Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Now I am so thankful for Mary Beth and for Virginia and their voices that have been lent to this service.
[00:00:14] Virginia's willingness to be confused and to be interested in the world around her has led us to the table. And those are big words for us. Rooster, at some point, was a big word for other people, not for us. Table, a big word. We see a table, we hear the word table. We think something bigger than maybe what the rest of the world thinks. Some words have big, deep meaning to them, and they can. Maybe they're cultural, and you just have to figure them out eventually. I remember one time I was, when you have kids, you carry them around for the first year, at least, and then they start to walk, and you celebrate that. You say, oh, my goodness, they're walking. Look at them go. You video it. You take pictures. You call people, you tell them they can walk now, and from then on, they want to walk.
[00:01:19] And they are so bad at it from the start. They just. These. You're telling them, come on, we've got to go. And they're like, I'll carry you. No, no, I'm walking. You're like, well, you walk at such a slow speed, we're not getting anywhere. And so there's times you have to pick them up kicking and screaming, and they can, but you gotta go. Well, we were. We were late, as we often are, as we often were, with two young kids. And Clara was getting in the car. She was two, and she was getting. And I wanted. I wanted her to get up and get in her seat. And she was more than two, three, or four. And she was getting in the seat, and I said, come on. Nope, let's not dilly dally.
[00:02:07] She turned and looked at me like I was having a medical incident.
[00:02:15] And she said, what does dilly dally mean?
[00:02:21] I was like, I don't know, like, lollygag.
[00:02:29] She's like, my dad is the biggest idiot.
[00:02:34] She eventually got in, but I realized, like, in that moment, like, all I had was just small little sayings. Like, I didn't. Just to not live up to my anxious standards. That's what was happening at the moment. But some words are just so big that it takes a lot to unpack them.
[00:02:56] You can't just.
[00:02:58] It's weird. When you translate, you can't just pull out the greek or the spanish or the latin word and that brick and then insert the english version.
[00:03:12] Languages don't have always just word for word equivalents.
[00:03:19] Like, for example, if you were to tell your spanish speaking friend that your dog kicked the bucket.
[00:03:30] They would think, what an odd thing for a dog to do.
[00:03:35] But also Spanish. Spanish culture has sayings that. That we don't understand.
[00:03:42] I once was telling. I was marrying a couple that were spanish speaking, and they were gonna have an interpreter there. And this. This side of the room didn't speak any English, and this side spoke some.
[00:03:54] And I was talking to them beforehand, doing premarital counseling as best as I could. And we had. We were talking about our favorite dishes. And I love a good tortuga, which is a fried avocado covered in meat and cheese. It's just the best of all the worlds. So good. Not a lot of places have it. I said, I love a good tortuga. And they looked at me like I was crazy. They said, a turtle.
[00:04:26] I said, well, it's the name of a dish. It's not a turtle. When you eat a burrito, it's not a baby donkey. And they had never considered that burrito is baby donkey in Spanish.
[00:04:40] They just knew. A burrito's this and a burro is that and a burrito is that over here. But language is so funny like that. We have a hard time just pulling out words and doing them justice when we translate them. And this verse in Philippians four has a list of words about. It's the things we are supposed to consider.
[00:05:07] Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just. And we're going to talk about that word in just a second. Whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. This is a long way and poetic way of. If we just sum it up on the next slide. Think about whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. Occupy your mind with something.
[00:05:40] Occupy your mind. You've got to occupy your mind with something. Occupy your mind with something that is true.
[00:05:48] Occupy your mind with stuff, as we talked about last week. That just makes you take a step back.
[00:05:54] Can we sit in the presence of things that blow us away, that take our breath away, that are true, that are actual?
[00:06:06] And then he throws this word just at us.
[00:06:11] Some versions say righteous, and it's all the same.
[00:06:18] There's this word in scripture that's used quite a lot, and you don't have to remember it, but the greek word is dikaio sune, and it's a hard word to translate with just one.
[00:06:35] Just hear the adjective decay.
[00:06:43] It just doesn't do it justice.
[00:06:49] Paul uses this word a lot when describing what God is up to, what God hopes for, and what God is planning on accomplishing.
[00:07:06] And so when we think about what is just or what is righteous, righteous is one of those church words, isn't it?
[00:07:14] Righteousness. I want to be righteous.
[00:07:20] Well, what does that mean?
[00:07:24] Lollygag? I don't know. Like, we don't have a good other word for it. We don't have a replacement word that clears it up to say, this is what God is up to, this is what God is doing, and this is how God functions in the world.
[00:07:42] But as it turns out, we don't need a word.
[00:07:49] We can use a lot of them, as I do every Sunday, romans three.
[00:07:56] And I'm going to use this. Matt, could you type what I'm saying up on the screen, please? Thank you.
[00:08:07] Don't try. I'm just kidding.
