WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.600 Uh okay, we've been in a series of messages called cover to cover. 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:09.039 We started week one of uh this year in January, 15 weeks going through the Bible. 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:22.320 Uh of course, even at 15 weeks, you you're only kind of scratching the surface, kind of going at a high level uh and summarizing, but really trying to get our our heads and hearts around how to read the Bible and how this whole thing kind of fits together. 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:25.359 So we've been talking about the meta-narrative of the Bible. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:31.440 We started looking at uh the Bible as history and and literature as well as theology. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:38.079 And the better we understand the literature and the history, the more we can get into the theological takeaways we're supposed to have. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:41.280 And so there's been a lot of academic in this series, a lot of teaching. 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:43.119 I know for some of you that's right up your alley. 00:00:43.280 --> 00:01:07.920 For others, uh it may not be your favorite uh thing, but it's really what I'm trying to do is set us up uh for long term, not only for you when you're, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you're in your Bible by yourself, to be able to work through questions and to really be discipled even in your time by yourself, but also to set us up for future conversations as a church as we dig dig deeper into God's Word. 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:12.480 Uh we started in Genesis and we started looking at uh the Garden of Eden. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:18.159 In fact, it's more than just kind of that uh story about these animals and Adam and Eve. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:21.920 It's a story about the way God intended the world to function. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:34.239 That God created man and woman and his image, that God loved humanity and desired to have them in right relationship with him, right relationship with each other, and right relationship with the world around them. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:39.439 And pretty soon things started to cascade as free will decisions were being made. 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:44.879 Um, you know, people, uh free will kind of bumped into each other, and there's collateral damage of that. 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:50.159 And so uh things became chaotic, and over time, God said, you know what, I'm not giving up on humanity. 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:51.599 I'm going to create a nation. 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:57.120 And so we have the the nation of Israel, we have the law given by God, we have the promised land. 00:01:57.280 --> 00:01:59.439 We looked at things like prophets, priests, and kings. 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:04.640 We talked about covenants, all of these things that ultimately lead up to Jesus. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:09.520 Uh we looked at the gospels, we flipped to the New Testament, 27 books of the Gospels. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:12.400 We looked at uh or 27 books of the New Testament. 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:21.439 The four first four Gospels are the accounts of Jesus' life, and gospel means you on Gilean and Greek, which means a new king and a new kingdom. 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:24.319 So Jesus comes talking about the kingdom of God. 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:29.759 And and we talk about King Jesus, and it's not a political kingdom, it's not a national kingdom. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:34.479 It is uh his kingdom is not of this world, it's in this world, but not of this world. 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:37.599 And so we see it's a not uh it's a nonviolent kingdom. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:45.919 It's not that we're coming trying to take over uh necessarily physical space, it's in the hearts of human beings, and so that's what we're invited into. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:57.520 So Jesus uh you know presents that in the gospels, and then last week the connective tissue from the gospels into the rest of the Bible is the book of Acts, which is the Acts of the Apostles, written by Luke. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:08.719 Um it is uh the the star of the show in Acts is the is Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but his function through these disciples, and so Acts means the Acts of the Apostles. 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:12.400 The first 12 chapters follows the Apostle Peter. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:24.800 And uh in Acts chapter 9, we are introduced to the Apostle Paul, but we follow Peter, the story follows Peter up to chapter 12, and then from 12 uh to Acts 28, through the rest of the book, we follow the Apostle Paul. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:35.199 So when when Paul, we follow Paul in Acts, we see that he goes on three missionary journeys, and he plants churches all throughout the Mediterranean rim. 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:40.319 Okay, and we're gonna look at the epistles, which are the letters that Paul writes to these churches. 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:45.520 Now, before I start to kind of show you this, let's sort of get our head around what this would look like if it happened now, right? 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:47.840 So let's say, uh let's say I was like the Apostle Paul. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:04:00.719 I come to Columbus, I'm like, you know, I worked two or three years in this community, establishing a Christ-centered, gospel-centered community that we look at who Jesus is, we worship him, and we look at living the way that he taught us to live. 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:06.159 And once that community starts to function, uh, I put this uh, you know, Joe in charge. 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:06.560 Right? 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:08.080 All right, Joe, you got it from here. