Because there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist (see 1 Corinthians 8:6), the world works the way He wants it to. Paul reminded, agreed even, with the Corinthians about this creational reality at the beginning of chapter 8, and we are still dealing with the implications of this halfway through chapter 10.

Chapters 8-10 are about love and idolatry, about food and associations, about sacrifices and selfishness. We love one another by avoiding food associated with idol worship. This isn't surprising; we become like who or what we worship. And this issue is important for how we love one another because all idols are selfish. As we'll see in 10:14-22, behind every idol is a devil, and devils are defined by self-serving. This is why, when we cause a brother to stumble, we are acting more like demons than like Jesus. It's a big deal.

But when we give up our rights for the benefit of others we are imitating Christ. Paul used himself as an illustration in chapter 9. He reminded them that he refrained from his rightful claim to receive material things from them as part of his ministry strategy. He was living out the gospel rather than getting his living by the gospel, as lawful as the latter would have been. His sacrifices were his way of running the race, a race which all Christians are called to run (and win) by giving rather than grabbing.

Then he reminded the Corinthians at the beginning of chapter 10 how almost an entire generation of Israelites lost their race. Though they had received clear and abundant and gracious blessings, they kept choosing to grasp for themselves. These are examples...written down for our instruction (verse 11). There is a particular, though not unique, temptation that comes upon blessed people to presume that they can't fall. But in their pride they keep serving self. This is the way of devils, not the way of the cross.

Starting in 1 Corinthians 10:14 Paul admonishes the church to reckon with two competing communions. There are only two, and they can be seen at two altars, two tables. We can either fellowship at the table of grace, a table set with Christ's sacrifice for our blessing and unity, or we can fellowship at the table of demons, a table of demands for self.

Verse 14 starts a new paragraph especially with the address of my beloved. But it still is meant to follow the preceding paragraph, and especially verse 13; it is a Therefore.

There is a common temptation, and it is to worship whatever god will give us what we want, or even to worship the true God in self-selected ways or for self-indulgent ends. The Israelites gratified themselves in God's name (10:8). The Israelites grumbled (10:9) not as Arminians, but as Calvinists; complaining is only as good as you complain against someone who has power and authority to change the situation but isn't doing it.

Their temptation was idolatry (10:7). This is every man's temptation, isn't it? It's why John Calvin wrote that the human heart is an idol factory. And what should our response be? What is the way of escape? Run away! As in 1 Corinthians 6:18 and “Flee sexual immorality,” so here, Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

The Corinthians have not shown great wisdom, certainly not the greatness of wisdom that they claimed for themselves (hence 10:12). But verse 15 does not seem to be sarcastic or ironic, especially after calling them his “beloved” in the previous verse. As fleeing idolatry should be obvious, so the reasoning is reasonable.

I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. What follows in verses 16-22 includes at least seven rhetorical questions, some expected YES and some expected NO, but all the answers were expected. Through the teaching they previously received, and it seems based on the reality of how things work in the world, Paul urges them to put it all together.

As I already said, there are two communion tables, not just one, but any man may only appropriately commune at one. The options are "the table of the Lord and the table of demons" (verse 21). One is a table of blessing and the other a table of confusion and selfishness.

There are not many extended passages about the Lord's Supper in the Bible, and even this passage is more about the principle of participation than the practice of the Supper itself. Yet there are some great encouragements for us who eat and drink at the Lord’s Table each Lord’s Day.

Both elements are included, though in a different order than usual, probably because Paul has some extra to say about the bread.

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? This ties the sacrament of communion with the feast of the Passover. Interpreters disagree about whether this refers to the third cup or the fourth cup in the Passover meal, but for believers drinking the cup of wine is a koinonia with the blood of Christ. The one who drinks in faith has a share in all the blessings of deliverance purchased by the blood, and that “determines the identity and lifestyle of that in which Christians share,” “his life becomes our life” (Thiselton).

Likewise, the bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? We drink and eat fellowship. We have a participation in Christ's sacrifice as we partake of His body by faith.

The koinonia creates solidarity; “one bread” brackets the verse, and we share whatever happens to that bread as a single entity. Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake one bread. The bread is Jesus' body, not that it is only one loaf from the bakery. We are a small enough local body that it is probably just one batch, one lump, one baking from which our bread gets divided and shared. But since the bread that we all individually eat is Jesus, we are all--at TEC, at Christ-loving churches in Marysville and around the world and since Jesus' was betrayed--partakers and participants in one body.

This is by grace.

The wonder of the Christian faith is that our participation in Christ (i.e., in his blood and body) is not based on a sacrifice that we make to please the god (as in the Greco-Roman and other pagan religions), but on Christ’s own sacrifice of his body and blood, that we might indeed participate in the life that only he can provide for us through that sacrifice. (Ciampa & Rosner)

The elements are consecrated, set apart; the cup is blessed. The elements are distributed, given out; the bread is broken. Through these we share a covenantal connection. It is not due to the molecules in the yeast or flour but the mystical uniting work of God.

When we share this meal and are one body, how then could we selfishly seek our own at the expense of another member in the body?

This principle of communion has been in effect for more than the two-thousand years since the last supper. It has been a worship reality for even longer. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the alter? Not all the offerings were eaten, but the peace offering was. The smoke ascended to heaven as the meat roasted over the fire, but rather than consume the flesh as in the burnt offering, the meat was taken off the altar and shared by the priests and those who worshipped. One wasn’t required to prepare or put the offering on the altar, to eat was to participate in the worship, and so to expect to share in the peace of the offering. If you didn’t eat, you didn’t associate with the offering.

The Corinthians knew the principle, hence the rhetorical questions. But Paul needs to confirm why it is so important related to food and idols because he previously agreed there really are no "idols" (chapter 8). His summary takes us behind the altar.

What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? He previously denied that there really are other gods (8:4). No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. This is critical. So there aren't actually gods and goddesses, but there are demons masquerading behind and taking the worship and sacrifices of men as if they were gods. While the stone and wood are worthless, the worship and communion with demons is real.

Paul quotes, or at least alludes to, Deuteronomy 32:17.

“But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;

See also Psalm 106:37, as Israel sacrificed their own kids to demons.

What we know about these so-called gods, from the Old Testament and from extra-biblical literature, is that they are ruthless and selfish. They are not consistent or gracious, except maybe they are consistent in seeking their own benefit. By nature those who sacrifice to demons, whether they realize it or not, are participating with the demons. In so doing they are sharing in a table of selfishness. No wonder Paul writes,I do not want you to be participating with demons.

Which gets back to the competing communions: You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. The “Lord’s table” is used in Malachi 1:7 as a reference to the altar, and “table” is used a few other places in the OT to reference a place for sacrifices.

The spiritual reality of communion prohibits dual participation. Just as a man can't be joined to a prostitute and joined to Christ (1 Corinthians 6:15-16), so he can't be joined to love and hate. Communion is exclusive. The two options of communion are participating in the pattern of serving the weak, like Christ, or the pattern of serving oneself, at the expense of others. We can’t casually commune at both, because we can’t identify with both principles at the same time.

Don't we know better than to try? Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? The final two questions are obvious, and biblical based on Deuteronomy 32:21.

They have made me jealous with what is no god;

The Lord is jealous, rightly so, for His own glory. He does not share with competitors.

The remaining part of chapter 10 finishes the section, so there are some more inspired conclusions to come. But we should be encouraged to realize that more than a remembrance happens at the table of the Lord. A real koinonia, a true union both on the vertical and horizontal planes takes place. Such fellowship around a table of mutual concern is glorious, and it also reminds us to draw lines and refuse fellowship with idols that would harm our fellow members. We are to be building up the body, and that happens as we share in the one who gave rather than grabbed at His liberty.

This morning I want to remind us about some of what we have, and how we came to have it, and what we must do daily to preserve it and press on. We live in a time of abundant blessings, both spiritual and physical, and we owe them all to Christ. Christ Himself is also the fountain of many faithful Christians who have worked good works from which we benefit.

In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises one character asks another how he went bankrupt. “Two ways,” the man replies. “Gradually and then suddenly.” Of course the “suddenly” only seemed sudden because he wasn’t paying attention to the “gradually.” Long, slow, gradual forces work both for bad and for good. We would profit more from this process if we paid more attention to our history, and in particular to those who did their daily work in the name of the Lord.

Even with minimal attention, it is hard not to be edified by considering the progress, not of Man, but of Christ’s salvation of men and His grace through them into the world for the last two millenniums (or at least since 1066). Much of that progress has come at a great cost in the midst of serious conflicts.

We don't get to choose if we're in a battle or not. God established an antithesis on earth, a hostile dividing line between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. We cannot get out of the fight, we do not choose whether or not to be soldiers. We can choose what type of soldiers to be.

But, who really wants to fight? We all want to win, or most of us do. Those who are Christians want Jesus to win, but we have to think about how involved we're going to be.

We're often a fearful people. We fear criticism or maybe worse, being pushed to the margin. We hate when others condemn us by ignoring us. We fear loss of reputation, loss of connections. We fear that others may recognize that we don't know what we're talking about. We fear that we might mess up. We fear that we might have to change something, suffer for something.

We need courage.

But courage doesn't come easy. Courage is not an ornament that can be borrowed or purchased and hung on a branch. It isn't about education; just reading a book won't give you courage. It isn't about money; having a lot of money can't give you courage. It isn't about status; some of the most panicky people are popular. It is all about heart.

To be courageous means to demonstrate conviction at the time of a decision. Courage rises from conviction. Courage is like fruit; it grows out of deep roots. We need to have our hearts filled first before we're willing to face difficulties, let alone fight enemies.

Why aren’t there more modern day stories of Christian courage? There are so few courageous Christians because there are so few Christians with any deep, thorough, burning passions. Consider: what are you doing daily/weekly to develop your life-system beliefs, the way you believe that the world works, who is in charge of this spinning mass of problems, what you're supposed to be doing on it? Text messaging, Facebook stalking, and World of Warcraft isn't securing the ballast of your ship.

The roots of conviction grow out of the soil of our hearts.

The word courage comes from the Latin word cor, meaning heart, so courage is "heart-age," the quality of having heart, having inner strength. To encourage someone is to give them heart, to put into and fill up their heart. To discourage is to take away from their heart, to drill a drainage hole in the bottom of the tank.

That means that a lack of courage is not first an external problem when faced with an enemy, it is a heart problem. This is encouraging and convicting. It means that when we are cowards, we should consider the smallness of our hearts before we worry about the size and strength of our enemy. My job, by the work of God's Spirit in God's Word, is to declare God’s Word so that when you arrive at the time of decision, your heart will be full and ready.

It's so much easier not to fight. And when we sense a growing desire to pull back and sit it out, we're in an emergency situation. So was Timothy.

It seems that Timothy was struggling by the time Paul wrote his second letter. To some extent, Timothy was having a hard time. Perhaps the central theme of the epistle is found in chapter 2, verse 1.

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, (2 Timothy 2:1)

After the well-known instruction to pass the baton to other faithful men, Paul said,

Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 2:3)

Timothy was in a battle of suffering and apparently needed some crisis encouragement.

That encouragement came from his discipler, Paul. Of course Paul wrote his encouragement to Timothy from prison (1:8). In fact, on a time-line, this is the last epistle Paul ever wrote. These were his last inspired encouragements to a discouraged solider. Let's go back to the beginning.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,

To Timothy, my beloved child:

I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:1–7)

Timothy's gift was growing cold so Paul told him "to fan into flame," stir it up, rekindle the coals so that they would start burning hotly again. Timothy had been commissioned by Paul and other elders (1 Timothy 4:14) for the work. He had been left by Paul in Ephesus to deal with certain persons who had wandered into vain discussions. He was dealing with certain persons who fancied themselves teachers but who were without understanding either what they were saying or the things about which they make confident assertions (1 Timothy 1:3-7).

That's an easy job. No problems there, a quick fix. No! This was difficult work in a tough context. Timothy was trying to turn the ship around and establish the church in the right direction. Paul told him to keep stoking the fire.

Then in verse 7, the second half of the sentence, Paul draws out the implications.

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:7)

Even though it comes out of the context of Timothy's giftedness and calling to the ministry, the "us" in verse 7 applies to all Christians, not pastors per se.

What marks us is not a spirit of fear (ESV) or "cowardice." Deilias (δειλίας) means lack of mental or moral strength, lack of resolve, lack of courage, or timidity. God did not give us a spirit of freaking out. God did not make us a bunch of Faint-hearts as Bunyan wrote about in The Pilgrim's Progress.

Our attitude is not one of fear. That is not what God gave us. That's not to say that we aren't weak or that we never have struggles or heaviness. It is saying that God doesn't define His people by fear but rather by faith.

There is a triumvirate or triad of fear contrasts. God does not make Christian scaredy-cats. He makes Christians who have a spirit of power and love and self-control.

Power means that God gives us strength. He provides and sustains our energy. We are confident and unshaken rather than flinching and falling back. We go and work and fight boldly with power.

Love means that we fight courageously for people, for God's people, rather than against everyone. We do not have power that God means for us to use to run over other people. The strength is for the right people.

It is easy to run away from critical or even lukewarm people. They can be such a soul-suck. If we do not have God-given, Spirit-produced love we will flee. We go and work and fight with affectionate endurance.

Self-control means that we have a controlled response. We do not fly off the handle. We also do not make a practice of self-indulgence. We are not reckless and wild. We go and work and fight and do not wander away.

Remember, God has in no way given us a spirit of fear. Just the opposite. He does give us, supernaturally, power and love and self-control. God doesn't gift us with cold hearted cowardice but with courageous compassion and commitment.

There are great demands, burdens, opposition, fatigue, responsibilities, uncertainties, noises, criticisms, and pressures. We will be tempted to shrink back, sink down, and give up.

Timothy faced heresy, unbelief, and challenges to his leadership (see 1 Timothy 4:12). But God does not give us a spirit of hesitation. He does not give us a spirit of faltering, like a just-born horse struggling to stand. We are called not to let our fight be extinguished but rather to remember that God has provided and gifted us with greater resources: power and love and self-control. Such courage has special effects.

Elijah stood alone against the 450 prophets of Baal and said to the people, "If the Lord is God follow Him, but if Baal is god, follow him." David had the courage to stand against Goliath who was mocking his God. Daniel courageously confronted the king and when commanded to pray to the king, he continued to faithfully pray to God though it meant death. John the Baptist courageously preached against sin and lost his own head for opposing and exposing the wickedness of the King.

About 500 years ago a man named John Wycliffe said that Christ alone is the Head of the Church and no one else. John Knox demonstrated such courage that Mary, Queen of Scots said she was more afraid of the Prayers of John Knox than of an army of 10,000. When asked to recant and stop preaching John Bunyan said, "I have determined, the Almighty God being my help and shield, yet to suffer...even till the moss shall grow on mine eye-brows, rather than thus to violate my faith and principles." Jenny Geddes threw a stool at a preacher who yielded to man’s word above the Lord’s word.

Every day there are decisions to make, temptations to resist, Biblical commands to obey. Every decision we make is an opportunity for us to display courage knowing that our God is in complete control. We need to respond courageously from the conviction that comes from a life dedicated to living God's Word. Thousands of nameless men and women are buried in Edinburgh, not because they woke up one morning wanting to be martyrs, but because they wouldn’t abide men claiming authority that wasn’t theirs.

Winston Churchill said that World War II came about "because the malice of the wicked was reinforced by the weakness of the virtuous." Tens of thousands of Allied Forces are planted in Normandy, bearing witness to the ultimate cost of courage, as well as to the resistance of tyranny.

We are called to be courageous in Christ. May we give ourselves to the Lord and His Word in such a way that future generations will walk over our graves with thanks and with sober awe of our sacrifices, not because they were unique but because they were right. You may not be called to be burned at the stake, but burned at the stove, giving up yourself to serve your family.

Unbeliever, your life serves Christ in a different way, but leads to greater accountability in your judgement for failing to honor Him and give Him thanks. No memorial on earth will ease your conscious and eternal suffering in hell.

And, Christian, your labor in and for the Lord is not in vain. Ours is an heart-filling, age-filling cause, Jesus Christ and Him crucified, buried, and risen to life.

Charles Spurgeon on the work of courageous reformers:

[I]magine that in those ages past, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and their (friends) had said, “The world is out of order; but if we try to set it right we shall only make a great (racket), and get ourselves in disgrace. Let us go to our chambers, put on our night caps, and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps when we wake things will have grown better.

