WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:05.200 Hi, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning into Newsung Churches Podcast. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:16.079 We're a biblically faithful, gospel-centered Anglican church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:20.160 You can learn more about us at newsongportperry.ca. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:24.239 May God bless you today through his life-giving word. 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:33.759 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:35.920 Test yourselves. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:39.359 Or do you not realize this about yourselves? 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:42.240 That Jesus Christ is in you. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:45.679 Unless indeed you fail to meet the test. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:50.479 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:54.880 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong. 00:00:55.119 --> 00:01:03.600 Not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:09.040 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:13.040 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:16.400 Your restoration is what we pray for. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:32.640 For this reason, I write these things while I'm away from you, that when I come, I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:35.519 Finally, brothers, rejoice. 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:38.000 Aim for restoration. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:40.079 Comfort one another. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:42.319 Agree with one another. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:48.239 Live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:51.760 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:54.239 All the saints greet you. 00:01:54.560 --> 00:02:02.799 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:05.120 This is the word of the Lord. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:06.719 Let's speak to God. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:17.360 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 00:02:17.759 --> 00:02:18.400 Amen. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:35.599 Heavenly Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would illumine these words to our understanding, that we would behold Christ and find our security in him, and that through him, Father, we would see your heart of great love and grace towards us. 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:41.199 So draw us into your life by grace, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we pray. 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:42.159 Amen. 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:43.840 Please be seated. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:03:04.319 Well, on the short list of books that have changed my life, there is one book in particular that I keep coming back to, and I know everybody's prepared for a Lord of the Rings reference. 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:05.680 That'll come later. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:09.439 This book is actually a book that I read in school. 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:15.919 It's called Life in the Trinity by an evangelical theologian, Donald Fairbairn. 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:22.319 And this was a book I was not prepared for the impact that this book would have on me as a young student, maybe 20 or so. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:27.919 You know, when you're 20 and you're studying theology for the first time, you really feel like you should be teaching the class, you know? 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:31.120 This one really knocked me off my feet. 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:33.280 I remember setting this book down. 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:41.759 I was with a friend in the class, we're both Anglican priests now, and I would say this book had a significant impact even in discerning that uh vocation that the Lord was calling us to. 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:57.039 But I remember setting this book down and turning to my friend and saying, I feel like for the first time I understand my Christian faith is less about what I'm expected to do for God and rather what God has done for me in Christ. 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:03.840 I didn't realize it at the time, but I just articulated the gospel, maybe for the first time at age 20. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:20.240 So in the introduction to this book, Life in the Trinity, Donald Fairbairn is uh helping us uh modern Bible-believing Christians to recover some truths that we may, if we're not careful, neglect and therefore forget. 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:40.160 And we can neglect, even uh with our with all our right emphasis on the authority of Scripture or on the doctrine of justification, sometimes we neglect what I think is the core of the Christian life, which is this: knowing the life and love of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, sharing and participating in it as his people. 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:43.439 We are called to a life in the Trinity. 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:48.639 And every other doctrine is meant to bolster and point us towards that goal. 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:55.519 And the early church, he makes the case, helps us to remind us, helps to remind us that that is the goal of the Christian life. 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:59.680 So let me just read a couple of excerpts from his introduction here to give you a flavor. 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:12.399 One of the significant problems, he says, in contemporary Christianity is that people unwittingly drive a wedge between theology and the living of the Christian life. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:24.879 The way the early church avoided the problem of divorcing doctrine from the Christian of life was by understanding all of the Christian life in direct connection to God's life. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:40.319 Participating in divine life means primarily sharing in the life of the Trinity, sharing in the relationship that has characterized the Father, Son, and Spirit from eternity past. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:43.759 So, bottom line, what are we called to as Christians? 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:45.279 What are we called to as a church? 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:51.360 To participate in and share the life of the Trinity. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:58.720 I think this is what Paul is getting at, the Apostle Paul is getting at as he concludes his second letter to the Corinthians. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:00.879 That's our New Testament reading this morning. 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:04.319 2 Corinthians 13, 14, which I read earlier. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:14.399 Often it's known as in shorthand as the grace, and this is a verse that historically has concluded morning and evening prayer for Anglicans. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:35.920 This is a verse that uh this is a verse that Paul, Paul is concluded, pardon me, Paul is concluding his letter, his second letter to the uh Corinthians, a letter that's all been all about the relationship between suffering and the power of the Spirit in Paul's apostolic life, ministry, and message. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:39.600 What does he want the Corinthians to know as he concludes this letter? 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:40.800 What does he want to leave them with? 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:42.240 He wants to leave them with this. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:55.120 The Christian life is a participation in our triune God, shown forth in the grace and love and fellowship of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:58.879 It's a sharing, it's a participating in the life of God. 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:00.800 That's what we're called to as Christians. 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:02.879 That's what we're called to as a church. 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:08.000 To experience the life of God and to show it forth in how we live. 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:10.000 That's very exciting to me. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:17.920 That's a very different thing than learning something about God, which might be intellectually interesting but existentially unsatisfying. 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:23.600 No, we're called, our whole person, to be drawn up into the life and love of God. 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:29.360 And Paul is helping to lay the foundation for this understanding in this very important verse. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:41.519 In fact, church reformer John Calvin says of this verse, 2 Corinthians 13, 14, he says, These are three clauses in which the sum of our salvation consists. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:45.759 Boy, the sum of our salvation could not make this verse more important. 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:46.800 So let's dive in. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:58.240 Let's understand how it is we are supposed to share and participate in the triune life of God shown forth in the grace and love and fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:00.319 All right, life of the Trinity, what does it look like? 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:05.120 Number one, it looks like sharing in the grace of God the Son. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:06.720 Grace. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:16.160 Grace means favor, it can mean kindness, it can mean generosity, but especially when it's undeserved. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:21.759 So maybe we can think of a particular vivid illustration of this in Luke chapter 15. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:23.600 We can think of the prodigal son, right? 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:33.120 Who squanders his father's inheritance that he very greedily grabbed for himself, and then realizes his stake, goes back to the father, and what does he have to say to his father? 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:39.279 He begs that he would just be a servant in the father's house, but the father runs out to meet him, doesn't he? 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:41.679 Throws his arm around him, embraces him. 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:46.399 He shows him a kindness, a generosity, a favor that this son does not deserve. 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:50.879 And we get an image there, don't we, of the grace of God in Christ. 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:53.360 We receive grace. 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:57.120 We receive the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, is what Paul is saying. 00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:00.080 How does Jesus specifically show us grace? 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:04.639 Here again is where I think the church reformer John Calvin is very helpful to us. 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:13.519 He says that this particular phrase, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a, I want to say this right, metonymy. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:15.200 A metonymy. 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:17.759 If you don't know what that means, I didn't know what it means either. 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:18.960 I had to look it up this week. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:23.519 Metonymy is like when you substitute one particular word for another. 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:28.799 So it's like if I said something like, Ottawa made such and such a legislative decision. 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:32.320 Well, you know that I don't mean the city of Ottawa, you know I mean the parliament, right? 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:34.320 Substituting one word for another. 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:35.600 So what's Calvin saying? 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:43.120 He's saying Paul is taking this word grace and he is substituting it in to denote the whole benefit of our redemption. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:52.559 This word grace is signals more than just a sort of sentimental kindness, it's the whole story of our salvation being acted out in real time. 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:57.679 In the incarnation where God takes on our flesh for our redemption. 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:02.960 At the cross, where he pays the penalty for our sin and puts to sin and death to death. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:06.639 In his resurrection, where he triumphs over death and hell. 00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:11.279 In his ascension, where he reigns from heaven over everything. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:16.639 And in his return in glory in the future, where he will bring his glorious kingdom with him. 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:22.080 All of this, Calvin is suggesting to us, is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:27.039 It's meant to, uh, we're meant to be identified with it. 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:31.600 Let it be with you all, let it sink in and become part of your identity. 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:38.000 Paul says elsewhere in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8, it is by grace that you have been saved through faith. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:44.559 This is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:52.399 So from all of this we should gather how wild and generous God's grace is to those who least deserve it. 00:10:52.639 --> 00:11:02.320 It is not that you and I have worked hard enough to earn God's grace, it is that He has a heart that is generous towards us and wants to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:04.639 That is what Jesus is all about. 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:06.559 That is who Jesus is. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:11.200 And when we cling to Jesus, we cling to the God of grace. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:18.240 See, the life in the Trinity means sharing and participating in the grace of God the Son. 