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:12.800 I'm leaving Columbus and I'm gonna go do the same thing I just did here, but up in Cleveland. 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:14.000 So I go up to Cleveland. 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:15.120 Nobody's from Cleveland, that's cool. 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:16.879 I figured I'd give you at least one woo. 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:18.000 That's fine, that's fine. 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:18.720 Too late now. 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:21.360 So I go up to Cleveland, do the same thing. 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:30.639 I integrate into the community, build relationships, and I raise somebody up in Cleveland after a couple years, and I head west, I go to Toledo. 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:32.480 Oh, yeah, you made that up. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:35.199 You're not from you ain't from Toledo. 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:40.000 Uh so you go to Toledo, you spend some time there, you raise somebody up in Toledo. 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:41.040 Now I'm in Toledo. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:46.079 I get this letter from Joe back in Columbus because he's like, oh, it's going a little sideways back here. 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:48.079 Somebody named Joe got excited. 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:48.480 Okay. 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:58.800 Um, okay, so so uh Joe is telling me what's going on in Columbus, and we're uh I'm now up in Toledo and I'm writing them a letter to help them work through an occasion or a situation or some problem. 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:00.720 Something's going down in Columbus. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:02.079 I'm dealing with it from Toledo. 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:05.040 I get there, I go down to Cincinnati. 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:09.680 I figured I'd get a hood day. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:10.079 All right. 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:17.759 Um, okay, so go down to Cincinnati, and then we establish a work in Cincinnati, and I just keep making my way around the state establishing works. 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:19.199 Okay, so think about that. 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:22.240 That's what Paul does in this the second half of the book of Acts. 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:23.519 Go ahead and bring this up. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:26.240 These are the 21 books of the epistles. 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:27.279 Go ahead and bring it up. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:29.600 Um, we have the Pauline epistles. 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:35.680 Pauline just means they were written by Paul, and the first number of those you're gonna see are named after the city. 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:39.759 So if it was our context, it'd be Columbus, Cleveland, whatever, right? 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:42.480 And so when Paul, here's a great example. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:49.519 When he writes to the Ephesians, he's writing to the believers in Ephesus, the church in Ephesus. 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:57.199 But when you get down here and you see 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, those are individuals, and those are what are called the pastoral epistles. 00:05:57.279 --> 00:06:02.399 He's teaching them how to be uh spiritual Christian pastoral leaders. 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:08.720 So Timothy is actually the pastor of the Ephesian church. 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:11.519 So it would be like writing to Joe and Columbus. 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:15.360 I might write a whole letter to Columbus, and I might write a whole letter just to Joe. 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:22.720 But he's writing, when he writes to the Ephesians, this is to be passed around and distributed all over Ephesus. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:25.839 But when he writes to Timothy, he's writing just to Timothy. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:34.399 You'll notice down here you have the book of Hebrews and asterisk because uh there's not agreement on who authored the book of Hebrews. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:39.600 So traditionally it's been attributed to Paul, but we don't exactly know, and so I put an asterisk there. 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:44.240 Down here we have the general epistles, which are uh named after the author. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:53.439 So you have James, which is James, a brother of Jesus, you have first and second Peter, um Peter, and then first, second, third John is John the Apostle. 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:59.360 So the same guy who wrote the Gospel of John, okay, wrote three epistles. 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:03.759 John, first, second, third, John, and actually the book we're gonna look at next week, Revelation. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:06.639 And then Jude, also a brother of Jesus. 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:07.199 Alright? 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:15.439 Okay, now let's look at the epistles, and let's but but before we kind of get into the structure, I want us to really get our heads around what's going on here. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:16.079 Alright? 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:24.000 So all of these were written in the first century, from you know, probably 40 AD on to the end of the first century. 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:29.680 So when you think contextually, they didn't have a post office like what we would have now. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:34.160 There was a postage system, but it wasn't accessible to the average human being. 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:38.079 You you had to either be in the government or in the military to be able to access that. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:43.199 If you and I wanted to send a letter, okay, we would have to pay. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:49.439 It was a it was in today's dollars, it was about$2,500 to send a letter. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:50.079 All right. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:55.839 The uh if you think about now, right, we shoot a text message with your thumb, boom, no problem. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:59.279 Uh you you um send an email, blah, blah, blah, boom, gone. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:00.560 You do a bunch of them all day. 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:02.000 It doesn't cost you anything. 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:04.800 Um, except just, you know, your time and energy. 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:07.600 You think about uh even paper, right? 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:11.920 At this time, first century, there was no Dunder Mifflin paper company, right? 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:14.000 So it was like, how am I gonna even get paper? 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:21.600 They didn't use that, they used papyrus, which was basically reads that were um dried out and would be cut. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:23.680 It's expensive to do. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:27.519 Um, most people, even if they were literate, they couldn't write. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:33.600 So you would hire a scribe and you would dictate the letter to the scribe who would then write it down in papyrus. 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:43.519 I actually have a visual picture of uh of a manuscript, and this is 1 Corinthians, part of 1 Corinthians 11 to 1 Corinthians 12. 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:46.240 All right, so these are excerpts from the book of 1 Corinthians. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:51.919 Probably one of the first things you notice is how little spacing there is between the words, right? 00:08:52.080 --> 00:09:04.480 Like usually we put you know you teach kids you put a finger space or something in between words, but because papyrus was so hard to get, it was expensive, it was tedious to do this, they would try to fit as much on there as they could. 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:08.879 So there are tiny, tiny, tiny little spaces, okay, in the writings. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:15.840 Okay, when Paul was doing these writings, or Peter or John or James, they would do these in community. 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:22.639 So don't picture Paul sitting with a quill pen and a piece of papyrus and writing just him and God. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:26.559 It was him and a group of people, usually two, three, four, five people. 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:37.600 It might be somebody who he's mentoring, it might be somebody who, okay, I'm going to be writing to the Philippians, and this is somebody who may have known the Philippians or knew something about the subject we're responding to. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:45.759 So keep in mind, all of the epistles are what we call occasional writings, which means they are written to a situation or an occasion. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:48.720 So Paul would sit there and then we would discuss it. 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:54.240 And by the way, when it looks like that, every word has to count, right? 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:56.720 We can't just hit delete or whatever. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:09:58.080 We have to get this right. 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:06.799 So they would want to strike the right tone, they would make sure we got the right choice of words, and so we'd be discussing before we write this down, scribe, hang tight here. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:12.480 Let's talk about this, how we want to say this, and then we would dictate to the scribe, and the scribe writes it down. 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:16.799 Once you have the letter done, now this is this is really important. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:29.200 Now, we can't just send that and hand it to the Philippians and have them read it because I mean, we've all received a letter or an email, whatever, and you're not exactly sure how to read it. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:32.320 Like, I know what the words say, but where are you emphasizing this? 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:34.320 Like, how should I interpret what you're saying? 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:41.279 So much of communication is beyond the words, it's in the inflection, it's in the pause, it's in what you emphasize. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:50.639 And so the courier that the apostles would entrust wasn't just someone that they knew could get the letter from point A to point B. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:57.039 This was somebody who would be entrusted with delivering the right letter in the right tone. 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:00.159 So they would have to present the letter back to Paul. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:07.200 So you have Paul, he's he's he's we got this thing down, we hand it, and now the courier is going to present it back. 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:08.799 They're gonna communicate it back. 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:11.039 And if they got something wrong, Paul would go, no, no, no. 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:12.240 I want you to pause right there. 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:14.799 When you say that, I want you to stop and wait. 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:17.039 When you do this, I want you to raise your voice there. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:19.440 This is, it was presented to them. 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:21.120 Now think about this. 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:26.080 They didn't just go focus like we would do often on one scripture. 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:30.320 So we'd say, hey, open your Bibles of Romans 8.28, and we just look at one verse. 