Episode Transcript
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The Cross and was. We consider
that great and steadfast love which was demonstrated
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for us there, and not merely
demonstrated but effectively brought about our justification,
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the forgiveness of our sins, the
imputation of Christ's righteousness, our access to
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the very throne of grace, that
we might stand before you and worship you
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and the splendor of Your Holiness.
All these things and war have been given
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to us through him, through this
great act of love by which we have
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been saved. Lord, we ask
that you would help us to give you
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thanks for all of these things,
that our mouths might be filled with your
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praise, that we might sing songs
to your glory, that even the food
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that we eat would be given,
when it would be eaten, according to
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your word, to Your glory.
We ask now that, as you give
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to us your word, the very
bread of life, for the sustaining in
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the nourishment of our souls, that
you would give us keen ears to listen,
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you would open up our minds and
our hearts that we might receive that
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which you have given and receive it
gladly, that we might live by it.
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We asked that you would bless your
word to us and that we might
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hear and know Jesus in it.
Pray this in his name. Then you
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may be seated. So I'm going
to read two passages this morning as we
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begin this week to turn our thoughts
to Thanksgiving feasts. Want to read the
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two passages that think about food and
God. First from First Corinthians chapter ten,
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and then from Psalm one hundred and
thirty six. So if you would
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please turn your attention with me to
first Corinthians. This is in the New
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Testament, one of Paul's letters for
First Corinthians chapter ten. We're going to
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begin reading at Verse Twenty Three.
So let's hear God's word. First Corinthians
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ten, verse twenty three. I'll
read to the end of the chapter.
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All things are lawful, but not
all things are helpful. All things are
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lawful, but not all things build
up. Let no one seek his own
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good, but the good of his
neighbor. Eat whatever is sold in the
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meat market without raising a question on
the ground of conscience, for the Earth
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is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. If one of the unbelievers invites you
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to dinner and you are disposed to
go eat whatever, whatever is set before
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you, without raising any question on
the ground of conscience. But if someone
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says to you this has been offered
in sacrifice, then do not eat it,
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for the sake of the one who
informed you, and for the sake
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of conscience, I do not mean
your conscience, but his. For why
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should my liberty be determined by someone
else's conscience? If I partake with thankfulness,
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why am I denounced because of that
for which I give thanks? So,
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whether you eat or drink or whatever
you do, do all to the
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glory of God. Give no offense
to Jews or to Greeks or to the
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Church of God, just as I
try to please everyone and everything. I
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do not seeking my own advantage but
that of many, that they may be
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saved. All right, and now
let's turn to Psalm one hundred and thirty
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six and consider the Lord, the
God who gives us all of this food.
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Psalm one hundred and thirty six,
here we of a description, among
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other things, a description of the
Lord and his divine nature. I mean
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his supremacy in his divine nature and
also in his works, by which he
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saves US and loves us. Psalm
one hundred and thirty six, give thanks
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to the Lord for he is good
for his steadfast love and doers forever.
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Give thanks to the god of Gods
for his steadfast love and doers forever.
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Give thanks to the Lord of Lords
for his steadfast love endures forever to him
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who alone does great wonders for his
steadfast love and doers forever. To Him
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who, by understanding, made the
heavens for his steadfast love and doers forever,
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to him who spread out the earth
above the waters for his spet steadfast
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love and doers forever. To Him
who made the great lights for his steadfast
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love and doers forever, the son
to rule over the day for his steadfast
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love and doers forever, the moon
and stars to rule over the night for
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his steadfast love endures forever. To
Him who struck down the first born of
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Egypt for his steadfast love and doers
forever and brought Israel out from among them
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for his steadfast love and doers forever, with a strong hand and an outstretched
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arm for his steadfast love and doers
forever. To Him who divided the Red
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Sea into for his steadfast love and
doers forever for and made Israel Pass through
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the midst of it, for the
steadfast love and doers forever, but overthrow
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Pharaoh and his host in the Red
Sea, for his steadfast love endures forever.
