Episode Transcript
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I'm going to mend the bulletin a
bit and look at Colossians chapter one again,
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but just the first two verses Colossus
Chapter One, beginning in verse one.
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Listen, for this is the word
of the Lord Paul, an Apostle
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of Christ Jesus, by the will
of God, and Timothy, our brother
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to the Saints and Faithful Brothers in
Christ at Coloss A. Grace to you
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and peace from God, our father. That's by the reading of God's word
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me. He blessed it to us. Please be seated. Envelopes, I'm
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going to talk for a little bit, maybe too long, about envelopes.
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Envelopes are rarely interesting, and yet
did you know that envelopes predate most things?
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They've found evidence of envelopes predating even
a written language, before people were
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even carving cuneiform. Unto Clay Tablets, they were sending and delivering messages using
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miniatures of sheep or items that they
wanted to trade and sending him far away.
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And the way they would do that
is they would encase them in a
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clay ball, basically, and to
ensure that it didn't get opened or tampered
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with, they would roll a stamp
around this clay ball to make sure everyone
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knew when it got there that this
is from the original sender. So envelopes
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predate even the written language. and
my interest in envelopes began when my father
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was a postmaster for the US post
office. He worked in a tiny one
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man post office. He was the
postmaster, which meant his job was selling
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stamps one at a time and in
an attempt to drum up business in this
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five hundred people town where he worked, he and to keep himself busy,
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he developed a hobby and as this
hobby was writing, writing letters, and
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not just anyone right, but writing
letters to famous people, and sometimes they'd
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respond with a note or maybe they'd
respond with an autographed picture and little embarrassed
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to say, he got me into
this hobby as well. So in in
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high school, days off and on
Summers when I would go and spend a
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day with him at this tiny post
office, we'd spend our days looking up
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addresses writing letters, because you never
know what was going to happen. We
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would write to cartoonists, to musicians, to authors, to actors, even
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to presidents, because you never know
who would respond. And every day we'd
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check the mail to see if anyone
wrote back. Usually they did not,
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but every once in awhile you'd get
something interesting in the mail, and on
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only a couple of occasions we'd receive
a handwritten, personalized letter from someone that
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we seen on on the TV,
and in those instances you could always tell
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that they'd taken the time not only
to write the letter, but it was
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the same handwriting on the outside of
the envelope as well, and for some
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reason that felt extra special to me. And so you know, in saving
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all of these these are artifacts,
we end up saving some of the envelopes
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as well. And when was the
last time you treasured an envelope and not
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just the the letter that it contained? I mean, most of the time
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they're uninteresting. We cast them aside
because, having gotten the letter to us,
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they've accomplished their mission, they fulfilled
their function and now they're just clutter,
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which is why this evening I wanted
to take some time to reflect on
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what is essentially the address line,
or the outside of the envelope of Paul's
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letter to the Collossians. It's just
a couple of verses here and therefore it's
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easy for us to sort of skim
past these words and an effort to get
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to what Paul really wants to say
to the church. Whoever, even these
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opening greetings are written with a purpose, and this brief introduction does prepare for
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what to expect throughout the rest of
Paul's letter. Now, Paul is writing
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this letter to a church he has
not yet visited, and as the Gospel
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message is spreading, as associates of
Paul are also going out and planting churches,
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even Paul hasn't been to all of
them. So he's writing to a
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church in which he hopes to see. He's writing to encourage this young church.
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He's writing to strengthen them, to
keep them from error, and because
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the reason he because the reason he
can't visit them, is due to his
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own imprisonment. He's writing this letter
from prison, and so even if he
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physically cannot be with them, he
sends this word to them to bring them
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Greater Assurance of the Gospel, for
he longs for this church to know the
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truth. He longs to them to
grow in their knowledge of the truth,
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he longs for their lives to shine
with the truth. Now, ultimately,
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Paul is writing to this church with
instruction on on doctrine and on life.
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He's telling this young church not only
what man is to believe concerning God,
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but what Judy God requires of man. Throughout this letter he is reminding the
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Church of the hope of the Gospel
and in just a few chapters the length
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of this letter, he covers a
depth of topics. He proclaims the person
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and nature of Christ, the Ministry
of the Gospel, proclaiming the mysteries hidden
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for age is now revealed to the
saints, because he's aware of the attempts
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of others to delude and to deceive
this church with error. And so he's
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bringing comfort as well. He's bringing
encouragements that the Church would not be led
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astray by what appears to be wisdom, for Christ is the one in whom
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are hidden all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge. And as he directs the
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Church not only to the nature of
Christ but to his gracious work on the
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Cross, this work produces a response
in the lives of God's people. He
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calls us all to live lives then, of of gratitude, saying, for
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you have died in your life is
hidden with Christ in God. And so
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this is a young church, but
one that is growing in maturity and will
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be used by God for the spread
of the Gospel Message. And so this
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is a letter that proclaims Christ not
only what he has done for us in
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securing our salvation, but what he
continues to do in and among the lives
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of his own people, which is
why this is a letter not just for
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one church but for the whole church, as Paul gives instructions near the end
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of this letter in Collossians Sixteen.