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:35.120 What they would do is they would take the book of Romans and the courier would perform it. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:40.720 Once he had gone back and forth with Paul and Paul got his presentation perfect, now I'm gonna send you. 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:47.360 He would go and present it to these Roman audiences 16 chapters nonstop. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:50.960 By the way, this is a great way to read the epistles. 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:52.720 Is maybe you've never done this. 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:58.399 Take an epistle, no matter how long it is, and read it front to back without stopping out loud. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:11:59.120 Alright? 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:02.720 And you're gonna get something a little different than just setting one verse aside. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:04.240 You're gonna get it in that context. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:12.240 So imagine uh the courier takes it to the Romans, reads 16 chapters without stopping. 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:13.519 It gets to the end. 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:16.879 I mean, if if you were in the audience, you'd have some questions, right? 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:26.639 So part of training the courier was not just in presentation, but how to answer questions that are inevitably going to come up once we read all the way through this book. 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:30.000 And that's how these books originally were delivered. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:30.480 Okay? 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:35.440 Um I want to show you here, we're gonna look at the structure. 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:43.360 So when you look at these epistles, what I'm gonna do is instead of preaching 21 sermons on 21 books right now, I'm gonna show you how to read them. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:48.720 And I'm gonna show you the structure and then kind of what's behind each part of that structure, and then we'll call it a day. 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:50.320 Alright, so here's here's the structure. 00:12:50.399 --> 00:13:04.159 The first is Paul starts with a greeting, moves to Thanksgiving, then you have the body of the content of that particular occasion and situation, then you have where necessary warnings and encouragement, and then he ends with a conclusion. 00:13:04.320 --> 00:13:06.639 Uh let's start with the greeting. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:11.600 So Paul uh has a pretty repetitive, pretty consistent greeting. 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:16.399 And even uh John, the book of 2 John has a consistent greeting to what Paul has here. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:22.480 Um, but you're gonna see in Romans 1.7, 1 Corinthians 1 3, Philippians 1 2, go ahead and bring those up. 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:28.799 He says, Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:32.240 Alright, so this refrain is something he opens with. 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:48.080 So not only would that sort of be a good way for the speaker, the presenter to begin reading, you know, the letter, but what Paul is doing here, especially now based on our last 13 weeks of conversation, we know what Paul is doing here. 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:49.759 This isn't a throwaway line. 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:52.080 This isn't just like, hey, what's up, everybody? 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:53.600 This is very intentional. 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:56.720 Think back when we talked about the garden. 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:05.759 Think about when we talked about God blessing the world, what's God's will for the world, is that shalom would go from heaven to earth. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:10.960 That human relationship, that human existence would be in a place of shalom. 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:14.960 Peace with God, shalom with God ourselves and the world around us. 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:18.720 And we looked at the range of meaning of shalom, which is beyond just peace. 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:22.240 Okay, it's it's security, it's prosperity. 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:30.000 Um, it is it's more than just uh the word peace, it's fulfillment in what you do, in the work, in your relationships. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:34.240 It doesn't mean you're free of conflict, but it's talking about a state of shalom. 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:44.960 So what he's doing is using these terms, grace and peace, which are important virtues and really foundational, in fact, the most important principles of community. 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:47.519 He's like, you know, and he's reinforcing that. 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:54.720 So as I'm writing to you in your community, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:57.600 The second part, we move to thanksgiving. 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:00.559 And uh sometimes you'll see him do a prayer of blessing. 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:02.559 So when I say thanksgiving, he's giving thanks. 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:07.039 He's being specific about what he's thankful about with whoever he's writing to. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:12.080 Uh, a few years ago, there was a book that came out, uh, somebody gave me, it was actually one of our board members, gave it to me. 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:13.840 It's called Crucial Conversations. 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:23.919 And the book is about how to have hard conversations, whether it's with your family, might be in your business, somebody who reports to you, or somebody who you report to, and you're gonna have these tough conversations. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:28.879 And so it gives like a framework for how to have tough or crucial conversations. