The Cross Orlando Values: story II

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0:00 I don't know how your morning's been so far. I'm still on Brian. I feel like I've had a long morning already. Lots happened. So I have to like make a choice to be present here and available to this story. And so I want to invite you guys to do the same. Lots has happened. Lots could be happening right now. Lots is coming up. One can take care of it.

0:30 Let's be present in the story of God for a few moments together. What we want to do over the next several weeks is spend some time thinking through these core values, story, peace, lineage, and life. And last week I mentioned that these were not like words that were created in the absence of a congregation, but they're words that came out of the congregation of the cross. Where after we had been meeting for a while we asked ourselves the question, what words

1:03 describe our gathering together? And these are the words that emerged which are shown in that family crest that Mike designed for us. Story at the bottom, peace on the left, lineage on the top, and life on the right. Story, peace, lineage, and life. And I was kind of meditating on those four values and trying to find the right little section of text to look at last week.

1:35 And I found this section in Romans that we started on last week. If you want to look there with me, Romans is this kind of comprehensive letter that Paul writes. I feel like there's some organization to the New Testament. I never have checked this, so this could be just my own crazy thinking. But the New Testament is obvious, it starts with the four gospels, the accounts of the life of Jesus, and then goes into acts of the apostles which continues that narrative

2:09 story in that first generation of believers in chronicles the emergence of the church. And then it goes into Romans, which I think Romans is Paul's most comprehensive communication of what it means that the Christ has come. And then it goes through several of his letters and it's almost like they go in length and

2:40 veracity from first Corinthians through down to the ones that were less sure that Paul wrote. So like Hebrews, right? And then it goes from his pastoral, then goes into his pastoral, then the letters that other people wrote, the Peters, the Johns, right? So I feel like there's an order to the New Testament, and that could just be my own little, I don't know, neurosis, seeing that in there. I've never checked that. But Romans, it's hard to argue that Romans is Paul's most comprehensive letter.

3:13 Some people think that he, you know, he really wanted to get to Rome when he was arrested. They had offered to set him free, but he demanded to have an audience with the Caesar. It's weird if you look at the chronology of Paul, he was on house arrest waiting for his trial to be heard, and they had told him he could go and he said, no thanks, I'd like to have my case heard in front of the Caesar. We're pretty sure he wanted to try and convert the Caesar in Rome. He really had his eyes set on Rome, right? There's some tradition even that after Rome, we don't know exactly where Paul died.

3:45 There's some tradition that after Rome, he made it all the way to Spain. People think that Paul made it to Spain. I think it's fun to imagine that. I have a friend who's an Anglican bishop, and he asserts that the church in England is older than the church in Rome that Paul made it all the way to England and started consecrating bishops there, and there's a Episcopal line of bishops from Paul that doesn't go through Rome. That's probably more information than we need for today.

4:16 But the thing that I wanted to get to is that there's a lot in Romans, and so when I started to think about the story of Scripture, I wanted to look at Romans. And what was really interesting to me, as soon as I found it, I texted Carol and said, look at this and make sure I'm not making it up, is that in Romans chapter 4, where we started last week, where it gets into this promise, the story of Abraham, we talked last week about how the Scriptures, this thing that we hold bound in our hands, is not a

4:48 compendium of doctrines, it's not a rule book for life, it's not even really like a guide book for your life. It's more a story of a group of people, a nation of people, interacting with God since the very beginning. Chronically what God has done with people since he spun the world into existence. And from his actions and behavior and even some of his promises, we can learn the character of the God and still be in relationship with him today.

5:19 And we looked at the story here in Romans chapter 5 of Abraham because in God's interaction with Abraham, if you were to go back and read Genesis chapter 12 and 15 and 17, you would learn so much about the character of the God of creation and life. You would begin to understand why we refer to him as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, because with Abraham, he displayed so much of his character. Having so core to God from the very beginning has been to have a group of people who would

5:49 let him be God, who would allow themselves to be cared for, who would relinquish control and accept good things. Abraham was a failure in lots of places of his life, but in one place he demonstrated admirable character and set it up as a pinnacle for our people that you and I can aspire to

6:26 together. When God said, I'd like to give you good things, Abraham said, not only okay, I'll receive them, he said, against all hope, in hope, I'll believe you can do the thing that you promise. And this is a defining characteristic of the people of God throughout all time. They are failures in all sorts of places in life, but the thread of continuity of the people of God is against all hope, in hope, they believe that their God can do the thing

7:00 that he promised and give them good things. What was beautiful to me is that I saw that in Romans chapter 4 where we were, we were at Romans chapter 4 in verse 13, and I began to follow through to read it through for context, and then I saw that it concludes with this beautiful section, which we're going to spend some time on today in verse 23 of chapter 4. But then it goes on. Just look with me, skim with me. It goes then in chapter 5 to the peace that comes with God through faith, story, peace.