Such conduct on their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error. Age after age would have gone down into the infernal deeps, and the pestiferous bogs of error would have swallowed all. These men loved the faith and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on. Note what we owe them, and let us pay to our sons the debt we owe our fathers.

We may have many mundane tasks to accomplish and conversations to have, but if we do them with full-hearts for Christ, such courage will not be mundane at all.

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.

But now, it's time for us to then focus on the one, if you'll excuse my pun, who drives the omnibus and worship him. GK Chesterton once said, we perish for lack of wonder, not for lack of wonders. Lack of wonder comes from apathy or arrogance. Apathy to God's revelation or arrogance in thinking that we already know enough about his creation. This morning and we have the opportunity once again to repent of these particular sins and to praise God heartily, the God of all the wonders. And so as we do so we remember that our help is in the name of the Lord.

I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation I will praise you, you who fear the Lord praise him. All you offspring of Jacob glorify him and stand in awe of him. All you offspring of Israel for he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted and he has not hidden his face from him but has heard when he cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation, my vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall seat and be satisfied. Those who seek him shall praise the Lord.

May your hearts live forever. And Father we come this morning to worship you. If we should fail to praise you the rocks themselves would cry out. All of creation declares your majesty and we add our voices to all those speaking and singing of your wonders. Open our hearts and minds to receive from your bounty and then give back to you our genuine heartfelt worship. Even an affliction our hope remains for you have not hidden your face from us you are ever present and always working all things for your glory and our good. May your spirit stir us up now and lead us to worship you in accordance with your beauty and and majesty we ask in the name of Jesus amen some bad habits are worse than others little ones like to explore facial orifices with their stubby fingers one of my granddaughters tried to impress everyone in big church while singing with the children's choir by showing how many knuckles she could fit upper nostrils she didn't seem to notice or care much about her parents frantic hand signals to put her hands down.

But grownups, we have our bad habits too. Too many of us like to double down at the dessert table, and we would rather add another notch to our belts rather than cut down on the carbs. You may have noticed that a small tub of buttered popcorn at the movies now takes two hands to carry. In the spiritual realm, bad habits exist as well. Many Christians, when asked how their Bible reading or prayer life is going, typically respond to something like, well, it could be better. This morning's confession exhortation highlights one particular bad habit identified by the writer of Hebrews. He wrote, do not neglect meeting together, as is the habit of some.

A little later, we are going to take a look at what the Bible has to say about fellowship. Christian living was never intended to be a solo event. And as we'll see, Sunday morning service attendance doesn't even come close to addressing what the writer of Hebrews had in mind. There are at least 21 one another commands in scripture that require close and regular contact with other members of the body of Christ. And that doesn't include 13 more that deal with our attitude towards one another. You can't begin to fulfill those commands if you are only around other saints an hour or two a week. If you have found yourself coming up with excuses for why it's okay for you to forsake assembling with the rest of the body, perhaps your understanding of what it means to be in fellowship with the body is faulty. Seeking minimal participation in the life of the body of Christ is wrong because it's a rejection of the calling of God to use your spiritual giftedness to serve others. It is anti-trinitarian to minimize one's connectedness to the body of Christ.

Claims of being too busy, too tired, or not a people person just don't fly in in light of what we, the body of Christ, are called to be. So if you've been guilty of this particular sin or if there's any other sins that come to mind at this time, now is the time to confess them. And as we do so, you are invited, if you are able and willing to do so, to kneel during this time of confession. So let's go ahead and take that minute right now. Father, from eternity past, it's been your intent to bring us into the fellowship of your holy Trinity. It's in your very nature to sacrifice in order to make such fellowship even possible.

We thank you for sending your son to die on a cross, thus removing the enmity that existed between us and you. We thank you that even though we still sin, you do not give up on us. Forgive us for the times we choose sin over fellowship. Discipline us in your love until our stubborn hearts learn to delight in the fellowship we share in Christ. May your spirit do his work to change our wants, to be aligned with your wants, and may we come to love the fellowship of the saints as much as you do. We pray this now in Jesus name. You invite us, Stan? And the reminder of our assurance of forgiveness of sins comes out of Ephesians 1, seven through eight.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight. This passage should encourage those of us who struggle to believe that we've really been forgiven. Paul tells us that our forgiveness is according to the riches of God's grace, which He lavished upon us. Here's a word picture for you. God is ladling grace and gravy over the mashed potatoes of your life until it runs off the plate. Or, as the Apostle John put it, see what love the Father has given us. That's seen like we actually believe that. Today's scripture reading is Philippians 2, 1-11.

Philippians 2, 1-11. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves, yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. Having this in mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Let's pray. Father, we come to you after the event of the cross. We get to look back and see what you've done through your son. We thank you for that. But help us live our lives in accordance with that reality. We think of the government that rules over us. We think of those men you have installed in those places. We ask that you would really convict those that are in sin and convict them of those that don't know you to come to know you.

And those that do know you to be those witnesses and those people in those positions to have that influence. We thank you for our men who are serving in the Navy right now, Ben Hackbarth and Dan Wiedemeyer. And we think of them in their positions and places that you send them, help them to be those witnesses for us in those places. We think of our own church body. We wanna pray for our elders and the husbands in our congregation to be those leaders that they should be. We think of their wives and the women in this congregation to be those help meets and to be those strong young women in our society that needs it so greatly.

We think of our families, help us to model that and be those neighbors to people, to give that example that only you can give through living through your spirit. We thank you for those things. We think now of the people that need special prayer in our congregation. We think of Jen's brother Joel in Los Angeles with his brain cancer, help him to continue deal with it properly and to come to know you in a stronger way, he and his wife. We thank you for Debbie Wold's ongoing improvement, but we still pray that you would cure her totally and bring her fully back to health. We thank you that we see Ralph here today. We ask that you would strengthen him through his treatments and give him that peace that passes all understanding as those trials come and help them to be those strong individuals in that situation.

We think of Don Vanderbecken as he's still recovering in the facility, give him wisdom and the proper way to deal with the struggles that he's having trying to get back to mobility and just help him to understand your plan in a good way. We think of Carmen Nielsen also as she has got ongoing recovery from her brain surgery and I would ask that she would give her better balance and help her to recover more fully. We thank you for that. We think of Gail Martin's mom who had a couple of strokes over the past week and is now in rehab and we ask that you would recover her sufficiently so she can communicate properly and get the movement on her right side back.

We thank you that we have the facilities to take care of her and we just ask that anything we can do that you would do. We pray for Cheryl Mills as she's up in Alaska to visit her mom who is undergoing cancer treatment. We pray for Cheryl that she can be a good witness and a strong representative for you up there and that the right decisions would be made about her mom. Andrea Hill, we wanna thank you for the protection you gave her in the auto accident and the quick, smooth transition to a car, to replace her car, and the way that you're working out her housing situation where the family can't sell right now, so things seems to be stable there.

But we do thank you for her protection in that wreck. We also pray for our students and Jonathan and Craig and Sean and all of them wandering around, I guess Scotland and London today, I don't keep track of all that, but you do. And it's exciting for all of them. It's a great time to live where we can actually talk to each other over the internet and see each other. And I just ask that that would be a full trip for all involved and that they would be able to come back and tell us the great things that they saw. The other thing I'd like to pray for, especially today, is wisdom for all of the people that have those 9-5 jobs out there all during the week.

that we would be those representatives for you in those companies and in those places. And that those men that are in positions of leadership, that they would make good decisions and that they would honor you in those decisions and give those people the strength and the stability to be good leaders in those businesses and places of employment. So we thank you for that. We also want to pray for our outreach and this morning I'd like to remind everyone that we, each one of us in this congregation are ambassadors for Christ as we go out into the world over the next week. And each one of us should have that light in us and be able to give that reason for the hope that's in us when people ask.

So help us to remember that individually. We thank you for our school. We pray for strength with all the people that are organizing and getting all the textbooks ready and getting the new year going. Help us that are teaching new classes to be able to grasp what we're supposed to convey to the students, and we thank you for that. We pray for the Children's Law Center as they continue to place children in Christian homes in solid places from our state systems. And we think of the Good Shepherd's Home in India as they have all those young women that they're raising up. Give us wisdom as we consider ongoing scholarships and things like that to them.

Help us to decide wisely on those things. We also want to pray for the local churches that are preaching the gospel this morning. We are not the only place on the planet that's doing that. You are in your spirit, giving people the ability to worship you all around our globe, and we thank you for that. But we do pray for our local geographic area here with Reclamation Church, Damascus Road, Cornerstone, all of these churches. Help them all to preach the gospel and to be that example to our community. We thank you for all of these things in your son's name, Jesus Christ, amen. Father, as we're just saying again about your glory, We are standing here, Father, in awe of who you are.

And as we contemplate the gap between the Creator and the creation, it is beyond belief that you would have stooped so low to have brought us into the fellowship of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And yet that is what you have done. And so we embrace it. We thank you for it. Help us to do a better job, Father, as we seek to live out the love of the Triune God, as we practice that love among ourselves, that you would be pleased as you examine our lives on a daily basis. And just again, thank you for all your good gifts now in Jesus' name, amen.

If you have been around church for very long, you might have read some church bulletin announcements like these. Tabernacle Fellowship Church is holding its monthly potluck fellowship next Sunday afternoon in the fellowship hall. All are welcome. Or fellowship groups are scheduled to meet this week. Please bring a dessert to share. Anybody ever heard announcements like those?

Church people have a love hate relationship with the word fellowship. There doesn't seem to be any common understanding of what that word even means. One church blogger wrote to his readers these words, I think we need a better word than fellowship. That's such a churchy word. When is the last time you used that word outside of a church context? What do you think unchurched people think when they hear that word? Someone, help me. What other words could we use that outsiders could connect with when talking about relationships that are built through time, care, and accountability? In 1848, the Bartlett Dictionary of Americanisms defined fellowship this way.

To fellowship with is to hold communion with, to unite with in doctrine and discipline. And get this, this barbarism now appears with disgusting frequency in reports of ecclesiastical conventions and in the religious newspapers generally. Apparently, the use of the word fellowship, you know, they thought of as a barbarism because in some of its usages back in the Middle Ages, it was actually slain for physical relationships between a man and a woman. So they saw the use of that word as a barbarism. What do you think of when you hear the word fellowship? How important is it? If it is important, why do we have such a hard time defining it today?

Now the elders here at our church do believe fellowship is important enough that we've even decided to devote our annual seminar in February to the topic. We've titled the seminar, You sneak preview for you at the time. The seminar is going to be called Fellowship, a Mess Worth Making. So this morning, I want to introduce the topic and consider what it means to have fellowship with one another and why it's important for the sake of the life of our church. So let me start by asking you some questions. Just kind of let these rattle around in your brain and see how they hit you. How often do you talk about what you are learning from God's word with another believer.

How often do you stop and pray with other believers? When is the last time you had the occasion to serve another believer outside your own home? When is the last time you saw a need and shared out of your own resources to meet that need? When is the last time you shared in the suffering of Christ or were deeply affected by those who are? When is the last time besides Sunday church services where Psalms, hymns, or spiritual psalms are being sung together? If you're like most Christians, the answer is probably going to be rarely. When is the last time you were invited to, or you invited somebody else to Trinity Family's fellowship?

Do you desire these things or a Sunday morning service satisfying enough for your spiritual life? Now, notice that I haven't asked when is the last time that you attended a church potluck or a coffee and donut time between services. Fellowship can occur during those occasions, but the occasions themselves do not constitute fellowship, regardless of what it says on the door over the hallway. So what then is fellowship? And kids, if you're following along in the kids' corner, that's actually the first point. I think there's four points. So what is fellowship? Let's try to define it. The Greek word translated as fellowship in the New Testament, as you probably know, is koinonia.

It's also then translated in, at least the ESV, we see that koinonia also show up in the form of communion, partake, contribute, common. The root of the word, coin, means sharing in something with someone. It goes beyond simple association to meaningful participation. 50,000 football fans in the stadium have an association with their team. It's the 50 or so players that are on the roster that are actually participants in the team. Just showing up to church at church activity is not fellowship. You cannot escape the practice of fellowship throughout the New Testament. The Book of Acts records the very early church practicing it, and you find it, again, mentioned in the last books of the Bible that the apostles wrote and everywhere in between.

It's used as an adjective 14 times, a verb 11 times, a noun 20 times. Fellowship is in the DNA of what it means to be a Christian, but too many treat it like an optional accessory to the Christian life. Excluding the gospels, fellowship is in one of its multiple translations appears in 13 of 23 New Testament books. And if you count the one another commands as implied fellowship, then most all of the New Testament books outside the gospel accounts refers to fellowship one way or another. It's quite remarkable that for as much as the Bible mentions fellowship, then that we have such a poor understanding of what it really is.

In preparing for this message, I I read two books on the subject of fellowship. The first is called Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And the second is True Community by Jerry Bridges. And so I'll be sharing some quotes from those books, particularly from Bonhoeffer as we proceed. The first thing that we need to understand about fellowship is that it isn't optional. God's never given it to us as a take it or leave it proposition. We are in a fellowship. Bonhoeffer wrote, Christian community means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. There is no Christian community that is more than this and none that is less than this.

And he goes on to elaborate. What does this mean? It means first that a Christian needs others for the sake of Jesus Christ. It means second, that a Christian also comes to others only through Jesus Christ. It means third, that from eternity, we have been chosen in Jesus Christ, accepted in time, and united for eternity. Our union with Christ means that we are in union or fellowship with each other. There's no in or out options. You are in a fellowship if you are a believer. The Apostle Paul makes this point clear when he states unambiguously that we are the body of Christ. Sean kind of hammered on that verse last week.

That is the theme, if you will, for our church's coming year. We are the body of Christ found in 1 Corinthians 12, 27. try to argue this away by saying that Paul is really referring to our membership in the invisible universal church and that it really has no direct implications or obligations to our involvement with the local church. That is just flat out nonsense to argue that.

Paul is arguing in chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians through the analogy of a human body, the importance of each member of the body. His argument there would make no sense if he does not have a physical local manifestation of the church in mind when he's saying things like you are the body of Christ and with those responsibilities. Claiming allegiance to the church universal while avoiding the church local is a denial of both. The fellowship that we have been brought into is real, tangible, and forever. Bonhoeffer puts it this way, we have one another only through Christ but through Christ we really do have one another. We have one another completely and for all eternity. So given them what has just been said thus far, let me give you my working definition of Christian fellowship. Here it is. A Christian fellowship is a family formed by a common union with Christ that is visibly and regularly expressing itself through manifold displays of love as it seeks to build up the body of Christ. That was a

a mouthful, so I'll rattle off one more time. A Christian fellowship is a family formed by a common union with Christ that visibly and regularly expresses itself through manifold displays of love as it seeks to build up the body of Christ. And as we continue on through the message, try not to be thinking corporately, necessarily. You may be thinking, well, we do have the Deacons program, and we've got the life to life, when we got all these trellis pieces. So yeah, we're doing OK. I'm targeting this to us as individuals. Those questions I asked earlier, how would you individually answer those questions? Don't be, again, thinking, well, yeah, we got that happening over there.

We got it happening over there. Is it happening here with you? So now let's move on to the second point here, which is the necessity of fellowship. If you buy into the definition of fellowship that I just gave, then it should be obvious why it is essential for believers to engage in it. Romans 13.8 tells us, oh no one anything except to love each other for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Now again, I suppose a person could read that verse and let himself or herself off the commitment hook. After all, it says, don't owe anyone anything except to love them so we can think to ourselves, I love my brothers and sisters, I have real feels for them, I even pray for them, sometimes, when I remember.

But if fellowship expresses itself in manifold displays of love, we can't limit our love to feelings. In fact, the same thought that was found in Romans 13.8 is expressed twice in Galatians, but puts more feet to that love. Galatians 6.2, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the love of Christ. Galatians 5.13.14 through 14, for you were called to freedom, brothers, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word. you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So now we have expanded fellowship to include bearing one another's burdens and serving one another.

When is the last time you served someone else in the body? It doesn't get any easier as you examine the one another commands in the New Testament. They all raise the bar of what it means to meaningfully love one another in fellowship. I'm not gonna do a deep dive on those, on the one another's, but let me just quickly rattle off for you one another commands that require action. And again, this is just half of them. These are ones that require action. There's another half that require our thinking. But ask yourselves how many of them are a regular part of your interaction with the body. Does this sound like your life on a regular basis?