[00:08:11] But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made known or disclosed to which the law of the prophets testify. He's been spending a lot of time in Romans talking about how God functioned with the israelite people through a law and God's covenant with them. And that's important. That's an important word. It's not just a law. God didn't say, hey, guys, I've rescued you from Egypt. I've got some rules for you.
[00:08:44] Exodus 20 doesn't begin with, the first commandment of the ten is, you shall have no other gods before you. No, the ten Commandments starts with, I am the Lord your God, who has already brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. God's covenant always begins with God doing something for his people.
[00:09:13] He's not just asking of us something, he is doing something. God always shows up, does something, and then offers relationship in a way of a covenant.
[00:09:24] And if you're gonna be in covenant with me, he says, you're not gonna have any other gods before me. You're not gonna have. You're not gonna make idols. You're gonna keep this honored Sabbath. You're gonna keep it holy. You're not gonna take the Lord's name in vain. You're gonna honor your father and mother. Do not murder, steal, or commit adultery. Not in that he murder, committed adultery, stealing. And then he says, and also, don't lie about anybody and don't envy anybody.
[00:09:52] Okay. Are we going to be a group of people where I'm the Lord your God, and you're going to be a type of people who honor what I've asked of you.
[00:10:00] The answer in the long term was no.
[00:10:04] They wanted to so bad and failed so fast. Took them twelve chapters to create a golden calf. And the golden calf, this is yhwh. They said, tomorrow we're going to have a festival to this one, to the cow.
[00:10:23] And no one booed that man off the stage.
[00:10:28] Everyone said hurrah, let's go.
[00:10:35] And so God gets upset with them and there's problems. They are never who God wants them to be, but God consistently stays with them. Because it is through the people of Israel that God is going to make the world right again.
[00:10:56] And Paul is saying, that was the plan and it worked, but it wasn't through the law.
[00:11:08] Paul said, he says, because now, distinct from the law, apart from the law, the righteousness of God. And I think the best way of saying it, and I can't remember if it says it here, the covenant faithfulness of the law, it says righteousness here the covenant faithfulness of God has been made known.
[00:11:39] The law and the prophets were paying attention to that. They were thinking about what when God sets the world right again. God had something in mind and the law and the prophets were paying attention to it. But it wasn't the law that made it, it was God. God is faithful to his covenant.
[00:11:59] This righteousness is given. And this is why I love this translation is given through the it should be here. The faithfulness of Jesus Christ to all who trust, or maybe better, the trustworthiness of Jesus Christ to the covenant faithfulness, mission of God to all who believe.
[00:12:26] To all who trust in Jesus. Jesus was trustworthy.
[00:12:30] God trusted in Jesus.
[00:12:35] There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And all are justified freely by the gift that he's given through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. And did I mention he was trustworthy?
[00:12:54] Did I mention that he was faithful to the mention of God? God wants to set things right.
[00:13:02] And that setting right came through Jesus.
[00:13:08] Here again, this righteousness, this dikaio sune, it came from God through the faithfulness of Jesus and we are justified freely.
[00:13:24] Verse 25 says, God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith.
[00:13:35] He did this to demonstrate his covenant justice to us.
[00:13:45] He is faithful to his promise.
[00:13:51] God has always wanted to be this for us creates man in the garden, living in accord with God, in unity with God.
[00:14:06] They have a tree that they're not supposed to eat of. And I remember when I was a kid. Don't you remember thinking about the tree of knowledge of good and evil? And thinking, well, if he didn't want them to eat it, should I have put it there?
[00:14:21] I mean, far be it from me to make any suggestions, God, but the floor plan of the Garden of Eden had one serious hole that's pretty easy to fall through.
[00:14:33] And we didn't say it was an apple because the Baptist said that. And we wouldn't say anything that the Baptist would say.
[00:14:41] Just kidding. Not kidding.
[00:14:45] But I always wonder, what's that there? Well, do you know that a relationship isn't a relationship unless you can opt out of it?
[00:14:58] Otherwise you're just kidnapped.
[00:15:01] Unless you can leave, you're not truly in relationship with each other.
[00:15:08] Unless there's a way out of the garden. The garden's not your home.
[00:15:15] Unless there's a way out, you're not really there at your will.
[00:15:22] Wedding rings are not to be tattooed on your finger. I mean, some people do that, that's fine, but I've got this wedding ring. I shouldn't have taken it on off. I'm not going to be able to get it back on.
[00:15:34] It means nothing if I can't take it off.
[00:15:38] The ring means I'm married when I willingly put it on.
[00:15:47] This demonstrates to the world that I am a one woman kind of man, that I've made promises that they weren't there to hear, but it is a willingness to put it on. Rings have to be able to be taken off for the relationship to matter.
[00:16:07] You have to have a way out.
[00:16:10] And God ultimately wants. God's ultimate goal is to have relationship with you in covenant, to be united together for the world to know fully that it is loved by God and to be in covenant relationship with God.
[00:16:33] And so they opt out as we do.
