WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:06.959 So when I was 17 years old, I worked at a furniture store in our hometown called Cunningham's Furniture. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:18.399 And I worked in the warehouse, and every day after school, myself and a couple of my friends, we would go to the warehouse and we would load the truck up for the next day deliveries and then we would break down cardboard boxes. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:21.440 It was very, very thrilling work, but it was funny with friends. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:24.719 And the warehouse was connected to a bigger building. 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:27.600 And the other part of the building was a factory. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:32.799 And every once in a while you'd have to cut to the factory to go talk to the building managers for whatever reason. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:34.479 And the factory was always going. 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:36.799 It was just a long assembly line of people. 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:44.000 Some were standing, some were on tall stools, but they would just assemble over and over again the same task over and over and over again. 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:46.880 And they produced caskets, is what they produced. 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:50.880 And just over and over again, casket after casket after casket. 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:52.719 People were dying to work there. 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:54.079 Sorry, I had to do that. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:54.560 I just had to. 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:56.960 I wouldn't be a dad if I didn't go for that one, right? 00:00:57.039 --> 00:00:58.399 It's low-hanging fruit. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:00.719 Well, here's what I know about factories. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:03.039 Factories produce something. 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:05.120 Maybe you've seen a factory. 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:08.480 Maybe they made backpacks or chairs or subaros. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:09.040 I don't know. 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:10.560 But that's what factories do. 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:12.560 Factories always produce something. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:14.799 That's what makes them a factory. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:22.719 Now listen to what John Calvin, a French theologian back in the 1500s, said about people, about us, all people. 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:30.239 The heart of man is a perpetual factory of idols. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:34.400 Idol after idol after idol. 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:41.840 So if that's true, if your heart is a factory of idols, it would be good to know what is an idol. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:43.439 What does that mean? 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:47.280 Sounds like very religious Old Testament language. 00:01:54.319 --> 00:02:00.560 An idol is anything in my life that occupies a place that should be occupied by God alone. 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:18.719 An idol is something that holds such a controlling position in my life that it moves and rouses and attracts me so easily that I give my time, attention, and money to it effortlessly. 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:22.080 So we've been going through this book of Jonah. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:25.919 This Old Testament, this religious guy, this Old Testament prophet. 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:30.000 And he was a well-known prophet, and he was respected, but he gets this call. 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:34.000 God says, hey, go and preach to the Ninevehes, and that would have been his enemies. 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:36.960 People have done some horrible things to him and his people. 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:38.960 And he said, I want no part of that. 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:40.240 And so he runs the other way. 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:42.719 He quickly learns you cannot outrun God. 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:45.919 God will come after you in loving pursuit. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:48.240 He ends up on a ship. 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:51.039 Eventually he says, I don't even want to live. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:55.599 Like out of his shame and his guilt, he's causing all this havoc upon the other people on the boat. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:57.599 And he says, just throw me overboard. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:02:58.560 He goes overboard. 00:02:58.719 --> 00:02:59.520 He goes into the sea. 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:02.000 Maybe you remember the story from VBS when you're little. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:06.319 And yet it's under the surface that there's rescue. 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:09.360 That's the great story of the fish swallowing Jonah. 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:13.520 And then Jonah says that he is in the belly of Sheol. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:17.360 So the belly of the fish is the belly of death. 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:21.120 And yet that's actually the place that he was rescued. 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:23.919 It was once he was under the surface. 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:28.000 So it's there in this belly of death that he prays. 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:32.319 That we sort of get this break in him, which is what happens to us. 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:37.199 It takes a break, it takes exhaustion or condemnation, or you're at the end of your self. 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:39.439 Finally, you need an outside source. 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:40.800 Finally, you need God. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:43.840 And then there's some prayer. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:47.439 And so last week we looked at the first part of the prayer. 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:49.039 This week we'll look at the second part. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:52.560 I'll reread the verses, Jonah 2, verses 7 through 10. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:57.919 Now that you sort of have a setup about idols and how our hearts work and where we're at with Jonah. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:03:59.039 And here's what Jonah says. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:03.280 They're in the belly of the fish, belly of death, under the surface. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:09.120 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you into your holy temple. 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:18.319 Those who pay regard to vain idols, or you could say worthless idols, forsake their hope of steadfast love. 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:24.079 But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed, I will pay. 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:25.759 Salvation belongs to the Lord. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:29.839 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.160 So vain idols, but we understand that as worthless idols. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:36.879 And Jonah says, but there's hope. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:39.040 It's just not going to be in those idols. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:43.279 It's not going to be in those desires of our heart that we overly desire. 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:46.319 It's going to be in steadfast love. 