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To Him who led his people through
the Wilderness, for his steadfast love
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endures forever, to him who struck
down the great kings for his steadfast love
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and doers forever, and killed the
mighty kings for his steadfast love and doers
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forever. Sihon, the King of
the Amorites, for his steadfast love and
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doers forever, and Oga King of
Bashan, for his steadfast love and doers
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forever, and gave their land as
a heritage, for his steadfast love endures
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forever, a heritage to Israel,
his servant, for his steadfast love endures
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forever. It is he who remembered
us in our low estate for his steadfast
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love and doures forever, and rescued
us from all our foes, for his
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steadfast love endures forever. He who
gives food to all flesh, for his
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steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks
to the God of Heaven for his steadfast
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love indures forever. Amen. So
as we hear of our God and his
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great power, his mighty works and
doing things that we cannot even begin to
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really imagine how they might be accomplished, how they might be done. We
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consider this God who gives us our
food, this same one who reigns above
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all gods, this one who does
great wonders, who can do things like
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parting a sea or creating the sea, or stretching out his hand and making
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the world of creating things like the
Sun and the moon and the stars,
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all the way down to the very
bread on our table, the Cup to
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our lips. God steadfast love and
does endure forever, because he is God,
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because he is steadfast, because he
is love. And so we have
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both God's great supremacy in these acts
that are so hard to even begin to
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capture in our imaginations, to very
specific and concrete things, the very things
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on our table, and also these
situations we find ourselves in with certain people
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and in certain places, decisions we
have to make about who we eat,
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with, how we eat, what
we eat. All of these things we
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ought to think about in light of
God, who is the source of all
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things and to whom he calls us, to whom we can put our faith
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in. He calls us to put
our faith in him and as we do
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so, he gives us the opportunity
to give thanks to him, to remember
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the freedom that we have in him
and to love others as well. These
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things that I just mentioned, the
thinking about God is the source of things,
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thinking about our freedom and our food
and our responsibilities all in light of
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him, is a framework that we
have in scripture, principles that we have
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in scripture that teach us how we
ought to live. When Paul speaks to
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the church in Corinth Corinth, he
speaks to them in a very particular and
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difficult set of circumstances. As we've
been going through First Corinthians, we've seen
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on Paul dealing with these situations,
ethically complicated situations or there isn't always a
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black and white. We have to
kind of think through things, where you
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have to process the situation and the
circumstances through the principles of scripture, and
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he does that again here, an
issue he's brought up before about food sacrificed
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to idols. What are we to
think about? How are we to make
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these kinds of decisions? Paul tells
us how and he gives us an opportunity
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to think about how this applies to
other things as well. Before we get
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to some of the specifics of that, though, I do want us to
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think more about God, about who
he is and what he has done.
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I want to begin thinking about that
with you by asking you a question.
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I want to ask you to think
about some decision you made this week.
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I mean, maybe it was a
very big one or maybe it was a
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little one. Maybe it was how
much gas do I put in the car?
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How much time do I spend on
this assignment? Should I visit this
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friend or not? In all these
decisions, whatever is you're trying to decide,
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you have to make them according to
some set of principles. Ultimately,
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you do make them according to some
set of principles, ideas that you have
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the world, about how the world
works, about God, about life,
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about your life. Maybe you thought
about the price of gas or maybe you
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thought about the importance of the assignment
or the nature of the friendship, and
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then, in observing these things,
and severe early other things as well you
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made, you drew some sort of
conclusion. Well, in observing this decisionmaking
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process, I just want to point
out that we all have rules that we
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follow, laws that need to be
obeyed, frameworks of principles that we look
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at that help us to make our
decisions. But God is different. Unlike
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us, God has no rules that
he follows, no principles that he keeps
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an eye on. Now, that
doesn't mean that God isn't good or that
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he doesn't do wise things or good
things. It just means there's no ten
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commandments or constitution behind God by which
he's making his decisions by. There's no
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law or set of principles that God
looks to and says, okay, I've
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got to make sure I keep myself
and the things that I do aligned with
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that. God is different than us
in this way. There's no rule,
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no constitution, no commandment, no
principle outside of God that he looks at
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and he depends on. There's nothing
behind God, no first thing before him.
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There's nothing deciding for God, nothing
generating God or his plans or his
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actions. But for us he is
our first principle. Because he is this
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way, because there is nothing behind
him, there's no constitution driving him,
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no commandment that he's trying to follow, nothing outside of himself. It means
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that we can and must look to
him as the first of all things,
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because he is the beginning of all
things, the eternal and steadfast beginning of
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all things. How do we understand
what love is? How do we understand
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what wisdom is? How do we
understand what law is? What principle is?
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It all begins with him who has
no beginning. He is our first
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principle, he is our ten commandments, our Constitution, our covenant, as
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the Scriptures say, by him and
to him and through him are all things.
