The Story In Which We Live

[00:00:00] In the name of jesus, amen. [00:00:09] I don't know if you enjoy that hymn or you feel like it's too long or what. [00:00:17] I've always loved this one. And I think part of the reason is that it tells the whole story. [00:00:24] It's like we're looking at the heroes of faith, the saints. [00:00:28] And watching them in the battle, we're seeing their endurance in the midst of great suffering, endurance for a purpose. [00:00:41] It's a marvelous story that they're a part of. They're soldiers. [00:00:46] They have blessed communion, togetherness, unity and life in Jesus, fellowship divine. [00:01:02] And we feebly struggle, but we see them in glory shining. [00:01:08] They've fought the fight, they've done the hard work, and they've won in Jesus. And when the fight's fierce and when it seems too difficult, hear the distant triumph song because you remember the victory of Jesus and the victory of those who went to their death. Perhaps the martyrs, for the sake of what was true and good, for the sake of Christ, hoping for future glory. [00:01:43] And they've received it. [00:01:45] So when it's tough, we remember them and we press on toward the goal and we fight the good fight, looking to that future hope. [00:01:57] Lo, there breaks a yet more glorious day. The saints triumphant rise in bright array. The king of glory passes on his way. [00:02:06] And then we say alleluia, Alleluia. Praise the Lord. [00:02:12] And then we end with that image from Revelation, from earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast. [00:02:22] So it's expansive image from all over the place. Through gates of pearl streams, in the countless host, singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost. [00:02:42] Can you see it? [00:02:45] And that's the story that we are living in. [00:02:51] Maybe it doesn't feel like it. On a given day, based on your circumstances, the thing you have to be doing at that moment, the tough news you just heard, whatever it is. But then you come to church and you sing, glory to God in the highest. [00:03:15] You sing to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Or what I'm actually trying to do is recall the words of the Gloria in excelsis, the glory to God in the highest. [00:03:30] Lord God, heavenly King, Almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory. [00:03:36] Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world. You're seated at the right hand of the Father. [00:03:45] You alone are the most high, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen. Singing to God the Father, Son And Holy Spirit. [00:03:57] That's what we're doing on any Sunday morning when we sing the Gloria. [00:04:03] That's what the whole service is about. It's reminding us of the story in which we live, the same story that the saints live in here. [00:04:16] As we praise the Lord. [00:04:18] Alleluia. [00:04:20] As we sing to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We're singing with the saints and we're hearing that distant triumph song and remembering that despite our circumstances, despite the suffering around us or the difficulty or the pain or toil, that we have hope. [00:04:47] Jesus Christ has won and that we with him will win when he comes back. [00:05:00] Now there's another side of that, too. It's not just despite our circumstances, but sometimes we can get lulled into thinking that we inhabit a different story and looking for that hope in another place. [00:05:21] Maybe circumstances can change, maybe things can look up. [00:05:29] Maybe your prospects are good. [00:05:32] Maybe you have it all like I did just now, sitting here in front of the children, holding a bulletin. [00:05:42] Let's see if you have it all. [00:05:44] Things are going real well for you. [00:05:47] And you think that's something worth hoping in? [00:05:51] Well, just remember, hope that's seen is no hope at all who hopes for what he has. [00:05:59] So in that moment, remember, maybe hope is in the wrong thing. [00:06:07] Paul says in the epistle reading that we who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. It's like we want the fulfillment of all God's promises. And so we groan inwardly. [00:06:27] That's not just groaning because of the pain of our circumstances or the the bleak prospects in front of us. [00:06:36] Earthly speaking It's a groaning that says, I'm enjoying good things right now. Things are going well right now. But that's nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. [00:06:55] We are to live in hope in all circumstances, to hope not for what we have or what we wish we could have. Earthly speaking but to hope in Jesus, to hope in what he has set our hopes on. [00:07:15] He's given us promises of the life of the world to come, of something beyond what's happening right now. And that can give us strength to fight the good fight to endure. [00:07:30] And it can give us, well, strength to say, great, but I have something higher and better, an inheritance kept for me in heaven. [00:07:46] See, if we set ourselves up and say, this is great, then we end up like the guy who had a great harvest and he stored up all his wheat in his barns, right? I said to himself, self, let's build more barns, store it all up and enjoy it. And then it was all destroyed in a night. [00:08:12] His hopes were dashed. He was hoping in the wrong thing. Something temporary, something not enduring. [00:08:19] And so he lost it all. [00:08:26] Our hope doesn't come apart from suffering like the fulfillment of our hopes. The fulfillment of God's promises doesn't come without suffering. [00:08:36] We know that because Jesus is the pattern of our story. [00:08:44] And actually Jesus himself is our story. He's brought us up into his own life and into his story. [00:08:52] What does his story look like? [00:08:55] Well, it looks like glory using the form of God. [00:09:04] He's the one who was in the beginning with God, through whom all things were made. [00:09:11] He's the Word of God. He's with God. He's the Son of God. [00:09:17] There are all kinds of things we could say about Jesus, but he is. [00:09:25] He has all glory by nature. [00:09:28] He's been given all power and authority in heaven and on earth. So there Jesus is in glory. [00:09:35] But he chose