363: Martyn Lawrence – All Things Are Lawful

1
00:00:03,920 –> 00:00:05,400
Welcome to good Chris selfie and
talks.

2
00:00:05,440 –> 00:00:07,040
I’m Levi.
I’m Chris.

3
00:00:07,120 –> 00:00:09,400
I’m Jason.
And I’m Brian, thank you for

4
00:00:09,400 –> 00:00:11,680
joining us this week on this
podcast.

5
00:00:11,680 –> 00:00:15,000
We select one talk a week to
help us get the Bible in our

6
00:00:15,000 –> 00:00:19,040
Daily News feed.
Each week we post a talk that we

7
00:00:19,040 –> 00:00:22,080
previewed from suggestions sent
in by listeners from around the

8
00:00:22,080 –> 00:00:24,640
world.
Then we record a short intro

9
00:00:24,640 –> 00:00:28,080
beforehand as a personalized
recommendation to you on why we

10
00:00:28,080 –> 00:00:31,080
are sharing the talk.
And now let’s talk more about

11
00:00:31,080 –> 00:00:44,880
this week’s talk.
Welcome to the Good

12
00:00:44,880 –> 00:00:48,040
Christadelphian Talks podcast.
This is brother Brian.

13
00:00:49,120 –> 00:00:54,360
This week’s talk is the last
class in a series by brother

14
00:00:54,360 –> 00:01:00,520
Martin Lawrence from the UK.
The series is called The Paradox

15
00:01:00,520 –> 00:01:05,400
of Liberty and it was just given
at the Mid-Atlantic Shippensburg

16
00:01:05,400 –> 00:01:11,600
Bible School a few months ago.
The entire series is a fantastic

17
00:01:11,600 –> 00:01:16,560
listen, very thought provoking.
All the classes will be

18
00:01:16,560 –> 00:01:20,960
available on the extended
podcast, and the other class

19
00:01:20,960 –> 00:01:25,080
beyond this one that I’d highly
recommend is number 2, The House

20
00:01:25,080 –> 00:01:28,920
of Bondage.
The class we’re listening to

21
00:01:28,920 –> 00:01:34,000
today was actually the last one
called All Things Are Lawful,

22
00:01:34,920 –> 00:01:39,240
and it continues to expound on
the idea that discipleship for

23
00:01:39,240 –> 00:01:47,240
us means giving things up and
the provisions that God makes

24
00:01:47,360 –> 00:01:55,000
for us to be truly set free from
the burden of our flesh along

25
00:01:55,000 –> 00:01:59,880
the way.
Specifically, this class was

26
00:01:59,880 –> 00:02:06,440
fascinating for the deep dive
into the culture of Roman slave

27
00:02:06,440 –> 00:02:11,560
society and the way that the
Gospel would have been just such

28
00:02:11,560 –> 00:02:18,320
a world altering message on both
ends of the spectrum, be it so

29
00:02:18,320 –> 00:02:24,120
many things tie directly into
our experiences today in 2025.

30
00:02:26,000 –> 00:02:29,120
The link for the YouTube videos
with all the slides will be

31
00:02:29,120 –> 00:02:34,200
available in the description.
As always, we hope that this

32
00:02:34,200 –> 00:02:36,840
strengthens your faith and
brightens your day.

33
00:02:37,720 –> 00:02:42,400
From the series The Paradox of
Liberty, Brother Martin

34
00:02:42,400 –> 00:02:48,600
Lawrence, All things are lawful.
We added, you might remember,

35
00:02:49,000 –> 00:02:52,680
last yesterday, I was going to
say last night, yesterday, an

36
00:02:52,680 –> 00:02:55,520
extra principle, didn’t we, that
service is not a transaction,

37
00:02:55,520 –> 00:02:58,400
that it’s been done in love.
And we’re going to spend our

38
00:02:58,400 –> 00:03:00,800
final session just digging
through the New Testament to

39
00:03:00,800 –> 00:03:03,800
open up one or two more of these
freedom ideas.

