, any way we can be thinking ahead to help them be able to stay in an expensive area, specifically in the context of us and here and how expensive Puget Sound is, but Philip you're gonna... Yeah, you understand when I use the term Christian monkey, I make it clear to them, Christian monkeys aren't Christian, you know, they're little people that have learned to ape what Christians do.

Yeah, no, but as far as I see it as just a matter of faith, now are they elect, I I don't know, only God knows, but I am going to not get, when they're under my household, I'm not gonna give them an alternative. This is my expectation, I'm gonna raise you to these standards at the same time, make sure little Chloe understands righteousness and what that means and that she needs a savior so that then the Holy Spirit at the right time will break her little heart and she'll realize, you know, that she needs a savior. So it's premised on faith. It's all gotta be based on faith and just believing that God will honor that.

Now again, I know there's people in this room who would say we did that and it did not turn out the way we had hoped and that's a reality. And so in those cases, you do what you can to keep trying to pour into their life the best you can to the degree they'll let you. And that's where I say, If you can go back and see places where you messed up the relationship, then you try to go back and repair that. And then from the solid relationship, you try to begin building upon that, and then you just believe God. And that's all you can do. He'll say, well done, good, down, faithful servant, if you were diligent. Ultimately, each person is responsible for God with their choices.

But when they're little and I have more influence, I guess I make no apology for drilling into their heads that, of course, you're going to be a Christian. That's what Martins do. And fully realizing that they may not. Grandpa said this. Yeah. They're like, yeah, we know Grandpa said that. But we say this. Oh, yeah. Do you think there are things that your kids might a little bit, like not say it directly to you, but your brain gets transmitted. Yeah, your brain says that, but can you say it? Were they might transmitted incorrectly or they're just... No, no, no, no. Where you say they know that you disagree on this thing.

And you tell them, like, I don't know, that your daughter and son-in-law, do they believe all the same things that you believe? Oh, I'm sure we have some... I know we have some theological differences, but we're very careful to wherever we know that they are teaching them something different. We don't go butt head to head with them. We'll have those conversations with, yeah, not intentionally. So far, we are very much aligned. We're 95 percent aligned or better, so it's not been an issue. But if there was a bigger difference, I would think it's incumbent on the grandparents to be respectful of the parents. It's their first duty.

And again, if you really think that they are teaching the kids something that's not correct, duke it out with the parents, don't duke it out with the grandkids. Or wait until the grandkids are adulting. Say, you know. I'm not seeing any other hand waving. Oh, Kelly. I mean none of us believe anything without a community that has some sort of gravity around it because if this community was a place where nobody wanted to be, it doesn't matter how nice your grandparents are. If they're here and nobody else is acting like they want to be here, then your grandkids are not going to be here. They're not going to stay. it like even with a practical issue, like how expensive it is to live here, that shouldn't be the main concern.

If you're looking at a place you're like, that community has such gravity, I don't care that it's expensive to live here. I don't care that it's expensive to live here. I mean, I'm not paying at all my living expenses, but I know that someday I will be, and I want that to be here. because this community has enough gravity to it and it has enough fellowship that it shouldn't matter how expensive it is. Like we're trying to get the last grandparent who doesn't live in Washington to move here. That's how good it is, at least how we see it. That's how good it is. And we're trying to get other people to move here to make their lives.

I mean, it's disturbing them. It's making their lives harder because it's more expensive. but there's better benefits than just, well, it's cheap to live there, okay? But are you getting the fellowship you need? And I think this community has enough gravity and it's gaining more gravity that it shouldn't matter if it's expensive. It shouldn't matter how much of a commitment it is to move across the country. Like, that's what we should be working for. People just don't even think about it. They're like, those are some Christians you want to be with, let's go over there. That is what we're doing and that is how you keep your grandkids and your great grandkids in the same spot by making it good enough, making it fellowship centric where I think everybody is like, yeah, that's where we want to be.

You can't do that with sort of a, I don't even know what I want to be. I don't think we have that kind of thing. It's like we'll make it. That's part of the destination piece is you've got other people coming in. I mean, I get to meet your grandkids, but I assume I'll get to meet your kids. Oh, yeah? One more, in your head. Then, like, if you know, and you can pass it on, and that is something that you can't complicate in the past. Amen. And your mom's parents, grandma and grandpa, they're awesome. If you guys don't know Russ, Russ is the original Indiana Jones and if you invite him over, he's got a great slideshow to show you all the stuff they used to do.

But we do, we just lose that kind of history and stuff. All right, well, Jonathan, why don't you come up and lead us in the doxology and we'll call the night. Go hug a grandparent. That's it, right here. Praise God, God bless. Praise God from the...