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:54.800 And then verse 9 helps us connect that to the Lord, to God Himself that we know in Jesus. 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:58.160 I walk my dog on church street a lot. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:05.439 And maybe you've seen me walking along there, and you usually you're not looking at me, is what I've learned as I walk along church street. 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:08.000 Nobody's looking at the people walking along the sidewalks. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:11.680 It's just sort of a racetrack headed down towards the square. 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:15.199 And people are changing lanes, and it's chaos, basically. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:17.519 And some people are on their phones, right? 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:19.040 I mean, some of us still do that. 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:19.920 That's going on. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:22.000 I don't appreciate that when I'm on the sidewalk. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:23.120 And that's going on. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:24.399 Here's what happens every once in a while. 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:25.920 Every once in a while I get some real chaos. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:32.480 And so what real chaos is, is you're walking along, and the red light up at the hospital's turned red, so all the traffic's backed up. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:34.720 And you know, that's a two-lane one-way. 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:37.680 So that's confusing to people who don't live in our town. 00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:46.959 And every once in a while, you get it where somebody turns up Church Street, and you're like, oh, oh no, it's coming. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:49.600 And usually I stop to watch this. 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:57.279 I might wave, like every once in a kind of like a hey, like, and they they're like, hey, you know, they think they're on the right lane, headed the right way. 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:02.399 But then that red light will turn green and they see that wall of cars headed toward them. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:13.120 That's that's where the chaos breaks out, and they they you know, they'll make zip up to an off-road, or they might turn into a driveway, or sometimes I've seen them up on the sidewalk into a yard or something like that. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:17.920 But what is clear is the chaos will always break out, it'll always happen. 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:23.519 Here's what Jonah's saying about idols: desires which we desire too much. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:32.000 When they become our functional salvation for wholeness, it will always eventually catch up to us. 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:36.319 See, the car on church street is fine for a little while. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:38.560 Cruising along, no problem. 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:41.600 Think they're going the right path, things are fine. 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:43.040 It works for a while. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:48.160 Idols work for a while, but eventually it'll catch you. 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:52.800 Eventually, eventually you will be exhausted. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:57.920 You will be condemned, or we'll just ruin our lives. 00:06:58.480 --> 00:06:59.680 Here's point number one. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:01.120 It's not the best news, but it's true. 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:10.639 Point number one: exhaustion and condemnation await us when we place our desire for deliverance on powerless objects and affections. 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:11.759 That's a long sentence. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:22.319 Exhaustion and condemnation await us when we place our desire for deliverance on powerless objects and affections. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:36.399 In Ezekiel 14, verse 3, God says to a group of religious men, the elders of Israel, God says to them, He says, These men have set up idols in their hearts. 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:40.240 Now they would have responded, like, what are you talking about? 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:44.319 We're the guys in charge, we're religious, we're the good guys, we're the leaders. 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:48.160 We don't have gold statues in our houses. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:53.519 But God's talking about the desires of their hearts, kind of like what Dr. 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:56.160 Martin Lloyd Jones was talking about in his definition. 00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:02.319 It's the stuff that's under the surface, inside of us, that's driving our lives. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:15.279 And for these men, it could have been something like being seen, being affirmed, being comfortable, being known, being powerful, being religious. 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:27.279 All of those things, if it's the ultimate desire of your heart that drives you, that's going to deliver you, that's going to absolve you or fulfill you or make you righteous, it's an idol. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:41.440 Paul writes in Colossians 3, he writes this in verse 5 put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:48.879 Now, what I love about Colossians chapter 3 is that the chapter begins by telling us that we are hidden in Christ. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:50.639 So we're totally hidden in Christ. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:52.000 We're covered in the blood of Jesus. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:56.320 Our sin is put upon him, we are fully absolved, we are fully righteous, we're fully beloved. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:01.600 And then he says, in that position, understand, you still have idols in your heart. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:03.200 Put them to death. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:05.360 They're killing you, anyways. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:06.720 Put them to death. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:17.039 And then at the end of the chapter, he circles back around to make sure we really understand that we are holy and beloved, not because we're putting to death these idols, we're holy and beloved because we're God's chosen people. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:18.960 He's chosen to love you. 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:23.360 Here's some questions to help you think it through. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:25.919 Help me think it through. 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:32.000 What in your life do you think you need in order to be happy? 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:39.279 What begins to make you squirm a little bit if you think about losing it? 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.720 Where do you sense fear or anxiety? 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:48.799 Where do you feel exhausted or condemned? 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:55.039 Where do you find there's always another mountain to climb? 00:09:55.600 --> 00:10:10.320 There's a good chance somewhere in those answers you'll find an idol, a thing in your heart that you feel like you need to be whole, to be delivered, to be absolved, to be affirmed, to be accepted by God, to be valued, to be worthy. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:15.440 But Jonah prays that our hope would be in the steadfast love of God. 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:18.320 Now, steadfast means secure, never-ending. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:21.519 It can also be translated as grace. 