I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.
Paul the least of all saints was given grace to preach to Gentiles so the wisdom of God might be made known through the church
8 To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
9 and to make all men see what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ;
10 to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places,
God gave apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers to equip saints until we attain unity of the faith
11 He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;
12 for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ;
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
the law speaks to all so every mouth is closed and none will be justified by works of the law
19 Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
20 Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
righteousness of God through faith in Christ for all who believe all have sinned God displayed Christ as propitiation
21 But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets;
22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;
25 whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance;
no condemnation for those in Christ for what the law could not do God did by sending his son as an offering for sin
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
3 For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
On the third Sunday of Advent, Pastor Ray preached a Christmas message from three of Paul's letters, tracing the chain of gifts that arrived when God sent His Son at exactly the right moment. The sermon moved through Galatians, Ephesians, and Romans, showing how that one event in Bethlehem set in motion everything the church now carries forward. The central thread was the Greek word kairos, the opportune moment, and what it means that God has never once missed His.
What was said
Pastor Ray opened with two Christmas texts side by side: Galatians 4:4-5, which says God sent His Son "when the right time came," and Romans 5:6, which says Christ came "when we were utterly helpless." He introduced the Greek distinction between chronos, ordinary clock time, and kairos, the opportune moment. To illustrate kairos, he described a bas-relief of the figure Lysippus carved, a young man with long hair in front and a bald head in back, carrying a razor and a balance. The inscription on the statue warns that you can grab kairos by the forelock when it comes at you head-on, but once it has raced past, there is nothing to take hold of. God, Pastor Ray said, never misses His kairos. Not once, across all the prophecies, all the centuries of waiting.
Galatians became the first leg of the argument. The law, Paul says, is like a guardian or a tutor. It is good at showing us exactly where we fail, but it has no power to fix the failure. All who rely on works of the law are under a curse, because no one keeps all of it all the time. That helplessness is the very condition into which Christ was born. He was born under the law so He could fulfill it, hand over His perfect record, and make it available to anyone who would believe. The gift at Christmas, Pastor Ray said, is that we are no longer slaves but adopted sons and daughters, able to cry out "Abba, Father."
The fruit that belongs to people who have received that gift looks like Jesus, Pastor Ray said, quoting the list from Galatians: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. He paused on the command to "keep in step with the Spirit," noting that the actual Greek is even simpler: if we live by the Spirit, live by the Spirit. Dragging behind because of a missed opportunity years ago is no answer. The question is what God is calling someone to today, and whether they are moving at His pace rather than sitting down and leaving it to someone else.
Moving into Ephesians, Pastor Ray pressed on the idea that the church is the continuing body of Christ. The mystery hidden for ages, he said, was that God intended to bring all things together in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth, and that the church is the instrument through which the multifaceted wisdom of God is now made known. He quoted Ephesians 2:10, calling believers God's poiema, His poem or masterpiece, created for good works that God prepared beforehand, step after step, so that walking in the Spirit, those steps would become visible.
A brief stop in Romans 3 reinforced the Galatians argument from the other direction. Every mouth is closed, every person in the world is accountable, because by works of the law no one is justified. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed through faith in Christ, for all who believe, with no distinction. God was patient, letting sins go unpunished, until the kairos of Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection demonstrated His justice and made Him the justifier of all who have faith in Jesus.
Romans 5 brought the two threads together. Having been justified by faith, believers have peace with God and stand in grace. Pastor Ray pointed out that Paul calls believers to celebrate not only the hope of God's glory but also their tribulations, because tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance produces proven character, and proven character produces a hope that does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in their hearts through the Holy Spirit. What the law could never do, God did by sending His own Son.
Pastor Ray closed the body of the sermon with a moment from John 7, where Jesus tells His brothers that His kairos has not yet arrived, but theirs is always ready. His point was that at any moment, any person can turn to Jesus and say they are placing their faith in Him. The opportune moment for believing is not fixed the way the incarnation was fixed. It is open. That is the final shape of the gift: Christ came at precisely the right time so that for everyone else, the time can be right now.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Ray talked about kairos time as the opportune moment, and said that God never misses his kairos. Can you think of a time in your own life when you recognized an opportune moment from God, and either grabbed it or let it slip past?
Paul writes in Galatians that the law acts as a guardian or tutor to lead us to Christ, showing us where we fall short. How has that been true in your own experience, and what did it feel like to move from that awareness of failure toward grace?
Speaker 1All right. There's a quartet you don't see very often right there. That little guy has got quite the high note from what I understand. He does. Yes.
Would you stand with us? We're going to sing Angels from the Realms of Glory. Lot of Christmas carols this morning. Join us if you would. We're going to sing first, second, and fifth verses.