40
00:03:03,800 –> 00:03:06,040
We’ve been working our way all
the way through from beginning

41
00:03:06,040 –> 00:03:08,120
to end.
And the point I’ve been trying

42
00:03:08,120 –> 00:03:11,760
to bring out my brothers and
sisters, is this, that the the

43
00:03:11,760 –> 00:03:16,120
wall between US and the society
in which we live is not quite as

44
00:03:16,120 –> 00:03:20,600
solid as we might think and not
perhaps quite as solid as we

45
00:03:20,600 –> 00:03:25,200
might like it to be.
Discipleship is about willingly

46
00:03:25,200 –> 00:03:29,320
giving things up, and sometimes
we just need a gentle reminder

47
00:03:29,480 –> 00:03:32,440
about how we might best do that.
I’m going to take you on the

48
00:03:32,440 –> 00:03:34,640
whistle stop tour of the Gospel
of Mark to begin with.

49
00:03:34,640 –> 00:03:36,320
Can you come with me to Mark
chapter 1?

50
00:03:37,840 –> 00:03:41,720
Going to go flying through four
or five passages just to tease

51
00:03:41,720 –> 00:03:51,520
out this point once again.
So Mark chapter 1, it’s the

52
00:03:51,520 –> 00:03:52,680
beginning of the Lord’s
ministry.

53
00:03:52,680 –> 00:03:57,560
Of course he comes verse 14
preaching the Kingdom of God,

54
00:03:57,560 –> 00:03:59,720
saying the Kingdom of God is at
hand, repent and believe the

55
00:03:59,720 –> 00:04:02,800
gospel.
And Mark one and verse 16, as

56
00:04:02,920 –> 00:04:05,640
Jesus walked by the Sea of
Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew

57
00:04:05,640 –> 00:04:09,360
his brother, casting a net into
the sea, for they were fishers.

58
00:04:10,440 –> 00:04:13,000
And Jesus said to them, come
after me and I will make you

59
00:04:13,000 –> 00:04:16,200
fishers of men.
And straight away there’s

60
00:04:16,200 –> 00:04:19,360
Mark’s, Mark’s word, isn’t it?
Straight away they forsook their

61
00:04:19,360 –> 00:04:23,320
Nets and they followed him.
So nothing surprising, nothing

62
00:04:23,320 –> 00:04:25,920
revolutionary.
Jesus is walking by the sea and

63
00:04:25,920 –> 00:04:28,840
he calls Simon and Andrew to
leave something behind.

64
00:04:28,840 –> 00:04:31,920
And then they carry on.
And James of Zebedee and John

65
00:04:31,920 –> 00:04:34,120
his brother are in the ship
mending their Nets.

66
00:04:34,120 –> 00:04:39,840
And straight away he called
them, and they left their father

67
00:04:39,960 –> 00:04:43,520
in the ship with the hired
servants and went on after him.

68
00:04:43,520 –> 00:04:45,800
Simon and Andrew leave their
Nets, their job.

69
00:04:46,200 –> 00:04:49,920
James and John leave the boat
behind and their employees and

70
00:04:49,920 –> 00:04:53,640
their dad.
Nothing much to talk about there

71
00:04:53,640 –> 00:04:55,760
other than the fact that people
are leaving things behind.

72
00:04:55,760 –> 00:04:58,440
Just come over to chapter 2 and
verse 14.

73
00:04:59,080 –> 00:05:02,480
Jesus is walking by the seaside
again and he sees Levi’s son of

74
00:05:02,480 –> 00:05:06,240
Alpheus chapter 2, verse 14,
sitting at the receipt of custom

75
00:05:06,240 –> 00:05:09,200
and says to him, follow me and
Levi rose and followed him.

76
00:05:09,200 –> 00:05:13,080
There’s a pattern emerging,
isn’t there already that we’re

77
00:05:13,080 –> 00:05:15,520
seeing that fellowship with the
Lord doesn’t just happen by

78
00:05:15,520 –> 00:05:18,320
accident, doesn’t just happen by
coincidence.

79
00:05:18,320 –> 00:05:23,120
There is a plan of, of teaching
and preaching and healing and

80
00:05:23,120 –> 00:05:25,320
the Lord is going to
purposefully recruit a group of

81
00:05:25,320 –> 00:05:29,480
disciples from that, but it
won’t be popular with everybody.

82
00:05:29,480 –> 00:05:34,040
Just come on to chapter 3 and
verse 31.

