Darren Tappouras - The Man Who Changed the World - Study 1 - That I Might Know Him

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   We are of course going to have our session around the supremacy of Christ in a second, but to frame our thoughts, we will start with a reading, that being Philippians chapter 3. Sorry, I didn't put it up on the board. Brother Simon Neal is going to read that for us. Thank you. Thanks Simon. And with that introduction, I'll ask Brother Darren to come forward.

2. 0:21

   Good. Right. Study day one. Study one, session one. Good morning Bible school. Good morning. Excellent. I want to start off with a wall plaque and I'm going to run a little survey afterwards to see who has come across this in their life before. It's a little wall plaque. Just going to quickly read it through.

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   Christ is the head of this house, the unseen guest at every meal, the silent listener to every conversation. Now just to gauge a bit of an understanding of our demographic here at December Bible School, if you had that in your house as a kid or if your grandparents had that in their house or someone older at your ecclesia had that, can you just raise your hand?

4. 1:14

   Whoa, okay. We've got a lot of baby boomers here. Excellent. Excellent. That plaque is really going to capture all the objectives and all the aims of our study over this week for a number of reasons that will become obvious as we go through our study. Firstly, it positions Jesus as a person, a real person.

5. 1:41

   He's not just a doctrine. He's not just a figurehead. He's not just a theory or a scheme. He is a person. Christ is. Secondly, it depicts Christ as head of the house. There's something authoritative about Christ. He's head and we want to drill down into that a little bit this morning. Another thing it highlights is that he is here. He's in our life. His presence is with us.

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   He's not just distant and remote. He's at our breakfast table. It's bringing Christ into our life in a very real way. He's actually here in our life. And it also indicates he's interested in our life. It's implied in those words, isn't it? That he's here. He's interested. He's listening. And then lastly, the last point is that the reality and the acknowledgement of these realities has an effect, has an impact on our life.

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   In this case, on things we talk about and things we may not talk about. So that little plaque, we had it in our house when I was a kid. It was sort of a velour, velvety green one. Is that what everyone remembers? There was a maroon version as well, I do remember. I asked Suze to see if she could find one and buy one.

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   And she searched the internet and found one. But like everything on Timu, it's not quite the same. It was tin and it just didn't do it. So for those of us who remember that, those sentiments are really what we're trying to focus in on in our week together. Let's drill down on a couple of those points that we identified in that plaque.

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   The first one being that Jesus Christ is a person. He's real. And we call ourselves, of course, Christadelphians. And we have this word Christ at the start of that, the prefix of that title, if you like, with a capital C indicating a proper noun. It's a person. This is a person called Christ.

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    He's real. And we have a relationship with him. We're connected to him in this covenant relationship. And he is the head of that. He's the center of that. He's the focus of that. And that's why we are Christadelphians connected in that relationship. And for many of us, all our lives, we've done this.

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    And we continue to do this. We remember him every week of our life. More than that, really. But formally, every week of our life, we remember him. And he's asked us to do that. He said, do this in remembrance of me. Now, just focus on that me there. He says, I want you to remember me.

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    Not necessarily remember my doctrines, although they're, of course, part of that, aren't they? They would, of course, be involved in that. But primarily, he's saying, remember me. It's not just remember the lessons from my life. But, of course, that's part of it. But he's saying, no, I want you to remember me as a person.

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    Remember me. I lived. I am alive now. I am involved in your life. I'm at your dining room table. I'm at your breakfast table. I'm the head of your house. My house, your house, and the ecclesial house as well. Christ is the head of our house. And so that's really our focus. We read there in Philippians 3 this really profound verse.

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    Many of us, of course, will know this verse intimately. But the verse expresses Paul's desire right in the very center of his soul and his psyche. Everything that he lived for, as we're going to see, was centered on Jesus Christ. And these words, as I said, many of you will know these words.

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    And he expresses this lifelong desire. And notice it's not something you achieve at your baptism preparation or when you learn the gospel for the first time or you learn the truth. That's just an introduction. Paul, as a mature brother in Christ, is writing that this is still part of his ongoing life objective.

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    That I might know him. And that's a real intimate word there. It's used in an intimate sense in the rest of the New Testament. That I might know him and the power of the resurrection. And I want us to just capture that idea of knowing him. Knowing him as a person. And it's not knowing about him necessarily.