Build up one another. Admonish one another. Greet one another. Serve one another. Bear one another's burdens. Give preference to one another. Speak the truth to one another. Be kind to one another. Forgive one another. Speak to one another. in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual psalms. Be subject to one another. Encourage one another. Do good to one another. Stimulate one another to love and good deeds. Confess your sins to one another. Be hospitable to one another. That should keep you busy for the next three or four days, at least, right?

Does this list characterize the churches you know about? Does it characterize TEC? And again, I'm not talking about, you can point to two or three people or a particular piece of the trellis that's doing really good at this, does this characterize us, we, the church? Does it characterize you? This is what biblical fellowship looks like. Now you may have noticed if you're paying attention, I skipped over, do potlucks with one another, but I couldn't find the verse for it. This is how the body of Christ is built up. This is likely what Jesus had in mind when he said, "'By this, all people will know "'that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

What kind of witness for Christ would a church like this have in the local community? And again, as I mentioned, I don't have time to drill down all of one another commands. But you can tell that there's no limit to the ways in which we can live these out among ourselves. This is supposed to be normal for each and every Christian. Paul reminds us of the fact that we are saved into a fellowship. He wrote, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, 1 Corinthians 1, 9. And then again in Ephesians 4, 1 through 6, he fleshes out what that calling into fellowship looks like.

He says, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to you, to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all who is overall and through all and in all. We're beginning to get an idea of what fellowship is like and the sense of that we're in it together and we all have an obligation and a responsibility, and that it is our calling from God.

He has put us together in this thing called family and he says, you've got a job to do. Go love on one another. Over and over, we see the reality that we are supposed to fellowship in such a way that we reflect the oneness that exists within the Trinity. That cannot happen if we think a fellowship is consisting of infrequent and discrete blocks of time devoted to Bible studies or potlucks. It brings us to the third point, some examples of fellowship in the Bible. I mentioned that Koinonia in a number of different ways in the New Testament, that it's translated a number of different ways in the New Testament. I'm just going to quickly review some of these usages and then kind of categorize them into some of the ways that fellowship manifests itself.

We see Koinonia used to refer to our common bond in Christ and the resulting unity, Acts 2.42, gives us a glimpse of life in the early church, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and prayers, 1 John 1.3. That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ. We read those verses and we hit fellowship and we just have this, we let that vague notion of what fellowship just kind of float in one ear and out the other, and we don't really stop to think about what that really implies.

By way of a negative, we are told to protect our fellowship from sinful influences that can harm it. 2 Corinthians 6, 14, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers for what partnership or fellowship, what Koinonia has righteousness with lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness. Koinonia can also be translated to, I reconvey the idea of partnership in spreading the gospel to others and our participation in the work of the Holy Spirit. A few verses on that, Philippians 1, 3-5. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you, all making my prayer for you all, making my prayer with joy because of your partnership, koinonia, in the gospel from the first day until now.

Philippians 2.1, so if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation, koinonia, in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind. And then a third usage of koinonia that shows up many times has to do with sharing in something and sharing with someone. I'm not gonna read all the verses in detail, just reference them. We're told to contribute or share in the physical needs of the saints. Romans 12, 13, Galatians 6, 6, Hebrews 13, 6. We're called to share in the sufferings of Christ. Philippians 3, 10, 1 Peter 4, 13.

We're to share in the suffering of other believers. 2 Corinthians 1, 7. All of these examples of sharing, as it's translated, again, are all using the word koinonia. As you can see, the act of fellowship is much more than we typically think of. When fellowship is practiced in all of its manifold ways, it achieves its highest purpose, which is to glorify God, 1 Peter 4, 8 through 11. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins, show hospitality to one another without grumbling, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace. Whoever speaks is one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves is one who serves by the strengths that God supplies.

In order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. Our fellowship, when we're all doing it properly, the net result is God getting the maximum glory. In case someone here today is thinking that they don't really have anything to offer, and so they tend to shy away from this kind of fellowship, Just consider Romans 1, 11 through 12. Let me ask you, if you were sitting down to have coffee with the Apostle Paul, you guys were meeting at Starbucks or whatever they had back then, do you feel like this would be a meeting of two brothers or a brother and sister in Christ, and it would just be a free flow back and forth?

Or would you just tend to be thinking, wow, that's Paul. He saw Jesus. I'm just going to sit here and keep my mouth shut and take notes. How would you approach Paul in your relationship? Well, Paul wrote into the Romans, for I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. That is that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. Did you catch that? Here's the apostle Paul looking forward to his time with the believers so that he can be encouraged by them as much as he encouraged them. Our union in Christ means any two believers can have fellowship even if they're at significantly different levels of spiritual maturity.

If anyone thinks they can't fellowship with another believer because of these differences, they may need to see if there's some pride getting in the way. That pride can be I don't know enough or that pride can be I know more than you. Pride manifests itself in multiple ways. But again, I bring this point up because I've heard more often than not, people saying, well, the reason I don't speak up is because I can't keep up with the discussion, or I don't know as much as they know, or I don't want to sound dumb, or all levels of Christians can encourage one another and should fellowship together. That brings us up then to the last section, last point, which is obstacles to fellowship.

Now that we have a better idea of what fellowship is and why it's necessary, I want to look at four particular obstacles to a church practicing this Koinonia Fellowship. We could probably identify more than four, but if we overcome these four, the fellowship within the church should be much better. Now in talking about these obstacles, I'm gonna keep using the word needs in a broad sense of the word. A need can be a physical need, such as helping pay for a medical bill. It can be a need for someone to be strengthened in their understanding of the word. It could be giving a word of encouragement as someone who's feeling discouraged.

It could be someone who needs a word of exhortation to do better. Biblical fellowship is intended to address all of those needs and more. So don't limit your understanding of needs as we're discussing this to just physical things, like food or clothing. The first obstacle is the tendency to assume someone else will take care of the needs. We need to be like the churches in Macedonia that Paul described in 2 Corinthians 8, one through four, where he describes them this way. We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part, for they gave according to their means, as I can testify and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part, koinonia, in the relief of the saints.

Within a local church, there are those folks who are quick to spot someone else's needs and respond to it. I'm not denying that we don't have people that are really good at that. But sometimes if we always assume that that person is going to be the one that responds to the needs, that could lead to that person developing a sense of frustration or resentment because at some point in time they're going to wear out and be tired. We can't assume that it's that particular person's job to take care of the body of Christ. Generally speaking, if you see the need, you are the person who should attempt to respond. If the need is beyond your abilities, then you should bring that need to the attention of someone who can help you meet the need.

One of our resources within our church, clearly, is our deacons. But I want to hasten that that doesn't mean that the deacons are our designated need meters. They are simply to coordinate the efforts. They exist to oversee and help us as a body do a better job meeting needs. So again, as we think about meeting needs in the church, the temptation to say, oh, we have a Deacons program. I'll call the Deacons. My job is done. No, that's not how it works. You see the need. It's probably God calling you to try to meet the need. And again, if you can't, the Deacons are a resource and other people can be resources. We the church are in God's plan, the eyes, the ears, the hands, the feet, when it comes to caring for one another.

Each one of us needs to better attune ourselves to the needs of others around us and be willing to make the necessary sacrifices to address them. We should be more like the Macedonian believers who were begging for opportunities to meet needs. I think our church does a good job in responding to needs when we make you aware of a need. Our church typically jumps to it, but are we characterized as a group of people who are begging for opportunities to meet needs? Are we scanning? Are we looking? Are we watching? Are we praying? The other way this obstacle hinders fellowship is when we outsource care to those outside the church, in particular secular agencies.

That's another way that we can shirk our responsibility. There once was a time when the bulk of what we call social services was met by the local church. Most of the needs for food, clothing, shelter, education, and medical care were handled by churches and religious organizations. Somewhere along the way, we've transferred the bulk of that work to secular organizations, many of which at best are apathetic to the gospel and in some cases hostile. It's a shame that those today outside the church are better prepared and able to meet those needs than inside the church. How did we get to that state where the state, capital S, is doing a better job than the church?

This isn't just, it's a shame that those outside are doing, are better prepared. And again, I'm not slamming, you know, community relief organizations. There is a role for them to do. But if they become the default go-to for most needs, we end up diminishing a key aspect of biblical fellowship along with a powerful witness to the community at large. A second obstacle to fellowship is personal indifference, insensitivity, or laziness. Hebrews 13, 16 tells us, do not neglect to do good and to share with what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. There are always needs among us, but they may not always be obvious.

Some are too ashamed or too embarrassed to admit that they have a need, which is its own kind of obstacle to fellowship that I'm not talking about now. In order for us to be aware of the needs, we have to be better at being engaged with one another on a regular, personal level. This is not about being a nosy, busy body. It's about really caring about the welfare of the other members of the body. We're all busy people. Our culture of busyness has only gotten worse as time has gone on. This means that we will have to work harder to be connected with one another. A weekly life-to-life group and a Sunday morning service is not going to surface very many needs.

That's all you're bumping up against other believers in this church. You're just barely scratching the opportunities to really be connected. Many users of, oh, I'm sorry, back up. It's gonna require looking for more ways to be better connected to each other. With all the tools available today, helping us stay connected, it's surprising that people find it more increasingly harder to be connected. You think about all the technology we have out there. Many users of social media though report that the more they use the social media, the more depressed they become. And this can happen because they perceive that others have a more satisfying life than they do.

And this really is a tangent to my message this morning. But I kind of wonder if our social media, as like Facebook, really are fake news because they typically only show the high points in people's lives and not the 99% of everyday life. And so again, you read research on the effects of social media and people are saying, man, I don't know why. If I come away from reading Facebook and I'm just really depressed, everybody else has a more awesome life than me. At any rate, we have so many avenues to be connected today and to show care. We have the tools. All we need to do is overcome the indifference and laziness.

How long does it take to send out a text to make a quick call? What would it be like if this next week everyone in our church took a moment to connect with someone outside the normal channels. I'm thinking of a random text, a phone call, email, invitation to coffee, an offer to babysit. Ask how you can pray for someone. Share what you're learning in the Word with someone. Help with a project. You know, on and on the list goes. Give a shout out to one young lady, not, and I won't call her off by name, I'll embarrass her, but one young lady in our church takes it upon herself to send out birthday cards.

I know because I actually got one from her this week and couldn't believe it, she's not even my life-to-life group and I got a birthday card from her. But again, just that thoughtfulness. Well, a third obstacle to fellowship happens when we are judgmental over our differences or we have faulty expectations of what fellowship will be like. Again, judgmentalism or faulty expectations of what fellowship is like. Philippians 2, 1 through 5, so if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being a full accord and of one mind, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each one of you look not only on his own interests but also the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. Bonhoeffer, I'm going to go back to him, had some interesting things to say regarding

this particular obstacle. He says that some have expectations of what fellowship is that are based on emotional idealism rather than the reality. He says it's essential for Christian community that two things become clear right from the beginning. First, Christian community is not an ideal but a divine reality. And second, Christian community is a spiritual and not an emotional reality. He points out the danger of equating fellowship with some kind of youth group kumbaya experience compared to the reality of what fellowship early is about. And when those clash and you're thinking we're going to sit around the campfire and sing kumbaya and it's going to be all awesome. And then you run into actual real people at the campfire. If you're at the campfire by yourself singing kumbaya, that'd be one thing, but now you've got somebody else who's singing off key or doing something else that's annoying you. He says the sooner that we lose our faulty notions of fellowship the better, again, quoting Bonhoeffer,

the sooner this moment of disillusionment comes over the individual and the community, the better for both. However, a community that cannot bear and cannot survive disillusionment, cleaning instead to its idealized image, what then, when that cleaning to the idealized image, when that should be done away with, loses at the same time the promise of a durable Christian community. So did you get that? I kind of mumbled it.

when I take my idealism into my fellowship and then the reality does not match my ideal and I don't let go of that then I end up being a part of the process of tearing down the community instead of helping build it up. He goes on to say that it's those very people who clean to their emotional ideal of fellowship that end up killing it. He says those who love their dream of a Christian community more than the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intention may be ever so honest earnest and sacrificial. There's an old preacher saying that I was reminded of you may have heard before too it says the ministry would be wonderful if it wasn't for all the people. If you've ever worked with enough people you'd understand the humor in that. Fellowship idealism leads to pride because we become the judge of what is and isn't a real community rather than what God has called a community, what God has called a community. It's important that we learn the differences between calling out

sin and calling out different opinions of entertainment, dress, parenting, or a myriad of other issues. The reality is that in any group of believers, there's going to be a wide range of views on many topics. A mature group of believers will be able to have loving exchanges and disagreements without letting it drive a wedge into their fellowship. I want to give a shout out to Philip's, what's it called? It used to be called Iron Charmer's camaraderie, something, a Kyperian camaraderie, meets once a month. The guys you all get around the campfire and bring your favorite beverage. And if you want a diverse group of guys who don't agree on a whole lot of things, come.

And yet we have a great time bantering back and forth and discussing things. And that's the way it should be, is the ability to have the give and take and love each other at the end of the conversation. But so often we mix up in our head what's truly sin versus I wouldn't parent that way, I wouldn't make that choice, I wouldn't do that. And pretty soon we have this judgmental attitude and it begins to cause a division and all all of a sudden the fellowship is growing weaker because people aren't being just like me.

Well, there's one more aspect of this particular obstacle which has to do with limiting our fellowship to those with whom we most naturally align with or are comfortable with. Again, going back to Bonhoeffer, the exclusion of the weak and insignificant, the seemingly useless people from everyday Christian life and community may actually mean the exclusion of Christ For in the poor sister or brother, Christ is knocking at the door. While a church may technically be open to people from all walks and seasons of life, there is a tendency for churches to take on a persona that caters to just a particular demographic.

On a macro level, we see this happen when new church plants specifically target a younger population. That seems to be the pattern today. They go after a younger population and they structure then their time of corporate worship and small group gatherings to be more agreeable with the younger population. They may claim to be open to all ages, but their focus is clearly on one particular group. The net effect is that the church attracts only a subset of the believing community, and fellowship is thus limited. Even in churches that are diverse age-wise, programs are often structured in such a way as to limit cross-generational contact.

Sadly, this hurts fellowship in several ways. Older believers conclude that their time meaningful act of participation is over and so they begin to withdraw. Younger believers are robbed of a chance to learn from the mistakes and successes of the older saints. Older saints miss out on the blessing and encouragement that comes from being around younger believers. In short, the instructions that Paul gave Timothy concerning older and younger believers interacting is thwarted. Tendencies to align along ethnic, economic, and other social factors rob a church of the fullness and purpose of fellowship. Each of us needs to consider if we have intentionally or unintentionally been limiting ourselves to who we fellowship with and begin expanding the circle of who we associate with within the church.

The fourth obstacle to fellowship really is sin. And if it's not, it will lead to sin and more sin if it's not dealt with. First John 1, 6-7, if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and we do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. And I'm sorry, I think I messed up my point. The obstacle I'm trying to discuss now is the obstacle of sin, when we have sin in the camp. We may spend time with others while we harbor sin, but we cannot claim to be in fellowship. No matter how much we think we're in fellowship, you may still be hanging out, nobody may have discovered the sin, but the fellowship at a spiritual level has been impinged upon.

Claiming to be in fellowship while holding on to some sin, according to John, is a lie, because fellowship depends on the spirit working in us and through us. It's stymied and becomes ineffective if sin is allowed to persist. Secret sin certainly hurts fellowship, but tolerance of known sin even more so. Paul warns in the Galatians that a little leaven will leaven a whole lump of dough. True fellowship confronts the sinner in love rather than turning a blind eye, hoping that they will eventually repent. And so, one aspect of our fellowship is the need to be willing to call out sin, confront it when we see it, again, in love, and make sure that what we're calling out is not a preference issue, but in fact, is a sin issue.

Well, in summary, as I wrap up this message, I want to share with you a statistic I came across that relates to our discussion on fellowship and its role in helping pass on the faith to children. How does fellowship help in passing on the faith to the next generation? There was an article written in September of 2002 titled Church Attendance, The Family, Feminism, and the Declining Role of Fatherhood. In the article, the author gave some statistics. Now, statistics are always a tricky business, but I do think that these ones in particular ring true. It claims that in a home where a father regularly attends church, but the mother doesn't, about 70% of the children will still end up in a church as an adult.