83
00:05:36,280 –> 00:05:39,120
There came his brothers and his
mother standing outside, sending

84
00:05:39,120 –> 00:05:41,520
to him, calling him.
And the multitude said, behold,

85
00:05:41,520 –> 00:05:43,680
your mother and your brothers
are outside looking for you.

86
00:05:44,760 –> 00:05:48,600
And he answered and said, well,
who are who is my mother or my

87
00:05:48,600 –> 00:05:50,760
brothers?
And he looked at those around

88
00:05:50,760 –> 00:05:53,280
him and said, behold, my
mother’s and my and my mother

89
00:05:53,280 –> 00:05:56,440
and my brothers.
For whoever will do the will of

90
00:05:56,440 –> 00:06:00,880
God, the same is my brother and
my sister and my mother.

91
00:06:00,880 –> 00:06:03,960
Now there’s a point to be made
that he doesn’t mention father.

92
00:06:04,520 –> 00:06:06,640
And we could talk about that.
But you know, everybody’s

93
00:06:06,640 –> 00:06:09,480
leaving something.
People are leaving their jobs.

94
00:06:09,480 –> 00:06:11,880
People are leaving their
livelihoods, their employees,

95
00:06:11,880 –> 00:06:14,680
their parents.
Now the Lord is leaving His

96
00:06:14,680 –> 00:06:17,360
family behind.
There’s a little marker being

97
00:06:17,360 –> 00:06:22,160
laid down here about the Lord’s
own commitment to His, to his

98
00:06:22,160 –> 00:06:25,360
ministry, to the service to
which His father has called him.

99
00:06:25,600 –> 00:06:34,440
Chapter 6 and verse 4, I suppose
verse 2, just to make sure we

100
00:06:34,440 –> 00:06:36,000
know where we are.
The Sabbath has come and He’s

101
00:06:36,000 –> 00:06:38,960
back in the synagogue again.
And they say of him, is this not

102
00:06:38,960 –> 00:06:41,560
the Carpenter, the son of Mary,
the brother of James and Josephs

103
00:06:41,560 –> 00:06:44,680
and Judas and Judas and Simon?
And are his sisters not here?

104
00:06:45,480 –> 00:06:50,480
And they were offended by him.
And he could do no mighty work

105
00:06:50,480 –> 00:06:53,320
there.
Verse five, save laying his

106
00:06:53,320 –> 00:06:56,360
hands on a few sick folk.
The Lord is giving up things.

107
00:06:56,360 –> 00:06:59,400
He is without honour amongst his
own family and in the area in

108
00:06:59,400 –> 00:07:02,440
which he grows up.
Discipleship is about giving

109
00:07:02,440 –> 00:07:04,480
things up.
Come to chapter 8 for the last

110
00:07:05,120 –> 00:07:12,400
of this series of references,
verse 34.

111
00:07:12,400 –> 00:07:16,240
When He had called the people to
him with his disciples, he said,

112
00:07:16,400 –> 00:07:22,480
Whoever will come after me, let
him deny himself, take up his

113
00:07:22,480 –> 00:07:25,880
cross and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life

114
00:07:25,880 –> 00:07:29,240
will lose it.
Whoever shall lose his life for

115
00:07:29,240 –> 00:07:32,600
my sake and the Gospels, the
same shall save it.

116
00:07:34,480 –> 00:07:37,640
Jesus assumes that people are
going to give up things to

117
00:07:37,640 –> 00:07:41,920
follow Him.
It’s, it’s discipleship 101.

118
00:07:42,320 –> 00:07:45,120
He doesn’t hide it for us.
He’s always upfront about it.

119
00:07:46,360 –> 00:07:50,120
It’s not as if we can work our
way through 30 or 40 years of

120
00:07:50,120 –> 00:07:52,520
discipleship and then suddenly
go, I didn’t realise we had to

121
00:07:52,520 –> 00:07:54,640
do that.
Lord, this is upfront.

122
00:07:54,640 –> 00:07:57,000
This is happening to everybody.
You have to give up certain

123
00:07:57,000 –> 00:08:01,680
things that you might feel very
close to, you know, when your

124
00:08:01,680 –> 00:08:07,280
phone updates and shuts down
unless you do something useful

125
00:08:07,280 –> 00:08:08,680
to it.
So you have to do a software

126
00:08:08,680 –> 00:08:13,760
update and you click OK, and
then it says you need to accept

127
00:08:13,760 –> 00:08:17,960
the terms and conditions.
And you go OK.