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    Of course that's part of it. I'm not in any way decrying that aspect. But it's knowing him. That I might know him. Not just about him. You can know all about him and all the facts relating to him and not actually know him. And this is really emphasized throughout the New Testament by Jesus himself.

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    And I'll give you some quick samples of this. When Jesus calls us to be connected to him in a relationship. In a covenant relationship. He uses this term me. Identifies himself with this. It's not. He's not saying. I want you to follow. Follow my community. Or my organization that I've established. Although of course that's part of it isn't it.

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    But ultimately it's follow me. He says as an individual. Follow me. Learn of me. It's not just learning about him. Or learning facts about his life. It's not just. Learn of my first principles. Learn of my statement of faith. Although that's part of it. He says learn of me. Eat of me. Eat of my flesh.

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    You must eat of me. You must abide in me. It's not just abiding in his household. That of course is part of it. But he says I want you to abide. And when you do abide. When you. When you are in. My congregation. Where you're amongst my people. You are actually in. Me.

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    And you feel the. Can you feel the. Personal. Implications. Of that phrase. Believe in me. Don't just believe about me. All the facts about me. It's about believing in me. It's everything I stand for. Everything I've done. And am doing. It's believing me. Come unto me. You get this. And these are just samples.

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    I could go on and on and on with this. And produce many more. But I think the ones we put up there. Capture the idea of. Coming to Jesus Christ as a person. It's about me. And I just want to give you another set of examples. Verses. Um. And these verses. I've specifically chosen them.

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    As I said. I could put a lot more up. But I've specifically chosen these ones. Because they are what you might call. Key doctrinal verses from the New Testament. They. They. Exhibit or illustrate a real key doctrinal concept. But. Built into the. If you like. Exposition of these concepts. Is Jesus himself. As.

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    A person. And he uses his phrase. Oh. Not him. Specifically. But those writing about him. Use this phrase himself. Jesus himself. It's. It's. It's actually redundant. You could. Phrase these sentences. And leave that out. To some degree. But. The. Inspired writers put in this. Concept of Jesus himself. You belong to Jesus himself.

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    You believe in Jesus himself. Not just. Not just a doctrinal figurehead. Or. Atonement scheme. Or. Or some sort of. Doctrinal position. You believe in a person. Called Jesus. Matthew 8. Quoting from. Isaiah 53. Of course. He took upon himself. Our infirmities. Himself. Bore our. Our. Sins. Galatians 1. Who gave himself. For our sins.

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    Ephesians 2. This. Famous section on. Christ. Being the. The chief cornerstone. And we are. Living stones. Aligned to that. Cornerstone. Christ. Him. Self. The chief cornerstone. It could have just said. Christ is the cornerstone. And we're the stones. And. And when I've paraphrased it. I think I just did. I. I. Didn't put the word himself in there.

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    Because it's sort of like redundant. It sort of feels. A little bit clunky. But. Inspired scripture says. No. Christ himself. The chief cornerstone. It's himself. It's a. It's a person. Who gave. Himself. A ransom for all. Who gave. Himself. For us. Who by himself. Cleansed us. Of our sins. And he himself. Took on our nature.

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    In that. Hebrews 2.14. That real fundamental. Verse. That is highlighting the. The humanity of our Lord. In. Likeness to us. So. As. Profound. Doctrinal. Verses. That these. Are. What we're trying to extract. This morning. Is the. Connection. To Jesus. Himself. As a person. Come unto me. He says. And. That's really what we want to.

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    We really want to focus on the. Reality of Jesus himself. And connecting to him as a person. Now. In the. Teenage session. I'm. I'm doing the same study. But I'm. I'm doing it a little bit different. And we have a little exercise. To start off. Our week. We're not going to do it here.

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    Because it's not. Quite practical. In the big. The big hall. But what we're. Going to start off with. In the teenage session. Is we're going to look at. The book of Philippians. Which we just had part of it. Read for us. And as part of that exercise. We're going to go through. Chapter by chapter.

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    Verse by verse. And we. We are going to identify. Every time. Paul. Under inspiration. But reflecting. Of course. His own. Sentiments. And his own emotions. Every time. He refers to Jesus. Either by. By title. Or name. By Jesus. Sometimes it's. Jesus Christ. Sometimes it's. Christ Jesus. Sometimes it's just Christ. So we're going to.