In a home where a mother regularly attends church, and I would like you to extend the statistic a little bit with me, and not only just attend church, but is actively involved in the church. In a home where a mother regularly attends the church and is actively involved, but the father isn't, the percent of children who end up in church as an adult drops down to about 30%. So obviously the dads have way more impact on the kids carrying on the faith. Men, the women run circles around us when it comes to real fellowship. In order for the church to thrive and grow, we need men to embrace the reality that they, by virtue of their faith in Christ, are in a fellowship, and then through obedient faith and sacrifice, start stepping up their participation in the fellowship.

If you're checking off Sunday morning and Wednesday or Friday night regularly, great. You've now made it out of kindergarten. Now let's start moving on to first, second, third, and beyond. Okay. You're only a kindergarten. If you're saying that's fulfilling my duty for fellowship, you're at the baby level. There's one more group I would like to exhort a bit this morning, and that is the senior saints among us. It is wonderful that so many of our older believers make the effort to come to life-to-life groups and other activities. That's fantastic. But if I could offer one bit of exhortation, it would be to enter more fully into those times of fellowship.

What I mean by that is don't withhold your thoughts and opinions because you think your time has passed. The younger generation needs to hear your stories. They need to hear how you applied your faith throughout your life. Even the mistakes that you made along the way are beneficial to help point the younger ones in the right direction. useful. Don't do that. I did that. It doesn't go anywhere good. You know, that's helpful. But too many senior saints in our church and outside, I don't know if it's a cultural thing or what it is, but it's like, okay, I've done my time and nobody really wants to hear what I have to say anyhow and I made too many mistakes. And all this thinking is going on in their head and so if they show up, which often they don't, then they just kind of sit there and like listen to the young people chit-chat, and that's a shame.

So I would encourage you older people to open up your mouths more or speak up. There's a wealth of wisdom locked up in your in our older saints collective experiences. How tragic it is that most of that wisdom will go with them to the grave, unshared with others. I think about that. You think about what we learned together in the collective wisdom 80-90 percent of what we have learned is going to go to our grave and not be passed on to the next generation. Because we're not telling the stories. We're not engaging cross-generational like we should. What a shame. And so we doom the next generation just to have to go figure it all out again and make the same mistakes.

As I mentioned earlier, we need to expand our fellowship between the generations so that we don't end up becoming like the generation of Israelites that came after Joseph's day who knew not God. I like potlucks. I like donuts before I had to lower my sugar intake. But potlucks and donuts do not a fellowship make. We are the fellowship of believers united in Christ who are called to actively build one another up in Christ as which one of us strives to find ways to express our fellowship through acts of love. Fellowship is no less than this. Let's pray. Again, Father, as we consider from eternity past, you eagerly anticipating the day when you would speak creation into existence, and particularly we people, we the church, and how you longed to share your fellowship within the Trinity with us.

And even now, as you're watching and observing your churches, you're growing us and shaping us and making us into the image of Christ. And just like Father, earthly parents, when their children live together in peace, what joy and delight that brings to an earthly parent, how much more to you to see we your children function that way. Forgive us for the times that we operate largely indifferent, not antagonistically, but really in many cases just carelessly, not really engaging in fellowship the way we should. And so I just pray these words today would have challenged our hearts to step up where we can. If we're doing well, that your spirit would encourage us.

But again, if we know some of this stuff has hit home, that we will repent and make the necessary changes. We just ask this now in your Son, Jesus' name. Amen. Somewhere in time, after the age when men were preoccupied with where their next meal was coming from, they turned their attention to the loftier pursuit of self-realization. A quick search of amazon.com for books dealing with self-identity reveals titles such as The Perfect You, The Road Back to You, and The Sacred Enneagram, Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth. You can just rush out and buy those books right now. Reflecting on your God-given uniqueness isn't always wrong, but it's when you take God out of the equation that things go amuck.

An extreme example of this is the latest foolishness on gender identity. You'll wear out the scroll wheel on your mouse, spinning through all the list of gender types that show up in your web browser. How tragic that man's pursuit of self-realization has led to complete self-denial. In many ways, this quest to know thyself is antithetical to the gospel. Rather than focusing on how we stand out from the crowd, rather than focusing how we stand out from the crowd, believers should be considering how they fit in, specifically how they fit in to the body of Christ. This still allows for and celebrates uniqueness while remembering that our uniqueness has a purpose that goes beyond ourselves.

In 1 Corinthians 10, 16, Paul wrote, the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation, a coinonia in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, Is it not a participation, a koananiya in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Notice again the declaration that we are the body of Christ. We have been individually called by God and gifted by him for the sake of the participation in the body. Participation implies more than just showing up. It means having real fellowship all the other quirky members of the body. In fact, the word Paul used for participation there is koinonia. You just can't get away from it. There are a lot of ways to stir people up. Most of them aren't very good, but there is a kind of stirring up that is good, and we need to do more of it. It's found in Hebrews chapter 10 verses 24 and 25. We've already considered part of that verse.

It says, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Your charge this week and hereafter is real simple. Stir it up.

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.

Well, I would invite you to turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter four. That's where we're going to be this evening. And Ephesians chapter four is like a lot of the New Testament in that it contains a good deal of instruction for Christians regarding how the world and the church are to interact. In particular, as relates to us, importantly, how we are to engage with one another and then impact the world around us. It's in a real sense about living in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And of course this chapter contains just those sorts of instructions. I've entitled the message for this evening, Practicing Gospel Living, but I'm aware that you could take that title and slap it on a sermon on just about any paragraph in the New Testament and it would probably fit.

It's sort of loose, but I've drawn in large measure from the very last verse, which we will get to in time. But even though there is a certain familiarity with talking about gospel living and how we are supposed to live in light of our new identity in Christ, I would encourage us not to let our familiarity breed a sort of apathy. My encouragement for us tonight would begin with two reminders, namely, remember that we need to be reminded more often than we need to be instructed in most cases. Sure, we might enjoy being instructed. We might enjoy hearing new things and having opportunity to kick those around, but we would do really well to simply apply what we already know.

And no doubt, you know much of what Paul is going to give us tonight. But second, remember that this is a letter. I'd invite you to consider this chapter is one of six. It is just one fraction of the whole of Ephesians. When we read the epistles as letters, just as they are, and when we read them imaginatively, trying to put ourselves in the position of the first hearers or readers, as we're laboring to consider how the first recipients would have read those letters, we can sometimes see things that we've missed before, due ironically to our familiarity.

So sometimes our knowing it too well causes us to miss lots of things. Seeing it again with fresh eyes enables us to see those things anew. I was talking to somebody on Friday evening about the book of Romans, and how she one time just sat down and read it beginning to end. And that actually puts her in pretty rarer company. Now it's a pretty hefty letter. We don't really write very many letters like that today. But if you do that, you would be able to get the sense as to what Paul intended for his readers to get when he wrote a 16 chapter. It wasn't, I understand, broken down in chapters and verses then. But that's what it works out to, 16 chapters worth of epistleary material.

Returning to Ephesians, in chapter one, You may recall that Paul greeted his beloved Ephesians, the congregation that he had poured into for some time in about 57, and he hadn't seen them in about six years. It's about 63 when he's writing this. He praises God for God's abundant grace toward them.

He longs for them to fully comprehend the full dimensions of God's love. We see that at the back end in like 15 to 23 of chapter one, and that is a very potent prayer that if God were to answer that prayer, that prayer would profoundly impact how they would live. I mean, you'd like to think that if we understood the dimensions of God's love toward us, it would impact profoundly how we would lead our lives on a day by day basis. In the next chapter, he considers the work of God at a personal level, I called that microsalvation, when he gives life to the spiritually dead, and he saves them unto good works. In verse 10 we see that.

He follows this with a consideration of, and exaltation in God's work on the macro level. So taking the helicopter up a few hundred feet. And I call that macro salvation. Micro salvation on the personal level, macro salvation on the national level. And what happened when he joined together into one spiritual body, Jewish and Gentile Christians, with Christ as the cornerstone, keeping it together. In chapter three, he talks about the glorious expression of God's manifold wisdom in the church and how the mystery that is revealed through Christ's redemptive work, the Jewish and Gentile Christians are on equal footing spiritually in glory.

And at the back end of that chapter, chapter three, in the form of a prayer, we see that in verses 3.14 to 3.21, Paul transitions to the more application-oriented portion of his letter, as he is pleading with God that they would, and then they're reading this prayer that he has, so they can probably take that as an exhortation to go ahead and do it, that they would live faithfully in light of their new identity as God's adopted sons. And then we pick up the letter in chapter four. That's where we are tonight. And as Paul does in many of his letters, does it in Romans and 1 Thessalonians and Philippians, There is a tidy break between, this one's a little bit fuzzier because it sort of starts in the form of a prayer, the back end of chapter three, but a break between the doctrinal portion and then the application of that doctrine.

So information, application, and that makes good sense. I'm a philosophy guy. I like knowing the reasons why we do what we do and establishing that groundwork first, theologically and otherwise, makes good sense before he would tell them, so here's my urging for you, what you are supposed to do in light of these things. What we read here in our chapter four tonight, and in the two chapters that follow, are obligations and duties and even joys that accompany our status as redeemed sinners and adopted sons, and I'm calling that practicing gospel living. I think Sean mentioned even in the message this morning that our salvation comes with some strings attached.

Those are glorious strings. But we'll learn later on a little bit about what it is reasonable to expect somebody who's aware of the fallen state of his neighbor better than his neighbor is. What sort of obligations he has to his neighbor. As we examine the gospel living here in chapter four then, I see the chapter divided into two major sections. actually is divided right along verse lines. There's 32 verses, the first 16, comprise the evidence of gospel living, and the second, the practice of gospel living. Evidence and practice. So we'll go ahead and get right to it. What I have first for us is the evidence of gospel living, that's our first heading under which we'll hang our thoughts, and we find that in verses one through 16.

And I'll go ahead and lay it out here at the start. That I do think with a fresh reading of Ephesians, which I've had the good fortune of spending a fair amount of time in, I think we could distill this evidence piece into one word. And then I was a little bit disappointed to see that that's the heading that the ESV uses. They have unity in the body of Christ in my edition.

And pretty simply, Paul teaches here that a healthy and a faithful church will be marked by unity. This is a must, and the more unified the church is, the healthier it is. And this is spiritually speaking, it's not possible on an ongoing basis for a church to maintain a faux humility. All right, sorry, a faux unity. An imaginary or a facade of unity over time. It cannot sustain, a church cannot sustain this any more than cancerous cells will be benign forever. will remain benign if left unchecked.

Over time, it will have its effect. And likewise, there are churches that are unified the wrong direction, but that's not what we're talking about here because actually over time it won't be sustainable. A healthy human body operates like a single unit. The legs are not in competition with the arms for either function or for esteem. The feet are not competing with the eyes for attention or for glory. It's one body rather than a collection of members.

And a healthy church body does the same thing. And this is what it looks like when the church is operated by the spirit's work. And when the spirit is at work in a body of believers, And when they're being faithful to use the gift, Christ's gift to the church, we'll see these in just a moment. When they're faithful to make good use of Christ's gift to the church, it's marked by unity. So I'd like for that to be the sort of program running in the back of your mind, and I'll read verses one through 16. So let's do that now, we'll read verses one through 16, chapter four. I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.

Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is overall and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. Verse nine, in saying he ascended, what does it mean? But that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is the one who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning rather than craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

We'll read the back half of the chapter in just a few moments. And now I'd like to just kind of drill down a little bit and look at what this passage says in chunks. Again, to be sure, there are lots of hallmarks of a healthy church. There are lots of qualifiers, lots of attributes that do identify a healthy church, but I do think that what Paul is getting at here is unity, not the exclusion of other things. In verses one through three, we have unity identified. He says, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Here Paul points back to preceding chapters and the Ephesian Christians' new status in Christ and calls them to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. He lists some attitudes that ought to characterize them, but he also urges them to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Now, what's unmistakable there is, in order for them to maintain it, it must already exist. So it is not the responsibility of faithful Christians to create or manufacture unity. We don't have to worry about that. Rather, we have to preserve what is already in place. And so although we don't have a role to play when it comes to generating the unity, we do have a role to play when it comes to preserving it, evidently, as we have been charged.

The spirit who indwells us is unified. He is unified with himself. He cannot be divided against himself. And so again, it's not our doing to make it happen, but it is part of our role to help ensure it's preserved among his people. We have unity rationalized in verses four through six. We had it identified in the first portion and here it's rationalized.

He says, there's one body and one spirit, just as you work, so he's basically making the logical case for how this unity works and how we know that it ought to exist among the Christians. Just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. So again, this is a rational argument that he lays out, making the case as to why we can expect unity in a healthy body of believers. Conversely, when we see a church that is marked by disunity, well, that's a problem for a variety of reasons. A church comprises Christians, that is what a church is, who are all indwelt by the same spirit, and the Holy Spirit cannot be at odds with himself where he cannot be divided against himself.

So when we are at odds with other believers, it is necessarily because at least one of us is not walking according to the spirit. And more often than not is because both of us are not. So both parties are not. Now that is not to say that about secondary matters, spirit-filled people cannot disagree, but they will remain in fellowship when that happens. They will remain unified that the church may continue to be marked by unity. So, just because the foot and the eye don't agree with what's on the horizon, it might be that the eye has a bit better vantage, unless the person is standing on his head, which is how a foot can see anyway, I'm not sure, but our feet have senses about these things.

They can still be cooperating together as a part of the body. In verses 7 to 14 we see unity affected, as in brought about, affected with an E. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, when He ascended on high, He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men. And saying He ascended, what does it mean but that He had also descended into the lower regions of the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.

And He gave, these are the gifts from Christ to the church, the apostles, the prophets, evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every window of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. As we'll We'll learn next time when we get to talk about chapter 5. Jesus Christ is personally invested in ensuring that He is able to present to Himself a pure and spotless bride.

And we can infer as well that He wants for His bride to be healthy and mature and unified. So we've already established that church comprises Christians. wants to present the bride to himself pure and spotless, he must necessarily be invested in the Christians comprising the church. In order to effect this maturity and unity, Christ has given to the church. And so this is a grace gift from the Son to the church to help effect her purity. He is given to the church, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, or the shepherds, and teachers. And their job is then to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ.

Now, the Spirit has gifted individuals as well. He's not talking about that here. He's talking about instruments that God is using to bring about the unity and the maturity of the church. We've talked about it plenty of times before, but there is a misconception that it is the work of pastors and shepherds to do the work of ministry. It's their job. That is true insofar as they are part of the church, but their duty is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. So it's not precisely true that it's all their job. It is their job, but it's also everybody's job. It is the job of those church leaders to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

And you know what? In our discussion of unity, it makes pretty good sense. There's little doubt that a body of believers that is equipped to function as a healthy body requires unity more than a church where the leaders are doing all the work. So I want to say that again. If the church body is to function the way it is supposed to function, that requires that it should be unified more than a church where the leaders are doing all of the work. So it's not hard to imagine that if you were to take two churches and look at them and see one that is unified and one that is not, the odds are very high that the one where there is unity is the one where the saints are doing the work of the ministry rather than it being left to just the church leaders.

It's part of why unity is Paul's stated end in verse 13. He says, until we all attain to the unity of the faith. He says that right there, that that is the aim. And that's when we can stop. When we look like Jesus, we're finally done. And good luck. We got work to do. Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, To mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. When our dimensions reflect those of Jesus, then we have met our objective. In verses 15 and 16 we have unity perfected. Rather, speaking the truth, says Paul, in love we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together makes every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

And when we become like what or like whom we behold or worship and our aim is to become like Christ, when our body is mature and unified we will be like Christ. Unless we think that it's our labors alone, Paul reiterates that Christ is the agent here makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Any healthy human body is self-healing to a degree. When your son or daughter scrapes his knee riding a bike, you can do nothing to it, and it'll probably get better all by itself. Band-Aid might move it along a little faster because it contains all the healing properties. But for the most part, the body is self-regenerating to a degree.

If you were not like lizards, though, So if you drop off a leg, I mean, it hits its limits, sure. The same, and so when the body is nourished, exercised and rested, we can say in a manner of speaking that it actually builds itself up, like it magically happens. We of course attribute these things to Christ who holds every Adam together, right? But in a sense, in a practical sense, a body builds itself up, and the kids, we feed them, they just get bigger. The unified church is the same. And so Christians are called to maturity in Christ's likeness, and this will be evidenced then in the practice of unity. So this is what it looks like when a church is healthy and functioning the way that it's supposed to.