7:37 Oh my gosh. And then it starts to talk about Adam and the life in Christ, and out of there is this truth of the lineage. And then in chapter 6, it talks about that we are dead to sin and alive to God. It talks about what it means to be in life. And so from Romans chapter 4 through Romans chapter 6, Paul works systematically through the ideas of story, peace, lineage, and life. I mean, I'm kind of a nerd for this stuff, but I got really excited about that.

8:07 And so I texted Carol right away. So that's what we're going to spend the next several weeks on is Romans chapter 4, 5, and 6. And we're going to do two weeks on each, which means it's our second week looking at story. And I want to jump off of this one little section, and then we're going to pull in another writing of Paul's to make some more sense of it. But I just, we just talked a little bit about that core truth of Abraham that he passes down. The last thing I want to recap from last week is to remind you that Abraham now is part

8:40 of your story. So that you, what it means to be part of the people of God is that you are grafted into a story larger than your own, that you are inheritors of people before you, so that in you is the capacity to believe that to against all hope, in hope, believe that God can give you the good things that he promises.

9:11 You are recipients of that. You have inherited that from Abraham himself. And that's why it says here in verse 23, it's actually talking very, very technically about the scriptures that we're holding in our hands. Paul says, but the words it was counted to him, if you go back to verse 22, that's why it was counted to him as righteousness, that his faith, counted to him as righteousness. But the words it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also,

9:45 the story of scripture is not mere chronicling of facts, but it was written down for your sake, that you would learn of the character of God, that it will be counted to us who believe in him who raised the dead Jesus, raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. It's that phrase that I want to think about a little bit more, because last week we talked so much about the story of scripture that comes to us, I want to talk a little bit more

10:18 about our story that lives now out of that. And to get to that, I want to look at Colossians, which is one of those little shorter books, but it's not that far from Romans, which means we're pretty sure Paul wrote it in my little nuance theory. So you go to the right Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and then first and second Thessalonians, Colossians is a little book, but really beautiful.

10:51 Seems like in the church in Colossae, Paul wanted to spend some time defending the identity of the person of Christ. There must have been some debate about his divinity. And so he spent some time talking about tying Jesus the Christ to the Godhead, and he used this in really beautiful language for that in the first chapter. And that's where I want to pick up. I'm going to discipline myself just to listen to these firsts rather than take them apart, because we don't have time to take all of it apart, but it's important context.

11:26 So verse 15 of chapter one, he says, he, the he is Jesus of Nazareth. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for

12:00 him. And he is before all things. And in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body of the church. He is the beginning. So you stop there for just a second. When we think about the story, and we talked last week about Abraham all the way back in antiquity, and God making these promises to Abraham all the way back here in the beginning.

12:31 And the descendants of Abraham slowly spinning out from the person of Isaac and then Jacob and then the twelve tribes and then the people of Israel and then the promises of Israel reducing down to the person of Christ. And so that Paul's notion there in Romans says that it comes down to the person of Jesus. But what Paul says here is really important. Jesus is the beginning, not the end. This is the beginning, not the end of the story.

13:05 This is true cosmologically. In some cosmic sense, this is why Paul takes the time to explain to the Colossians that in Jesus the fullness of God has somehow found his way to squish down into the flesh of the person of Jesus of Nazareth so that the very same being that was there at the beginning who made all things and continues still to hold all things together is in the person of Jesus. But then he says this person of Jesus launched something new so that the story begins again.

13:36 He is the head of the church, the beginning of the story. Start afresh and anew. Jesus is the beginning of the story. He is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent, most important. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross.

14:07 The next question then is when you read that and listen to it's so beautiful, it's kind of a little bit hard to comprehend. It's very kind of cosmic and mystical and it sounds like if you pay attention to the story a lot of work went into the person of Jesus. And there's this beginning that starts with creation that's beautiful and hard to imagine why would he start again. There is a beginning to the story that leads to Abraham through Isaac and Jacob and Israel and David and there is a story, Ruth and Hagar and why would he start again?

14:50 For in him all the fullness of God is pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross. Verse 21 and you. Why would he start again? Verse 21 and you. I mean, why would he start again? Now, you.

15:22 Who were once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, this is important to catch this because it's easy to misunderstand.

15:52 Why do you start at the beginning? Oh, because of you. You have had moments of hostility to God. You have had moments what Paul calls evil. This might be best acquainted with the idea of evil when you have moments of extreme selfishness and self-serving. Moving away from generosity and forgiveness and into retribution and vengeance.