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:28.159 So let's ask this question: what could it look like to live on the basis of grace and to live out that grace of God the Son? 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:31.200 Well, living on the basis of grace might look like something like this. 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:36.720 It might look like being sustained even when life is the most difficult. 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:39.759 So I'm going to cite a couple of passages from Corinthians. 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:44.480 Let's bear in mind Paul is writing this same letter to this same congregation. 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:52.000 So he's already touching on these themes of grace and love and fellowship as he helps us understand his meaning here in this very important verse. 00:11:52.320 --> 00:12:00.559 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul has already written that Christ has said to him, My grace is sufficient for you. 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:01.440 What's up? 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:05.679 Let me back up and say, Paul is struggling with what he calls a thorn in the flesh. 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:11.679 There is some deep trial that he is experiencing that is a serious impediment to his ministry. 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:13.759 Scholars debate what exactly that is. 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:17.440 Maybe it's the opponents that he's already identified earlier in the letter. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:24.399 But regardless, Paul knows what it is to experience difficulty and trial and suffering in this life. 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:27.840 And in the midst of that, he prays, Lord, would you take this away? 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:34.159 But here's the answer my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:41.840 And so therefore, Paul says, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:48.320 For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:54.720 For when I am weak, when I suffer, when life is most difficult, then I am strong. 00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:56.320 Why is he strong? 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:04.240 Because the grace of God in Christ is showing forth, not in his triumphant, victorious, effortless living. 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:09.360 It is showing forth in sustaining him through all of life's difficulties. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:32.240 Friends, if you know what it is to experience a thorn in the flesh, to experience the suffering and difficulties that go with living the Christian life, and if you know what it is to be sustained through that by a God who meets you and a God who walks with you along the way, then you know what it is to be sustained and live and participate in the grace of God in Christ. 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:37.039 It will see us through life's most difficult challenges. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:41.279 We can be sustained when we live on the basis of God's grace. 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:47.840 But when we live out on the basis of God's grace, we suddenly discover a real heart for generosity. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:53.360 At least that's what Paul identifies earlier in this letter. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:57.200 He writes, You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:06.559 You know this Corinthians, though he was rich, yet for your sake, he says, he became poor, so that you, by his poverty, might become rich. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:08.000 That's very interesting. 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:18.559 That takes place in a passage where Paul is describing the generosity of Macedonian Christians making, insisting on making a contribution towards Christians in need in Jerusalem. 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:24.480 And he's saying there's something about that generous heart that is showing forth the grace of God in Christ. 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:30.080 Because God has been so generous with us that we can't help but be generous with others. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:43.279 There's something about a closed-fistedness that suggests our heart hasn't quite received or it hasn't fully received deep down that grace of God which opens us up to the life of generosity. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:54.960 There's something about the grace of God that causes us to be open, to see the resources that God has given us as something to be shared, to bless others, not simply to be clung to. 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:59.679 And there's something about this that Paul recognizes as true of Christ Himself. 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:07.279 He was generous towards us, and therefore he enables us, empowers us to show generosity towards one another. 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:15.120 One commentator writes that the grace of God banishes self-assertiveness and self-seeking. 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:16.720 That's what God's grace does. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:27.679 It frees us from ourselves and it frees us from lesser affections, such that we show forth the very heart of Christ towards one another as his people. 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:36.879 Life in the Trinity means sharing and participating in the sustaining and generous grace of God in Christ. 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:43.519 It also means this: it means sharing and participating in the love of God the Father. 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:47.759 Let's look at that second clause in 2 Corinthians 13, 14. 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:50.080 The love of God. 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:54.240 This love that Paul talks about is agape love. 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:57.200 We've seen that word crop up before in other passages, right? 00:15:57.440 --> 00:16:01.360 It's not just a sentimental love, it is a love that is committed. 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:08.320 It's a love that wills the good of the other, especially through self-sacrifice. 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:14.879 Often, you know, this very old school word charity gets used as a translation of agape. 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:16.080 C.S. 00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:30.639 Lewis writes of this, he says, every act of justice or charity involves putting ourselves into the other person's place and thus transcending our own competitive particularity. 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:33.840 I love that phrase, competitive particularity. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:57.039 I mean, I don't love it because I recognize my own heart, and I often compete for what's mine, or I compete to get ahead, but a heart that's full of agape, full of charity, full of the sort of the heart of, let me put it this way, reflects the heart of God towards us in Christ, is a love that is far more concerned with the good of my neighbor than is concerned with getting ahead myself. 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:00.080 That's the kind of love that Paul is identifying here. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:03.919 This is the love that we see in God the Father. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:18.880 And this phrase, of course, the love of God, uh, generally in the New Testament and especially in Paul, when we see groupings of the Lord Jesus and then God, we we can generally it suggests uh different persons of the Trinity, right? 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:23.119 The Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, God who, you know, God the Father. 00:17:23.359 --> 00:17:28.559 Okay, so what we're seeing is the heart of God the Father towards us in the love of God. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:31.119 And this is more than mere sentiment, right? 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:40.799 The whole story of our salvation, the whole story of um of Scripture bears witness to God's unfailing love towards us. 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:46.240 He unfailingly wills our good to the infinite degree. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:47.599 Let's put it that way. 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:54.640 God infinitely wills our good, and especially when we least deserve it. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:56.960 Again, I'm gonna look at Ephesians chapter 2. 00:17:57.039 --> 00:17:59.519 I love Ephesians chapter 2, 1 to 10, by the way. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:06.319 If you know you're looking for more homework to do, because everybody's looking for more homework, boy, read Ephesians 2, 1 to 10. 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:08.240 You'll do yourself a huge favor there. 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:10.400 But this is Ephesians 2 again. 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:13.519 Paul is talking to a similar church in Ephesus. 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:21.119 He says, And you, that's you plural, you church, were once dead in the trespasses and sins in which you walked. 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:22.960 But he goes on to say this. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:36.480 But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:40.559 How has God showed his love to us, his church? 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:56.000 He showed us love because he found us spiritually dead in our transgression, in our sin, having turned our backs on God's will and towards curved in ourselves and our own self-will, God has found us where we are, and he was not content to leave us there. 00:18:56.160 --> 00:19:06.799 But in Christ, he has drawn us to himself and given us new life in him, that we can live in that love and live out that love towards one another. 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:10.000 We were dead, but now we were alive. 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:13.759 This is amazing grace, and this is amazing love. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:23.279 Life in the Trinity means sharing and participating in the grace of God in Christ and in the love of God the Father. 00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:24.720 So, what could that look like? 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:27.839 What could it look like to live on the basis of God's love? 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:38.880 Well, first and foremost, it looks like security, I think, because there is no more secure place we can be than enveloped in God's unfailing love. 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:48.799 Paul writes in Romans 5 8 that God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:56.000 So God doesn't show his love in those who were formerly sinners but tried really, really hard and don't sin anymore. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:59.200 No, God shows his love while we're still sinners. 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:08.480 When we were still sinners, when we were his enemies, as it were, Christ was willing to go to the cross to do away with the penalty of our sin. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:15.920 To do away, put sin and death to death so that we could share in his new life by way of his resurrection. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:23.119 His love is willing to go to hell and back for us, because that's exactly what God in Christ has done. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:34.480 That's why we can affirm in John chapter 3 that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:44.799 When we look at the cross, we see the symbol of God's greatest love for us, and we see the greatest symbol of our assurance in him. 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:52.400 We live in such security because there is nothing that we can do that will spoil God's love for us. 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:59.279 He loves us infinitely, he loves us truly, he loves us committedly, and we are loved in him. 00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:03.039 And we live out that love, one towards another. 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:09.200 We live it out in charity, we live it out in agape, we live it out in committed, self-giving love. 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:20.799 Again, one commentator says that the love of God puts jealousy and anger to flight, because these things are incompatible with charity towards one another. 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:25.440 Earlier in our passage, Paul has laid out a little bit of what this looks like. 00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:31.440 He says, Finally, brothers, brothers and sisters, we understand, finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, he says. 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:42.559 Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:44.559 That's not conditional, right? 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:49.680 That's making manifest the love of God that he shows us in Christ. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:51.599 Aim for restoration, he says. 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:53.039 These are instructions to the church. 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:58.240 It's like, let me give you some final reminders here about how you live life together as a church. 00:21:58.480 --> 00:21:59.599 Aim for restoration. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:03.759 Which suggests to me that there's something to be restored. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:10.480 That conflict is part and parcel of living life together as sinners saved by grace. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:12.640 The church will come into conflict. 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:17.839 The Corinthians we've already seen get divided and gang up against one another. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:21.519 That can happen in the life of the church, but that's not what we're supposed to aim for. 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:30.240 When we come into conflict with one another, we are to aim for restoration by way of forgiveness, by way of charity, by will of willing each other's good. 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:41.839 What would it look like as a church if we were to have disagreements, whether it's interpersonal disagreements or we're deciding, you know, we've got a vestry meeting, disagreements never happen about church business, right? 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:43.839 What would it happen? 