128
00:08:18,560 –> 00:08:23,120
And then it says, Are you sure?
And you go OK.

129
00:08:23,800 –> 00:08:27,440
And then it says there are 84
pages of terms and conditions.

130
00:08:27,440 –> 00:08:31,760
Do you want to read them first?
And you say no, but OK.

131
00:08:32,240 –> 00:08:34,080
And then finally your phone
starts to do something.

132
00:08:34,080 –> 00:08:37,919
This is not like that.
The Lord is making it clear all

133
00:08:37,919 –> 00:08:40,159
the way through the ministry
that discipleship is about

134
00:08:40,159 –> 00:08:43,799
leaving your, about turning your
back on something important.

135
00:08:44,680 –> 00:08:48,480
It’s about not being as free as
sometimes you think it is.

136
00:08:49,280 –> 00:08:51,440
Now, some of us have come here
this week having turned our

137
00:08:51,440 –> 00:08:54,560
backs on something extremely
dear to us.

138
00:08:54,560 –> 00:08:57,720
You might find that you have to
turn your back on your career.

139
00:08:57,960 –> 00:09:01,880
You might find that there are
members of your family who who

140
00:09:01,880 –> 00:09:07,160
will not accept your faith.
There may be other things that

141
00:09:07,160 –> 00:09:10,000
that lie deep on your shoulders
late at night when you are in

142
00:09:10,000 –> 00:09:14,280
prayer and you are wrestling
with the very idea of giving

143
00:09:14,280 –> 00:09:16,920
them up.
Freedom is really hard.

144
00:09:17,640 –> 00:09:20,960
And yet the Lord is making it
clear that we understand that

145
00:09:20,960 –> 00:09:25,040
this is the process that we go
through and, and as, and as all

146
00:09:25,040 –> 00:09:28,880
of those examples show,
sometimes things can be very

147
00:09:28,880 –> 00:09:31,920
personal for us.
So I’m going to bring you, if I

148
00:09:31,920 –> 00:09:34,080
can, brothers and sisters, to
some examples that the Apostle

149
00:09:34,080 –> 00:09:38,560
Paul lays down for us in terms
of how we give up things in our

150
00:09:38,560 –> 00:09:42,520
discipleship, things that we
wouldn’t necessarily expect in

151
00:09:42,520 –> 00:09:47,360
order to, whilst seemingly
making ourselves less free,

152
00:09:48,200 –> 00:09:51,280
actually understanding what
liberty is all about.

153
00:09:52,080 –> 00:09:54,120
But I ask you to turn over to
Paul’s first letter to the

154
00:09:54,120 –> 00:09:57,040
Corinthians.
That was really just a preamble.

155
00:09:57,560 –> 00:09:59,880
We can spend the rest of our
time in First Corinthians.

156
00:10:00,440 –> 00:10:04,960
I’m going to bring you to
chapter 6 to some words that you

157
00:10:04,960 –> 00:10:07,040
know very well, not just because
they were the title of the

158
00:10:07,040 –> 00:10:12,840
session, but because Paul is
trying to tease out a conundrum

159
00:10:13,720 –> 00:10:16,560
for the Corinthian brothers and
sisters.

160
00:10:16,720 –> 00:10:20,840
You remember Paul writes 4
letters to Corinth.

161
00:10:21,080 –> 00:10:24,480
We’ve only got 2 of them.
First one he writes we don’t

162
00:10:24,480 –> 00:10:27,680
have.
And the second one he writes,

163
00:10:27,680 –> 00:10:31,400
which is a response to some
things that they’ve said is what

164
00:10:31,400 –> 00:10:35,240
we call One Corinthians.
And because it’s a response to

165
00:10:35,240 –> 00:10:37,400
the things that that they’ve
written to him, we get a whole

166
00:10:37,400 –> 00:10:41,600
load of quotations from that
Corinthian letter in our One

167
00:10:41,600 –> 00:10:44,040
Corinthians.
And and then he writes a third

168
00:10:44,040 –> 00:10:45,600
letter, a severe letter that we
don’t have.