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    Color all those in. Or if it's. A pronoun. He. Or him. Or himself. We're going to identify those. Referring. To Jesus. Or. Where it's. Lord. In lower case. Referring. To Jesus. As well. So once we identify those. Now you may not see this. I'm just going to quickly. Flick through the chapters. It's a bit small.

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    For this room. But you'll see in blue. Maybe. If your eyes. Sort of. Better than mine. You might see. The number of times. That Jesus. Or reference to him. Punctuate. The chapter. So there's chapter one. There's chapter two. There's chapter three. There's chapter four. That was very quick. I. And it's for illustration purposes only.

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    But you would have seen. As your eyes. Glanced up at the screen. You would have seen the blue. That. Just. Captured. And took over the page. If you like. Everywhere. Throughout that epistle. Paul is referring to Jesus. In some way. Now if you want the stats.

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    There's. There's 104 verses. In. Philippians. All up. Jesus is referred to. 54 times. Okay. So that's. You know. Point five. Two. Of the. As a comparison. Of the number of verses. In. The epistle. Now think about that. Someone's writing a letter. To you. And every second line. They refer to. I don't know.

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    A person. Or they refer to. A. One of their hobbies. Or they refer to. Something important. In their life. And they do it. Hello Darren. And every second verse. You go. That person's obsessed. Wouldn't you? You'd say they're obsessed. They're obsessed. Every second line. Is a reference to this. Subject. Or this. Thing.

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    They got an obsession. About this. Almost sounds unhealthy. If that was. An actual letter. From somebody. Paul is obsessed. Paul is obsessed. With Jesus Christ. Every second line. Of his epistle. Is a reference. To Jesus. In some way. Not just throw away. References either. As we had read for us. In chapter 3.

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    These profound longings. To know Jesus. And the priceless. Privilege of knowing him. And. Words of that. Calibre. Interesting. Just. Just for observation. God is mentioned. Nineteen times. In the. In the epistle. You know. Sometimes. Because of our. Our unique. Doctrinal. Position. As we. Of course. Don't believe in the Trinity. And we believe.

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    Very strongly. That Jesus is subordinate. To God. God. Commands him. He obeys God. Of course. So. Sometimes. There might be. In the back of our minds. Some. Unease. If you like. About emphasizing Jesus. And thinking. Well. Really. It's. God gets all the glory. And we must be focusing on God. Well. As you can see.

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    That's very true. Of course. But as you can see. From just that example. In Philippians. And can I say. You can do this. To every. Epistle of Paul's. Not just Philippians. There's a practical. Connection. That. That leads to this. Frequency. Of usage. That Paul. Describes in Philippians. Over and over again. Christ. Jesus.

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    Christ. Christ. Jesus. Christ. Christ. Jesus. The Lord. Him. Over and over again. Because there's this. Practical connection. To Jesus. That in a sense. Paul feels drawn. To mention. Even more than. The number of references. To God himself. In that. In that. In that. In that. Practical way. So yes. Paul is.

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    Obsessed. With Jesus Christ. Christ. And. We're going to see. This. This is. The very focus. The very reason. For Paul's. Life as well. We referred to one of the. Titles that. The New Testament. Uses. When we. We read. Lord in lowercase. In the New Testament. When it's referring to Jesus. And it is a.

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    Greek word. Which I just want us to. To stop and think about. For a few moments. This morning. It's a word. Kurios. And I've put up here. The Strong's definition. Of that word. When we say. Lord Jesus Christ. What are we actually saying? What are we. What are we emphasizing? What are we getting at?

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    When we say. Jesus is Lord. Or Jesus is our Lord. Or the Lord Jesus Christ. What are we actually saying? Well. Strong's concordance says. This word. Kurios. Has. At a center. The idea of supremacy. Curiosity. So we'll talk about supreme. What it means to be supreme. We don't use the word supreme. That much in our everyday culture.

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    The only example I could think of. And this is me. Is like. Pizzas. It's about. Isn't it? And they're supreme. Because they've got everything on it. That's just everything. So. But we don't. We don't normally talk about supreme. What do we mean by supreme? Well. The word means. Highest. If you like. And most important.

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    So that. If you. If you capture those two elements. Of this word. So. Kurios. Means. Something. Or someone. That is. Of absolute. Importance. In your life. It's. Highest in rank. Highest in. Importance. Of the greatest. Influence. In your life. And. Something. Of. Highest. Quality. Or virtue. So something is supreme. It's like the.