This one, they'll come up on the wall. Doctors Campbell, Evan and Julia, Emily, and Dietrich. Phes are up here singing along. Merry Christmas and welcome. Glad you're here.
I I expect my wife to probably grab that baby before this this song is over. Amen. Let's work right into We Three Kings. We Three Kings. Amen.
Y'all can have a seat. Have a a few announcements if the thing cooperates with us this morning. Maybe more than we did in the first service. Hey, Awana is happening. It is a club night, not just a regular club night though.
It is Awana store night. So, that is a very exciting time for those kids who have been earning Awana dollars by being here and reciting verses and so Awana store is tomorrow night. Kids club happen in 05:45 right in this room and then building from there till about 07:30. They'll spread all over the church. Twenty twenty four calendars are available.
They're in the back sitting on the back table. They're $10 and the proceeds go towards youth programs. It's so great to be able to write down stuff on a paper calendar and then strike it off. Do you agree? Yes.
Oh, so nice. December 10 is gone. December 17. Oh, this is December 17. December 17, Christmas caroling, 04:30PM.
We plan, depending on how many show up, we are planning on leaving as one group, singing with one voice. Maybe a harmony here and there. Wandering from this place and heading towards downtown. If you have somebody that you would like for us to go visit, that's in East Jackson somewhere, please, please, please, please, let us know. Other than that, we're gonna walk around and go places that we know we ought to go.
And then we're going to go downtown onto the square and we're going to just sing to our heart's content. We have the books arranged in order this year. Instead of looking for stuff in the dark, bring yourself a little light. Bring yourself a little light. We're not carrying actual candles But if you would, Nick has done put a lot of thought and effort into it.
So Christmas caroling starting at 04:30. The buzzard breath chili cook off starts at 6PM. So we'll go sing for an hour, hour and a half, and then come back down the hall to the chili cook off. Bring bring it adults, come on. The kids win every year.
And they are making them themselves, they make some pretty mean chili. But come on, give them a run for their money. This is the chili cook off. There'll be prizes, and there'll be games, and there'll be lots of fun stuff. So come on down and join us.
You don't have to be here for both, can do either. Christmas Carol at 04:30, chili cook off at six Next week, there'll be no morning services. Normally, I know it's Sunday morning, we're not going to do morning services next week. We're going to do our services at 04:30 and six in the evening. And if you normally come to the 04:30 and you think, my goodness, it's standing room only in here, come to the six.
You'll alleviate some of the standing room onlyness. If you have a choice, come to the six, it's usually lesser, less populated. And then we'll do on the twenty fifth, which is a Monday, there will be no services here. The angel tree tags, I see a few tags still back there in the foyer. Are Tanya's administrating that system, but y'all know how that works.
Congregational meeting. So the congregational meeting, we do one a year if whether we need it or not, okay? We do one a year by our constitution. It's in January. This year it is 01/21/2024.
The budget has been submitted for your perusal. It's in the back there. If you'd like a copy of the budget, Steve Baldock, right back there. Would you step in here for a second, Steve? Steve is moderator this year.
And so he is kind of superintending over the process that goes through it. If you have any questions about the budget this year, he'd love for you to get a chance to talk about it ahead of time. If you call him, you can call him and he'll kind of help with the numbers, help you understand what's going on. But also the actual budget is where it would be ratified, questioned, discussed, that sort of stuff. But January 21, between service, we're going to recognize our volunteers, which can't do what we do without a lot of volunteers doing what they do.
The budget will discuss and vote on Tim Williams for Board of Trustees and for Berkley Johnston, the younger as an elder. Okay. Right. Berkley Johnston served the church for a long time before he passed. And Berkley's grand and Maria's grandson Berkley is just he's just a delight.
He's great. And we are, discussing and voting him in as an elder, we pray. So Berkeley Johnston as an elder. We do need help from volunteers for connect hour, the between services little breakfast line down there on Sunday mornings. Addie Hair, right here.
This is Addie. Would you just kind of wave? That's Addie. She has taken on the responsibilities for kind of directing or coordinating for that. But if you have any questions, can ask her and she would help you to know kind of the ropes of how to get it happening.
We pay for the food. If you will set it up, it would be a great job. We could really use your help there. Advent week number three. And I believe, is it that it restores
Speaker 3On this third Sunday in Advent, the candle of joy is lit. Jesus came to give us fullness of joy and abundant life. Joy is ours because of Jesus. His presence brings the promise of joy.
Speaker 2Reading from the gospel of Luke. And there were shepherds living out in this fields nearby, keeping walk watch over their flocks by night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shown around them and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord.
Speaker 1And would you stand with us? Thank you. It restores us. I love the name. In my head though, and I started to tell you this the other day, not on a microphone in front of a whole bunch of people, but he restores us is the way that I remember this, right?