[00:16:38] And God finds them in the garden. He doesn't find them. He asks them where they are.
[00:16:43] What a loving thing to do. And then he says, okay, well, I'm gonna make clothes for you since you feel ashamed.
[00:16:51] And God makes covenant with them, even at that time.
[00:16:57] Floods the earth, makes a covenant with Noah. I'll never do this again. It's a promise. Makes a covenant with Abraham in Genesis, chapter twelve, one through three, the last of which is seven promises God says he's going to do for Abraham, not even really asking a ton of Abraham just to pack up and move all of his possessions.
[00:17:17] He says, the last of the promises is through you. I'm going to bless all the nations of the earth. Makes a promise, a covenant with the people of Israel and says a similar thing to them. You're going to be a kingdom of priests to the world. A nation of priests to the world.
[00:17:36] Through you, I'm going to bless the whole world.
[00:17:42] We've consistently not been good at holding up our side of the covenant.
[00:17:47] And so God, like a playwright who couldn't find the right actor for the lead, steps into the theater and walks the earth on his own.
[00:18:05] Jesus is the faithful Israelite whose faithfulness lives up to our side of the covenant for us.
[00:18:22] And God sets things right through God.
[00:18:31] The faithfulness of Jesus brings forth the covenant, righteousness of God, the covenant, promise of God.
[00:18:40] When we talk about things that are righteous, we are not talking about things that are just sort of good and holy.
[00:18:49] We are reminding ourselves, when we think about that which is right, which is just, which is righteous, we are reminding ourselves of God's desire to set things right again.
[00:19:07] And he is doing that through his people. He did it through Jesus. He wanted to do it through Israel, and Israel accomplished that at times never fully, just like we too never fully can do it.
[00:19:21] But God set forth to fulfill his side of the bargain, and he did so through Jesus.
[00:19:34] The promise of God to set things right so where there is no hunger, where there is no poverty, where there is no death, where there is no cancer, there is no heart disease, there is no diabetes, there's no bifocals, all is right when God reigns.
[00:20:01] And the righteousness of God isn't just somewhere. Well, I was guilty and now I'm innocent.
[00:20:10] Well, that's one metaphor used in scripture.
[00:20:15] What God did for us is not something that can be summed up in just one illustration. Well, it's like a court. And I was guilty in court. And God sent his son Jesus, and Jesus. Yep, sure, explain it that way. You're always going to fall short with every analogy. Well, it's like we were children and we didn't have a family, and God adopted us into a family. Yeah, that's kind of like that too.
[00:20:40] It's like we were a branch and God put us onto a tree and mended us to a tree, and then we were a part of the tree. Yeah, sort of like that. But in the end, what it's going to be like, we'll have no words.
[00:20:54] You're going to stare at the glory of God, receive the righteousness of God when things are set right. We're not going to have an analogy that makes sense of it.
[00:21:06] You're not going to be able to say, well, it's a substitutionary atonement and I've come up with a theology and I figured it out. Nope, your jaw is going to hit the floor and you're not going to be able to write your blog.
[00:21:22] It's just dumbfounding what God has done.
[00:21:26] It's overwhelming what God has done. When God makes it right, we will be blown away by how much God loves us and how much God has done for us to make it right in the first place.
[00:21:43] I don't know about you, but I am at my best when I consider such things, when I don't worry, but I bring everything to God. And while I'm with God, I'm considering the fact that God has made some things right, that I couldn't do it. I couldn't make it right. My sin, my death, my life, I couldn't make it right. But here I am sitting around the table of God with people I love, reading, translations that floor me and roosters that confuse me.
[00:22:23] Like in this community, this beautiful thing God has built, built. It's a glimpse the covenant faithfulness of God. Here in this place as we worship together, God is making it right. Little by little.
[00:22:43] He's already done it, but it's not yet complete.
[00:22:49] So as the people of God, we consider what is just, what is right. But we also, we really need to just think about God is faithful to God's covenant. What that means is God keeps God's promise and God is rooting and already knows the victory is won, but rooting for us to live out of that promise that what we do doesn't center around the fact that we we're failures.
[00:23:25] How we live doesn't center around the fact that we're sinners, but how we live and what we do revolves around the idea that God is just and he keeps his promise.
[00:23:40] And his promise was for me and you to be with him forever.
[00:23:48] Praise God that Jesus is faithful and that God is good and he keeps his promise. Let's pray together.
[00:23:57] Father, thank you for your unending love, your consistent promise for the faithfulness of your son and father. May we trust the one who is trustworthy.
[00:24:14] May we believe in the one who believed.
[00:24:17] May we follow your king.
[00:24:21] God, fill our minds with that which is true, with that which is that blows us away, that takes our breath away, that causes us to step back and fill our minds with what you have done for us.
[00:24:44] Make our help, our decisions, our worries, our anxieties, our joys. All be affected by your covenant faithfulness, by your righteousness, by your justice. It's in your son's holy name. We pray. Amen.