When this letter has been read among you,
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have it also read in the Church
of the laudessans. And so by
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US reading this letter today, we
are continuing to fulfill the apostles instructions to
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pass this letter along. And so
even in the opening lines of this letter,
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Paul is already teaching and comforting and
encouraging this church. Now, I
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know that sounds like a lot to
do on the outside of the envelope,
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but look at how much there is
here in these few verses. I mean,
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on the one hand, is not
all that complex. He's writing the
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necessary details right just like the outside
of the envelope. He's telling us who
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the letter is from. He's telling
us who this letter is for. But
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even here we are already brought into
the heart of why this letter was written,
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for here we're shown not only Paul's
care and concern for the Church,
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we're shown Christ's care. Paul is
expressing the concern of the Lord, and
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that the Lord cares for his church
is seen in the very first verse of
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this epistle. Paul, an apostle
of Christ, Jesus by the will of
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God, and here we see that
it is God's who is sending forth his
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word. Paul is writing this letter, and so he identifies himself by name.
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But, just so we're clear,
he's telling us that he's not writing
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to us on his own authority.
His address to this church is not simply
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with his own instructions, his own
opinions. He's coming to them in the
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name of someone else. This is
what an apostle is. He is a
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messenger, one send out like an
ambassador. This letter is therefore obviously written
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by Paul, but it carries the
weight, it has the significance of Christ
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himself. Paul is a representative of
Christ. That's what an apostle is.
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Therefore, his address to the church
is ultimately not his own, but Christ's
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address to this church. And just
to make that even more clear what this
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means. Paul says that he's an
apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will
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of God. You See, apostle
is not a self appointed position. Paul
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didn't wake up one day and apply
for the job, nor was Paul voted
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to be an apostle by his peers. Now we know the details of Paul's
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conversion and calling on the road to
Damascus. He was a Pharisee who had
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been persecuting the church. He was
there when Stephen was stoned and acts seven,
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and he was on his way to
wreck more havoc on the church and
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Damascus, but the Lord intervened,
appearing to him, blinding him, speaking
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to him Saul, Saul, why
are you persecuting me? And I answered,
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who are You Lord? He said
to me, I am Jesus of
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Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.
And when his sight was restored and Damascus,
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he was told the God of our
fathers has appointed you to know his
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will, to see the righteous one
and to hear a voice from his mouth,
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for you will be a witness for
him to everyone that you have of
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what you have seen and heard.
It was by very direct divine intervention,
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that Paul is an apostle, and
it was the Lord alone who converted this
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persecutor and made him into a witness. Paul is an apostle there for completely
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according to the will of God,
and this is good news, not only
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for Paul but for the church.
God is at work in Paul, speaking
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to his church, and not only
to the church in Coloss A, but
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to us today. God has been
speaking his words is the day Paul put
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pain to parchment. This word has
remained God's word to his church throughout time,
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and so Paul is a heavenly sent
apostle. To whom, then,
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is the letter written as a messenger
of the Lord? Who is his audience
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to the Saints and Faithful Brothers in
Christ at Coloss a? Grace to you
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and peace from God, our father. This is the standard way letters were
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written in the ancient world. This
is the standard way we still write letters
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even to this day. Who is
it from? Who is it for?
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And yet, even in these ordinary
conventions, Paul is using them to communicate
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something eternal. For here Paul is
writing to the church in Coloss A.
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and yet what word do we find
missing from this address line? He doesn't
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call it a church. I mean
clearly that's who he's addressing. And yet
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what does he call them? He
calls them saints, he calls them faithful
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brothers in Christ. In the New
Testament the words saint is used very often
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as a title for a Christian.
And did you know what the words Saint
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Means? Literally? It means holy
ones. Just as Israel was called to
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be a holy nation, so here
that same language is now being applied to
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the church. This is so significant, especially for Paul. Paul was a
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Jewish pharisee who has now been sent
to preach Christ to the gentiles, and
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the Pharisees were clearly known for their
holiness codes and holiness laws. For the
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Pharisees, those who were not Jewish
were ceremonially unclean and inherently unholy. And
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so, just on a historical level, it's fascinating that this former pharisee would
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be addressing a group of Greek gentiles
as holy ones. And not a theological
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level, how amazing that gentiles are
being drawn to the god of Abraham,
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Isaac and Jacob, that gentiles are
worshiping the holy one of Israel and that
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gentiles are themselves are being called Holy. Is that how you think of the
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Church? The gathering of Holy Ones, as the faithful brothers in Christ?
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If the post office in two on
God a letter simply addressed to the holy
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ones of Tucson, those who are
faithful in Christ, Jesus, but they
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know where to deliver it, would
you know where to deliver it? Paul
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uses these words as synonyms for the
church. Is this how you think of
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the Church? Holy People, faithful
in Christ. mean, maybe not.
