Embracing God's Mission: Foundations of Faith and Joy

When you read the letters of the apostle Paul, you discover that there's a trademark, and the trademark is he builds modest houses and then digs mild deep foundations under them. For example, marriage is a modest house, how you treat each other, modest house. Paul builds that house in Ephesians 5 and then he puts the drill bit in place and he drills a mile down to put a foundation under it, that goes more or less like this: the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, infinite, eternal God, having a bride by predestination before the foundation of the world, destined to be holy and pure and blameless came into the world as the God-man, was crucified, dead, buried, alive and he has purified her for himself. [00:58:14]

The house is verse seven, welcome each other Bethlehem, welcome each other the way Christ has welcomed you. Fasten the drill bit, we're going a mile down to support that. We're going to the globe, we're going to heaven, we're going to hell under that little house. We often think the other way around, don't we, like, well we're supposed to get along with each other as a church so that we can support missions. Not in this text, it's the other way around. This text makes God's global purpose for the nations what holds up getting along in church. [00:06:12]

I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised so male circumcision was the sign of the covenant of belonging to Israel, the people of God. So he became a servant to Israel as the Jewish Messiah so that sentence Christ became a servant to the circumcised means Christ was incarnate as the God-man Messiah to Israel. So when the high priest said to him at the most likely moment the almost unlikely moment, are you the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God, he said, I am, and they killed him as the Messiah. [00:08:19]

Christ became a servant in dying for his people and rising again, namely Israel, and he didn't do this under coercion he didn't do it because he was forced to do it nobody takes my life from me, I lay it down of my own accord I have authority to lay it down I have authority to take it up so this service rendered in death and resurrection was free, I choose this for you. Why did the second person of the Trinity become incarnate as the God-man the Jewish Messiah laying down his life taking it back freely for Israel? [00:10:53]

Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness for the sake of God's truth, Christ came into the world as the Jewish Messiah to prove to the universe God tells the truth, nothing but the truth, always the truth he never lies, everything he says happens, that's why he came, to show that, to make that crystal clear every word of God comes true. Then at the end of verse 8 you with me at the end of verse 8 beginning of verse 9 Paul drills down into two purposes guaranteed by that truthfulness. [00:11:20]

In order that the gentiles will glorify God for his mercy, so let's read it all the way through, Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, one in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs two in order that the gentiles might glorify God for his mercy and you might jump to the conclusion that those two purposes are distinct and separate, confirm the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that's one purpose, bring about the global glorification of the God of mercy is the second purpose. [00:13:05]

When the Jewish Messiah came to serve Israel, when he died and rose again to confirm the promises made to Israel, in that very act, he secured the global gentile glorification of the God of mercy in the very act of dying for Israel, confirming the promises to Israel, because that's what God promised to Abraham, namely the global glorification of his name for his mercy, so God is true, he keeps his word to Israel, and that word promised to Israel includes promises to the gentiles that they would be blessed through Israel. [00:14:50]

Mercy and grace are overlapping realities in the Bible, you do a study of grace beginning to end, study of mercy from beginning to end, they overlap like this, so overlapping realities means they're more than the parts that overlap, but where they overlap, right here, is grace's mercy where they overlap, they have the common meaning of treating someone kindly and helpfully, that's the common meaning of grace and mercy treating someone kindly and helpfully. Now the difference is this, when mercy is drawn out, it's drawn out in response to misery, and when grace is drawn out, it's drawn out in spite of guilt. [00:24:36]

God's mission to the world is radically God focused, God's mission to the world is radically God exalting, the end of all things is God, a God so great, he uses the word glory so glorious so great, so valuable, so beautiful, that his glorious fullness overflows in mercy, mercy is the stream, and God is the fountain, missions leads people to the stream, and then up to God, I hope that's what's happened for you, I hope you're not just stuck at the stream, my misery's over my misery's over, God, it doesn't matter about God my misery's over. [00:33:36]

Joy is at the bottom, rejoice verse 11 rejoice o gentiles with his people joy is the root, joy in seeing and savoring the glory of the God of mercy, second, hope, I'm building from the bottom to the top, hope what's that, hope is the expectation that the joy gets better and better forever never gets bad never gets boring, hope is joy in the future expectation, I just want more joy more this more this sweetness I want it to go on forever and ever, so we're hoping, we're rejoicing in God because he's merciful and we're hoping it will go on forever and ever. [00:39:46]

Being happy in the glorious God of mercy is the fundamental requirement to glorify God, being happy in God, the kind of God who is so full of greatness and beauty and worth that he spills over in a tsunami of misery relieving mercy for the world, and then you don't ever want that to die and so you hope, and because you've tasted how good he is and how merciful he is and how therefore glorious he is, your heart is praising him, and therefore when you get together here and hopefully in the shower and other places you sing to him. [00:39:46]

May God raise up many of you for the sake of the nations and for the sake of the church that the nations praise you o God, let all the nations praise you, let the nations be glad and sing for joy. [00:43:36]