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    The supreme example. Of. Of a characteristic. Like giving your life. Is a supreme example. Of love. For example. So it is. It's. Another word. Ultimate. If you want to use. Use ultimate. In that. In that sense. So. So. Let's try and make this practical. And we. We're going to. Spend a bit more time on this.

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    But. When we say. Lord Jesus Christ. It's not just a title. It is. An expression. Of. Of our feelings. Of our. Of our. Inner. Direction. Of life. It's. It's. It's how we. View Jesus. By calling him. Lord. You know. There are some. That will call him. Lord. That don't really have that. That appreciation.

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    Of him. And that. That sentiment. Towards him. But. Those who are his. True followers. When they say. Lord. They. Also mean. Lord. He is supreme. So keep that word. Supreme. In mind. He is supreme. In our life. He's everything. That's another. Ultimate. Everything. All. These are. These are. Synonyms. That capture. The idea.

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    Of. Of supreme. If that makes sense. But another little word. That Strong's. Puts in his definition. Here. Is. Controller. I thought. That is another. Concept. That captures. What Jesus. Or Jesus. Is to us. Or should be to us. He's the controller. Of our life. Controller. We sort of understand. That. A bit more.

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    Hopefully. The idea. Of someone. Controlling. Something else. Or controlling. People. Or controlling. A machine. You. You are in charge. Of what happens. You're the controller. And. The one being controlled. Follows your. Desires. And instructions. So. If you acknowledge. Jesus is Lord. He's supreme. He's everything. He's all. And he's also. The controller. Of your life.

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    Your life. Follows. Something. That comes from him. Some directional. Input. Some. Influence. That comes from him. He's controlling. Your. He's controlling. Your life. So. Let's not just use the phrase. On. As a throwaway. Title. This is something. That. Should come. From. The very center. And the very essence. Of our. Of our soul.

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    Christ is. Our Lord. He's our controller. And he's supreme. I just want to give you some verses. That. Hopefully. Make. This concept. Practical. Because it's easy to say. He's my Lord. What does that actually mean? That he's your Lord. Your controller. And supreme. In your life. Well. Here are some. New Testament verses.

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    Where. The idea of. Jesus. Being Lord. Are. Are. Found in the context. Of a. Of an outcome. If that makes sense. So. Romans 14. Says. Whether. Feel. Feel this. I want you to feel the power of this. That you can read over these verses. And. Just move on. Um. But. Let's. Let's. Let's sort of.

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    Soak it up. Let's soak up the sentiments here. And the emotions. See. What is Paul saying? He's saying. Whether. We live. So the outcome of a situation might be. We survive. We live. Which is good.

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    I had a. I should have mentioned this. At the start. I apologize for. Starting late at Bible school. But I had. Major. Back spasms. I was being in a lot of pain. So I was a bit late to start. But I have. I have been to the. I got a massage. And I've been to the doctors.

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    And I want some really good drugs. So. This could go anywhere. This could. This. Anything could happen this morning. So. I was. There was times during the night. I was thinking. Am I going to live? Am I going to. Because I'm a bit dramatic. So. I'm a man flu sufferer. A big man flu sufferer.

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    Whether we live. Or whether we die. So these are the two outcomes. Envisaged here. In this little passage. Whether we live. If we live. Great. We live. Unto the Lord. Lowercase Lord. We live unto Jesus. Whether we die. We die. Unto the Lord. We die. In the Lord. And we're in. The Lord's.

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    Care. Even after we've died. And we will then. Be. Resurrected in due course. And be with him. So. Those two outcomes. Are like. Putting. I mean. You don't get much more extreme. Than death. Do you. In a sense. So. So. Whatever. Whatever we experience. In life. Whether we live. Whether we die. It's done within the confines.

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    Of our Lord. It's our Lord. Is supreme. He's our controller. We live. We die. It's really. Not. The outcome. Is not that important. What's important. Is that we are in the Lord. That's the really important thing. And he says. Whether we live. Therefore. Or die. He sort of repeats. Those two options. We are the Lord's.

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    So. It's more than a title. Isn't it? It's more than just showing respect. To someone that's elevated. Or someone we think is important. It's. It's a belonging thing. We belong to him. We are his. And you can feel. Hopefully that. That. I don't want to go over it too often. Too many times.

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    And run out of time. But. You can feel. Hopefully just reading that on the surface. You can feel the power of that. We belong to the Lord. It's greater. It's so supreme. That life. And it's. It's. It's not a matter of life and death. You heard that saying. It's not a matter of life and death.