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There are many principles and laws in
this world, but God is the
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first principle, the first law,
the starting place for all things. Now
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he's not just a law, he's
not just a principle. He is our
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trying God and three persons, Father, son and Holy Spirit who relates to
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us. He is not just a
command he is the commander. He is
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not just love, he is a
lover. He loves US, he commands
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US, he charges us, but
he is our starting place. And because
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he is the true God and not
an idol, not a demon, not
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the vain imagination of men, but
because he is God, the True God,
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according to his eternal divine nature,
he is our king and everything depends
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on him. Everything depends on him, and that's why Paul can conclude as
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he does in First Corinthians ten.
He says whatever we do, we do
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according to his will, and we
do it all for the glory of God,
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whether we eat or drink, even
these mundane things, these average things,
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these everyday things, even those things, we do all for the glory
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of God. Ultimately, it's all
to redound to him. Ultimately, it's
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all for him. Psalm one hundred
and thirty six speaks of it. That's
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in this way as well. He's
the one who created all of these things,
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who spread out the earth, who
made the great lights, who made
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the sun, made the moon,
made the stars? WHO GIVES US OUR
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BREAD? He at the end of
the Psalm, remember, it is he
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who remembered us in our lowest state, who gives food to all flesh.
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That's why the Psalm ends give thanks
to the God of Heaven for his steadfast
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love endures forever. But here's the
problem, though, we owe him all
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things, though we owe him more
than we can ever imagine. Without God
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first setting us free from our bondage
to sin, from the dominion that the
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devil has over us in our sin, we are not able to give God
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the glory that we're at that we
ought, we're not able to follow him
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as we ought. God may be
true, God may be our compass,
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but before the saving work of Jesus
in our lives, we're unable to read
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the compass and we don't care to
read the compass. We don't want to
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follow God. We don't give him
honor. That doesn't mean that he stops
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being that. He still is that, we just don't follow it. Instead
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of going to his throne of grace, instead of living in the splendor of
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holiness, instead of enjoying the good
gifts that are on our tables, instead
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of loving our father and praying to
him, we wander around on his earth,
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getting ourselves into trouble, worshiping idols, serving demons, as Paul spoke
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about last time. Paul and Glaciers
for eight describes this kind of life.
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He says formally, when you did
not know God, you were enslave to
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those that, by nature, are
not God's. What a slavery, what
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an awful thing to be under all
the time. For those of us who
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have been rescued for that, from
that, this is a great joy,
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a reason to give things, a
reason to look at our food and praise
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the God who made it, the
God who gave it to us. It
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also, brothers and sisters, gives
us great reason to pity and to mourn
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for those who do not yet know
God, who are still in their sin,
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who still are enslave to those that, by nature, are not God's
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who fear death, who every day
are walking in its shadow and fear it
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and struggle and give their praise not
to God but to created things, who
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put their hope and their fear and
the things of this world who put there,
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who are entrapped by this present evil
age. We ought to pity them
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and mourn for them and tell them
of the hope that God gives to us
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in Jesus Christ. If the problem
is is that, in our sin were
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broken and that we can't give him
the glory that he deserves, we can't
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live in the freedom that he gives
us, the good news and the solution
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that God gives to us in the
Gospel is that he does set us free
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in Jesus through Jesus Christ, he
enters into the world and he takes on
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human nature. Right before the verse
I just read in Galatians for the Paul
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says this. He says when the
fullness of time had come, God sent
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forth his son, born of a
woman, born under the law, to
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redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as
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sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his
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son into our hearts, crying Abba
father, so that you are no longer
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a slave but a son, and
if a son, then an heir through
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Christ. Formerly you were enslave to
those who are not God's, but now
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you call the one true God father
through Jesus, who died for you,
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who redeemed you, who brought you
out from under the curse of the law.
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So one of the things that Paul
is speaking about, one of the
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Paul Things Paul is thinking through,
is he addresses this question about meet sacrifice
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to idols. Can we eat this
food that might be presented to us?
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Is He is first of all remembering
the God who made it. The Earth
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is the Lord's and the fullness are
of it's all God's. It's not ultimately
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some idol or a demon behind an
idol. It's God's more than that.
