The Foray

The First Sunday of Advent 2008

Here's a brief recap of this morning's sermon for the first Sunday of Advent 2008. The theme was "hope."

Col 1:17 "Christ in you, the hope of glory"

"GLORY" -- The consummation of everything God intends for his people. In this verse, it means essentially "salvation." Glory is what God's people are called to for all eternity. God has it in mind for all his people. In fact, he's had it in mind for them from before the beginning of time! See Jesus' prayer in John 17.

"HOPE" -- Does this mean uncertainty exists about the outcome of our experience of glory? Not at all! Our way of speaking of hope may be tinged with doubt (as in, "I had hope the Vols would beat Kentucky in last night's game."), but biblical hope is different! "Hope" in the Bible is shorthand for "unconditional certainty." Just as mankind as a race has an appointment with death (Heb 9:27), Christians as a chosen race have an appointment with glory!

"CHRIST" -- He is the ground of our certainty regarding our future and full enjoyment of glory. For when Christ died, he paid the penalty for our sins. See 1 Pt 2:24

If you aren't a Christian, come to Christ with a trusting heart and he will be "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Greg

e429: The Biblical Formula for Using Your Mouth

e429 is a formula of mine.

Please say it with me: "e429!"

e429 -- a crucial little line!

Please say it with me: "e429!"

e429 -- gotta stick it in our mind!

Please say it with me: "e429!"

e429 -- gotta keep it all the time!

Please say it with me: "e429!"

e429 stands for Eph 4:29 which says, "Let NO corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is GOOD for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

By "no corrupting talk," Paul means ANY KIND OF TALK THAT WORKS TO THE HARM OF OTHERS. 

As we heard Andrew Lincoln say of this verse: 

"The focus is on the destructive power of words and the harm they can produce in communal life."

The bad report of the spies in Num 13 is a prime example of the "destructive power" and "harm" of which he speaks. It's also a prime example of what God thinks of those who use the words they speak to tear down and destroy!

Those who engage in talk that works to the harm of others create division where there was none before. They manufacture confusion and suspicion among people of good will, and foment friction and mistrust, leading to turmoil -- horrid evils in the sight of God. Prov 6:16-19

So Paul speaks adamantly to the Christians at Ephesus: "Let NO corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but ONLY such as is good for building up ..."

Considering our failure in this regard, we need a complete OVERHAUL of the way we use our mouths. A new mindset altogether. THIS mindset:

"Get rid of the idea that your mouth exists for your benefit. No! It exists for the betterment and benefit of others. That is why God gave it and this is how it should be used. Nothing bad should ever come out of it. You should speak with your hearers in mind, and always and only with a view to doing them good and to advancing them spiritually. Bitterness, rage, annoyance, aggressiveness, defamation, malice -- these things, in all their forms, are permanent outlaws to Christian speech." -- Stuart Olyott

Have we been doing what e429 says -- encouraging, building up, strengthening the hope of others, talking up things like God's faithfulness, goodness, and power? 

Or ...

Does God know better? That we've been using our mouths to work for the harm of others?

If, God forbid, it's the latter, we have every reason to be ALARMED -- especially when we consider what he thinks of what we've been doing! But we also have reason for HOPE.

"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Isa 55:7

When we gather as the church, every single time, put into practice e429!

When we scatter as the church, every single time, put into practice e429!

When tempted to sling "a little mouth slime," put into practice e429!

Should words with a friend become coated with grime, put into practice e429!

When gossip and malice want to get some air time, put into practice e429!

To lift up others and help them be fine, put into practice e429!

Every hour, every day, just remember this rhyme: "Put into practice e429!"

Greg