16:28 You think only of yourself and care. He would rescue you from those moments. But then look at what he says. He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach so that those moments do not mar you, scar you or define you, that you have a new beginning. The story starts again in the person of Christ for you. But this, if you, this, the point I stopped is verse 23 because I didn't want you to

16:59 miss this if or misunderstand the if. If indeed you continue in the faith, continue what? In the behavior? Continue in the right thinking. Continue looking the right way. He presents you holy and blameless. If you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope, Abraham, against

17:33 all hope, in hope, he believed that God would do the thing that he promised. You will remain holy and blameless. He said if it was by the law, last week he told us if it was by the law, then there would be no gospel. It would be all condemnation. But where there are no rules, there can be no condemnation. He says you will remain holy and blameless when you stay in the hope of the gospel that

18:05 you heard, which has been proclaimed to you in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, am a minister. Okay, that was the part I was supposed to move through quickly. Because this part now, he gets into that that grabs you again about where we are in this story of Scripture, that Jesus starts something new. But the new thing that he starts is a reformation and a recasting of this core character of God

18:36 that says, let me give you good things against all hope, in hope, believe that I am stronger than the circumstances of your life, that I am more creative than you have the ability to imagine, that I can find solutions that don't occur to you, that I can move realities that are deeper than the world that you're living in, that I have perspective that is longer than your longest vision, that against all hope, in hope, it is safe for you to believe

19:09 that I will come through on the good news for you. That's where we are in the story. And Paul says then that that is what he is doing. He became a minister for the sake of sharing this story, right? Verse 24, now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.

19:42 I love that phrase because for years I just read over it and said I'll try and understand that some other time. That's why I like it, because it got left in there and it's confusing. There must be something to it. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to make his

20:17 word fully known. Paul is saying when he says that filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions is confusing because I know that Christ is complete, that he has completed the work. I know that Christ has one victory over the world, he doesn't need me to conquer it. I know that he has secured me holy and blameless, he doesn't need me to act accordingly in

20:48 order to preserve my righteousness, he just needs me to believe to give it to him. But then Paul says I am a minister in order to fill up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. And it's hard to figure out until I start to realize what he goes on to say. This is the beauty of the story is that we never get all of it. I mean, I don't know why God in his wisdom didn't make faith inescapable for me.

21:30 I don't know why even in the first generation, like when there are people walking around who ate meals with the resurrected Jesus, who stood on a hill and watched him ascend into heaven, who cowered in the field when the hosts of angels came out and announced his coming. When these people are still walking around on earth, why on earth does Paul have to walk around and endure being stoned and bitten by poisonous stakes and cast out of town in

22:03 order to announce the good news. I don't know why, but that's the way the story goes. There is something, Paul's role is not insignificant. It is needed by the body of Christ on earth. It is important that Paul continue the story of Jesus, take his proper place and role in the story of God on earth in order that the gospel would go where it needs to go.

22:42 This is what he means when he says, I fill up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions, not that his sacrifice was incomplete. I don't know why he didn't go tell everybody himself, but for some reason he let Paul do it. For some other reason altogether, he allowed it to be hard for Paul to do.

23:12 The intersection of Paul's story and the story of the cross is where the afflictions of Christ are lacking from our point of view. Paul, we needed Paul to continue the work. He says, now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh.

23:42 Not that he is a glutton for pain, but he recognizes the significance of his sufferings, that they have important ramifications for carrying out the story of God on earth. So I rejoice in my sufferings. For I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known.

24:14 The mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints. This is what he is making fully known. This is how Paul describes the mystery that he is making fully known. He says, I fill up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. I go around for the sake of his church and make known the mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints. To them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ is in you.

24:54 And this is your hope for glory. I think glory is one of the coolest words in the New Testament, mostly because who the heck knows what it means. Right? We say glory and it sounds pretty, but like I have this theory, it's not tested anywhere. It just makes sense in my own head that glory means something being revealed for what it

25:27 actually is. So when Christ comes in his glory at the end of all things, this is the most glorious moment, the most transparent and true moment. Things will be revealed as they truly are. You'll see Christ and realize in that moment that everything beautiful that you've seen has had its origin in this piece of beauty. When he speaks, you'll realize that every little utterance of truth that you've heard

25:58 before that clicks in your brain as an aha had its origin in the words of this one. You'll realize that every sense of justice, every moment where you felt at peace found their origin in this one. God will be revealed in his glory as the origin of all things good. And Paul says that the great mystery that's been hidden from the ages is that the Christ, the incarnate God is in you. And this is your only hope for becoming your truest self.

26:33 The fullest version of who you were made to be is unlocked as you against all hope in hope. Believe that the Christ has taken up residence in you, your hope for glory. The seat of your unique creativity. Your individual sense of justice. Your specific notion of mercy.

27:07 The fullest sense of you is released on the world. Your hope for glory is in the Christ who's taken up residence in you. Paul says this is the message. This is his part to play in the story. Endure suffering in order to announce that Christ is in you, the hope for glory.