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Or, in addition to that,
he's also remembering that this God that has
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freed us from idolatry. He's freed
us from enslavement so that we can eat
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these things, not no longer under
fear. We have a freedom to enjoy
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God's good gifts and to give thanks
to God for them. These are the
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kinds of things that have been purchased
for us through Christ. When Paul says
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we have been redeemed out of this
slavery, it's good to take a moment,
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beloved, and just think about what
this freedom means. In our confession
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of Faith, in Chapter Twenty,
there's a whole section called on Christian liberty
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or of Christian Liberty, and it
lists these various freedoms that are purchased for
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us by Christ, the things he
redeems us out and it's a slavery he
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redeems us out of and into these
kinds of freedoms. I want to list
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some of them for you. Here's
some of the freedoms we enjoy as citizens
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the Kingdom of Heaven. Through Christ. We enjoy the freedom to obey God
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with childlike love and a willing mind. We have the freedom from guilt of
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sin, freedom from the condemning wrath
of God, freedom from this present evil
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world, freedom from the bondage to
Satan, freedom from dominion of Sin,
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freedom from the evil of afflictions,
freedom from the sting of death, freedom
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for the grave, from the grave
and everlasting damnation, freedom from the yoke
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of the ceremonial law and greater freedom
to the throne of grace in the new
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covenant than in the old. So
many things, and we could list others.
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When we are walking in this world, when we are eating and drinking,
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we are people that are no longer
enslaved. We are people who are
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free and can eat our bread and
drink our wine and eat our Turkey and
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all the rest, enjoy it in
freedom. This is what Jesus obtained for
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us through his blood, by shedding
his own blood, he got for US
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freedom, and it's this freedom that
we celebrate when we worship on the Lord's
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Day, knowing that in his resurrection
the victory is confirmed and our freedom is
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assured. Sundays are like the Christian
fourth of July. Every Sunday Independence Day,
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and we get to sit down and
rejoice and celebrate at this wonderful thing
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that we have. We get to
banquet with other people and say, look
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at what God has done for us. Brothers and sisters in Christ and even
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not on Sundays, even when we're
just eating and drinking and living our lives
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in this world, we still enjoy
that freedom. It's not just like a
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one day thing, it's all of
our lives. Sure, we are still
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in this world, but we're no
longer of it, we no longer belong,
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we're no longer bound to it and
we can live our lives and let
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go a little bit, celebrate and
Give Glory to God. It's a freedom
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that changes everything. Being freed from
sin, being freed from lawlessness, being
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freed from idolatry, being free from
demons, Satan, being free to be
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childlike worshipers of God and followers of
her son. We have great joy.
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He is our king, our number
one priority, the focus of all things.
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He is and becomes through Christ,
or I should say we. He's
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always our true north, he's always
our compass, but through Christ now we
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start to follow him. That way, God is steadfast in his love always
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and at all times, but in
Christ now we begin to appreciate it and
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follow him and love him as we
are. He becomes our first principle.
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Our Commandments are covenant by him and
True Him. And through him are all
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things. Through Christ, whatever we
do, we do according to his will
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and according to his honor and for
his glory, and with all kinds of
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thankfulness. We give thanks as salt, the Psalm ends, to God of
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Heaven for his steadfast love endures forever, a love that we know through Jesus
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Christ, his son. With those
principles laid down, we now begin and
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are able to think through the challenging
situations we find in our lives, and
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even the not challenging ones. Whatever
we do, hard times and easy times
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and complicated times, we can do
it all to the glory of God.
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And so when we think about our
eating, as Paul thinks with the Corinthians
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and gives them wisdom and guidance on
how they ought to think through this question
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about eat, eating, food,
sacrifice to idols, he says one of
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them. The things he says,
is eat whatever you want. You don't
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need to be bothered even to raise
this question. You don't need to think
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about this as a question of conscience. Why? Because the earth is the
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Lord's and the fullness of thereof,
it belongs to him, not an idol.
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You are his son. Enjoy it. Gladly, you can eat of
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it from him and to him and
if someone offers so, if someone offers
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you food, you don't need to
check first and see if it was offered
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to an idol or not. Just
enjoy it and enjoy it to the Lord.
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It's not the ignorance of whether it
was offered to an idol or not
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that protects you. It's the knowledge
that God is the true God and the
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only true God, and that all
these things belong to him. But the
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other thing he tells us is that
we don't look only to our own needs.
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He says, let no one seek
his own good, but the good
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of his neighbor. This is a
second principle that must be applied. A
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second principle that God wants us to
attend to is we make our decisions.