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:53.359 What would it look like if when we had conflict in the life of the church, we willed not for our will be done, but we willed the greatest good for our neighbor. 00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:59.599 That's aiming for restoration, aiming to comfort one another, agreeing with one another and living in peace. 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:03.599 And when we do that, Paul says, the God of love and peace will be with you. 00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:05.200 He'll be made manifest. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:09.039 We will experience something of the love of God in how we love one another. 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:18.079 Friends, that is part and parcel of what the church is meant to be: to be a living witness to the grace of God in Christ and to the love of God the Father. 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:21.839 We can show that to one another, what it is to be that. 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:28.559 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:32.240 If we are living life in the Trinity, this is what it looks like. 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:35.759 This is what we, the basis on which we live and what we live out. 00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:38.000 What do we mean by the fellowship of the Holy Spirit? 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:39.599 This is the third clause. 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:42.559 Fellowship can mean something like solidarity. 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:44.160 It can mean sharing. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:51.519 The Greek word here is koinonia, and it gives us our root word for things like community or communion, right? 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:56.720 This is why I think quest stories are so popular, you know? 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:00.720 And yes, this is where I reference the fellowship of the ring, of course. 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:13.200 I think these stories just enrapture us, they capture our attention because we long for that common purpose that is will that is worth laying everything else down to accomplish. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:25.839 The thing about our modern world is while it empowers us to determine our own purpose for ourselves, when everybody determines the purpose of life for themselves, it leaves us with very little in common. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:31.119 And it leaves us with very little to uh, shall we say, quest for together. 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:33.839 But we as a church, we as a church have a fellowship. 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:35.119 We are a fellowship. 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:41.440 And we have a purpose for that fellowship, which is sharing and participating in the very life of God together. 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:45.599 We have the greatest kind of quest, an eternal quest together. 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:50.799 And this fellowship is based in the very fellowship of the Holy Spirit. 00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:57.279 Our catechism book, To Be a Christian, writes this: the Holy Spirit unites Christians to Jesus. 00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:09.519 Do you hear that communion, that unity language, unites Christians to Jesus, indwelling them, convicting them of sin, giving them spiritual gifts, and bearing spiritual fruit in their lives? 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:12.720 I want us to notice that all these things are related to one another. 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:15.440 These aren't separate operations of the Holy Spirit. 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:17.039 All of these things connect. 00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:24.960 If we as Christians are united to God through his Holy Spirit, then the life of God will flow into us, as it were. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:26.799 Do you remember Jesus' illustration? 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:28.880 I am the vine, you are the branches? 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:31.920 The life of the vine flows out into the branches. 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:40.799 Well, it's the Holy Spirit who unites us to the life of God that therefore brings to us all of the benefits and life and love of God. 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:48.000 It flows out into us, and therefore we can't help but bear much fruit in accordance with our giftings, right? 00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:52.079 Last week we read 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and we read these verses. 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:53.920 I'm just going to share a couple of excerpts. 00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:58.400 Now there are a variety of gifts, Paul says, but the same Spirit. 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:02.240 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:09.680 In one spirit, we were baptized into one body, and were all made to drink of one spirit. 00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:11.279 Do you hear that unity language? 00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:13.119 Do you hear that fellowship language? 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:18.880 It's participation in the life of God and unity with one another as God's people. 00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:20.720 This is what life in the Trinity means. 00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:27.839 It means sharing and participating in the fellowship of God, the Holy Spirit, who indwells us. 00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:30.480 So now what does it look like to live on that basis? 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:33.119 And what does it look like to live that out? 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:38.720 Well, living on the basis of the fellowship of God, the Holy Spirit, can look like this. 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:43.119 It looks like being God's holy temple. 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:50.079 This is the language that Paul uses to describe the church in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:54.400 So bear in mind, this is a church community that's receiving all of these letters. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:27:00.079 It's like they've seen these themes already being developed, and Paul wants to remind them of what he's already said. 00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:04.400 So in 1 Corinthians 3 and 1 Corinthians 6, Paul repeats this line. 00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:12.880 He says, Do you, that's plural, you church, do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:18.160 Now it's true, God's Holy Spirit, we can rightly say indwells each individual Christian. 00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:25.359 But there is something about the life of the church that we can also rightly say the Lord's Spirit indwells us corporately. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:26.960 He knits us together. 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:30.160 He brings us together as the body of Christ. 