He restores us. God restores us. It's not spelled that way. It's not even close to that. But it restores.
Alright. Very, very sweet. Would you join us on this next next song? Come the long expected Jesus. Come the long It's only two verses long but I was hit by the words of it this time different than usual.
Let me just, let's sing it again, the whole song again. It's two verses long. Come on. I know the pastor. He won't go on long.
Amen. Wow. That's a theology lesson. Gosh. I've read it 10 times this week.
Yes. But God connects things sometimes. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. It's time now for the worship through giving.
It's the operatory time. I want to pray but would you pray with me for God to to show us how he would have us proceed. Lord God Almighty, I pray that you would take this willing body of your humble and obedient servants, the families of Earth, the families of the church, Lord, that we would take seriously the role that has been handed to us as the continuing body of Christ. To carry forward the good news of the gospel, that faith in Christ brings freedom, that faith in Christ abolishes sin and death. Lord God almighty, may we speak into a world.
May we be light in a dark place. Lord God Almighty, would you show us how you would have us proceed. You are the one, Lord, who has directed and prepared before us some good work, something that will authenticate the message, Lord. That Jesus Christ came. In the fullness of time, he came, lived a perfect life, and offered a perfect sacrifice.
Lord God Almighty, you raised him from the dead. Jesus seated at the right hand. Direct us, Lord, in spirit and power that we may do your will and your way to the very outermost parts of the earth. Would you, Lord, take these offerings and do what you will with them in your way. In Jesus' name, amen.
Love having y'all here and singing. Thank you very much. And beautiful Judy. Merry Christmas. I'm glad y'all are here.
I'm glad to be here. I'm glad that it's Christmas time. I have, in the past, always kind of fretted over. What is it that you do at Christmas? What is it that we do at Christmas?
Because we tell the story at Christmas. Right? And I will say, we're gonna tell the story of Christmas. Christmas Eve, 04:30 and six. We're gonna read all of the pertinent passages from that but this morning, we're gonna do a merry Christmas obliquely, alright?
Now, for a while now, when I'm up here preaching, it's been coming at you from the gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke primarily. Occasionally, I'll mention John if he tells the same story as the Synoptics. For the last months and months, probably a year almost, we've been in this Harmony of the Gospel study. Well, we've gotten away from the Pauline epistles.
And so this is gonna be a very Pauline Christmas message. Okay? I was looking at all the different possibilities for what Christmas text. Maybe I'll go back to the Old Testament and pick up something from Zechariah. We'll read that next week too.
Right? Because that comes in in the prophetic portion. But I thought about what are the gifts of Christmas that we have been given that it's a no doubt about it. Oh, yeah. We need to remember that gift.
And there are there's another concept that I want to throw in here too. The two passages that I've had in my mind all week long, the one we sent out on the email is this, but when the right time came, this is a New Living Translation just to throw a wrinkle into things. I usually use New American Standard. But when just the right time came, God sent his son, born of a woman, subject to the law. So that's Christmas at just the right time.
It wasn't a second early, and it wasn't a second late. It is exactly at the right time. When the right time came, God sent his son, born of a woman subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. Born thy people to deliver.
Born a child and yet a king, born to reign in us forever, now the gracious this is where it is. By thine own eternal spirit, rule in all our hearts alone. What we're looking for is, Lord Jesus, that you would hold absolute sway. And the mechanism by which he's able to do that is because he came at just the right time. He was subject to the law and he fulfilled it.
He had a perfect record and he was able to hand that over to whosoever would believe. By thine all sufficient merit. He has the merit. Raise us, Lord, to your glorious throne. Are you with me?
Yeah. Okay. If you all are having a hard time keeping up so far, this is gonna be a bumpy ride. There's a lot of scripture this morning. Okay?
So listen fast. The first passage was this one, Galatians four four and five. The next passage was this Romans five six. When we were utterly helpless. Because all of us are subject to the law.
All of us are subject to the law, and none of us can fulfill it. When we were utterly helpless by nature and by choice, we break God's perfect law. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, in English, time, we just say time, and it doesn't matter if you're talking about times, minutes, hours, seconds, or if it's the right time or an opportune time. We still use the word time.
It's kind of ambiguous. But in ancient Greek, there's either chronos time, like chronology. I love chronology myself. Like as far as when did that happen? Oh, it makes a difference if this happened first.
Yeah. I understand. He was there before he was here. Chronos time is that, or kairos time. And kairos is the opportune moment.
Now, in Greek mythology, I'm not gonna preach Greek mythology, but just so you know, this is the time into which this story was told. Kronos is always pictured as cruel, Kronos. He's an old man, though he is still strong. He's definitely aged. Cruel Cronos gets us all.