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    It's more important than that. It's. It's the Lord. We belong to the Lord. Here's another one. Again from Paul. And. Here. Feel the. The universality of this application. This is. You know. This is supreme. Again. Try and get the. Get the concept of what is supreme. Whatever you do. Whatever you do.

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    And. Again. Even that. Even the verse before in Romans 14. It's capturing the universality of our life. In a sense. Why do we get up in the morning? Why do we. Put our head down on our pillow at night? It's to the Lord. It's for the Lord. It's connected to the Lord. That.

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    That's when. He is supreme. That's when he is your controller. Whatever you do in life. And he's not just. Focusing on our ecclesial commitments. Which I'm. Sure give him great pleasure. And. And something he. Values. But. Whatever you do. In life. Do it heartily. It's a King James rendering. It's. That word heartily is the word.

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    Sookie. It's a word soul. Do it with all your soul. Do it with all your. Strength. Now do it with everything. Every fiber of your being. With all your soul. As what? As. Unto. The. Lord. Do we get that? Everything you do in life. You do unto the Lord. So you're having a bad day at work.

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    And you think. I've. Had a big weekend. Do I just take it easy. And cruise. And just. The boss is not in the office. Or whatever. Or do. Does. The fact that Jesus is Lord. In your life. Compel you. To do everything. In your life. As. Unto. The Lord. He's the supreme. Controller.

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    Of your life. At. At a very minute level. At a. Not. Not. Not in a religious. Context. But in a. In just a. Everyday mundane. Aspect of your life. Here's another one. And hopefully. You feel. I'm not exaggerating. These phrases. They're coming out. Clear. And straightforward. From scripture. They're quite profound. When you really.

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    Try and make them real. Therefore. My beloved brethren. This is from 1st Corinthians. Be. Steadfast. Unmovable. Always. Abounding. In the work. Of the Lord. For as much. As you know. That your labor. Is not in vain. In the Lord. So this one. Is focusing. On our work. In Christ. Our work. In the truth.

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    If you like. And giving our life. For him. In that sense. And realizing. That when we're doing things. It's not just. Because we're on the. Ecclesial roster. Or the program. Or. We've been asked. To do a job. Which is great. It's good. To have responsibility. And. And keep our duties. That's awesome. But realizing.

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    That when we do these roles. And functions. We're doing them. Unto. The Lord. We're abounding. In the work. Of the Lord. If that makes sense. Here's another one. This is a very practical chapter. For those who know Romans. Romans 12.

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    Often it's expressed. As this is the atonement. Lived out. We've learned the atonement. From chapters 1 to 8. And now. This is the atonement. Lived out. In everyday life. It's very practical. And he says here. Don't be slothful. In business. Again. You've got. The universality. Of this attitude. Express. Don't be slothful. In business.

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    But be fervent. In spirit. Just pick up the vibe. Of that word. You know. I don't know. I don't need to drill down. Into the Greek. Or anything. You can. You can feel. You can feel. The tone of that word. Be fervent. In spirit. Serving. Who? The Lord. Lowercase lord here. So serving.

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    Our Lord Jesus Christ. In our life. And there's another vein. Of verses. And again. I've just picked out. Some samples. That use this phrase. For Christ's sake. Or for the Lord's sake. Just think about. What that means. And what that's telling us. And we're going to see. The practical.

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    Context. Here. Of how this phrase is used. But you're doing things. Or not doing things. For the Lord's sake. Do we get that idea? Of the sake. To do something. For somebody else's sake. For the Lord's sake. Let's look at one example. 1 Peter 2. Submit yourself. To every ordinance of man. What because it's the law?

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    Because as Christadelphians. We obey the law. Well that's true. But there's more at stake here. Than that isn't there? Submit yourselves. To every ordinance of man. For the Lord's sake. You're making a conscious decision. To do something. Or not do something. Because of Jesus Christ. Because of the Lord. And his influence in your life.

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    As supreme. As controller. Of your wife. 2 Corinthians 4. We preach not ourselves. But Christ Jesus the Lord. And ourselves. Your servants. For. Jesus' sake. And this is a. Biographical. Representation. Of Paul's attitude. Of how he. Lived his life. So he's preaching.