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:23.919 One-way love. 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:30.559 Love that comes to us though we entertain these silly, silly idols. 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:41.600 Point number two is this God's love to us is steadfast because God's love is all about his faithfulness to us. 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:46.799 Now it wouldn't be steadfast if it was all about your love for him. 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:50.720 It's steadfast because it's about his faithfulness to you. 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:52.399 That's the good news. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:59.600 Verse 7 is very interesting here in that Jonah passage because Jonah says this when my life was fainting away, so he's in the belly of death, right? 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:02.000 He's in the belly of Sheol, he's under the surface. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:03.519 I mean, he can't get any worse. 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:05.440 Full of shame, full of guilt. 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:06.720 Where is he going to be absolved? 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:08.320 How could he ever be righteous before God? 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:09.919 I mean, it's the end of himself. 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:14.960 He says, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you into your holy temple. 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:19.679 Now we could easily write that off as just like really religious Old Testament language. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:33.600 But Jonah is saying something here because it was there in the Holy Temple on the Day of Atonement, once a year, that they took a blameless lamb in there and they sacrificed the lamb over the mercy seat, which was a gold slab on top of the Ark of the Covenant. 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:37.360 Inside the Ark of the Covenant was the Ten Commandments, the law. 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:46.799 And see, all this symbolism is going on here, even in this little language here, because what you have is you have blood poured out over the mercy seat, over the law. 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:50.799 So we have the grace of God poured out over the law of God. 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:55.120 We have the grace of God poured out over who we should be. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:58.399 And that's really good news. 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:01.120 Because we all end up like Jonah. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:02.799 I'm like Jonah. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:04.159 You're like Jonah. 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:12.320 We all end up like Jonah, buried by a standard of rightness that we do not ultimately live up to. 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:14.399 We haven't achieved it. 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:19.200 Maybe in behaviors, maybe just in motives, maybe in the idols inside the heart. 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:22.159 And we need a love given to us from outside of ourselves. 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:22.879 We need God. 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:25.279 We need salvation from the Lord. 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:27.279 That's the good news. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:28.159 Point number three. 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:33.919 We are messy, stubborn people with a forever pursuing God. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:41.759 This past week, national news, went all over the national news. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:44.320 Floyd Martin was a mailman in Marietta. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:45.120 Did y'all see this? 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:46.159 Anybody have Mr. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:47.679 Floyd as a mailman in here? 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:48.240 Anyone? 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:49.200 Okay, so Mr. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:50.240 Floyd, just to fill you. 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:51.600 Anybody see it on the news? 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:55.120 Okay, some of y'all just were laying out in the pool, didn't watch anything. 00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:56.000 All right, Mr. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:58.799 Floyd has been a mailman off Kennesaw Avenue. 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:00.639 About 500 homes was his route. 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:03.120 He's been a mailman there for 20 years. 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:04.000 And Mr. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:06.320 Floyd loves his route. 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:09.600 He loves his people on his route for 20 years. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:11.039 He knew all his people. 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:14.320 Someone moved in, he introduced himself to the new person. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:19.679 Our friend lives on his route, and when they moved in, they introduced you know to each other. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:26.240 And then every time from then on that he delivered a package up to the door, he would put a dog biscuit for their dog. 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:30.480 He went to career day for a three-year-old on his route. 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:33.360 He attended birthdays. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:35.600 This guy was all in. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:37.519 He loved his people. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:38.399 And when Mr. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:44.639 Floyd went to retire last week, the neighborhood decided to group up and all of them decorated their mailboxes for Mr. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:45.279 Floyd. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:50.320 There's all these decorations and all the mailboxes, and they had a huge neighborhood party. 00:13:52.080 --> 00:14:01.679 And at the party, he gave a little speech and he said very simply that all he tried to do was love people the way that he would want to be loved, treat people how he want to be treated. 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:03.440 Very humble, humble man. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:09.679 And in the conversation, he just sort of flippantly said, you know, one thing he'd always want to do is go to Hawaii. 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:12.320 So somebody sets up a GoFundMe page. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:19.759 As of this morning, I checked it before I walked in here, is over$30,000 had been given to the, I think he can go to Hawaii a couple times over. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:23.440 Delta picked up on it and gave free flights to him. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:27.440 So this got picked up, this went viral, he's been all over. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:31.039 He's been on the news, he's been on morning shows, he's been all over. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:35.360 When Christie first told me about it, I almost teared up. 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:39.279 Like me, hard-hearted, you know, like selfish. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:40.559 Think about myself most of the time. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:42.000 I'm like, what are these? 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:44.000 What are the, you know, what's going on? 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:46.559 There's something about that. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:48.320 You're like, that's amazing. 