I would put up an image of depiction of Cronos in Greek mythology, but there is not one that you would want to see. He's devouring ugly. It's ugly. Really ugly. But mischievous Kairos I'll put up an image of mischievous Kairos.
Kairos is always pictured as a young man. He's full of muscle, full of vibrant life. By the way, according to Hippocrates Hippocrates, you remember the oath of Hippocrates, every Kairos is a Kronos, but not every Kronos is a Kronos. Like, opportune moments happen in the context of actual time. And Jesus, the opportune moment for him to be born was at a certain time, but not every time is an opportune moment.
Now, if the if the singers will forgive me, they brought a song this morning, and they were planning on singing a song this morning. They started singing it, and it sounded beautiful. But then just before they said, this is not the time. That's exactly what I'm talking about. Now they're capable of doing it, and they could have done it.
But they recognize this is not the opportune moment. This is just a moment. Okay? It's nice to know the difference. This is bas relief of a previous work that does not exist anymore.
It was a bronze statue, and this is a little clay. I added fig leaf so I wouldn't get letters. This is a mischievous Kairos. Okay? And so if you pay attention, he has wings on his feet, he has wings on his back, he's carrying a razor in one hand and a balance in the other.
And there are multiple images of this statue from Lysippus, I think is where it is. It's kind of famous. There's an inscription that was on the original bronze that's also kind of famous. I'll get to it in a bit. The haircut on this guy is weird.
So mischievous Kairos and his do is long locks in the front, and no hair in the back. Do you see the roundness of his bald head in the back? That's weird. Would you agree? It's kind of an opposite of a mullet.
So just read the poem, right? Or I have to find the poem. Alright. So it starts off. This is an inscription.
Not exactly a poem, but it is an inscription, an epigram. And it says, who and whence the sculptor from Sycaon, and his name Lysippus? And who are you? Speaking to the sculpture itself. And who are you?
Kairos, who subdues all things? And why do you stand on tiptoe for I am ever running? And why have you a pair of wings on your feet because I fly like the wind? And why do you hold a razor in your right hand as a sign to men that I'm sharper than any sharp edge? And why does your hair hang over your face?
For him who meets me head on to take me by the forelock. And why in heaven's name is the back of your head bald? Because none who have once raced by on my wing because none whom I have once raced by on winged feet will now, though he wishes sore, take hold of me from behind. I'm gone. Kairos, why did the artist fashion you for your sake, stranger?
This makes me think of the, howdy stranger, that there is Jackson Hole. But it is on the outside coming into this place. Sicchion. Lysippus says, why did the artist fashion you? And it says, for your sake, stranger.
And he set me up here on the porch as a lesson for you. If you're gonna find your opportune moment, grab it by the forelock. Hold on to it. Don't let it pass by because it's slick on the backside. Right?
That's this little kairos. And it comes up a lot. It comes up a lot when we're translating into English and you see at just the right time or in an opportune moment or it was the fullness of time, that's usually kairos. And if it says, for three days, they wandered on the journey, that's just kronos time. So okay.
Between Galatians four and Romans five, there's a lot of ground. I was looking primarily this week and going, God, I want to give just a series of the blessings that come along with Christmas. God could've done it any way he chose to but in his divine understanding, it is exactly as it should have happened, exactly at the right time, and it kind of lays out there for us some stuff that we should be grabbing hold of. Does that make sense? What I'm going to do, I hope, is sort of skip a rock across and just let it bounce.
I like context. I like to preach with a lot of context, but I'm gonna let that rock skip through three of Paul's epistles this morning. I'm not covering all of it no matter what it feels like. Galatians, Ephesians, and Romans. Now, Galatians is written to a very specific audience because they had received of Christ and known the grace of God, but then they were putting that freedom, grace, liberty that they had found in Christ down and picking the law back up like they had to go by.
Okay? And then Ephesians and Romans are both just these magnificent works of the way it works. So we're gonna go Galatians first. I love how Paul starts off in his letters. He always starts with grace and peace, and Galatians is no exception.
Grace to you and peace from God the father and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins. Merry Christmas. The gift that was given was Christ himself. Grace to you and peace from God the father and our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that he might rescue us from this present easel age according to the will of God and father to whom be the glory forever. Praise God that he had a plan, and he stepped into history in accomplishing that plan.
Praise God. Paul says in chapter two, listen, I know what it's like to know the law. I got that. I understand that. I couldn't ever hit it, but I did the best that I could, and I now realize that I, if I'm to have any righteousness whatsoever that is not just self righteousness, I I have been crucified with Christ.
Christ doesn't happen without Christmas. I've been crucified with Christ, and it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God. He loved me, and he gave himself. Merry Christmas.