169
00:10:45,600 –> 00:10:48,360
And then he writes a fourth one,
which is which is what you and I

170
00:10:48,360 –> 00:10:51,880
call Second Corinthians.
And here in chapter 6 and verse

171
00:10:51,880 –> 00:10:54,440
12, Paul is quoting them back at
themselves.

172
00:10:55,680 –> 00:10:59,480
All things are lawful unto me.
If you’ve got a modern version

173
00:10:59,480 –> 00:11:02,480
that I think it puts it in
quotation marks, he’s, he’s

174
00:11:02,920 –> 00:11:05,520
quoting themselves, quoting them
back at themselves.

175
00:11:05,520 –> 00:11:06,840
This is what they’ve said to
him.

176
00:11:07,040 –> 00:11:11,160
We think that all things are
lawful, but Paul says not

177
00:11:11,160 –> 00:11:14,080
everything’s profitable.
Not everything is expedient.

178
00:11:14,960 –> 00:11:17,640
All things are lawful for me.
There’s the quotation again.

179
00:11:18,040 –> 00:11:21,720
But Paul says I will not be
brought under the power of any.

180
00:11:22,000 –> 00:11:27,600
This is the mentality of the
Roman free man because I am free

181
00:11:27,800 –> 00:11:31,080
in Roman society, I can choose
to do what I like.

182
00:11:32,160 –> 00:11:33,960
And we’ll have a look in a
second at some of the ways in

183
00:11:33,960 –> 00:11:35,840
which that particular line could
be indulged.

184
00:11:35,840 –> 00:11:39,040
But Paul is trying to say
freedom doesn’t work like that.

185
00:11:39,360 –> 00:11:43,000
Freedom, he says verse 14, is
because of the cross.

186
00:11:43,640 –> 00:11:49,280
God has both raised up the Lord
and also will raise up us by his

187
00:11:49,280 –> 00:11:53,800
own power.
Now it’s Saturday morning.

188
00:11:54,800 –> 00:11:59,040
You are checked out in part of
your rooms and mentally checked

189
00:11:59,040 –> 00:12:02,280
out of the Bible school already.
Your children haven’t slept for

190
00:12:02,280 –> 00:12:05,000
about 96 hours.
You’ve eaten more hamburgers

191
00:12:05,000 –> 00:12:06,720
than you’ve got through in an
entire year.

192
00:12:06,960 –> 00:12:09,280
You’re thinking about what the
freeway is going to look like,

193
00:12:09,920 –> 00:12:13,040
and we’re going to do a Roman
history lesson just for fun

194
00:12:13,680 –> 00:12:20,280
because we are now friends.
Slavery, wrote one writer, has

195
00:12:20,280 –> 00:12:23,840
been virtually ubiquitous in
human civilization.

196
00:12:24,520 –> 00:12:28,600
But the Romans created one of
the few genuine slave societies

197
00:12:29,080 –> 00:12:32,120
in the Western experience.
Stretching across half a

198
00:12:32,120 –> 00:12:35,360
Millennium, sprawling across a
vast tract of space, Roman

199
00:12:35,360 –> 00:12:38,800
slavery existed on a different
order of magnitude. 5 centuries,

200
00:12:38,800 –> 00:12:41,280
3 continents, 10s of millions of
souls.

201
00:12:41,560 –> 00:12:45,160
Roman slavery stands as the true
ancient predecessor to the

202
00:12:45,160 –> 00:12:48,600
systems of mass scale slavery in
the New World.

203
00:12:50,000 –> 00:12:54,080
So when we’re reading about
what’s going on as a free man in

204
00:12:54,080 –> 00:12:57,400
First Corinthians 6, when you
think about the circumstances

205
00:12:57,440 –> 00:13:00,200
that your early brothers and
sisters lived in and the things

206
00:13:00,200 –> 00:13:04,120
that they had to give up for the
Gospel, it sits in that context.

207
00:13:05,080 –> 00:13:11,920
In a world where 1/3 of Rome was
not free, where where the notion

208
00:13:11,920 –> 00:13:15,920
of liberty meant something that
you and I really will struggle

209
00:13:15,920 –> 00:13:19,440
to get our get our arms around.
Think, for example, about Roman

210
00:13:19,440 –> 00:13:20,840
law.
I’m conscious that text is quite

211
00:13:20,840 –> 00:13:23,240
small.
It’s even smaller on my screen.