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    The motivation. Behind his preaching. Is for. The Lord's sake. He's doing that work. Because of the Lord. The Lord was the driving force. In his life. Here's another one. That's even. Even more stark. In a sense. That. He's giving. He's giving. Actual examples. Of what it means. To do things. For the Lord's sake.

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    So he says. In 2 Corinthians 12. He says. I actually. Can endure. Hard. Things. In my life. Times where I'm persecuted. Or reproached. He says. I can. I take pleasure. In infirmities. In reproaches. In necessities. Like. That's been without. Food. And water. And struggling. In persecutions. In distress. So this. I really highlighted.

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    The word. Distress. Because I. I want us to realize. That. Doing things. For Jesus. Isn't some magical. Formula. That's going to make everything. Go well. In our life. Paul is still. Suffering distress. That's a. Pretty strong word. He's experiencing. The distress. On one hand. He feels the distress. And yet. He does it.

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    For Christ's sake. And he says. I endured. All these. Deprivations. And problems. He says. For Christ's sake. For when I am weak. Then I am strong. But. The core of that. Sort of. Reverse. Sort of. Psychology. There have been weak. Being strong. When he feels weak. Has a source. And that source. Is Christ.

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    Christ. Is the. The base of that. And he says. When I'm going through. These tough times. In life. I'm experiencing them. For Christ's sake. And that has this. Transformational power. In his life. Philippians 1. Just a couple more. For unto you. It is given. On behalf of Christ. Not only to believe. On him.

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    But to suffer. For his sake. So things we endure. For Christ. We do it. For his sake. And I think those. Those verses. Are. Are powerful. In the sense. That they. Describe a mindset. Don't they? So when you're. Experiencing things. In life. And going through things. And you are choosing. Your path. Through those.

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    Experiences. You're doing it. For. For Christ's sake. Which is. Just powerful. I think. It's. It's. He's Lord. That's. That's what it means. When he's Lord. It's not a title. Of respect. It's. It's. Practical. At a very. Very. Base level. Now here. Is the. The key verse. For our thoughts. And it comes from.

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    Philippians 3. Which we had read for us. And I've taken it here. From Weymouth's. Translation. Because it just. Translates the word here. In a really nice way. Paul says. I reckon. I calculate. If you like. Or I. I've done the math. I reckon. All things. All the things that. That Paul had experienced.

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    And accrued in his natural life. He was quite. Looks like he was quite well off. And he was a Roman citizen. And lived in Cilicia. And he was. He had a lot of. A lot of privileges in life. And education. Etc. He says. I reckon all things. As pure loss. Because of. And I've just.

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    Underlined this. The priceless. Privilege. I think the King James. As the excellency. Excellency. It's. It's just trying to. Add a value. To this. There's. One Bible says. The supreme value. Or. I think the ESV. Has. Surpassing worth. If. If someone wants to. Clarify that for. The surpassing worth. So. There's a value. Applied to this.

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    There's a value. An extreme value. Priceless. Is. Is a good way to put it. Which I like. What Weymouth has done. With that word. It's priceless. The priceless. Privilege. Of knowing. Christ Jesus. My Lord. Okay. Not as a fancy title. As. An expression. Of his life. It's a priceless. Privilege. You can't even.

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    Put a dollar value on it. It's just beyond. Value. And he says. In contrast to that. In contrast to that. He does another mathematical calculation. Says. I reckon. I've done the math on that. Everything about Christ is. Beyond. Value. It's priceless. But everything else in life. He says. Weymouth has. I reckon. Everything else.

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    I've done the math. I've done the calculation on that. And everything else is. Refuse. Refuse. Refuse. Now. The King James has. Done. It's a pretty severe word. Isn't it? Done.

91. 34:13

    For us Anglo-Saxons here. We might think. That's a pretty crude little. Expression in a way. Everything else. Jesus is priceless. And we've got these two. Two value. Calculations done.

92. 34:28

    And this. This is. This is. Hopefully directional for all of us. This is how we've got to recalibrate our life. And our. Do our math calculation. If you like. What is important in our life. There's. There's two values here that Paul gives us. One. He says is priceless. The knowledge of Christ. The other is.

93. 34:45

    Is done. Now. Of course. This is. Greek. Hyperbole. You might have heard of it. To compare something to dung. It's hyperbole. I consider myself an expert in Greek hyperbole. Because I grew up with John Teporus in my house. So. Those of you who know my dad. Those of you who have been at a business meeting with my dad.