He gave himself up for me. I don't nullify the grace of God. The grace of God is the unmerited favor of God. Through thine all sufficient merit, the song said. Christ had all of the merit, and what grace is is where he leans forward towards us and says, here, take hold of this.
I don't nullify the grace of God. For if thy righteousness comes, if righteousness can come through the law, then Christ died needlessly. It can't be both, Galatians. It's either grace or it's law. For all who are of works of the law are under a curse.
For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not abide by all of the things written in the book of the law to do them. James agrees with this. James says, if you have broken God's perfect law in even one area, you've broken the whole thing. So cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things. And this fits all.
Right? All. We'll see it again in Romans. Now, that no one is justified by the law before God is evident for the righteous one will live by faith. Now, the righteous one is Jesus, and he did live by faith.
Having that perfect record, gave that perfect sacrifice, made it available for all who would believe, for the righteous one will live by faith. Therefore, the law has become our guardian, he says in Galatians. The law is like a tutor or a disciplinarian. The law has become our guardian to lead us to Christ. It lets us know where we fail.
That's what the law is good at. It lets us know how we fall so that we may be justified by faith. Because realizing we can't do it, we have to accept the gift that God is giving. For all you who were baptized into Christ, you have clothed yourselves with Christ. Merry Christmas.
There's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There's neither male nor female, for you all are one in Christ Jesus. The unity of the body of Christ. We, consider this, are the continuing body of Christ.
We're drawn together by his merit, not ours. And if you belong to Christ, you're Abraham's descendants. You're heirs according to the promise. There's no Jew or Greek was the big, big, big deal. No Jew or no Gentile.
He's drawing us into the family of God. That is the gift of God to consider at Christmas. Now I say, as long as an heir is a child, and we have been called children of God if we put our faith in Christ. Now, say that as long as an heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave. Can we get any witnesses, children?
Yeah. Although he's owner of everything, we are joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this side, as the song says. But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. You know what the word the date set by the father is? Kairos, until an opportune moment.
He's under guardians and managers. The law helps see how we ought to live. We have no power outside of Christ to be able to do that. But with Christ, we can walk forward in freedom. The spirit will guide until the kairos moment, the opportune moment set by the father.
So we too, when we were children, we held in bondage under the elementary principles of this world. But when the fullness of time came, God sent his son, he never misses his mark. Okay? He never misses his mark. When the prophecies were written a thousand years before, and seven hundred years before, and five hundred years before, and four hundred and thirty years before.
That, all of that, he never misses. When the fullness of time came, God sent his son, Merry Christmas, born of a woman, born under the law. Why? So that he might redeem those who were under the law. That we might receive the adoption of sons and daughters.
Oh, there's a quote from Sam Souther, who's a guy who goes to church here sometimes. He lives in Georgia. He comes here sometimes. And he said, he went. He went.
Sam's got a great voice too. Christ came to Earth so we can go to heaven. That's it. That's his Christmas sermon. Christ came to Earth so we can go to heaven.
Alright. Thank you, Sam. So that we might receive adoption as sons and daughters, he laid down the glories of heaven and came and was born. We'll hear the story next week. Because you're sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts so that we may be able to cry out, Abba, father.
We have daddy, almighty God. Therefore, you're no longer a slave, but you're a son. And if you're a son, then you're an heir through God. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, keep on standing firm in that freedom.
Keep on standing firm. Don't be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Don't put down the grace of God and say, I wanna earn this. You can earn it. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this statement.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But consider this, if you bite and devour one another, take care that you're not consumed by one another. Actually, Kronos, what Kronos is known for, is consuming. Actually, Saturn is the other way to call this. And he consumed all of his sons.
Just And that's why he's so ugly, that's why I didn't put anything up there. I can't believe I said it out loud. But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you're not consumed by one another. We are called into one family by the spirit of God. Now, the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, idolatry, witchcraft, hostility, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.
But I've already warned you about those, just as I have forewarned you. That those who practice, the habitual practice that looks like this, that's not a child of God. That's what he's saying. That's not that's not what this looks like. If that's the way that life looks, then you haven't you missed it.
You didn't get it. But the fruit of the spirit, you can see, and it looks like this. It looks like Jesus. It's love, and joy, and peace, and patience, and kindness, and goodness, and faithfulness, and gentleness, and self control. Against such things, there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucify the flesh with its passions and desires. The gift of God is that we can get out of our selfish nonsense and come into being a part of the kingdom of God, but not just a part, a useful part of the kingdom of God. Now if we live by the spirit this is actually the Ray McDaniel version of this verse. If we live by the spirit, let's keep in step with the spirit. I like to keep in step because it's about pacing.
What it actually says is, if we live by the spirit, let's live by the spirit. That's what it says. Let's keep in step. Let's don't drag behind him. Oh, you know, I should have done that.