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:33.200 And one of the things in there that it talks about is like the sandwich, right? 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:45.279 So if you have like some hard stuff you gotta say, you start with something positive and you know affirming, and then you move into say what you gotta say, and then you end with some positivity and optimism, right? 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:46.960 And and so now everybody knows that. 00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:50.720 I used to be like a managerial secret, and now it's like everybody knows that. 00:15:50.799 --> 00:16:03.279 So whenever your uh manager or somebody you work with comes like starts complimenting you, you're like, You're like, what's coming, right? 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:04.480 Something's coming. 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:22.720 And and so I think the tactic, you know, is is maybe lost a little bit of its pizzazz, probably in part, because if if you're just giving the Thanksgiving or the compliment as this sort of way, hey, let's get that out of the way so I can really say what I want to talk about, well then it's sort of counterproductive. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:28.320 But if you if it's from a place of sincerity, if you really think about it, pretty smart thing to do. 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:38.240 If Shaylin and I are sitting down and we're gonna talk through our marriage and we're gonna talk about some things that need to change, some attitudes that need to change, some behaviors that need to change, some conduct. 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:40.799 There's some stuff like, you know, we're gonna work through. 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:42.960 There's gonna be some constructive criticism. 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:50.399 It would be wise for us to sincerely take a moment to discuss the things that we really love and appreciate about one another. 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:53.679 Just take a little bit of a foundation of here's what you're doing right. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:58.720 Because if you're not careful, when we go right into the stuff we need to fix, you'll think that that's all I've noticed. 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:02.159 And you'll think I've overlooked everything that you've been doing well, and vice versa. 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:05.599 So let's take a little bit to establish some gratitude here. 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:08.000 And so when I do that, two things are happening. 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:21.279 One, she knows that I'm not taking for granted all of the positivity, all the things she's doing well, but also it puts top of mind for me that this issue that we have to deal with isn't all that's going on in our relationship. 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:23.279 It puts me in a state of thankfulness. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:30.160 So you see Paul doing this, and he does it sincerely, and he does it specifically, which is, by the way, what I think is key. 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:32.400 Okay, you know, this is a takeaway for us. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:36.079 When we go and we're gonna work through things, you have to have hard conversations. 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:37.119 I do, we should. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:40.480 We shouldn't neglect them, because this is how we get better. 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:48.240 But but to make sure that we are reminding ourselves and we're remembering and focusing on the things that we're grateful for. 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:49.759 So here's a couple examples. 00:17:49.839 --> 00:18:03.839 One is the Ephesians, uh, in Ephesians 1, 15 and 16, uh, Paul says, Ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:05.119 Look, he's specific. 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:06.480 He's like, you know what? 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:14.640 What he says, your reputation is spreading that you are people who are have faith and are faithful to God. 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:17.759 And your faith inspires me when my faith is weak. 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:19.039 I'm inspired by yours. 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:26.000 And he said, not only your faith in faithfulness to God, but your love for people, which is like that's what it's all about. 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:29.119 Faithfulness to God, faith in God, and love for people. 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:33.680 And so he's saying, Hey, the most important things, you guys are doing it and you're doing well. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:38.720 We got some things to talk about, but man, he goes, I'm thankful for that, and I remember you in my prayers. 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:41.759 Here's a good one when you really look at it in its context. 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:45.119 This is Philippians 1, 3 through 6. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:48.160 This is the also Paul writing the Philippians. 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:57.279 He says, I thank my God every time I remember you, every memory I have, when I when I have memories of you, I'm like, Thank you, God, for the Philippians. 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:07.359 He said, In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:08.880 Now think about this. 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:14.640 He says, from the first day until now, I remember with joy. 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:17.519 Remembering you, your memory brings joy to my heart. 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:19.200 So let's think about this. 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:21.039 Who are the Philippians? 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:26.480 Well, you remember the story in Acts 16 with Paul and Silas, right? 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:37.039 And these guys go and they're pre- uh presenting to the community the Yuan Gileon of a new king and a new kingdom, and that that is illegal essentially in the Greco-Roman world. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:41.279 It's seen as a threat to Caesar, even though they're coming nonviolent and they're not coming national. 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:43.519 And but yet they see it as a threat. 00:19:43.759 --> 00:20:09.440 So they beat these men down, they put them in an inner dungeon, they lock them up, and so here they are in the middle of the night, it's pitch dark, inner dungeon, no windows, shackled up, and instead of the two guys going into the valley of despair and cursing God, and woe is us, they start worshiping God and they start praising God, and in that moment the the prison is shaken and the doors fling open and their shackles fall off. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:10.160 You remember this? 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:14.319 The jailer's about to kill himself, and Paul's like, Don't stop, cut it out. 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:18.960 He's like, and then boom, gospel goes forward, people repent, and it's this movement. 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:22.000 You know where that happened Philippi. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:25.759 So when he says, Hey, remember day one, guys? 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:27.119 Remember day one? 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:28.240 That's what he's talking about. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:31.440 He's going back, remember when we found each other when we were in prison? 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:32.400 Now, guess what? 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:40.160 What's going on in the context is the Philippians are being persecuted, but guess who else is being persecuted? 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:40.960 Paul. 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:43.119 He's back in prison in Ephesus. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:54.559 So he's writing the Philippi, who he met during jail time, while he's doing time in Ephesus, and he's writing back to them and going, you know what's keeping me afloat right now emotionally? 00:20:54.640 --> 00:20:57.599 You know what's keeping my faith stoked spiritually right now? 00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:00.400 Is remembering you and what happened on day one. 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:03.200 And he said, Every time I do it, it gives me just a shot of joy. 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:10.720 And then he says, This being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:12.079 That's his thanksgiving. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:19.680 So not only is Paul encouraging the Philippians in their hardship, but he himself is being encouraged while he's in his own chains. 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:21.599 That's some good stuff right there. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:25.920 The third section is the body of the message. 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:37.279 Now, this is where the Apostle Paul, there and Peter and John and every all the apostles that write these epistles are writing, there's a variety of different concept, but I want to kind of summarize it for you. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:44.480 Some of it is theological, so in other words, it's doctrinal teaching, and some of it is practical instruction. 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:46.640 We might call it orthodoxy. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:51.839 Orthodoxy means right thinking, or orthopraxy, which means right practice. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:55.039 How do we get our thinking right, and then how do we get our doing right? 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:58.160 And so they're dealing with one or both of those things. 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:01.039 And so uh a lot of It is theological. 00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:12.000 So again, these guys have all been thinking, especially the Jewish believers, have been trained to believe that our right standing with God gets down to our obedience to God's law. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:18.960 And the more perfect we are in that behavior, the closer we can get to it, the more God will be happy with us. 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:26.480 And so he writes to the Ephesians in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for it's by grace you've been saved through faith. 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:32.319 It's not from yourselves, it's a gift of God, not by works, so no one can boast. 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:46.079 It's a diverse group of people in the Ephesian church, Jews and Gentiles, and they're drawing lines in the sand, who's in and who's out, and he's saying it's not about your ability to keep the law that saves you. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:47.359 It's the grace of God. 00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:50.720 So you're gonna see a lot about the grace of God. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:23:00.480 Um, you're gonna see a lot in there about living in freedom, and freedom from two things freedom from legalism and freedom from sin. 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:03.200 So let's look at these two things. 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:07.119 Let's let's talk about what's legalism, free freedom from legalism. 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:16.880 When we a few weeks ago, when we looked at the law, the Torah, okay, it's the first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:22.079 And in those books, you come out with 613 laws. 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:25.119 And we divided those laws into three categories. 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:28.880 The first is you have the ceremonial law, which were the laws of worship. 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:35.200 In other words, if you're gonna give worship to God that he will accept, it has to be in this specific way. 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:36.480 And that's in the Torah. 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:42.160 The second was the judicial law, which essentially was how do we administer justice? 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:47.279 And that's if you know your animal dies on my land, I owe you an animal type of thing. 