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:50.080 Wow. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:55.519 What did a man doing that day in and day out, it's a glimpse of grace. 00:14:55.679 --> 00:14:57.039 Like, why is it so captivating? 00:14:57.120 --> 00:14:58.080 Why would it go viral? 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:00.879 It's a glimpse of grace on multiple levels. 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:14.320 Because here's a guy showing up for his job, loving people, never thinking, oh, I'm gonna do all this because that 20 years later I get$30,000 on a GoFundMe page, which didn't even exist when he started doing this, right? 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:20.399 And Delta's gonna find out about it via Twitter, via a social media platform that didn't exist when he started doing this. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:21.360 He's not thinking about anything. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:25.600 All he's thinking about, like, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna love people, nothing in return, right? 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:26.720 Glimpse of grace. 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:34.559 And then we get a double glimpse of grace because then the people on his route decide, hey, let's just lavish him with love. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:38.320 There's this great story in Luke chapter 15. 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:40.000 Luke chapter 15 is this great chapter. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:44.080 We get three parables, and it's Jesus teaching like this lavish love of God. 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:44.799 What is it like? 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:48.399 And the first one, Jesus says, hey, there's a shepherd. 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:50.879 This shepherd has a hundred sheep. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:53.759 And one sheep wanders off. 00:15:54.320 --> 00:16:01.200 And here's what God is like: God is like a shepherd who goes off to look for the one. 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:09.759 And when he finds it, he picks his sheep up and puts it on his shoulder and carries it back. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:14.879 And when he carries it back, he's rejoicing all the way and he throws a party. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:18.480 Now, we want to be Jesus in the story. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:20.080 We want to be the heroes. 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:25.120 We're gonna do all this work, but we're actually the sheep. 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:28.559 Right? 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:34.639 We think that, oh, it'll be that path will fulfill us and solve our every problem, and off we go as the one she. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:41.360 And the good news is that Jesus always pursues us, he's sufficient for us. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:49.200 And then when the shepherd gets there, there's no lecture, there's no shame handed out. 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:54.960 What we actually get is a God rejoicing that he gets to be with you. 00:16:55.840 --> 00:16:59.200 You see, the idol says you must do X, Y, and Z. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:06.079 The idol will always make demand upon you before you're accepted, before you're righteous, before you're absolved. 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:07.200 That's what idols do. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:09.759 Whether it's religious or worldly, doesn't matter. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:15.359 The idol will always make a demand upon you before you are the thing you desire to be. 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:23.680 And that's why it exhausts you, that's why it condemns you, and you're handing power over to a powerless object or affection. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:29.119 The gospel upends it, turns the whole thing around. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:37.119 That there is love and redemption for you in Christ before you get your act together. 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:50.079 Without strings attached for you to get your act together, and it's possible you may never get your act together, and if you believe all that, there's a really good chance you will get your act together. 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:53.839 That's why it's steadfast. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:58.240 It's not dependent upon you, it's dependent upon the giver giving it to you. 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:02.160 Author Paul Zoll defines grace this way in his book, Grace in Practice. 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:04.240 He gives five sentences about grace. 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:08.000 Grace is love, so steadfast love, same thing Jonah's talking about. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:12.960 Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:21.359 Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you, but everything to do with the giver of the love. 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:25.680 Grace is being loved when you are unlovable. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:33.359 Grace is not dependent upon qualification, merit, measurement, gifts, or motivations. 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:35.920 Grace is one-way love. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:44.000 And then he writes this the one-way love of grace is the essence of any lasting transformation that takes place in human experience. 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:50.880 It is true in life that grace, one-way love, has the power to turn despair into hope. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:19:03.519 It is almost always some form of grace, some outside source of unexpected and unhoped-for compassion and kindness that creates the change from discouragement and despair to endurance and perseverance. 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:05.920 One-way love lifts up. 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:08.160 One way love cures. 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:10.640 One way love transforms. 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:14.880 It is the change agent of life. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:20.880 My brothers and sisters, may Christ be the hope of your heart, not worthless idols. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:25.279 And may you know this salvation and this healing and this wholeness that He brings. 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:27.119 May He being your change agent. 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:28.000 Let's pray together. 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:42.480 God, thank you for your grace and mercy to us that we are so captivated by worthless idols that we look to for acceptance and affirmation, for worthiness, for righteousness, for absolution. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:47.359 We so much want to merit or hide. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:52.160 Forgive us for this, and we thank you, God. 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:59.519 We thank you that you pursue us while we're hiding, and you pursue us while we are hell-bent on performance. 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:13.599 Thank you while we are pretending our way through life, that you love us, that you absolve us in the gift of Christ, that you make us righteous in the gift of Christ, and that your love pursues us in all ways. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:33.519 Would you give us belief, belief we do not have, that you're sufficient, that you are enough, that the grace of Christ would be our salvation, our rightness with you, and would actually be our change agent in life. 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:39.519 We thank you for the full sufficiency of your love that is greater than all of our sin. 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:41.039 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:41.680 Amen.