It'll be characterized by a number of things, but what we see here is that it'll be characterized by a righteous unity, a like-mindedness. And as the spirit is indwelling those believers, and as they are walking according to the spirit, they're going to be thinking the same, and going to be acting the same, and preferring others ahead of themselves and the rest. So then what does that look like on the ground? And Paul does help here with the back end of the chapter in the second portion, what I've called the practice of gospel living. And we have for our benefit and instruction, some instruction about how we are to live in the church and in the world.

So having examined now what characterizes a healthy and an obedient church, Paul drills down to the micro level and begins to pepper his readers with these practical commands and that happens in the last few verses, regarding what this looks like day by day in their interaction with the world and their interaction with one another. He's particularly focused on this Christian to Christian interaction, but it is in the midst of a pretty decadent culture. This attitude then undergirds the rest of the book and it begins right here. As we examine this passage, it's worth considering why Paul is giving the sorts of exhortations he is.

It makes sense that he's doing so because he needs to. He's not just giving these things. They're not all just reminders of things that the Ephesian Christians already know. But in the same way as we need to be reminded as a church, maybe ourselves, like stop thinking like the world. Stop being amused when the world makes a mockery of what is good and righteous. Now of course we know that and we need to be reminded. It doesn't necessarily mean that that is rampant in our church for us to issue that reminder, but you do have to wonder what sorts of ugly sins had reared their heads in the Ephesian congregation for Paul to feel like he needed to say some of these things.

So I'm not ready to say that the Ephesian Christians were dominated by theft until Paul told them to knock it off. But I do think it's probably pretty normal that the Ephesian Gentile culture was marked by many of these vices. And we'll talk some about that. But like I said, it may sound simplistic, but why would Paul offer a command to the not to steal if none of them were stealing. Maybe, maybe not. But the sort of sin they exhort them to put off were common, just like they are now. And one of the reasons related to that, why I've enjoyed my time in Ephesians over the years, has been because as modern Americans, we can relate to the same sorts of immorality and idolatry that plague deficits.

You could say the same thing for Romans. I'm sorry, not Romans. Well, yeah, not Romans. Well, I suppose yes, Romans, but I was thinking more of Corinthians, and 1 Corinthians and Corinth. We don't have a fancy Roman temple to a Roman goddess that's bringing touristy revenue to our community, like Artemis of the Ephesians. Though we do have two casinos and a Cabela's, but like the Ephesians, ours is a culture that confuses evil and good, and that is deeply offended. They simply cannot abide Christians' intolerance of wickedness. What's more, like the Ephesian Christians, as I mentioned moments ago, we have to fight against the corrupting influence of the world and its practices rearing their ugly heads in our walls.

It's not hard to find, I'm sorry, it's not hard to imagine the moral dilemmas that, so I mean, you think about these tensions applied. It's not hard to imagine the moral dilemmas that, for instance, a faithful shop owner in the Ephesian congregation, whose main source of revenue was pilgrims who came to town to worship Artemis.

Would I rather put food on my table or would I rather they stop their idolatry, right? So there's some brass tacks sort of application of these things that they would have to face. It's not hard to imagine these first generation believers, these first generation believers, many of them, and probably most of them. being given the gospel, the Holy Spirit, and a new moral compass that pointed the opposite direction of their old one.

It comes as a little surprise that Paul did find himself discipling these young Christians with words like stop stealing and work hard so that you have something to give to others. So now perhaps with that running in the background, read with me verses 17 through 32, imagining yourself again to be one of the first recipients of this letter in its original context.

Might be easier if you're wearing sandals, who knows. All right, now this I say in testifying in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ. Assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds.

And to put on the new self created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. Verse 25, therefore having put away false so that each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such is as good for a building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." So again, I'd like to drill down here examining this passage in chunks as well. It is one of the beautiful things and also one of the challenges of trying to take a chapter at a time is you fly pretty high. So I won't be drilling down so low that we're actually going to be breaking down every single mandate in this passage. We will look at a number of them though.

Paul is in essence and really quite simply exhorting his readers to lead separate lives, to be set apart from their unbelieving neighbors and more importantly be different from who they once were and what they once were. And it doesn't really require crazy scrutiny. It's a pretty simple straightforward passage. Put this off, put this on. Don't walk like you used to walk. Those habits, decisions, patterns, belong to your old man. You need to take that off and put on the new self.

He calls them to stop behaving like what they once were when they were apart from Christ, and instead to live like the new creatures they are in Christ. And evidently this needs to be said. Just because we embrace the gospel and submit ourselves to Christ does not mean that all the practical details just take care of themselves. So just because we already know this, just because it's already familiar, doesn't mean it doesn't bear repeating or that we've got it mastered. The Christian life requires routine spiritual maintenance in the form of repentance. The Christian life requires routine spiritual maintenance in the form of repentance.

When you blow up at your kids, when you just completely blow your top and you lose your you're cool. Or you lose your temper in traffic and you're very painfully reminded who you once were. You're living consistently with who you were apart from Christ. And Paul would have you to repent, repent of that. Don't wait until it's fully grown. Repent now. When you indulge fleshly lusts that characterize your former manner of life, as we see in verse 22, you need to repent of that. Repent of it. Repentance isn't just for the big It's for all sins and anything that characterizes an unbelieving heart. When you see characteristics of an unbelieving heart manifesting themselves in your life, those things are inconsistent with who you are in Christ and they require are repentance.

Men are naturally foolish. And men who try to live according to their own wisdom are what we call fools. It is futility when men act as though their own wisdom is a formula for blessing and because our only natural reason is broken. We are, as natural men, darkened in our understanding. What's more, Paul says, we are alienated from the life of God. You'll recall that Paul uses some pretty graphic language when he describes our spiritual condition in chapter two. That is, outside of Christ, we are spiritually dead. He says we were previously dead in the trespasses and sins in which we once walked. Without Christ, we are estranged from God.

We are alienated from his life. And this is a very potent foolishness. We are separated from God due to a hard heart induced ignorance. There's maybe a chicken and egg dilemma there, but when you're spiritually dead, it's pretty clear. There is more than, this is more than simply being unaware. This is being unaware and liking it and not wanting to know. It is suppressing the truth, it is remaining in the dark intentionally, and the fruit is not only separation from God, but an immoral and a greedy testimony to boot. So apart from Christ, men are bad, and they like it like that. They're not these poor and innocent victims of the capricious will of some greater power than ourselves.

Men are volitional haters of God and spiritually dead. And we remain that way unless and until God rescues us and gives us new hearts. So Paul, with at least more than a hint of sarcasm, says, well first, but you did not learn Christ this way, if in fact you did learn him. He was there and he taught them, so he knows it. We did not learn Christ in this way. We have been given the gospel and the glorious strings attached requirements that come with it.

People talk like Spiderman's Uncle Ben, say with great power comes great responsibility. And he's onto something there. If I know there's a bad guy in the house and I do nothing while he goes after my kids, I bear a degree of responsibility for that and I should. Especially if they are sleepily unaware.

Likewise, as those who are spiritually alive and have been spiritually dead and were walking around amid spiritual zombies, we have an awareness of the spiritual condition of our neighbors from having lived it and having been rescued from it. And that is a bleak condition.

And those in this condition are without hope if they're left to themselves. So God, having given us a new identity is actually really fantastic news. And we ought to walk in light of that. We ought to wear that new man with a grateful joy and even an enthusiasm. God has designed that enlightened believers, enlightened believers would in turn bring light to the world as we walk according to our new identity in Christ. A believer who has been enlightened by God is duty bound. Is duty bound to bring that light to others? And this requires that we put off our old self and put on the new self. That's in verses 22 and 24.

The presence of a collection of these believers then. So we see it at the individual level, what we are commanded as individuals. But if we have a group like that, a group of believers who are themselves, more than some of their parts, are walking by faith and according to the spirit in the midst of a decadent culture, like say for instance, the Ephesian church in Ephesus, or Trinity Evangel Church in Marysville, it's exciting to think about the potency of their testimony. It's exciting to think about what, well, if they did that in the world, they could turn the world upside down. It's happened before.

But Paul doesn't just tell his readers to embrace their new identity. He also instructs them practically with regard to a new sort of characterizing behavior. So he doesn't just tell them, okay, so you need to do this impossible task. He kind of gives them some. Now, when it comes to what's the next thing you're supposed to do, here's what it looks like. And we see that with a new behavior. We had a new identity in the first portion of this passage. A new behavior, and this starts in verse 25. Let's look at that together. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building, excuse me, building up as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you. When Spirit-filled Christians embrace our new identity in Christ and we begin to live according to who we are in Christ, a number of really impossible things happen. And there's a litany of mandates here. And we can infer seven outcomes, I think, based on Paul's commands. So these are some things that happen when we do what Paul is talking about. and I'm not extrapolating too much here from the text, I don't think, we see in verse 25. First, in Christ the liar becomes a speaker of truth.

The liar becomes a speaker of truth. Liars typically lie to their own benefit and to the injury of others, but primarily to benefit themselves. This is inconsistent for a Christian to do. The Christian recognizes that he is part of a body, and when he injures others, he injures himself. Conversely, when he speaks the truth to others, it is a means by God's design that he can be blessed. So if he speaks the truth to the other members of his body, he receives blessing. Second, In Christ, the angry becomes useful.

And that's verses 26 and 27. The angry guy doesn't receive fantastic Yelp reviews and proverbs. Man given anger is not fit for much good. But the new man who is nevertheless passionate for righteousness can be of great use in God's hands. So perhaps the redeemed angry guy.

People with temper problems are rarely cured once, at once overnight by salvation. In many cases it takes years of the Spirit's presence in our lives to enjoy longer seasons of victory over this sin of anger. But with that said, I really do think that this passage has been the focus of a lot of unnecessary debate. Because I think we can really overthink it and in the end it's pretty simple as I would see it.

Lots of people debate about whether or not Paul is saying, be angry, don't actually be angry. Well, a plain reading of this text in light of Christ's example suggests to me at least the following three things. First, anger is not itself objectively evil or we don't have a savior.

Unless you wanna try to make the case that it wasn't anger that characterized Jesus when the Bible says he was angry. So there is evidently such a thing as a righteous anger. Second, most of us have probably never experienced it. I have been angry even on God's behalf at wicked things and there's no doubt that there was plenty of sinful, I guess, longings for the destruction of somebody else in the midst of that. So anger is not self-objectively evil and I probably haven't experienced it and you probably haven't either, but maybe you have.

But third, the key I think is actually right there in verse 27, and that is don't give the devil an opportunity. And we can quibble about whether or not you shouldn't let the sun go down in your anger, and what that means in your conversation with the neighbor across the street, or your husband or wife. And I think that the answer to that is pretty simply to not give the devil an opportunity, because all of us know exactly what it's like to go to bed nursing anger or bitterness that we ought to not have in the first place. And this is how that's how the Gentiles deal with conflict. Just go to bed. You'll feel better in the morning.

And then we've all done that before. So I've gone to bed sinfully angry before and woken up and not been mad anymore and the issue is not dealt with. Which actually just gift wrapped an opportunity for it to rear or its ugly head once again. Ours should be a habit of dealing with conflict as best we can before going to bed, but regardless, all of us know when we're letting the devil win a victory in our war against sin and anger. And when you go to bed just brushing it aside, then we've given the devil an opportunity. So if you're operating by the principle of don't give the devil an opportunity, It's going to drive, well of course you're not gonna let the sun go down in your anger, or whatever that looks like.

The point is, we don't actually just lob the devil softballs to take and swing right back at us. So how is that to apply to the Ephesian Christians? Well, they needed to keep short accounts, and so do we. If they're going to be unified, if they're going to be in the spirit and in fellowship, and the tighter your fellowship, the greater the likelihood you're going to offend your neighbor. You're going to sin against one another. You're gonna get to practice forgiveness. You're going to get to let love cover it if you can, because actually it's not a big deal, and I can let love cover that, versus actually I can't, and I do need to go after that, and we need to do it now.

So if there was a congregation of Ephesian Christians doing that, they would look different from the culture. Third, in Christ, the thief becomes generous. These are some pretty radical transformations. Men are in Christ who they were not outside of Christ. When we are living to the benefit of a body of believers, it is ridiculous to steal.

And it makes perfect sense to then work hard so that we may have something to give to others. Even many believers have this mind in themselves. I mean, there's lots of altruistic, generous unbelievers who just actually just really have generous hearts and enjoy doing that. I think even the world gets that. But how much more ought Christians to be marked by the generosity of Christ? He, of course, is not interested in gain for himself, but rather for others. Fourth, we see that in Christ, the perverse become gracious. And I'm attributing that change to verse 29. Verse 29 reads, Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such is as good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear.

The believer ought to have gracious speech that benefits his hearers. That doesn't mean it's always going to be pleasing. Benefit and pleasing are not the same thing, just like kindness and niceness are not the same thing. Paul used some pretty salty language from time to time, and he did it for the building up of the church. and he did it for, and Christ used some pretty offensive language. And we cannot say that he was not even, like some of the translations of Paul's and Christ's words have been sanitized in English. Some of it is really what we would call hard language. And that has its place sometimes. The point is we need to be speaking to build up, not corrupt or tear down, or like cussing for sake of perversity versus for, the way that Paul uses it in a couple places is actually to get the attention of his readers.

And so the point is our language needs to be with a view to edification and building up rather than tearing down. What I'm not saying is that you'll never, if you hear a cuss work him out of a person's mouth, then he's clearly not saved. Because if we're gonna use that standard, well then actually Paul doesn't qualify. Verse number fifth, fifth, in Christ sinners become faithful. And we see that in verse 30. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. When we resist the Spirit and we willfully sin, we grieve him. That ought not to be the case. Sixth, in Christ, the slaves become free men.

And I listed it like that because the things that Paul catalogs here are enslaving attitudes. Look at verse 31. "'Let all bitterness and wrath and anger "'and clamor and slander be put away from you "'along with all malice.'" So this is, these are feelings of animosity toward other people. And those things, we ought not to be characterized by those things. Because we don't have to. those sins have been paid for. I mean, let's say that we can justify that attitude because we actually have been wronged. Well, Christ has paid for that sin as well. So in Christ, we don't need to be beset by those attitudes. Instead, we can be marked by love.

That attitude does not fit for Christians. And then last, and this is where we get to stop, it's where Paul stops this chapter, or the translators decided this great place to put the chapter break. In Christ, all the, sorry, we imitate Christ in our interaction. The faithless become faithful and we imitate Christ in our interaction. We see that our interactions in the body should be dominated by gospel living. That just sounds like fluffy Christian language, but this is where he stops is a good place for us to stop too. Be kind to one another, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. In a distilled sentence, what I would call gospel living is right here.

Let's pray then. Father, we pray that you would bring us this grace, help us to be marked by the unity that comes from maturity and a common spirit in dwelling and empowering us all. We thank you for this passage and for the opportunity to look again with fresh eyes, Help us to be faithful readers of the epistles with imaginative reading so that we can try to wrap our minds around what the authors intended for the original audiences. And yet, the beautiful thing in it is that as these words are inspired by you, and all scripture is profitable, we're teaching for proof, for correction, and the rest, we pray that we would be trained in righteousness according to what you have said in the reader, servant, Paul, tonight. So thank you and we pray these things now in Christ's name. Amen.

Let's pray then. Father, we pray that you would bring us this grace, help us to be marked by the unity that comes from maturity and a common spirit in dwelling and empowering us all. We thank you for this passage and for the opportunity to look again with fresh eyes, Help us to be faithful readers of the epistles with imaginative reading so that we can try to wrap our minds around what the authors intended for the original audiences. And yet, the beautiful thing in it is that as these words are inspired by you, and all scripture is profitable, we're teaching for proof, for correction, and the rest, we pray that we would be trained in righteousness according to what you have said in the reader, servant, Paul, tonight.

As I've described the last couple Sunday mornings, each summer our pastors take a couple months of meetings to review our previous ministry year and make prayerful plans for the upcoming year. We also take time to look back and look ahead with our small group leaders and their wives at our annual retreat, and we held our retreat at the beginning of last week.

Usually I choose a theme for the retreat, starting each of our sessions with a short devotion before getting into our discussion, and often the retreat theme rolls into a theme for the upcoming year.

For 2017-18, the theme was "All Are Yours." It came from 1 Corinthians 3:21-23.