I felt like God was calling me to do so and so, but that was years ago. Yeah. That's terrible. That's a horrible thing. What's he calling you to now?
What's the opportune moment now? Where's the hairy forelock that you can grab hold of now? That slick bald head is gone. Grab. If we live by the spirit, let's keep in step.
Lord, what would you have me do today? Is there somebody in my path today that needs a good word from you? Is there somebody in my path that I could help? If we're gonna live by the spirit, then let's keep in step with the spirit. Let's don't drag behind, lag behind, and let's don't get ahead of it.
Galatians. I used this one last week, actually. Last week, I concentrated on don't be deceived. God's not mocked. Whatever you sow, you'll also reap.
But this, I wanna concentrate on something else. Let's not become discouraged in doing good. There are I'm looking at you. I'm I'm gonna try not to look at anybody individually, but I'm looking at you. And I know you, most of you.
And I know that you are all involved in good works. Most all of you are involved in a good work. You have undertaken to do something for the kingdom of God. Let's not become discouraged in doing that good that God has called us to. Take that message right now today.
Let's not become discouraged in doing good, the good that God's called you to. For in due time, we will reap in the opportune moment. Now God never misses his opportune moment. We sometimes do. We let them pass sometimes.
If we become discouraged, we're more likely to sit down and say, let somebody else deal with that from now on. Let's not become discouraged in doing good. For in due time, at God's opportune moment, we will reap. He will follow through on the gift for sure. He will follow through on any reward, for sure.
Let's not become discouraged in doing good, for in due time, we will reap. He will follow through on the harvest. That's his job, not our job. Let's not become discouraged in doing good for at just the right time, Kairos, we will reap. If we don't become weary so then, while we have the opportunity, let's do good to all people.
Let's just keep on doing good to all people. Expand your boundaries for who you're willing to do good, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Just because we are brothers and sisters in Christ and just because we believe in Jesus does not mean we don't lack in some areas. And we can help one another. We can bear one another's burdens.
Galatians closes out like this. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Brothers and sisters, amen. The grace, the unmerited favor of our Lord Jesus Christ, though he left the glories of heaven and came and walked it out on this and took a pretty bad beating and crucifixion and was misunderstood the whole time, walked it out thirty years. He extended that grace towards you, unmerited favor favor.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, may that be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. May you dwell on that. It is easy to look around and see bad stuff. Right? You can see a lot of things that are wrong with the world.
What Jesus saw that was wrong with the world, he stepped into that world and did the good that he could do. Now, that was his opportune moment, and he alone could do that. But since we're the continuing body of Christ, Ephesians goes into that. Okay? Here we are in Ephesians.
Ephesians, he made known to us the mystery of his will. He kinda did that at Christmas. Through all the ages past, Messiah, Messiah. We're looking forward to this, and we're trying to understand it, trying to understand it, and then I don't think anybody knew. But with all the prophecies coming together, and then that angel announced him to Mary.
He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, just the way he wanted to it, which he set forth in Christ, in him, regarding his plan of the fullness of the times. Kairos. It's an opportune moment. It was the opportune moment to bring all things together where in Christ. Merry Christmas.
That's what we celebrate. Christ Christ is different than anybody else ever. To bring all things together in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth, he upholds all things by the word of his power. Merry Christmas. He put all things in subjection under Christ's feet, and he made him the head over all things to the church, which is his body.
Christ is the head. We are the body. We're the continuing body on earth. Wow. We need to take that seriously.
It's a gift to be able to walk out in humility the plan of God for the fullness of times in our times. He put all things subjection under Christ's feet and made him the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness. The church is the fullness of him who fills all in all. I know that this this time, I I hear people who are upset and depressed and upset about deconstruction. People are deconstructing their faith.
But you know what? The church is Christ's body. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. Individually, I want for people to be going to God directly and saying, what is it that you would have me do? Strip away anything that's not of you.
And then if they stay with scripture and they keep Christ, I'm not worried about deconstruction at all because we need to strip off the barnacles of the boat. Right? We need to. The church is plan a. There is no plan b.
The church will accomplish what Jesus has set out for it to do. Do we wanna be a part of it? Grabbing a hold of the moments when they come is the way. Ephesians one twenty three, which the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Oh, Baptist Church, here we are.
For by grace, you have been saved. Oh, thank you Jesus. For by grace, it is the unmerited favor of God that has saved us through faith. Yes. We had to place our faith in him.
That's not a of ourselves, though. That's the gift of God. Merry Christmas. God gave us a gift. We've accepted the gift.
That's a celebration. It's not a result of work so that no one can boast. For we, members of the church triumphant, all believers, I don't care your denominational stripe, anyone who's ever put their faith in Christ, you are his workmanship. Poiema. You're his poem, his love poem, his masterpiece, his workmanship, his craft, his handiwork created in Christ Jesus for good works.