suffering. He chose to take the form of a servant to humble himself to the point of death. Even death on a cross. [00:09:45] So there are both things there. He has it all and he gives it all gladly for our sake. [00:09:56] And the unexpected love and grace in that movement from having it all to giving it all up for our sake is beyond hope. It's like the hope that we couldn't dare to hope for. [00:10:15] That Jesus would come to us and sit in our mess and accept pain and suffering for the sake of making something beautiful. [00:10:31] The sake of taking our ugliness and restoring us. [00:10:36] That's the best story ever told. [00:10:41] It's the story that all stories are built on. [00:10:47] Jesus willing sacrifice, his love embodied in such self sacrifice. [00:11:00] The verse before this passage probably do have a Bible right here. [00:11:05] Just going to grab a Bible here. I'm going to open a Bible during a sermon. That's good. [00:11:10] Let's see here. [00:11:21] Here's what comes right before this passage. [00:11:27] Now if we are children, then we are heirs. [00:11:31] Heirs of God and coheirs with Christ. [00:11:36] Co heirs with Christ. So Christ has it all. [00:11:40] Paul is saying you have it all. [00:11:46] Provided you have been brought up into Christ's story. Provided you're united to him in his death and resurrection through baptism and by faith. [00:11:57] If we're children, then we're heirs. Heirs of God and co heirs with Christ. [00:12:01] If indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. [00:12:10] That beautiful story of the hero who doesn't have to step in and save the day, who doesn't have to take on pain, maybe even Death in order to save the multitude who doesn't have to deal with the bad, disrespectful team, but decides to coach them and ends up coaching them to a victory. [00:12:43] There are all kinds of. Every story is built on this. So we could just. You now do the rest. But that's the story that you've been brought up into. [00:12:57] So now it takes remembering that you have it all. Because if you don't remember the promises of God that you are a coheir with Christ, you are a child of God, and that when Christ says, all power and authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me that you by his grace reign with him. [00:13:24] I mean, that's what we were made to do in the beginning, right? Have dominion over everything, participate in God's nature in that way. [00:13:32] If you don't remember that, well, then things can look pretty bleak. And then you think, well, I gotta find a way to improve this situation. [00:13:40] And then you work and work and work and maybe you gain a reputation for yourself, but maybe you experience some setbacks, maybe you improve your circumstances, but then that blows up because of something you couldn't control. [00:13:55] We end up in this game and we start to see ourselves as actors in a different story, as characters in a story that can end up feeling kind of hopeless or hopeful. And then hopes are dashed. Or maybe you have no reason for hopes to be dashed until, like that farmer who stores up all the grain in his barns, God requires your life of you. And then you go, oh, I thought I had it all and now I don't. [00:14:31] It's all about seeing it all in perspective. It's like, step back, see the story bigger. Step back. See the story bigger. And Jesus tells us that the harvest is coming. [00:14:47] He's coming back. [00:14:50] And the weeds. [00:14:52] All the causes of sin and corruption and the lawbreakers, the sources of chaos and disruption and temptation. [00:15:06] He says temptations are sure to come, but woe to those who cause them, Right? All of this is going to be rooted out and taken away. [00:15:19] Lord, give us the big picture. Help us to remember your final judgment. We prayed earlier. [00:15:26] Right. Rule and govern our hearts and minds by your Holy spirit, that ever mindful of your final judgment, we may be stirred up to holiness of living here and dwell with you in perfect joy hereafter. [00:15:42] Show us the big picture. Reform our perspective. [00:15:49] And in doing so, Christ reminds us the story in which we live his story, which involves suffering and glory. [00:16:01] So get excited. I don't know what challenges you're experiencing or what challenges are right around the corner, what bad news you might get. [00:16:11] I don't know what kind of temporary successes or joys you're experiencing that might tempt you to kind of relax and say, self, you have it good. [00:16:30] But whatever it is, it's nothing that God's people haven't dealt with before, that God hasn't brought them through by his grace. It's nothing that Jesus himself has not experienced but without sin. [00:16:49] And he has gone through death to life to take you through whatever kind of suffering or difficulty you might go through, even death, to bring you through and to give you glory. [00:17:12] What an unexpected blessing that God would take us, we who mess it all up, who rejected his word and said, we'll find peace and security and happiness our own way back in the garden. [00:17:29] And then daily as we sin, that he would come and sit in the weeds for us. [00:17:41] Think about God's patience, Jesus. Patience. It's like, yeah, he humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. He came and he ate with sinners and tax collectors and hung out with them. [00:17:53] And not to leave them there, not to leave us here, but to bring us to something new. [00:18:01] His patience is for you and me and for all those who will hear the Word and come to know Jesus and endure suffering with Christ. [00:18:19] Stick to him. [00:18:21] Live in his story by his grace and come to share in his glory. [00:18:31] The righteous will shine like the sun. [00:18:36] God's grace is amazing that he would suffer. [00:18:44] He would endure long suffering for you and for me, and give us glory. [00:18:52] Let's rejoice in that and celebrate it. [00:18:56] Let's get together as often as we can and live in that story together. [00:19:03] Let's sing Glory be to Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Gloria. [00:19:11] Let's confess our sins and consider our unworthiness and remember that all of it is Christ's. [00:19:22] All the glory be to Christ in His name. Amen.