So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

The phrase, "all are yours," is reality, and Paul used it to inform/remind the Christians that they didn't need to divide themselves based on their favorite preacher; all the preachers of the word of the cross were theirs. More than preachers, the space-time continuum was theirs, and is ours. It's a great and categorical-expanding truth, a structural concept that changes how we look at the world. It’s like getting bookshelves for the first time and finally having a place to put things. Believe that “all are yours,” and boasting is no longer limited to how far one man can take you. Believe it, and one's place in the world becomes a constant opportunity to receive in thanks.

We eventually worked through 1 Corinthians 3 throughout the year and saw the theme in context. And the same will happen again, Lord willing, this upcoming year.

The theme is "You Are the Body of Christ" and it comes from 1 Corinthians 12:27.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

This is more indicative, more statement of reality, more truth to be believed. Chapter 12 begins Paul's teaching on spiritual gifts, teaching that goes through love in chapter 13 and tongues in particular in chapter 14. The Corinthians could compete over anything, including their favorite gospel preacher as well as their spiritual gifts. But they missed that gifts are given, and these gifts are of the nature that they come with strings, or better ligaments, attached.

There is one Spirit that gives a variety of gifts, there is one Lord for whom the gifts should be used, there is one energy by which the gifts are exercised (1 Corinthians 12:4-6), and there is one body that all the gifts benefit. “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7). There are many members, a whole lot of parts, and they are all connected.

The identity of each individual member is given by God, and the identity of the whole body is given by God: You are the body of Christ. This is indicative, to be received and believed. This is identity, to be cherished and embodied. Though we may know it as fact, I pray that we get it stuck in our minds, that we remember and meditate on it. When we wonder what we should do, may we start with who we are. You are the body of Christ.

In chapter 14 Paul exhorts our attentiveness to the body.

Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. (1 Corinthians 14:12)

This relates to our trellis talk from last Lord's day. Be abounding, be overflowing in your effort to strengthen one another. This is the way of the Spirit. This is the imperative that follows the indicative.

In a pastoral effort to structure our corporate lives together in such a way as to promote the embodying and edifying of the body, here are some of the specific vision and trellis plans for the 2018-19 ministry year. We’ve already addressed some of the Why of these trellis pieces, this is What they will look like with their new coat of paint.

We will continue through 1 Corinthians. We are a little more than halfway through the letter, and perhaps we’ll be able to finish the epistle near next August. The theme of these upcoming chapters are being (12:27) and building up (14:12) the body of Christ.

There will also be occasional small breaks, including the usual liturgy/worship refresher at the beginning of the calendar year.

I spent a good amount of time on this trellis piece two weeks ago.

We are moving to only twice a month (so no 5th Sunday evening services, except 9/30 in order to finish the evening epistles).

There are a variety of things that gathering again on Sundays enable us to do, and we’re not trying to make it a repeat of the morning. We have scheduled three choir practices, two prayer nights, two family nights, a Thanksgiving testimony service, Seminar, Easter evening service that hopefully will include some baptisms, ECS graduation, and the Independence Day Extravaganza.

For evenings with teaching we’re going to work through two small series, each elder will teach once in each series, wrapping up with all the elders for a Q&A. Series 1: Downhill Apologetics: Witnessing in the Name of the Lord (Kuyperian Apologetics. Jesus is Lord, let’s talk like it.) Series 2: To Take Dominion: Working in the Name of the Lord (Kuyperian Business. Jesus is Lord, let’s work like it.)

Because our growth as a body has been mostly manageable, the elders are still able to know the sheep and what’s happening across the flock without needing to switch groups. We don’t usually recommend that people who are attending switch without good reason, since it is easy to move around and avoid people actually getting to know you. That said, if the group you’re in is too large for your liking, perhaps you could jump in to a smaller group (though you would make it bigger).

Due to bandwidth for leaders and sheep, and to encourage participation in a variety of things, including the Omnibus auditing, both Titus 2 and Men to Men will move to once a month, first and second Mondays respectively.

Titus 2 will meet on the first Monday of the month at the van der Bekens’. This year they will be doing a Bible reading challenge, along with perhaps a small book on contentment and another small book on identity. Ladies can plan other things for the third Monday (for example, Gail Martin could hold a Bible study, Mo is considering an open question night, there’s been talk about another night of fellowship at the gun range.)

Men to Men will meet on the second Monday each month, and we’re moving from the Marlatts’ to the Halls’ in Marysville. At our first meeting on 9/10 we’ll introduce reading the New Testament, then read the whole NT over the next three meetings (which occur over five months). We will prepare a reading sheet with major theological categories for the men to annotate with verses they find. Then we will read Men and Marriage by George Gilder for the next three meetings, and finish with Wisdom and Wonder by Abraham Kuyper for our final two meetings next summer. Men will be encouraged to attend Kuyperian Camaraderie in the fourth week of the month. Elders will consider attending the City Council meetings on the fourth Monday in rotation.

Less meetings, with more variety, with larger sections of reading, aim to address some of the feedback we received.

I was in high school when I started to desire to be a pastor. And from the beginning I never wanted to be a youth pastor, but the reason was because I believed youth ministry is crucial. Everyone expects the youth pastor to say that, though, and I always thought I could have greater impact on the youth from the “outside” by encouraging people to consider that work. The Bowers, Halls, young Weinbergs, along with some other leaders, continue to give great care for our junior high and high school students, and that will continue in the Sunday evening gatherings and annual retreat.

In February we will have another afternoon to evening seminar on Fellowship: A Mess Worth Making - How to live with people in fellowship, navigate relationships with grace, etc.

Especially with the work of the ladies to decorate and snack us and feed us, it’s an enjoyable day together as a church body, while also providing some edification.

Though it is good to get away with the guys only, perhaps we can scratch that another way. This upcoming spring we will encourage couples to attend, with possibly alternating between couples and guys only. The extra day before the conference start was great, so encourage as many as can to do that. Couples will need to arrange their own housing.

There are some printed church calendars available at the back table, and the online calendar is updated through next August.

Not everything, but a lot of this is based in input we solicited over the last year.

Being together, building together, as the body of Christ. (Jonathan will have more from Ephesians 4 tonight.) Hopefully these messages related to our trellis have encouraged you to think about your involvement with the vine, and perhaps have increased your thanks for what we have while also increasing your excitement for what is to come.

It is always easy to forget why we're doing what we're doing. Sometimes we even forget what we're supposed to do, which, could be sinful, or it could be immature, or it could be because we're busy trying to do a lot of things. You might forget to put the salt in one of the fourteen dishes you're making for a big party, not because you're malicious but because you were stirring a lot of pots.

It's also easy to forget that we are disciples of Christ, not so much in terms of our identity as disciples but in terms of our mission as disciples, though we should tie our identity to our mission as closely as possible. Our tagline at TEC is "Reformed and still reforming disciples of Christ." At times we've focused on what it means to be Reformed and also why we believe we need to keep reforming. We are gathered in the name of Christ, we confess our faith in Christ, we enjoy communion with Christ. Christ is Lord. And we are His disciples.

Disciples are not less than, but should not be satisfied only as, learners. In Jesus' day, and as we read the record of His own master plan in the Gospels, disciples were followers. They listened and they watched and they interacted and they imitated and they obeyed. Jesus called men to be "with Him," and this was not because He just didn’t have the technology available to send them an e-newsletter.

We are followers of Christ, followers of the followers of Christ, that is our identity. And we work, with words and with our lives, to see more people become followers of Christ. That is our mission. We are still called to make disciples. This is the calling of every Christian, not just some. A church is an assembly of disciples, learning how to follow Christ better and being encouraged and equipped to help others follow Christ better. Our discipleship efforts happen within the church, not just getting someone into the church. The goal is not merely conversion to Christ but conformity to Christ, to be "complete in Christ" (Colossians 1:28). Those who are being conformed to Christ are also building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:16).

The following paradigm is simple, but profitable for equipping the saints for the work of ministry. We are all somewhere on the path of Christlikeness, and so we all need encouragement and training for our part of the work. Our target is a shepherding bull's-eye.

There are three levels, three general contexts.

The evangel is the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ's death and resurrection for all who will ever believe. We are, Trinity Evangel Church. Evangelizing is telling others that news. We have a message of forgiveness, a message of reconciliation ultimately with God, but even with other image-bearers of God. Those who hate God hate those who represent God, so relationships are messed up vertically and horizontally. This is the largest, outermost circle on the target because this is where most people in the world are.

The message of disciples is not first a message of culture changing, it is a message of salvation, purchased on a cross. When that message is believed, it turns a person's life and world upside down.

Evangelism does not require memorizing an outline, but it does require courage to tell others that there is only one way to peace with God. This evangelism, for most of us, happens "as we are going," with our kids, with our neighbors, with those we befriend as we do our work. It happens even in the church, since not all who profess Christ actually are possessed by Christ.

When a man believes, he is like a newborn baby. This is the Bible’s own vocabulary. He needs to grow, to mature, and to learn to obey all that Christ commanded. One of the favorite words, especially of Paul, is the word edify. It means to build, construct, to strengthen. One must have a foundation to build on, which is belief in Christ, and then one must build the structure.

All Christians need to be edified; no one matures past that. All Christians should be easily edified, though that is often not the case. And all Christians ought to be part of the work of edifying. This is another inescapable principle. It is not whether or not you are edifying others, it is whether you are edifying others well or not. The body imagery in 1 Corinthians 12, that we will get to not too far from now in our study of that epistle, as well as in Ephesians 4, describes the reality that each person is a part of the body, that each part of the body does something different, and that each part of the body is valuable.

Now how do you know how to build up one another? How do you know how to edify another part of the body? I think many disciples don't even ask the question. If they think about edification at all, they think about being edified by someone else, and if they see a part of the body that is weak(er), they figure someone else, more qualified, will attend to it.

When it comes to weakness, immaturity, foolishness, it is much easier not to see. Just don't look, then you won't notice. Noticing inevitably means you’ll have to do something about it, right? Then you'd have to get involved, open yourself up for criticism, possibly waste effort in a time-suck situation. But ignoring a fellow member, or isolating yourself from them, still doesn't change what disciples do and why disciples do it.

This is the smallest circle, but it is also the center of the target. Equipping can be a part of edifying, but it includes not just strengthening another person for their run of obedience but also giving strategies for the person to strengthen another person.

The shepherds and teachers of a church are given for this purpose: to equip the saints for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12). The equipping comes in teaching on the Why and the What, it comes in reminders and accountability, it comes in modeling and in assignments, it comes in handing over and backing off from certain responsibilities.

It also requires knowing where others are at, what they are weak at, what their gifts and interests and capabilities are, and knowing how to send them in the right direction. There are some general tools that everyone needs, and there are always specific applications that need more attention.

I'll admit that I used to think this was a huge responsibility that required people to spend a lot of time doing "church" things. I've changed my mind somewhat. I now think that it is an even bigger responsibility that requires people to spend some of their time doing "church" things in order to spend a lot time doing "creational" things in Jesus' name.

For example, being "complete in Christ" does not mean that you can lead a Bible study discussion (though it could include that for some people, of course). Being complete in Christ means that you are ready to apply your reading/study of the Bible no matter where you are or what role you're fulfilling in that moment. That readiness is never a finished readiness; you don't become a master without practice. But readiness to apply the Bible, to obey and represent the Lord, requires more encouragement and equipping than what takes place on a Sunday morning alone.

The "church" is not responsible for most things in the world. But the church is responsible to equip disciples for their many responsibilities in the world. So at TEC our shepherds have planned some purposeful path crossings (also known as Meetings), not to fill up your life but as part of your life to support all the other parts in Jesus’ name.

If you want to pick up a large meatball, you need a multi-pronged fork. A small, single-pointed toothpick is good for a mini-meatball, but not the mega-sized. If encouraging and preparing the flock for honoring Jesus as Lord everywhere they go is the mega-sized ministry meatball, we've got a multi-pronged set of trellis pieces.

I spent most of my time on this last Lord's Day, so see there.

Paul talked about his ministry in public and from house to house (Acts 20:20). Undoubtedly he visited with individual families, but sometimes a house had multiple families meeting together.

These small groups allow for us to spread the work of making disciples so that it doesn't depend on me or any of the pastors. We could illustrate it as the ground war that works together with the air war. The small groups allow for the parts to talk about their difficulties/disagreement in understanding the strategy, to share their challenges, and to be edified more directly. The small groups also provide a place for deeper relationships to develop.

These meetings focus on talking shop. The name "Titus 2" comes right from Titus 2 where Paul urges Titus to make sure that the older women are teaching the younger women, especially related to certain priorities for Christian living in the home (Titus 2:3-5). This training doesn't require "women's ministry" meetings, but a regular time of getting together and working through particularly female temptations and opportunities is profitable.

Likewise for the men. It is not really the responsibility of wives to tell their husbands that they are not as mature as they should be. That doesn't mean a wife can't say anything, but the way she holds her man accountable is not like the way another man can/should hold him accountable. As men think about all the spheres in which God has given them responsibilities, it is profitable to be together and talk about.

It does not seem as if these meetings are keeping our men or women from fulfilling their duties, but rather training and encouraging and sharpening them for their duties.

We don't have an official youth ministry, but we do encourage our young adults to get together, and we have some parents and other, older single people who desire to challenge our students to grow up in Christ. The afterglows occur after Sunday evening services, sometimes for serious discussion and sometimes for fun. The retreat happens once a year and provides additional windows into the spiritual state of our students.

We've been holding a seminar in the first quarter of the year for four years now, that includes teaching and fellowship (and child care!). We have other events such as an Independence Day Extravaganza, Christmas Morsels, with intentionally silly-names for a serious purpose. We also have organized trips to different conferences, T4G, Grace Agenda. These provide more structured opportunity to be encouraged and be together in our thinking.

We are a body, and God has gifted the world with the tools to connect to some degree even when we can't be in the same physical location.

Being together, as the body of Christ, with gladness and singleness of heart (Acts 2:42-47). Building together, until the body of Christ is fully grown (Ephesians 4:11-16).

Perhaps some will object.

Objection: “This is the wrong target.” Answer: Even if you use other words, Matthew 28:18-20, Ephesians 4:11-16, and Colossians 1:28-29 are clear and authoritative. To object to the target is to object to following Jesus. Objecting to the target is objecting to discipleship.

Objection: “We don't need trellis for this.” Answer: If you were flipping through a garden catalog, you would not find a tall and flourishing and fruitful vine without some sort of supporting trellis. For that matter, flipping through the pages of the New Testament provides us with some examples to apply.

Objection: “I don't like/prefer this trellis.” And, sure. And also, having a preference doesn’t make all preferences equal. And also, if your preference is better, it is easier to influence, even change, something that you’re invested and involved in. I don’t steer from the sidewalk no matter how loudly I’m yelling.

“Man’s desires are limited by his perceptions; none can desire what he has not perceived” (Buckingham, The One Thing You Need to Know, (loc 391). What is your vision of the vine? Your perception of what it could/should look like? What about just your own health and growth and fruit?

Ministry: “it does the body good.”

Galatians 5, or at least the second half of it, is perhaps what Galatians is known for. In other eras of church history, say, the 16th Century Reformation, Galatians was more needed for sake of it's teaching on justification by faith alone. Martin Luther loved it; his love was to such a degree that he called St. Paul's epistle to the Galatians “my Katherine von Bora,” and that was after saying that Luther would give up almost everything to have her. In a day when the church taught salvation by faith, not alone, but along with other measurable, external deeds (such as circumcision, Sabbath keeping, Law keeping), Paul's teaching hits the target.

There is a connection between law-keepers, or at least those who talk about keeping certain parts of the law, and those who don’t love one another. The freedom that comes by faith is a freedom that results in loving others. The slavery that comes by adhering to the law as the way to please God manifests itself in our attitude toward others. This is the connection between the first half of chapter 5 and the second half. I had not noticed it until this week.

We emphasize the Spirit over law, and we emphasize walking in the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. But spiritual productivity is relational. We are made to work and take dominion and get things done. We bear God's image as we bear fruit in our labor. But, and this is important for the task-oriented among us, our life in God's Spirit is one that brings corporate peace, not just internal, personal peace. We are not saved by faith and works, but we are not finished until faith is working through love. Without faith, there won't be love, there is only law, and the law continues to point out that we can't produce love on our own apart from the Spirit.

In chapter four Paul contrasted the free woman and the slave woman, Sarah and Hagar, and used them and their offspring to illustrate our nature as children of promise. We do not have what we have because we took it, we have what we have by God's grace.

Therefore, we should not return to the practice of depending on ourselves. That is returning to slavery. For freedom Christ has set us free, which is both a "Duh" principle and a defining truth. Christ did not set us free so that we could choose to go back under the law, He set us free so that we could be different from the inside out.

