Baptism in the rest of the protestant church, versus baptism in the Quakers, is the symbol thing right? The rest of the protestants find rich symbolism in the immersion of water, and rising up in the new man. Quakers love symbolism. But they have higher standards than just water. They want the symbolism of the new inner life proven by the outer life. The actions. Outward affections.

In a perfect world we are created to reflect God’s image, which is a symbolic way of saying we are created to worship Him. Isaiah 43:7 says we were made for the glory of God, formed and made for Him. Verse 21 of that same chapter says we were formed for Himself to declare His praise. You need to understand this: airplanes are made to fly, toasters are made to toast bread, ovens are made to cook, cars are made to drive, and people are made to worship. We’re designed to worship. We've been failing at this since the Garden, and what Christ has accomplished at the Cross restores us to do this.

Suppose the mailman came up to your house tomorrow. Your spouse, family member, whoever, goes down and picks up the mail for you and announces what you got.

“You got a bill. A brochure. Junk mail. A letter from God Almighty of the Universe. A letter from your cousin Bob.”

How many of us are going to nonchalantly say, “Oh, I’ll take the letter from Bob. Put the rest on the Table.” We have a letter from God Almighty of the Universe!

I dare you to keep the news and keep the TV off for a day. Get up, read the Scriptures. Take a walk or a scenic drive. See if there’s something on your walk or drive that God uses to speak to you. I dare you, to instead of listening to any other voice tell you what sins your political opponents need to repent of, see if there are sins you need to repent of. See if the Spirit says to you, “2020 is not as chaotic and dismal as the godless voices narrating everything right now says it is, but I have a plan, and I have purpose.” See if that plan and purpose involves you being part of God’s plan of redemption.

God reveals Himself in Christ, and Christ is revealed in us. How does this all shake out? Much of it we don't get, but what we do get, is that we are saved by Christ, and Christ lives in us, and Christ works in us, or sometimes in spite of us!

We look around and we see polarization, and we see corruption, we see natural disasters, or maybe not-so-naturally-started disasters, but man-made fires. As we see brutality, injustice, corruption, there’s something in our hearts - something actually given to us by a just, righteous God that wants remedy. We’re tired of electing leaders who disappoint us, we want a Sovereign who will never disappoint. We’re tired of corrupt leaders who we can’t trust, we want an altogether good leader who we can trust without a doubt. We’re tired of trying to legislate morality, we want morality birthed inside of us by an altogether just, perfect, and righteous lawgiver. 

And the good news today is that there’s a reason we want that, it’s because we have that.

In Acts 15 there are two conflicts. At first glance, I wanted to say the first one was a win - the Gospel of grace wins, the church understands that God’s grace through Christ is what saves! What a win! And I wanted to say that the second conflict, is more of a failure. Two friends are divided. What still happens? God still remains faithful. God’s faithful to use the brokenness we caused. And our failures still lead to fruition… even when we did it all wrong...

At the Jerusalem Council, James brings Amos 9 to weigh in on the subject. He is in effect, saying, “Not only have we witnessed what Peter has delivered to us about God making for Himself a people from the Gentiles, we are witnessing Amos 9, God has returned. God has rebuilt the fallen tent,” or tabernacle, ”of David. The ruins are being rebuilt, it’s being restored.” 
What is he saying? Where? What is he talking about? Israel is still conquered. The Romans are around. What James is saying is this, “Amos 9 in fulfilled in Jesus.”

I’m tired of worrying. I’m tired of stressing. I'm tired of fighting. I’m tired of wondering. And Paul’s urge, Paul’s appeal, Paul’s beseeching is a call to do what’s reasonable. It’s what makes most sense. It’s Paul’s appeal, that in Christ, He has a trustworthiness that we can come and die to.

Peter calls the Law a yoke on the neck. It’s hard to keep. Grace is more purifying. Grace is more rigorous. Grace, in some ways is more hard, just in different ways. God’s grace is all-encompassing enough to never fully bring us into completion this side of heaven, and it is sufficient enough to get us there.