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If our freedom causes another person to
stumble, we let go of our rights,
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not because we don't have due appreciation
to God or thanks to God for
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our freedom, but out of that
appreciation, out of our love for him,
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we sacrifice ourselves for others if our
eating causes others to stumble and pay
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homage to false gods, or perhaps
in in other ways. We do not
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partake and that seems pretty simple,
and sometimes, honestly, it is,
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but sometimes the pressures can be great
and it's right to have these things very
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firm in our minds, very clear
in our minds, so that we can
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navigate the complicated situations and the pressure
situations when they come. In Corinth,
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this was the case. Idolatry and
food and neighbors. These weren't just questioned,
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the esoteric questions about religion. These
dinners, these parties, these opportunities
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that they had to eat with one
another, were the means by which they
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advanced themselves in society, at least
those who had the opportunity to. These
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were the networking events, these were
the deal making times, this is when
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the positioning would happen. Hierarchies and
ranks and authority and these kind of things
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were so important in Rome. The
common good, the joining together, the
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working together for the benefit of peace
and and civil society, while contwall increasing
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your ranks, this was what really
really mattered. So to give up on
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these things, to walk back on
these things, to say to your host
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no, thank you when everyone around
you is eating, when all this event
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is about something that will possibly benefit
you and your career and your place and
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all of this, especially when you're
doing it for a weaker person, a
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weaker brother, perhaps that could be
a very hard thing and a very challenging
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thing. And what Paul is asking
them in that moment with Paul is requiring
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of them and of us in those
moments, is to go back to the
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beginning and to remember our principles,
to remember God and what he has done
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for us in Christ, to remember
that, first and foremost, above anything
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in this world, our identity is
in him, our freedom is in him,
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and that we have a life that
is that goes beyond this world,
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that goes beyond the things of this
world, and that we can give up
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things like rank and money and a
big house and a lot of followers and
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even our own lives for the sake
of that kind of freedom that we have
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in Christ. The freedom that we
have in him, the redemption that we
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have through his blood is worth losing
everything. And when we have that in
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our minds and when we have that
clearly in our hearts, when we remember
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his steadfast love for us and that
he will never let us go and that
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he gives us all good things that
we need, both for this life and
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the life to come. I think
things do get a little easier sometimes,
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we get a little clearer about the
kinds of things that we need to do,
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the kind of sacrifices that we need
to make, when we remember that
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we do these things for the glory
of God and through his work for us,
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because he gives us a higher end, a higher purpose, a better
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promise and a better life, and
he does it through his very own love.
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We don't need sharp elbows to get
our ways, our way up into
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the Kingdom of Heaven. God descends
to us and gives to us the very
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blood and life of his own son. So my encouragement to you from the
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scriptures is to put your faith in
him. Look to God, who gives
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the source of all of these things, not only for the source of things
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in this life but also the life
to come. And as you put your
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faith in him, through Jesus Christ, the son of God, give thanks
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for the things on your table,
make wise and good decisions about whom you
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eat with and how you eat with
and how you eat and all the rest,
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and give glory to God. and
whatever you eat or drink or whatever
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you do, let's pray our heavenly
father, we do give you thanks and
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we give you praise. We refuse
to give this honor and this glory to
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other created beings, and certainly not
to those whom seek nothing but our own
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destruction, our own death, our
trouble and a stealing of your glory.
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Lord, let us not turn to
false idols and let us not turn to
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the things of this world as a
way to secure our freedom, to get
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food and shelter and honor and all
the rest. But, Lord, let
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us look to you and to you
alone, as the King of Heaven,
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as the God above all gods,
the one who made all of these things
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and does great wonders. In Your
Psalm, you talk to us about how
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you struck down the first board of
Egypt, how you brought Israel out from
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slavery and into the Promised Land.
You have done this for us, but
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even better, in rescuing us out
of the dominion of darkness and bringing us
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into the Kingdom of your beloved son. Oh Lord, forgive us for not
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living as citizens of that kingdom.
Forgive us for being too tied to the
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things of this world, for not
enjoying them as we ought, for despising
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them as we ought not, for
tying ourselves to them, for fearing them,
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for hoping in them, for loving
them too much. Lord, we
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ask that you would forgive us for
these things and instead, let us look
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to you through the salvation offered to
us in Jesus, and give you thanks
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with every bite, with every drink, with every good conversation. Let us
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give thanks to you and our hearts
and with our mouths, for you are
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go so good to us, and
indeed your steadfast love indures forever. May
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You receive all praise and honor and
glory now and forever. Amen.