The language is devastating. Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, as in believing that that a ceremony will make God more happy with you, then Christ will be of no advantage to you. The works make Christ worthless, and if Christ is worthless, then there is no salvation.

Then Paul repeats a previous point, that it doesn't work to single out just one all-pleasing work. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision, as in the man who asks circumcision into his heart, that he is obligated to keep the whole law. It's more than all or nothing, it's all or Christ. Christ is all, or we must keep all the law. We haven't, and we can't, keep all the law, and even the attempt rips us away from Christ. You are severed from Christ, who you would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace. This is not a comment about losing one's salvation, but a spatial way of describing how near one can be and yet still miss by a mile.

It's the flesh, the natural man, that wants the law. But through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

To say that circumcision doesn't count for anything is fighting words, at least to many in Paul’s sights. It wasn't like the Jews came up with the idea of circumcision on their own. And it wasn't presented to them as an option either. God almost killed Moses for failing to circumcise his son, and Zipporah threw the cut at Moses' feet. But when it comes to the hope of righteousness, we do not work for it we can only work from it. What counts is faith, what counts is being in Christ, what counts is love.

Yet believers are historically tempted to return to wrong running. You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? That is, you were making the right sort of progress, you were working for the right reasons, but you've run into a leaven hurdle. This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. This strikes me because, in writing this letter to the Galatians, Paul expected that the Galatians should know better. Paul didn't address the pastors/elders/overseers, but the Christians. The Christians should know who to listen to.

There was someone troubling them by guilting them into slavery, and Paul expected him to get penalty.

But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still be persecuted? He had an easy way out of (some of) his affliction. He just had to say what people wanted him to say. The kids and I were reading The Pilgrim’s Progress at breakfast, and Mr. Money-love was waxing to Mr. By-ends and Mr. Hold-the-world about how a minister is more religiously virtuous and “more fit for the ministerial function” to give up some of his principles for sake of pleasing the people.

But it wasn't the truth, and it wasn't freeing. The gospel that frees men, though, also offends men. In that case, the offense of the cross has been removed. What is offensive about Jesus is that there's nothing left for me to add. That assumption, misguided as it is to assume that I would be willing to if I was even capable of adding my own virtue to gain God’s approval, is a powerful, enslaving concept.

I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves! If the way to please God is through circumcision, why stop there? Go the whole way. This is sarcasm that cuts.

The flesh can't fulfill the law, it doesn't want to. We need to be made free from the law. And then we ask, What does that freedom look like?

You were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. We're building here. Faith works through love, and love serves one another. This is relational. And ironically, it is lawful.

I mentioned about 1 Corinthians 10:1-12 that if the whole OT could be summarized into one warning it would be: Don't be complacent with God's blessings. And here Paul summarizes the whole OT into one moral obligation. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Why is it that the law-lovers miss that? "You must keep the law!" But they don't love, nor is that their message.

Using Bible language they judge their neighbor, their brothers. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. These are "church" people. The biting is over the Bible. The devouring and consuming is about how the "other" isn't measuring up the standard (that we have determined is the standard).

The point of the law is not to give us something to judge others by, it's to give us a way to judge if we are loving others.

This is the more well-known part for us.

The command could hardly be simpler, with the attendant results more clear, and yet we have critical challenges obeying.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. To walk is to be habituated to a certain path, and to do so by the Spirit is fueled and energized and strengthened by the Spirit. The alternative is not to not walk, but to walk by the flesh, and the flesh has it's own desires, it's own "lusts," that want satisfaction. The Greek word for gratify is a form of telos, the end, the goal. Wants always have a completion point, and either the Spirit will drive our wants or we will. We must be ruthless even with little lusts; they seek an end.

I often say, you always do what you most want to do. That isn't to say that there aren't competing wants. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. This is a Christian battle. There is no sustained battle for a non-Christian because a non-Christian doesn't have the Spirit. We do not have the devil and the angel on opposite shoulders, but we do have competing desires. Sanctification is the process of cultivating better wants by the Spirit.

When you have the law and the flesh, you have a mess. When you have the Spirit, you have freedom. If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Then the flesh. Now the works of the flesh are evident, as in, they reveal themselves in this way: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. That’s some list, and it's not even exhaustive, there are other things. What they all have in common is the flesh, yes, but in particular is the flesh grabbing for itself. At best there is using others, at worst there is destroying others, in between is despising others. Even idolatry is a selfish worship because we choose the god, we don't choose to submit to God.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Those who have no other way to live show themselves that they are outside of God's kingdom. Those who walk by the Spirit may struggle with some of these fleshy-works, but they will struggle, not succumb.

The contrast: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. It is possible that fruit could be a collective noun, as in, a singular noun that is made up of many parts. The fruit aisle at the store has more than one piece of fruit. And yet in context the emphasis is of a singular fruit that has nine aspects/characteristics/flavors to it. These are not separate roads, we are not choosing one, or multiple, or most. These are all parts of one road. Those who love by the Spirit will be self-controlled, and those who are gentle will be joyful, and the patient will have peace about it, and goodness goes with faithfulness.

With a twist, against such things there is no law. Of course there isn't. These are what the Spirit causes to grow out of us.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. To say that we crucify is to say that we commit to see our fleshly lusts killed as Christ was killed. This is not a new law, or the first law, where we obey by killing so that we can obey. This is by faith, and by the Spirit, so we show who we belong to.

We run as we've begun. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. That’s how the NASB and older ESV translates it. The NIV and updated ESV say, let us "keep in step with the Spirit." The Spirit causes us to be born again, and we learn how to walk and follow way of the Spirit. The life is supernatural, and it is a life that we are responsible to pursue. It is not mindless.

And the final verse of the chapter is an interesting way to tie it together. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. It goes back to verses 13-15, the paragraph before the works of the flesh and fruit of the Spirit. Don't bite and devour, don't provoke or envy. Instead, love.

There was division among at least Jews and Gentiles in the Galatian churches. Some of that division was caused by wrong views of the law, some of it was caused by wrong wants of the flesh. The worst is when the flesh gets ahold of the law in an attempt to justify itself while judging the others around. By the Spirit we get after the root of our own sin first, and then we get rooted in a different set of defining desires that lovingly serve one another.

How we view our relationship with the law WILL affect how we view our relationships with others. If we are judged, we will condemn. If we are justified, we will love.

Faith freely working through love, love giving for (rather than grabbing from) others, this is spiritual productivity.

God reveals many descriptions of what He wants His people to be, both in terms of individual believers as well as a Body of believers. We are a small local body made up of individual members, and the pastors are always considering the health of the body and how each part is working, whether properly or not (see Ephesians 4:12-16).

Another image used to describe us is that of a vine. There is a great book called The Trellis and the Vine, a book that highlights the biblical concept of God's people as a living, growing organism. This contrasts with the structured, possibly static, organization. It is the church people who are alive; the church programs are not. And yet a growing, stretching, productive vine is benefited by a trellis.

The pastors still think in these terms/categories, even if we don't refer to the book as much as we used to. Each summer we take multiple meetings to review our trellis for sake of examining the health of the vine and considering whether or not the current trellis is supporting the health of the vine as best as possible. We usually have explicit discussions with our small group leaders as well, for the sake of getting broader perspective/feedback as well as sharing responsibility.

The elders have been thinking, talking, planning, praying, and we'll do even more over the next week as we make final preparations for our leaders retreat. In our discussions thus far, we've agreed that there are many reasons to give thanks for God's grace among us and also that we can excel still more. On one hand we have high participation, and on the other hand, what percentage of the vine shouldn't be expected to participate? Not every part of the body does the same job or gets used as much as other parts, but how many parts don't need to do their part?

The final paragraph in Acts 2 has often been seen as a paradigm for churches. I don't have issues with that, acknowledging that some things will still look different between the newborn-church in Jerusalem and the almost two-thousand year-old expression in Marysville. But there are some descriptions that we should also want to describe us.

Acts 2:42-47

This is everyday life for "all who believed" (verse 44), many of whom had received Peter's preaching to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (verses 38, 41). The rhythm of their schedules and the focus of their priorities was about being together. This togetherness included meetings and mindset.

Fellowship and breaking of bread happened in person, in an appointed location, at an agreed upon time. Selling their possessions and sharing with those in need required knowing the condition of those in need and bringing the money to them; they had relational proximity. They attended worship in the temple together, they ate in each other's homes.

But they were also together at heart. Devoting themselves to the apostle's doctrine provided corporate, not just individual, edification. Together they were in awe. They believed themselves to be together so much so that they helped to pay one another's expenses. They rejoiced and prayed and praised as one.

They were together, with the same heart and often in the same place. This is only somewhat about attendance and much more about attentiveness. It has something to do with what you put on your calendar but a whole lot more to do with what you care about.

There is a word used twice in the paragraph that describes this commitment. In the ESV it's the word devoted in verse 42 and the same word is translated as attending in verse 46. Both are not only from the same Greek word, both are in the same Greek form (προσκαρτεροῦντες, a present active participle). The KJV emphasizes "continued steadfastly." The word could be translated to "busy oneself with, be devoted to" (BAGD). When it involves persons, it means to "be loyal to someone," and with ideas it means to "occupy oneself diligently with" (TDNT). Jesus told His disciples to have a boat "standing ready" (Mark 3:9), and Cornelius had a group of those who "attended him" (Acts 10:7).

In Acts 2:46, when the believers were "attending the temple together," it was much more than being present, it was sharing a priority. So in verse 42 they were "attending" to doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread and prayers. The "breaking of bread" may be the sacrament of the Lord's Table, but they were also breaking bread "in their homes," so informal meals are included. The believers were devoted to truth and to one another in the name of Jesus.

And note what described their hearts: they were attending to worship and receiving their food "with gladness and sincerity of heart" (NASB). The ESV's glad and generous hearts is not the best for a couple reasons. First, the Greek word for hearts is singular, “heart,” emphasizing the unity of the body. The whole body had one heart. Second, the word "generous" is better translated as "simplicity." Simplicity means that it's not mixed, so it is “sincerity” (NASB), it has integrity. The KJV translates it as "gladness and singleness of heart."

The believers had a oneness of oneness, expressed in gladness. That is some description.

And what can we as a body of believers do to be described in a similar way? We've got to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus. We've got to believe the promises of God. And then we need to attend to being together. We've got to devote ourselves to gladness and simplicity of heart. Whatever trellis we have should help the vine grow in these directions.

We attend to some of these things every Lord's Day morning. The assembly assembles for worship, and this service is the central push for the week. But it is not the only valuable opportunity, and, not all of the body's interactions are meant to take place during this time.

The second most strategic time for the body is Sunday evenings. Our pastors have prioritized a number of things for the latter part of the Lord's Day, and we believe they promote being together, both in person and in heart.

Some churches have evening services every week. Many of us have experienced evening service as a second-rate morning service, where most of the elements are the same, except that the attendees dress less fancy. Many churches have given up evening services altogether. We have chosen differently.

We have decided to call the church back together on odd Sundays of the month. And rather than repeat the morning liturgy, we've chosen to view our meetings in the evening as complementary. There are itches not scratched anywhere else other than Sunday evenings.

We schedule a few different things for those services:

The teaching has its own set of reasons, especially the fact that we have all the pastors teach on a regular basis. It is my assignment to lead the speaking parts in the morning, though obviously the other men fill in when I'm gone, or hospitalized. Ha. But I am not the boss, I am not The Pastor, or the Lead Pastor, though I am often out front. Whatever the subject is, the flock gets to hear different perspectives, and the elders get to address the entire flock. This has liturgical value in reminding us all that we have a plurality of pastors, not just a personality. You might not need to hear the content of any particular message as much as you need to hear the heart of the man bringing it.

Another time devoted to teaching allows us to cover different subjects as well. We've taught through our doctrinal statement, we've taught through Reformed doctrines that we identify with, this past year we taught through four different epistles in order to give our young people in particular exposure to more of the New Testament. We still don't have a Sunday School trellis, which is still intentional, and the evening teaching provides a time for us to be together.

We have decided on a couple smaller series for this coming ministry year after Jonathan and I finish Ephesians and Galatians respectively.

Each elder will speak once for each topic, and then we’ll have a combined elder Q&A as a wrap-up for each series. These are subjects that are intended to complement, to add to, the main Sunday morning series, for sake of encouraging and equipping the body. By God’s grace you can get information, you can get good Bible teaching, virtually any time you want. You do not need, as perhaps it used to be the case, to attend to learn. But what you cannot get from books and sermon downloads and podcasts is being together in mindset with the body.

We also have devoted two Sunday evenings a month to house to house fellowship and breaking of bread. There is talking and catching up and encouragement and stirring up one another to love and good deeds that happens before and after services, but there is something valuable when we show hospitality to one another and serve one another with food and drink and gladness of heart in our homes. This could, and does, happen on other days than Sunday. But the pastors are committed to encouraging this so much so that we consider it part of the program to not plan services on multiple Sunday nights a month.

If you do not attend to the body on Sunday evenings (and in your life), whether gathered under one roof or many different roofs, you are missing out on being together.

Our mission: We are laboring in joy to cultivate a Trinitarian community of worshipping, maturing disciples who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord over all the world.

The mission is more than you getting to heaven. The mission is presenting all of us complete in Christ and bearing God’s image in the world so that His blessings will flow far as the curse is found. Attendance doesn’t get anyone into heaven, and those who are citizens of heaven will be attending to more than themselves on earth.

At our very first "family meeting" on January 9, 2011, my notes say that we talked about mostly the same trellis, especially as relates to Sunday evenings, as we have this morning. I am reminding us now because we do have some new families, but even more so because we want all the vine to be healthy. We want every part doing its part. We are not satisfied with our togetherness yet, and want to eliminate lack of explanation as a reason for why someone might not participate.

We love what Sunday night services promote. This isn’t to say that there aren’t any other ways to accomplish what we want, but decisions have to be made. Perhaps there will be different expressions of being together in the future. But our evening gatherings aren't leftover warm-overs. They have a different feel than Sunday mornings because they a different purpose. But having a different purpose does not make them less valuable any more than putting new tires on your car makes having gas in the tank less valuable.

How likely is it that this one message will move those who don't usually, or don't ever, come on Sunday evenings to start? How likely is it that these words will convict those who currently view open Sunday evenings as a break and cause them to start a rotation of invites to get to know others in the church? It's just as likely as planting a seed, watered and tended, will eventually grow fruit. It's just as likely as disordered affections and disobedient disciples will be sanctified by the Spirit.

What are you attending to? What are you giving your attention to? We desire for it to be with gladness and simplicity of heart.

When we used to have regular small group meetings just for students, one of the questions that I regularly got asked when I visited, especially the guys' groups, was some version of this: If you only had one thing you could say to these guys before you died, what would it be?

The apostle Paul gave an inspired one thing to Titus to tell the young men. In Titus 2 he told Titus to "teach what accords with sound doctrine" (verse 1) and then followed it with five verses about what characteristics various groups in the church should be expected and/or trained to exhibit. The older men get six, the older women get four or five (depending on how you count), the younger women get seven, and the younger men get one.

Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

The word translated self-controlled (a form of σωφρονέω) in Titus 2:6 could also be translated "sober-minded" (KJV) or “sensible” (NASB), but these meanings are not really so far apart. Titus was to get the young men to focus on building just one virtue into their lives.

Here is a good working definition: self-control is a mindful restraint of one's impulses, emotions, and desires. This is from Webster and from the Greek dictionary. The New Oxford Dictionary: “the ability to control one’s emotions and desires or the expression of them in one’s behavior, especially in difficult situations.” Such a definition highlights a couple things.

It would be unmerited to say that a lack of self-control among young men is a modern problem. The fact that Paul isolates this one virtue for younger men almost two-thousand years ago indicates that it has been a problem for millenniums, not just for millennials. When we consider the overall emphasis of the book of Proverbs, written so that young men would get wisdom, I think we can safely say that young men have been idiots for generations.

But look in Titus 2 again. Being self-controlled is urged for the older men as well (verse 2), and it is also part of the training program for young women (verse 5). Since it is the older women who are to train the younger women, we expect that the older women must "likewise” along with the older men have this virtue and know how to exercise it in order to explain and model it for the younger women. Self-control is for everyone.

It is for everyone that is filled with the Spirit (see Galatians 5:23). It is a different Greek word there (ἐγκράτεια), but again, self-control refers to disciplined and defensive forces that protect the inner train from being pulled off the tracks. This is urged and illustrated for all Christians who must run the race of obedient living. It is the point in 1 Corinthians 9 and 10.