94. 35:10

    Or interacted with dad in any way. Know that Greek hyperbole is. You know. To compare something to dung is. That's. That's beginner stuff. When it comes to. John Teporus. So. Greek hyperbole. Paul of course is educated in the Greek world. In Cilicia. He's. He understands Greek culture. Etc. He's immersed in it. And he uses hyperbole a lot.

95. 35:31

    There's a famous one in Galatians 1. Where he says. If I are an angel from heaven. Preach any other gospel. And of course. An angel is not going to ever. Preach another gospel. But. It's. It's Greek hyperbole. And Paul is using this. Comparison. This is a. Incredible scale. Comparison scale. I want you to.

96. 35:47

    Every day of your life. Think about it. Is this day. Am I going to chase dung. Or am I going to chase. The priceless treasure. Of Christ. It's a. It's a life sentiment. Isn't it. It really is. And as I said. It sounds crude.

97. 36:01

    The word. That is translated. Dung. Or refuse. As Weymouth has it. It's this word. Skubian. Comes from two words. One is the word. Kuyong. Which is a. Cognitive. Word. With the Latin word. Canine. So what is. What's canine. Dog. Right. So we're talking about dog. And the other word. The other half of the word.

98. 36:27

    Is the Greek word. Borlo. Which means. To throw. Now as you were packing. For Bible school. I bet you didn't think. You're going to hear. An exposition on dog poo. But there's one coming up now. So just brace yourself. This is Greek hyperbole. For you. Some translations. There's a difference. There's a difference.

99. 36:46

    In the. Philosophy. Of the. Of the. Of the translations. How they go with this word. So. Kuyong. Borlo. Either means. Something you throw. To a. To a dog. So dogs involved. And throwing. Okay. They're the two things we know. How do we put them together? Well the ESV. New King James. And the ASV.

100. 37:07

     And. And. Weymouth. Have gone with the. The rubbish. Or the refuse idea. Because they say. It's like scraps. You know. Like in the dining room. You've got the scraps. Bin or whatever. And the scraps are thrown to dogs. So. Look. The. The hyperbole works there. It's worthless. No one. No one really. Values scraps very much.

101. 37:25

     So you throw them to the dogs. However. Another. The other line of translation goes. That which is thrown. From a dog. Okay. So it gets. It gets a bit more gritty here. Doesn't it? I'm. I'm going with that one. Not because I'm a Greek scholar. Or an expert. It's just funny. That's all.

102. 37:45

     I. I admit. I admit. That's. That's. That's. That's. I'm. I'm leaning towards that one. In that sense. Um. But let's. Let's extract from this hyperbole. What Paul is really saying. Because it's so extreme. You can't. You. Either way. The refuse. The rubbish one. Or the done one. Whatever. It's pretty extreme. And you have to ask yourself.

103. 38:10

     Is that. How you live your life? Is that. Is that. What you value in life? Is that how you. See. See your life. And. Determine what you're going to do in your life? Is that. Is that. Is that how you. Value Jesus? Is everything else. In comparison to him. Refuse. Or done. Compared to the priceless.

104. 38:32

     Knowledge. Of him. To know him. And that's really. That's really. That's really. The question we're going to ask. All through the week. To some degree.

105. 38:45

     And that's where. That's where we'll finish up. This morning. In a sense. To try and. Put that question. In our mind. And think about it. Honestly. As to. To how we see. The value we place on. On Jesus. Another objective. I want to finish with this morning. Is this idea of. Boasting in the Lord.

106. 39:08

     The King James has glory in the Lord. But most other translations have gone with. With boast. The aim of our study. Is going to be. Hopefully God willing. There'll be. Things we talk about. And discuss. And think about. And soak up. And learn. Hopefully. We learn some. Some really interesting things. All sorts of things about Jesus.

107. 39:31

     They're going to add to our. To our. Appreciation. Of our Lord Jesus Christ. To. To an extent. That we will want to boast about him. To others. Now boast. In this context. In the New Testament. Is not like bragging. It's slightly different. Than how we. Today would think of boasting. As I'm bragging.

108. 39:53

     Boasting is close. More closely aligned to. If you. If you follow a. A team. For example. If you're watching. The Olympics. And you're. You know. Aussie. Aussie. Aussie. And you're. And you're following. Your team. And you're boasting. Or you're glorying. In that team. And you're saying. They're the best. You know. I got in trouble.