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:48.880 So it's how do we have justice? 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:54.880 And then judicial punishments, when someone messes this up, what's the punishment that fits the crime? 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:57.440 The third is the moral law. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:04.559 And this is like, hey man, when you lie, you break people's heart, you break your word, you break people's trust, it messes up relationships. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:06.799 So here's how we should behave. 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:10.720 So we have freedom and trust and goodness in relationships. 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:13.039 So those are the three types of laws. 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:30.880 So what you're gonna see is starting with Jesus and then confirmed through the epistles, you're going to see that of those laws, the ceremonial law, the specifics of the Torah ceremonial law are not necessary anymore. 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:36.960 You're gonna see that the judicial law, uh, the specifics in the Torah are not necessary anymore. 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:38.160 Now, don't hear me wrong. 00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:42.480 Don't walk out of here and say, you know, uh, that's why I don't go to one church anymore, they're lawless. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:43.039 All right. 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:45.519 Um be specific, I want to be specific. 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:49.440 The ceremonial law, which is worship, how do we worship God? 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:50.640 It is very important. 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:52.559 The spirit of the law is very important. 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:59.759 But to go, we have to do this in this specific way, otherwise God won't accept it is not, and I'm gonna prove it to you. 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.960 The the second, again, back to the judicial, it's not saying we shouldn't have justice, it's not saying we shouldn't have laws. 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:09.440 It's saying the specifics around the Torah are not what we have to follow. 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:12.559 We have to take the spirit of that law and contextualize it. 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:16.799 Okay, so let me show you how Jesus does this and how Paul carries it on. 00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:17.440 All right. 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:22.319 John 4, we'll go back to the Gospels, is the story of the woman at the well. 00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:25.519 Samaritan woman, Jesus walks up, starts a conversation with her. 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:28.559 Pretty soon it turns into ceremonial law conversation. 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:29.920 They're talking about worship. 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:35.440 Verse 20, the Samaritan woman says, Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain. 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:45.839 Okay, in other words, hey, we have a line in the sand, Samaritans worship like this, and she says, But you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. 00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:59.920 So within the Torah, there was, here's where you like the incense, and here's the courts, and you can only go to this court if you're this kind of person, and this court if you're that kind of person, here's the men's court, and the women's court, and the gentile court, and it all has to take place at the temple. 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:04.319 So Jesus says in verse 21, don't you can't miss the weight of this. 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:13.039 He says, Woman, Jesus replied, believe me, a time is coming where you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:14.240 Verse 23. 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:27.200 A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, and they and they are the kind of worshipers that the Father seeks. 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:36.000 In other words, if you think it's in the mountain and I think it's in the temple, we both miss it because you went through the motions, but you it never touched your heart. 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:38.880 So he's saying essentially, you are the temple. 00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:52.240 It doesn't matter where you are, you could be in your car, you could be in your cubicle, you could be walking through the woods, you could be tiptoeing through the tulip, you could be riding on the exercise bike, you could be on the elliptical, you could be where you are and worship God. 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:55.440 And when your heart touches his heart, he's pleased with it. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:05.599 So what he's doing is saying, look, the specifics of the ceremonial law, let's not draw lines in the sand and divide and go, until you do it that way, God won't accept it. 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:09.759 God's accepting the purity and the sincerity of a heart that reaches out to him. 00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:10.799 You are the temple. 00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:17.519 Alright, so if we keep going to John 8, is this the woman caught in the act of adultery? 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:21.200 Woman's caught in the act of adultery, she's dragged out in the public forum. 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:23.599 It's a big old scene, probably wasn't even allowed to dress. 00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:27.200 They want to make a spectacle, they want to get Jesus caught in a catch-22. 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:36.720 So they bring him out, and it says in uh verse 4, teacher, they said to Jesus, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:40.880 And the law of Moses, so they're talking about the judicial law. 00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:44.720 The law of Moses says to stone her, what do you say? 