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. (1 Corinthians 9:25) I discipline my body and keep it under control... (9:27)

A multitude of Israelites who had received God's great blessings in the Exodus and provision in the wilderness failed to run with self-control and were judged (1 Corinthians 10:1-13). They did not all get the prize because they were not all self-controlled.

So all Spirit-filled Christians, male and female, old and young, must be self-controlled and develop self-control. It is the first and fundamental focus for young men in particular. There is much that could be said to the men, but I want to spend the rest of my time addressing the ladies.

By nature there is something more wild about boys and young men. The masculine stereotype is of a creature not tied up, usually not clean, running and jumping and sowing wild oats and not in neat rows. The feminine stereotype is much more domesticated, house-bound, cinched-corset, sitting cross-legged and knitting and calm, at least on the surface.

These are stereotypes, typical characters in many stories, and obviously not always the case. But to a certain sort of guy, there is something seductive about "girls gone wild." I have only seen commercials, I have not seen the movies. But I have never seen a commercial for "guys gone wild." There must not be enough of a certain type of girl that finds self-indulgent boys desirable. That's partly because you don't need to pay money to see it.

God reveals that He desires girls gone self-controlled. And this is more than physical self-control at parties, this is also for Christian ladies. Girls are, in general, much more sneaky in their self-indulgence. They fall out of their seats in school much less than guys, but they also allow feelings to fester much deeper for much longer with worse consequences in their souls than many guys. Guys may drown jumping into the deep end of the pool when they don't know how to swim, women may drown in their emotions if they don't drain the swamp.

God wants ladies, not only being self-controlled, but making self-control look good. When they are clothed in self-control, it makes them look good.

I desire that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or quarreling (so, showing self-control); likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness--with good works. (1 Timothy 2:8-10)

To "adorn" is more than cover. To adorn is to dress up, to take something beautiful and enhance its appearance. A woman's beauty is made more beautiful with self-control. Self-control, from the inside out, is a way she makes herself more attractive than jewelry and make-up.

The following verses (11-15), controversial to some, describe the place of a woman's learning as a place of submissiveness rather than of authority over men. The reason is not cultural, it is creational. Adam was formed first, and also Eve "was deceived and became a transgressor" (verse 14). She listened to lies, not only from the serpent, but from within, from her lack of restraint (the tree was a “delight” and “to be desired” Genesis 3:6). So Paul finishes by saying,

Yet she will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control. (verse 15)

This is a woman's unique sanctification opportunity, the God-given gift of fertility and birthing. But even that must be done with certain virtues. This is different than Paul's usual triad; it isn't even three. He puts faith, love, and holiness (rather than hope) together, and adds self-control. The NASB translates it as "discretion," and that is a great word as well. It means "the freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation." This doesn't merely take place outside of yourself, this is an internal freedom. To have that internal freedom, you must not be a hostage to any given terrorist feeling.

As I said before, woman are better than men at a kind of self-control and they are worse than men at another kind of self-control. Masculine self-indulgence is like an acute injury, it is more obvious, concentrated, and short term even if repetitive. Feminine self-indulgence is like a chronic illness, less obvious (unless you know what to look for), more spread out across the system, with long term debilitation.

Maybe the area of least self-control for women is in the area of sentimentalism. To be "sentimental" is to be "marked or governed by feeling, sensibility, or emotional idealism." In general, ladies tend to have more feelings, and so they are particularly at risk of being governed, controlled, by emotions and moods. They get a picture in their minds of what something should feel like, a reunion with a friend over coffee, or picking up kids after school, or any number of idealistic images.

Some women endure this state of emotional idealism. They believe, and so argue, that strong feelings are unchangeable. Emotions are part of the landscape, perhaps able to be avoided but never to be removed. You can avoid running into some of the trees in the forrest, but you can’t cut them down.

Some women esteem this state of emotional idealism. They believe, and so argue, that strong feelings are not a necessary evil, but they are virtuous. Emotions aren't just landscape, emotions are fuel for the engine of life. How dare anyone talk about removing emotions. Emotions should always be heeded and rewarded!

When you don't get your way, when your feelings get hurt, what do you look to control? Do you look to control the other person, the situation, or your feelings? Too many say that they can't control their emotions. It's part of who they are. Without denying that you have feelings and that they are strong feelings, it does mean you are not self-controlled.

For young ladies, when it comes to boys, you can't help it. You describe your insides as if you are being controlled by some sovereign force of attraction that you can't resist; you’re a puppet on strings. The ladies at Titus 2 recently had a discussion about this, about disordered loves and cupid’s arrow. There is no cupid, there is just stupid. Being boy-crazy is a lack of self-control. You may not be desperate for his attention in public silly giggling ways, but letting your emotions prance around inside you is your fault.

When it comes to other girls, you are easily “hurt.” She said something ignorant or something mean, and you find comfort in your self-pity. Who can blame you? Being unkind and petty is a lack of self-control.

When it comes to situations, you are disappointed, or sad. You didn't get the grade you wanted, or the part in the play you wanted, or the tent assignment you wanted, or something else you wanted. Who can blame you? Being bitter is a lack of self-control.

Flip the sin. Do you think boys should be able to justify their laziness? They're just tired/growing/not mature. Do you think boys should be able to justify and indulge their lust? Do you think boys should be able to defend and act out their anger? Is it really just "who they are”? Can we really expect them to control their emotions? Yes, and if they don't, society is in trouble.

Ladies, do not play the victim of your feelings and emotional idealism. Do not be lenient with yourself and your out of control feelings. Anxiety/fear, envy/bitterness, unthankfulness/discontentment, these are all destructive.

Exercise self-control. Practice it. Get better and better, faster and more ruthless. This is discipline, this is something you learn. It is not natural. What is natural is death. So go supernatural.

“Take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Do you have six threatening thoughts a minute? Take all six captive; get them all. Don’t let your emotions take you captive. Being a hostage is not cute. Neither is being a terrorist and taking hostages.

Get out of the dumpster. Are you having feelings of guilt or regret? Do you find yourself in free moments drifting into the dumpster of fleshly things, things that are opposite of Philippians 4:8, things that are untrue, dishonorable, unjust, impure, unlovely? Do you dwell on your sins? the sins of others? Do you trust in Christ? He has died for your sin and risen again to give you life. Take your thoughts, and emotions, captive. Preach to yourself. Stop telling yourself bad stories about how you’ve got it so bad. Starve your bad mood.

Get out of the ditch. Your emotions are like a horse, and some have spirited horses. They can totally be ridden, but they must be directed, otherwise they will run you into the ditch. “The goal is not to cripple the horse, but equip the rider.” Get ahold of the reigns. Steer. Or if need be, Whoa!.

Look in the mirror.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (James 1:23–25)

God's Word is the full-length mirror for your soul. See what is there, make the changes. Remember “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12). God’s Word will get between and expose your feelings and emotions. Think on good things (Philippians 4:8), for real.

Anticipate triggers. Pray for God’s strength. Ask for outside help. Listen to your parents; listen to older ladies, cf. Titus 2. Parents, pay attention to your daughters. Love them, correct them, show them. Write it down, say it out loud, see all the ugliness. Repent. Take a nap, or go to bed. Go for a walk. Read about someone who has it worse than you, or even better, go serve someone who has it worse than you. Have some coffee. Laugh.

Some of you need to break up with your emotions. You’re in an abusive relationship. Don’t tolerate it. (See Miserable Wives). Adorn yourself with self-control.

Some may be truly damaged, and the gospel of grace brings us to the One who heals our wounds. Others are emotional dominoes, much too easy to push over.

Lack of self-control affects more than one-self. No sin is ultimately a private sin. You may do it in your room when no one is looking, you may think it's in your heart where no one can see. Who does it hurt? It hurts all of us. We are connected as a body no matter how much you feel isolated.

You always do what you most want to do. Do you want to be like Christ? Do you want to be in the place of greatest blessing? Fight the fight with self-control.

A long time ago I was told (by a successful triathlete who had her own poster) that if you're serious about running, you don't talk about going for a "jog," you go for a run. This does not mean that you must sprint every mile, it does not mean that you must run every stride as hard as you can, but it means that you are serious about the work.

Paul exhorted the Corinthian believers to run to win. It takes self-control. It requires discipline. You cannot win while getting everything you want, even when what you want is reasonable, even when you have religious reasons for what you want. This isn't a sight-seeing trot with Brazilian meat stations at every quarter-mile marker. Restrain yourself, including your rights, for sake of the race.

Who really wants to do that, though, am I right? Isn't it easier to open up the bag and snack on a handful of salty, petty criticisms? "That brother/sister needs to grow up already." Or maybe someone brought in a whole box of a dozen, cream filled gossip donuts. Slander is like a tasty morsel that goes down deep (Proverbs 18:8); it does not increase love handles. Or what about cutting a corner in the race, taking advantage in a business deal because after all, it's EDB: how Everyone Does Business. Not only does God not mind, He the sovereign God of the system, so He clearly approves.

The church-goers in Corinth must have made similar arguments, and Paul makes a case from the Old Testament scriptures that not all who run, win, and some who wander are lost. In the first 10 verses of chapter 10 Paul shows how the generation of Jews that exited Egypt failed to run well. Though they had received great blessings of deliverance from God they also turned away from God. They stumbled in idolatry, sexual immorality, impatience, and grumbling.

In verses 11-13 Paul moves from teaching by examples to teaching by exhortation. Here we learn things about the benefit of the Old Testament, about humanity, about God Himself, and about types of temptation.

Verse 6 and verse 11 begin with the same idea: Now these things happened to them as an example. Following verse 6 Paul worked through the types of temptations and sins that caused the exodus generation to stumble in the wilderness. Now in verse 11 and following, gives the reason for the review of the examples.

Reviewing these temptation types is good for us, and God graciously recorded the stories for our benefit: they were written down for our instruction. When it comes to reading the Bible, it's true that nothing is about us, but it is all for us in one way or another. We get instruction, which is a word (nouthesia) that is more than information, it is "counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct" (BAGD). In some contexts it could be reproof or rebuke. It is warning (Colossians 1:28). The types of temptation we read about admonish us to run a better course. Do we not run better because we do not read better?

We need the instruction because we are those on whom the end of the ages has come. It's probably better to understand it as "the ends of the ages" (NASB). We (still, almost two-thousand years later) live in a crucial time of history. We run between Christ's advents. We need to run well.

The point is: get your head on straight. Running is physical but, like all disciplines, it is even more mental. Learn from the example of those who fell before you fall.

Verse 12 is short, it is also the center of Paul's concern. The examples concentrate on this application: Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

In other words, be careful that you do not become complacent. A complacent man has no criticisms of himself and is pleased with his position. He totally agrees with this exhortation, and believes it, and tells others that not all who run will win, but he thinks it couldn't happen to him.

Standing is good. Standing means you’re not knocked over or knocked out of the race. Presuming that you could never be knocked out is not good. The Corinthians had “knowledge” about God’s sovereignty as well as about their liberty in Christ. These are true and good things, but the way they thought about the truth made the Corinthians insecure.

He is “the one thinking,” using the same word as 1 Corinthians 8:2, “anyone thinking that he knows something.”

This is a dangerous place for any soul to stand. "Be careful" (NIV). Watch out. Having courage and confidence in the Lord by faith is good. Having faith in your faith, being confident in yourself is not. Perseverance of the saints doesn't allow saints to get proud or presumptuous. Without humility, a saint may not persevere. Paul expressed his own heeding of himself in 1 Corinthians 9:27.

Are there Christians who are paralyzed by doubt and harsh self-criticism? Of course there are. They are not the target of Paul's warning.

Because of the Therefore at the beginning of the sentence, verse 12 could be summarized as all the stories of the Old Testament in one warning. This is a conclusion to the first eleven verses, the conclusion to both the blessings and the temptations of God’s people in the Old Testament. If the Golden Rule is the summary of the law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12), this is the summary of the history. The TL;DR version of the OT: don't get cocky. Don't become complacent, unwilling (and then unable) to evaluate your own weaknesses. Look at the religious people, the blessed people, the people delivered by God, and see what happens when they are pleased with themselves and seek to please themselves more than others. (See Romans 11:20-22 for the same caution.)

There are two doses of humility in verse 13, truth about man and truth about God.

There is a special excuse for sin that comes from those who thought that they could not sin, but who end up sinning. It is also a temptation for others who tend toward the martyr side of things, who act as if the moons of temptation revolve around them. Paul says that no one is unique when it comes to temptation.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. The Israelites were a type of temptation, as in, they provided examples of the sorts of temptations that cause runners to stumble and fall. And also, when it comes to types of temptations, there is nothing outside of the ordinary, human temptations.

This is both humbling and encouraging. It is encouraging because we are not alone. But that is what makes it humbling: no man is a temptation hero. That doesn't mean that there aren't heroes, but that any given hero has a hero's temptations. It also means that there are no victims who suffer what no-one else ever had to.

Paul isn't saying that everyone has all the same temptations. Men have different temptations than women, single people have different temptations than married people, bosses have different temptations than employees, and this is all fine. But no one, regardless of gender or age or nationality or social status, has something happening to them that is unique to mankind.

So, you are not special. You may be having a very hard time, but you are still having a very human hard time. You may not have a friend who is going through the exact same thing as you, but that doesn't mean that they don't understand human temptation, and it certainly doesn't make you special. In fact, thinking that you have an especially unique temptation is a very common temptation. You are not exceptional.

Since the Garden of Eden men have been tempted to serve another god than God, they have been tempted to manipulate or pursue relationships for sexual gratification outside of God's created and revealed pattern, they have been tempted to be irritated that God hasn't answered in their timing, and they have been tempted to whine about it. These four temptation types are typical. They are natural for men to face, and there is no fundamentally new temptation under the sun.

The devil tempted Jesus in these: to elevate Himself, to take what He wanted when He wanted rather than according to the Father's path.

These temptation types are also not impossible to deal with.

The rest of verse 13 is all about God, and the reminder, amidst all of this talk about running, is that God is faithful. It is a theme of His revelation to humans. Depend on Him, He is dependable. Put your faith in Him, He is faithful.

In particular, He is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

The subject of the main verbs is God Himself. He is at work. God is sovereign over temptations, otherwise Paul could not make this claim. God controls temptations (though God “tempts no one” according to James 1:13) as well as individual capacities to handle temptations as well as ways to not sin in temptations.

When it comes to enticements to do something wrong, to run the wrong direction or to quit the race, to give up discipline and self-control, to sin, God faithfully and graciously protects His runners.

Based on this verse I have often heard Christians say that, "God will never give you more than you can handle." And that is only partially true. A lot of the truth of that statement depends on what we mean by "handle."

The word "handle" is related to the word for "hand," so to move or manipulate with one's hands (“manipulate” itself is from manus meaning "hand"). If you handle a piece of pottery, you are holding and carrying or placing it. To handle a sheet of plywood requires more hands. Figuratively, to handle something means to manage it, to deal with it, even to drive or control a situation.

And this is just not true when it comes to much greeting-card theology. God regularly gives us more than we can deal with, and certainly more than we can control. We fall into great anxiety when we act as if we can figure out and fix our own problems. I'd say God loves to push us past ourselves, our comfort zone, our current limits. When Paul said that he was "afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9), he was not saying that he only had what he could handle.

We are insufficient. Paul knew it (2 Corinthians 2:16).

Do not assume that you can handle all of your race. What Paul says is that you can endure the temptation to sin. God will never give you more than you can handle without sinning. He will provide the way of escape, a "way out" (NIV). He will enable us to get to the end, which may be death, but it is finishing the race in submission to Him.

Because God is faithful, you cannot be a helpless victim of temptation. The ship may capsize, but by God’s grace you won’t cry to idols for help. Your spool may run out of twine, but, in Christ, God won’t let go of you.

None of us are victims. We believe that God is sovereign, we believe that God is faithful, we believe that He calls us to humility, love, and self-control.

The typical types of temptations are not hard to find. The Old Testament is full of them, and even in Paul's letter to the Corinthian church we see the temptations played out again.

It's not just the best that get complacent, it is the blessed. So, take heed. Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to think (Romans 12:3).

“Do you feel yourself sufficient to take up the Kingship of Narnia?”

God most certainly gives us more than we can handle, and that is so that we can learn to depend on Him in His faithfulness so that we can run to win without sin.