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I mean, after all, are
we reminded of our unfaithfulness frequently? Aren't
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we confronted by our sin as we
read the law? Don't we repent of
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our unholy attitudes and desires so often? I mean, is in the Christian
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life a constant struggle against sin,
against pride, against selfishness? Would we
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ever be so arrogant as to call
ourselves holy faithful? Well, God is
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telling us that yes, yes,
this is exactly how you should view yourself,
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because this is exactly how God views
you. That's the parallel in this
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verse. Where are these holy ones, where are these faithful brothers? They
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are in Christ and incloss A,
even here in this address line. Don't
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you see how we're shown our identity. How should we view ourselves holy?
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For Are we not called to be
Holy Faithful? Is it not? We've
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what we've been charged with? And
yet this calling is located somewhere, not
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only in a physical location, Tucson
coloss a, but spiritually. Where are
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we located in Christ? And so
why does God Call You holy? Why
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does God call you faithful? Here? It's because we're getting better every day
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and every way, because we're winning
a fight, we're winning this struggle,
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because every day is just another victory. Holiness and righteousness. No, we
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have our absent downs, right,
but regardless of our failings, regardless of
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our successes, that we that we
are in Christ means that when God sees
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us, He sees Christ. When
he sees you, he views you as
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holy blameless, not because you're winning, but because you're in Christ, because
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he won the ultimate and final struggle
against sin. When he took your sin.
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We paid for it on the Cross. Because of His Holiness and righteousness
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is now yours. Only then can
you be called holy and faithful by God
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himself, locating us in Christ.
We then hear the Familiar Apostolic Greeting Grace
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to you in peace from God our
father. Up, Paul begins this letter
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in a typical way. This is
a standard greeting, but in this greeting
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to it's easy to skim over and
miss what is really taking place. It's
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easy to simply hear Paul's words as
just another bit of formalism, but not
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us. The consistency of these words
with what he's already just said to those
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holy and faithful in Christ comes a
message grace peace to you from God our
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father, which means that you cannot
hear these words simply as a wish,
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like the kinds of things we put
in our letters. Hope you're doing well,
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have a nice day. You see
how different this greeting is. It's
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not simply a kind remark or a
simple wish. It's a public declaration from
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the appointed Messenger of God himself.
This is why Paul says grace to you
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and peace from God our father.
Paul is saying these words on behalf of
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his God and Lord, not himself. This letter that's begins with an official
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announcement, and this announcement tells us
something about who we are, that God
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is announcing grace to us. What
does that imply. It means that in
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ourselves we are undeserving, undeserving of
God's goodness, undeserving of God's favor.
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And grace implies even more than that. This term implies that we were actually
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deserving the opposite of God's favor.
God is gracious towards those who deserve wrath
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and judgment. I mean, if
the difference between being poor and having having
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nothing and being in debt owing everything
before the Lord, we don't just completely
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simply come empty handed, we come
holding the debt of our sin. And
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yet the Lord greets us with a
declaration of grace, rather than judgment,
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rather than pay up. The announcement
is grace, and that God announces peace
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to US forces us to ask the
question why. What does this word imply?
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Peace is a declaration made at the
end of war, which means God
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is announcing peace to those who were
his enemies, as Paul will go on
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to tell us in chapter two.
And do you, who were dead in
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your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, but in Christ, as those
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gathered in him, what do we
hear? Grace and peace. There is
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blessing. Where there was once wrath, there is peace where there was once
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hostility. This is what Christ has
accomplished, as Isaiah prophesied. But he
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was wounded for our transgressions, he
was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him
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was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
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This declaration is not Paulse, as
we have seen. It's the announcement
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of God, our father, our
Lord, addresses us with this amazing announcement
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of the Gospel. Grace to you
and peace, for God is being gracious
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to you, and in that very
peace that exists between father and son in
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the trinity is the same peace you
now have with God, which is why
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we call God more than gracious,
more than peacemaker. What do we call
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him? Our Father? The result
of this grace and peace is our entrance
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into the very family of God.
Beloved then, as those trusting in the
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Lord, this is God's message for
you, as those who have been called
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by him. This is his message
to you. Grace Peace. Have you
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noticed? This is how our worship
services begin every Lord's Day. It's not
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a coincidence. As God's people come
into his presence as a body, under
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the declaration of these words. It's
an announcement that likewise closes out worship.
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It's this message was not only colors
our entrance into the church, it covers
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our life, as this is what
is declared over and again to us again
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and again throughout God's word. The
simple announcement identifies us. It points us
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to who we are in ourselves,
it points us to our need and it
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points us to who we are in
Christ and who we will be forever in
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his presence. Holy Ones and faithful, because that's who you are in Christ
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and that's who you will be on
that great day, as God will welcome
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you into his presence once and for
all with these same words of grace and
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peace. Amen, let's pray.