212
00:13:23,240 –> 00:13:26,920
Sorry.
Slaves didn’t have a vote, which

213
00:13:26,920 –> 00:13:32,360
meant that you couldn’t change
the system legally and if they

214
00:13:32,360 –> 00:13:35,640
rebelled they would be executed.
So you couldn’t change the

215
00:13:35,640 –> 00:13:39,560
system illegally.
Spartacus being the most sort of

216
00:13:39,560 –> 00:13:41,200
high profile example of all of
that.

217
00:13:41,600 –> 00:13:44,120
There were no Social Security
laws.

218
00:13:44,840 –> 00:13:48,480
If you had a slave who got old
or a slave who got sick, it was

219
00:13:48,480 –> 00:13:51,200
the equivalent of your toast to
having broken, and so you just

220
00:13:51,200 –> 00:13:52,720
got rid of it and got a new
slave.

221
00:13:54,280 –> 00:13:56,080
Everything is utterly
dehumanized.

222
00:13:56,080 –> 00:13:57,840
You couldn’t emancipate your
slaves.

223
00:13:57,840 –> 00:13:59,480
In other words, you couldn’t set
them free.

224
00:13:59,960 –> 00:14:02,120
And even though there’s a series
of laws that are brought in to

225
00:14:02,120 –> 00:14:04,840
do that, there are limits put
around that.

226
00:14:04,840 –> 00:14:08,800
So you can only free a certain
proportion of slaves in your

227
00:14:08,800 –> 00:14:14,360
house in order to make sure that
society still continued to

228
00:14:14,360 –> 00:14:16,760
function.
If you were freed, for example,

229
00:14:16,760 –> 00:14:19,040
under the age of 30, you could
never be a Roman citizen.

230
00:14:20,600 –> 00:14:22,600
So there were a whole bunch of
challenges that exist.

231
00:14:22,600 –> 00:14:26,480
In Athens, if you were freed,
you became a a free not citizen.

232
00:14:26,480 –> 00:14:30,280
But in Rome, even if you became
a citizen eventually, you would

233
00:14:30,280 –> 00:14:33,800
still never really be free.
Your master could still call on

234
00:14:33,800 –> 00:14:35,560
you.
There’s a a famous letter that

235
00:14:35,560 –> 00:14:39,000
floats around that Cicero writes
to a former slave and he’s

236
00:14:39,000 –> 00:14:41,240
really just checking in and
says, I just wanted to see how

237
00:14:41,240 –> 00:14:43,160
you’re doing, making sure that
your health is OK.

238
00:14:43,400 –> 00:14:45,400
And by the way, if you don’t
reply, I’ll thrash you.

239
00:14:47,120 –> 00:14:50,920
In other words, even though
you’re free, you’re not really

240
00:14:50,920 –> 00:14:54,000
free.
That’s why Paul says in Romans

241
00:14:54,120 –> 00:14:58,360
chapter 8 that slavery is
associated with fear, because it

242
00:14:58,360 –> 00:15:01,840
really was.
There is a proposal that turns

243
00:15:01,840 –> 00:15:05,280
up in Rome in the 1st century
that slaves should wear uniforms

244
00:15:06,080 –> 00:15:08,240
because in the street you can’t
tell who the slaves are and who

245
00:15:08,240 –> 00:15:09,800
the free people are.
And it’s voted down by the

246
00:15:09,800 –> 00:15:14,080
Senate because if you’ve got the
slaves in the street wearing

247
00:15:14,080 –> 00:15:16,480
uniforms, they will realise how
many they are.

248
00:15:18,440 –> 00:15:20,600
And so it gets turned down
because you don’t want to

249
00:15:20,600 –> 00:15:23,520
ferment a rebellion.
Now, the gospel is not about

250
00:15:23,520 –> 00:15:28,360
freeing slaves, just like it’s
not about healing everybody who

251
00:15:28,360 –> 00:15:29,920
was sick.
You remember the Lord’s dilemma.

252
00:15:29,920 –> 00:15:33,360
Do I stay here and heal, or do I
go on and preach?

253
00:15:33,920 –> 00:15:37,160
The gospel is is about
explaining the condition that

254
00:15:37,160 –> 00:15:41,520
people find themselves in, about
allowing people to understand

255
00:15:41,520 –> 00:15:44,240
discipleship in their particular
circumstances.