We were created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in under. This verse does not have Kairos in there, but is it implied? He has prepared the works beforehand so that we, step after step after step, would walk in them. So when the opportunity of God presents itself, he's saying, yep, take that step. Yep, take that step.
Walk by the spirit. Keep in step by the spirit, and you'll see the steps that he has laid out in front of you and the good works that he has for you. Praise God. What a gift to know that we can be a plan of all part of the plan of almighty God. Now Paul starts in Ephesians three ten eight.
He says, for me for me, Paul, formerly Saul, Paul, to me, the very least of all the saints, This grace was given. What God favored me with is to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ. Now this Pharisee, who couldn't stand to be around Gentiles, after that Damascus Road experience, becomes the apostle to the Gentiles. To me, the least of all the saints, chief sinners, he says, this was the grace given, to preach to the Gentiles unfathomable riches of Christ and to enlighten all people. I don't care who they are.
I'll start first with the Jews because they ought to know better. They've got the Old Testament, and then I'll go to anybody. I'll use their own sculpture and poetry and everything else. I'm gonna enlighten all people as to what the plan of the mystery is, which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things so that, think about this church, so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known through the church. This is the way that the message goes forward.
So that the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christmas in Christ Jesus the Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in him. And for this reason, Paul says, I bend my knees before the father from whom every family in heaven on earth derives its name, that he would grant to all of y'all, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through the spirit and the inner self, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, so that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what it is, the width, and the length, and the height, and the depth, and know the love of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge. He's asking us to know something that he knows won't fit in a human head. This is what I'm praying for you, that you your minds are blown by how this Christmas message was delivered.
So that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints for his width, and length, and height, and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled to all of the fullness of God. And he gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some evangelists. And he gave some pastors and teachers. He gave them for the equipment of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of this body of Christ. This is plan a.
There's no plan b. We have to get together on this to carry that gospel forward. How long do we need to do that? Until we all attain to the unity of the faith. And of the knowledge of the son of God to a mature man, to the measure of the fullness of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
Have we hit it yet? Oh, no. Plenty of area to work on that. But the unity of the body of Christ is the goal. Therefore, be imitators of God.
How hard is it to imitate God? It's pretty hard. How much harder must it have been before that first Christmas, that first Noel? Think about that. You've got all Old Testament.
You got 430 of silence. How hard was it to imitate God before that? Be imitators of God as dearly beloved children. We have Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith, to look at as our example. Did he walk in love?
Yeah. Walk in love. Just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for you. That's the way we're to be loving one another. An offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
He closes out this way. Peace be to all of the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace, there it is, grace. Always start with grace. Always end with grace.
Grace be with all of those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an incorruptible love. Can I can I ask you? Do you love Jesus with an incorruptible love? Yeah. Yes.
That's what I want. I don't want for all of the nitpicky nonsense that I hear around me to do anything to corrupt the love I have for Christ. All you gotta do is dig in. If you read the gospel I defy you to read the gospels and come away not in love with Jesus. I defy you to do it.
You cannot do it if you take it seriously. Grace be with you all. Those who love our Lord Jesus Christ will incorruptible love. I only have a couple passages from Romans. I'm not gonna skip the lake.
Skip the rock across the lake in Romans. Just starting here. Romans three nineteen. Now we know that whatever the law says, whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. Who is that?
Everybody. So that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God. Because by the works of the law, none of mankind will be justified for his sight in his sight. Works of the law, none of mankind will be justified in his sight. That's the way it was BC.
That's the way it was before Christ. That's way it was for you before you met Christ. We are constantly seeking to justify self, and we cannot do it. Through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, but it's the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.
There's no distinction. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation. It was a perfect sacrifice payment acceptable. In his blood, through faith, this was to determine to demonstrate his righteousness. Because in God's merciful restraint he let the sins previously committed go unpunished.
Yeah. He was gracious and merciful. For the demonstration of this, though, of his righteousness at Kairos, at the present time. He hit the opportune moment in the birth of Christ. He hit the opportune moment in the life of Christ all the way throughout.
He hit the opportune moment in the death of Christ and the resurrection. So that he would be just. God was just, but he's showing himself as just in Christ, and as the justifier is the one who who has faith in Jesus. And Romans five. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace, it is a grace in which we stand. We stand covered by the unmerited favor of almighty God. And that is a gift to consider at Christmas. Consider it. We celebrate in the hope of the glory of God.
We celebrate this Christmas in the hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also celebrate what? Our tribulations. Knowing tribulation brings about perseverance. Perseverance brings about proven character.
Proven character brings about hope, and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Praise God for that. Think about how this happened, and this is my beginning verse here. When we were utterly helpless under the law, couldn't do anything about it for ourselves. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time, Merry Christmas, and died for us sinners.