00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:39.519 And by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the church becomes God's holy meeting place with humanity. 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:41.119 That's what the temple is, isn't it? 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:43.359 It's where God goes to meet with his people. 00:27:43.680 --> 00:27:46.559 Well, now we don't look for temples made with hands. 00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:56.720 God makes his temple by way of his Holy Spirit, who dwells us, who indwells us and knits us together as his temple. 00:27:57.920 --> 00:28:04.960 So when we live on the basis of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit Spirit, we understand that church is more than just that thing I do on Sunday mornings. 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:07.039 Church is who I am. 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:08.319 I am part of the church. 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:09.839 I'm a living member of it. 00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:22.480 And God's building us up and me as part of it into this holy temple where he is working out his grace and love and fellowship amongst us and through us. 00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:27.519 The church would be far less without any of us. 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:31.839 Because God wants to work through us to show forth his life. 00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:33.440 And this is how we live it out. 00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:36.559 We can live out this fellowship of the Holy Spirit in this way. 00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:41.839 One commentator writes that the fellowship of the Holy Spirit leaves no room for quarreling and factions. 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:46.000 And if there's one thing that the Corinthians are up to, it's quarreling and factions. 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:52.559 The Corinthians' problem, we understand, has a gospel solution. 00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:55.759 We are God's fellow workers, Paul writes. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:57.119 You are God's building. 00:28:57.279 --> 00:29:00.240 Pardon me, you are God's field, God's building. 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:04.480 This word fellow workers got me really excited because I thought, oh, that's related to fellowship. 00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:06.240 That's a it's a different word in the Greek. 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:13.440 It literally kind of translates co-workers, which is wild to think that God looks at us and among other things thinks, oh yeah, those are my co-workers. 00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:14.079 You know? 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:20.079 Like God actually wants to partner with us in his good creation work, which is just crazy to think about. 00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:24.720 But it's certainly conveying that same idea, isn't it? 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:31.599 That we are fellows together, working not in competition with one another, but in cooperation with God. 00:29:31.759 --> 00:29:38.400 And therefore we're being cultivated like God's field or being built up like God's building. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:42.559 I think this also gives us a good basis to understand the Lord's Supper. 00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:54.559 Because in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul has written to this congregation, the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation, a koinonia, a fellowship in the blood of Christ? 00:29:54.799 --> 00:29:59.920 And the bread we break, is it not a participation, a koinonia in the body of Christ? 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:09.599 He writes, because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:13.279 So what does communion signal to us? 00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:20.079 It signals to us as individual Christians that we have fellowship with God by way of the Holy Spirit in Christ. 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:23.759 You see that Trinitarian understanding of the Lord's Supper? 00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:28.400 But it also reminds us that we together have communion in Him. 00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:31.519 It's vertical and it's horizontal. 00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:36.319 That's why, friends, when we come to the Lord's table, we come to it together, right? 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:40.400 We're not meant to do communion on our own, you know, sitting at our kitchen table. 00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:55.599 We're meant to do communion as a family of God in Christ, coming to the Lord's table together to experience something of that sweet fellowship that we are called to for all eternity in Christ by the Holy Spirit and with one another. 00:30:56.720 --> 00:31:06.079 This is what it means to share in the life and love of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, His grace, his love, and his fellowship. 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:09.599 This, friends, is living life in the Trinity. 00:31:09.920 --> 00:31:14.400 Trinity can often seem like a very abstract and removed doctrine, can't it? 00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:18.799 I hope we're beginning to see how the Trinity is the basis of the Christian life. 00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:23.599 It is God's vital life flowing in and through us, his church. 00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:40.240 And we can start to see what Calvin's talking about, that these are three clauses in which the sum of our salvation consists: participation, sharing, grace and love and fellowship in God and with one another. 00:31:40.400 --> 00:32:01.440 Friends, I have to think that Port Perry needs more of these sorts of Christians, and that Port Perry needs more of these sorts of churches that show forth the love and the grace and the fellowship of God as we gather with one another, as we show that towards one another, and as we turn to our neighbors and we make that known. 00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:09.519 This is who our God is, and we are called to enjoy that mystery for ourselves and to share it with others. 00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:19.119 Friends, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all forever. 00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:20.240 Amen. 00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:24.000 We hope that you've been blessed by God's word today. 00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:29.599 If you live in the area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m. 00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:33.839 If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you. 00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:39.359 Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us. 00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:45.920 Newsong's ministry is entirely funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us. 00:32:46.079 --> 00:32:54.319 If you feel called to support our ministry with a financial gift, please go to newsongportperry.ca giving to make your contribution. 00:32:54.640 --> 00:32:57.920 Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.