109. 40:12

     At Bible school years ago. Because I was captain of E-frame. That's. That's an aspirational thing. They gave. You know. I was captain of E-frame. And I got all my. I got all my team. At the picnic. To start chanting. E-frame's the best. Chuck out the rest. And apparently. That's not the sentiment. That we're really trying to develop.

110. 40:27

     In. At the picnic. But that's sort of like. Boasting in my team. If you like. Or. Or. Glorying in my team. I had in my notes. To make. An example. About state of origin. But. There's a lot of. Queensland number plates. As I walk through the car park. So. I might. You know.

111. 40:45

     I'm going to. Take that one. Under advisement. And. Leave that out. But. You can. You can see. Tied in. I've got the definition of the word. In a second. But. But. Building to the word. Is this idea. Of glorying in. Boasting. Of. You know. You. You can't help. If you're a diehard fan.

112. 41:03

     And there's a big competition on. And you support this team. You can't shut up about it. In a sense. You are. Talking about it. There's a sense of joy. Associated with it. There's a rejoicing aspect to it. It's like. You are rejoicing. About. Your team's success. And the good things. Your team has achieved.

113. 41:19

     Or whatever it might be. And. Sometimes you. You watch a game. At the end of it. The supporters are literally. Crying. And hugging. And sobbing. And it's. Way overblown. For what. You know. Kicking a ball around. But. But you. You sort of. You sort of get the idea. Of what's happening there. So.

114. 41:36

     Paul. You can take these as imperatives. Or commandments. Or recommendations. However you like. But. Scripture gives us this. This direction. If you like. 2 Corinthians 10. Let. The one who boasts. Boast in the Lord. So we're going to boast. In the Lord. That's. He's our team. If you like. He. We're. We're team.

115. 41:55

     Christ. He's. He's. We live our life for him. He's everything. He's the reason we wake up in the morning. The reason we go to bed at night. There's another reference here. In 1 Corinthians 1. As it is written. Quoting from Jeremiah 9. Let the one who boasts. Boast in the Lord. His. It ties into the idea.

116. 42:14

     Of confessing the name of the Lord. In our workplace. At school. At uni. Wherever it might be. Of course. If you. Are glorying in Christ. You couldn't shut up about him. Just like a. A supporter can't stop talking about their team. So. You would talk about Christ. He would be something on the front of your mind.

117. 42:31

     Every little. Opportunity. Or. Prompting. Would say. Oh. That's. That reminds me of Christ. That's something that. Jesus would do. Galatians 6. God forbid that I should boast. Except. In the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom the world has been crucified to me. And I. To the world. We might talk about that.

118. 42:48

     When we start looking at the cross a bit later on in the week. But you can see the idea here. I'm boasting in Christ. His. Everything I live for. And so the word means to vaunt. Vaunt is another funny word. But that means to elevate. To lift up. High. And to glory in.

119. 43:06

     Or to have joy. To have joy. And to rejoice. So all those ideas are built. Into that. Into that idea of boasting in the Lord. So this week. Brothers and sisters and young people. I want to. Hopefully fill your hopper. If you like. Fill. Fill your mind. With things that. Make you want to vaunt.

120. 43:30

     Want to boast about Jesus. When you're. Not only with your own family of course. And. Infuse that. That. Supremacy of Christ. In the way. You live in your house. But. Even when you're at work. And in other places. To have Christ in the. In the forefront of your consciousness. That you. You want to talk about him.

121. 43:53

     You want to. Express. Why you love him. And why he's so important. To your life. So we're going to cover a whole lot of things. To help. Build that. Those. Ideas in your mind. Really. Even more basic things than that. We're going to look at. What the evidence. For the existence of Jesus is.

122. 44:14

     Did Jesus exist. Do we have good evidence for it. Can we. Can we be confident. When we're talking about Jesus. To other people. What about the. Evidence for the resurrection. Can we be confident about that. Can we boast about that. In the good sense. Actually Strong's does say. In a good or bad sense.

123. 44:28

     So we're going to use the good sense. Of boasting. The good sense. Of. Expressing. Why we follow Jesus. And. Why he's so important to us. And why we love him. Why we've. Given our life to him. And why we make decisions. Based on him. And for his sake. So. So that's what we.

124. 44:44

     As I said. From very practical things. To some more profound things. About Jesus. That we will. Focus on. Later on in the week. God willing. So thank you. I look forward to. Going through these. Studies with you. Over the course of this week. God willing.