Happy Easter. Now most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might be perhaps willing to die for a good person, you know, bodyguards and such, person who's especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. You didn't do anything to deserve it, but he took that first step. When you've apprehended that, if you get that, it'll change your life.
Therefore, Romans eight, there's no condemnation at all. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was. Every time I get to this point, I think of Pilgrim's Progress.
Have you all read Pilgrim's Progress? Pilgrim's Progress is great. It's an allegory. The traveler is named Christian. And Christian goes through, he's heading towards the holy city, and he's got lots of different allegorical names around him.
Wealthy wise man, I think is one. Wealthy wise man. Is that right? I think that's right. There are a few other characters floating around, but Christian is the one who's on the path walking towards the holy city.
And Christian's walking along. He comes around the corner and he gets wham. He gets hit in the head hard, knocks him down, out cold. When he comes around and starts to get up, wham, he gets hit in the head again. And he's like, what in the world?
Jesus reaches down and picks him up. And as he's picking him up and kind of biting in his wounds and holding on to him, comforting and consoling him, he goes, what? What was that? He goes, oh, that was Moses. Moses just hit you with the law.
And when you thought you were alright, he hit you again. But Christ is there to pick us up from that and to to show us. It it shows us how we're wrong. It shows us how we get off the path. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh.
It can only show you how you go wrong. God did it though. God did it by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh. We walk according to the spirit because of what Jesus has done.
Alright. John seven. Very quickly. John seven. In John seven, somebody had a question for me this week.
Actually, a guy came to my office, and he said, I've been reading the Bible kinda with a with a keen eye lately, and I'm looking for stuff that's contradiction. And I said, well, that's a terrible way to read the Bible. Hit me. What are you talking about? He said, when Jesus said he wasn't going to the feast, and then he went to the feast.
I said, oh, wow. Do you know a lot about Jewish history? He said, no. No. Not not so much.
I said, no. Me neither. But it says, I'm I'm not going up to this feast is what Jesus said. And he goes, oh, so is there more than one? I said, yeah.
There are lot of them that week. He goes, oh, okay. Alright. Well, right here in that same passage, it's within a couple of verses of that same passage, I saw this and it jumped out at me because it's Kairos. Okay?
Verse five is the lead in. For not even his brothers believed in him. Jesus had brothers, and his brothers did not believe in him. Half brothers, we'll call them. They're half brothers.
Jesus' brothers didn't even believe in him. And in this passage, they're kinda jaw jawing with him. They're saying, well, if you wanna be such a big man, why don't you go on down to Jerusalem? Come on down. That's where the show is.
We're up here in this little backwater town. We're all heading out. Why you come on down with us, Jesus? Do stuff publicly. You shouldn't be hiding it.
And they knew that the authorities were after him. Jesus knew the authorities were after him. He said, no, y'all go ahead. I'm not going up to this one right here, right now. And then it says secretly, he went up by himself.
Sure, walk in the wilderness on the way there. Not even his brothers believed in him. So Jesus said to them, my time, kairos, my opportune moment is not yet here. It's close. It's not yet here, But your time is always ready.
Your time is always ready. I like that. Oportune moments happen like Hippocrates says in the midst of chronos moments. But Jesus is saying there's an open time and I think he's referring actually right back up to that verse five. His brothers didn't believe in him.
He says, my time is coming and I'm going to hit it but your time is anytime. At any point, those brothers or any of us could look to Jesus and say, you know what? I never have quite understood. But seeing all of the benefits that are available and that it's the plan of almighty God, why would I hold back? I'm putting my faith in you, Jesus.
I want the new covenant. I don't want the old covenant. And here it is, when the fullness of time came, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who are under the law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters. Consider that the gift that has been given is for those who put their faith in Christ to be called the children of God. Is there a happy Merry Christmas slide after that?
What child is this? Merry Christmas. Actually, would you stand with us? I'm going ask the singers to come on back up. Emily, you can hold if you want to.
Either way, you can come on up if you can. Would you sing with us and just consider what child is this? He is different from everyone who has come before him. He's different from everyone who's come after him. He's the very center point of all history, not just human history.
Helds all things together by his power. But he stepped into the ugliness that he is sending us out into. Amen. Lord God almighty, my prayer is that loving hearts. We who are here in this, we heard just a minute ago that we love you with an incorruptible love.
It was a gift you gave us first but we love back because you have loved us. Lord God almighty, let loving hearts enthrone him. May we bow to your sovereignty, hear your will, and be gifted the power that we have been gifted to take it to the streets, to carry it out. In Jesus' name, show yourself, Lord, again, to a lost and dying world through this continuing body of Christ. Amen.