27:40 When we were starting the cross, I mentioned last week that I grew up in this like, I grew up in this church. My grandpa was a pastor. He's retired now. And when they would come, they would come every January. They would take turns, my grandpa and grandpa when they came putting us to bed. And when my grandpa would put us to bed, he would sing this little song in German.

28:13 And I found it as a hymn. Later I didn't even know. My parents would sing it to us in English. But he would sing it to us in German. And he would sing this hymn. When he would get together with his family, they would sing the prayer. And I always thought it was their prayer that they would sing. And I found it as a hymn later in the hymnal. Like I grew up in the church, right? I watched my dad when I was two. He started the church and like Mary knocking on doors with two families, right? And when I left, he had like, they had like four buildings and like hundreds of people

28:47 and attendance on a weekend. I had watched him build a church. And then I went to college and was in a very, we moved into this really traditional church in Anglican church with 1928 book a common prayer where I'm kneeling. And I told the pastor that I went in spite of the liturgy for the first five years, but the last six months that I was there, I learned to love it and didn't know how I would do church without it, right? And then we went to seminary and they assigned me to a large, like the largest church in our synod in our denomination.

29:21 And when you're in seminary, they assigned you to a place where you have to volunteer and do hours. And so then when my first sermon was to a room that seats 1,100 people, right? And with this like 50 person choir and like just big suburban mega church. And then my internship year was at a church in Denver that was 75 years old, right? And they had three generations attending the church at the same time. There again, they would have 1,100 people in attendance on a weekend.

29:53 And by then I was starting to think that church would be best small. I had developed like in that church, I had internship, I had started to think about how can I help big churches become small? And experience relationship, right? And I helped them put a system into place there that they're still using. And then the seminary sent me to my dad's church, which is suburban and large and 30

30:26 years old and was trying to figure out how to get small experiences again. And so we did that. We helped them build this like teach people how to make friends again. And it was my job to go and ask people, hey, what do you like to do? You know what? You ought to do that with some other people. Here's some people, why don't you go do that with some other people? And I'll call you maybe once a month and we'll pray for those people together.

31:01 And that was like my job, teach people how to make friends again. And so that when it got time, when someone, when they said they would give me the runway to start church in a way that made sense to me, I said here's my first rule. We're not even going to put a sign on the outside of the building. If this church grows, it'll be because people are making friends. And if people don't make friends, it'll die.

31:32 I've got three years of funding. I'll go on and do something else after that. I'll preach for somebody. That's what I thought. And so when we started the cross, I was so focused on it not being a consumption model that I wouldn't preach. I would come up with this question and I would present, talk on the question for about five minutes. Then we had like 12 different questions and people would talk in groups for about 45 minutes. Then we'd pray and have lunch. After three months of that, people came up and said this is nice, but would you talk

32:03 longer and have an opinion instead of just presenting a question? I said, oh, you want me to preach? I can do that. We slowly added pieces. The church has been in constant evolution. The cross has been in constant evolution. But what I wanted to try, the cross in some ways feels like an experiment on how much we're allowed to be ourselves. I wanted to take seriously the promise that Christ is in me.

32:36 And he is my hope for glory. I'm allowed to play a unique role in the story of God on earth. It doesn't have to look like anybody else's. And if I play my unique role in the story of God, if I take seriously the promise that Christ is in me, the hope for glory, in successive circles around me, things will change. Jesus changes things.

33:10 The Christ changes things. I love what the story of the cross Orlando. And I brag about this congregation of people behind your backs all the time. Because I think that what God is doing here is very unique because each of you all have unique glory built into you by the Creator and called out by the Redeemer, the Christ

33:49 in you. This is one of our core values because it has been a core value of our people, but it also unlocks our core potential in Orlando to recognize that the story of God is not done and it continues in you. Look at how Paul finishes. He says to them God chose to make known this verse 27, how great among the Gentiles are

34:19 the riches of the glory of this mystery which is Christ in you, the hope for glory. Verse 28, Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom. That's Paul's unique glory. He is wise. That we may present everyone mature in Christ. Because the last verse I want you to look at with me this morning, verse 29, for this I toil struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

34:53 Look if you take seriously the invitation to continue the story of God on earth according to your unique glory, you will need divine energy. It will be hard. Paul says he toils. It will be hard. But he says he labors according to the divine energy that powerfully works within him.

35:28 I hope that we can be people inspired by the reality that God is working his story out in the world through us, that we are filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions by fulfilling our calling to take our place in the story of God on earth and that as we tire we don't grid our teeth and work harder. When we do that we'll become angry and judgmental. All of the negative things the church is known for. When we get tired we'll ask for divine energy and wait for its impartation and move out

36:05 again in our unique version of the story of God. Let me pray that we could be those people. Hey Lord, thank you for all the work you've gone through to start again with us. Thank you. Lord give us energy this morning to live out of your presence in us to allow your presence

36:43 to reveal our glory and move forward in our own creative expressions of your story. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.