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:49.039 Okay, and this is this is oh man, this is the best story, man. 00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:50.640 Maybe in the whole Bible. 00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:51.759 What do you say? 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:52.480 What do you say? 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:54.799 Are you a lawkeeper or not? 00:27:55.119 --> 00:28:02.240 The judicial law says to stone her, says that the punishment that fits the crime for adultery is that we kill this woman. 00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:05.759 And Jesus says, You're absolutely right. 00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:07.440 Everybody get a rock. 00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:11.200 Everybody get a rock, get warmed up, get that rotator cuff loose. 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:12.880 We're about to take this lady out. 00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:14.799 We're gonna kill us a lady today. 00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:19.920 Okay, she's gonna die right here, right now, with these rocks hurling at her, okay? 00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:21.599 And so she committed adultery, right? 00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:22.160 You guys caught her? 00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:22.640 Yep, yeah. 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:24.240 Was she doing it alone? 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:26.799 Where's the dude? 00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:28.960 Oh, he got away, that's convenient. 00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:29.440 That's fine. 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:30.480 Let's not worry about it. 00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:32.880 We're gonna take her out because she broke the law. 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:36.160 So everybody get a rock and we're gonna we're gonna hold the Torah here. 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:37.599 We're gonna hold it up because we're holy. 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:39.359 All right, so everybody get your rock. 00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:42.240 And on the count of three, get ready to hurl it. 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:42.799 You ready? 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:48.640 One, two, he without sin cast the first stone. 00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:02.640 And slowly everybody put their rock down until it's just Jesus and the woman. 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:06.960 In verse 10, Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, Where are your accusers? 00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:09.359 Didn't even one of them condemn you? 00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:10.880 No, Lord, she said. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:12.880 And Jesus said, Neither do I. 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:18.319 Now, what he's saying is what you did was wrong. 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:21.440 Because the next line he's gonna say, stop. 00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:24.960 Go and sin no more. 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:29.119 Let this be a defining moment in your life. 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:34.640 But he said, the judicial punishment, we're not going to kill you for what you did. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:36.240 We're not going to shame you. 00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:39.359 What we're gonna do is learn the lesson today. 00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:40.960 Go and sin no more. 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:41.519 Why? 00:29:41.759 --> 00:29:44.079 Because it's for freedom you've been set free. 00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:46.799 What you're doing right here is not helping you. 00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:48.640 This is not what God intends for you. 00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:50.160 This is not the life you want. 00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:51.279 Is this what you want to do? 00:29:51.440 --> 00:29:52.960 Create this sort of collateral damage. 00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:56.799 One day you're gonna wake up and you're gonna realize what you did and what you can't undo. 00:29:56.880 --> 00:29:58.319 And let's stop it today. 00:29:58.480 --> 00:29:59.519 Let's stop it today. 00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:04.000 Let's, if we're gonna draw a line in the sand, let's draw a line today and go, we learn this lesson now. 00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:07.519 So we seal up the problem and we move forward. 00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:09.440 But we're not gonna kill you today. 00:30:09.599 --> 00:30:10.880 You're not going to die today. 00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:12.559 You're not radioactive today. 00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:16.240 You're not rejected today, but repent today. 00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:25.759 So he affirms the moral law and he says, Yeah, we need justice and yeah, we need worship, but you don't have to cling to the Torah. 00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:30.799 So you're gonna see now, in, oh, by the way, oh, this is this is real good stuff. 00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:33.680 So John, that that's John's gospel. 00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:41.759 In John's epistle in 1 John 2 1, he says, My dear children, I'm writing this to you so that you will not sin. 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:47.759 But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:50.319 He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 00:30:50.559 --> 00:30:51.440 So think about that now. 00:30:51.599 --> 00:31:04.160 Paul's probably, or I'm sorry, uh John is probably writing that, thinking back about Jesus the advocate, and the time that he stood up in the courtroom, okay, with the woman, caught in the act of adultery and handled his business. 00:31:04.400 --> 00:31:06.319 And he said, He said, So, but why am I doing it? 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:07.440