256
00:15:44,760 –> 00:15:48,040
Because if you were a slave,
coming to Christ would feel like

257
00:15:48,040 –> 00:15:51,160
freedom.
Ironically, if you were free,

258
00:15:52,040 –> 00:15:57,160
coming to Christ might feel
decidedly restrictive, which is

259
00:15:57,160 –> 00:15:59,720
what Paul is trying to help us
understand here in First

260
00:15:59,720 –> 00:16:02,240
Corinthians.
Think about what he says to the

261
00:16:02,240 –> 00:16:05,480
Romans or the Galatians or the
Colossians.

262
00:16:05,720 –> 00:16:10,880
Think about what comes up in
Philemon where we have a a real

263
00:16:10,880 –> 00:16:14,680
life situation of a slave who
has gone free and Paul is saying

264
00:16:14,680 –> 00:16:18,200
reconciliation between brothers
is actually ironically more

265
00:16:18,200 –> 00:16:20,680
important than making sure that
slaves go free.

266
00:16:20,680 –> 00:16:24,800
What the Gospel is doing is
deconstructing the Roman social

267
00:16:24,800 –> 00:16:27,720
hierarchy without a revolution
because it will put brothers and

268
00:16:27,720 –> 00:16:32,720
sisters lives in jeopardy and so
Roman law is going to bump up

269
00:16:32,800 –> 00:16:35,800
against the Gospel.
What about Roman families?

270
00:16:36,400 –> 00:16:38,440
Well, of course, one of the
cruelties of slavery was that

271
00:16:38,440 –> 00:16:40,800
it’s it assaulted the family
structure.

272
00:16:41,400 –> 00:16:43,920
Slave marriages were not
recognized.

273
00:16:44,440 –> 00:16:48,000
You could sell members of the
slaves family or the slave, but

274
00:16:48,000 –> 00:16:51,040
not the family.
Just on a whim.

275
00:16:51,720 –> 00:16:54,080
If you had your friends round
for the evening and they took a

276
00:16:54,080 –> 00:16:57,360
a a fancy to to the slave girl
who’d been dancing, you would

277
00:16:57,360 –> 00:16:59,800
package her up and send her off,
regardless of whether she had

278
00:16:59,800 –> 00:17:02,720
children in your house.
Slaves are systematically

279
00:17:02,720 –> 00:17:06,839
dehumanized.
And so when the gospel comes

280
00:17:06,839 –> 00:17:12,880
along, not only does it liberate
the marginalised, not only does

281
00:17:12,880 –> 00:17:14,800
it blow a hole in everything
that people are used to, but it

282
00:17:14,800 –> 00:17:18,359
moves family structure to a more
central position.

283
00:17:20,000 –> 00:17:22,119
And the number of conversations
I’ve had about the value of

284
00:17:22,119 –> 00:17:24,480
families at this Bible school
should make us understand how

285
00:17:24,480 –> 00:17:29,200
important that is.
The entire structure is being

286
00:17:29,200 –> 00:17:32,040
turned entirely on its head.
Think about some of the things

287
00:17:32,040 –> 00:17:35,160
that the New Testament asks
brothers and sisters to do.

288
00:17:35,800 –> 00:17:40,480
Sitting with your slave, having
a meal with your slave, breaking

289
00:17:40,480 –> 00:17:42,880
bread and sharing wine with your
slave.

290
00:17:44,600 –> 00:17:47,560
When Paul writes Greet one
another with a holy kiss, he

291
00:17:47,560 –> 00:17:49,160
might as well have asked them to
go to the moon.

292
00:17:50,200 –> 00:17:53,000
It was completely different from
what they were expected.

293
00:17:55,080 –> 00:17:56,440
Paul says in Philemon, doesn’t
he?

294
00:17:56,440 –> 00:17:59,760
You are no longer a bondservant,
but more than a bondservant, A

295
00:17:59,760 –> 00:18:03,560
beloved brother.
Your entire social status has

296
00:18:03,560 –> 00:18:08,360
been moved to another position,
even though the idea of greeting

297
00:18:08,360 –> 00:18:13,360
your slave with a holy kiss was
utterly, utterly revolutionary.

298
00:18:14,680 –> 00:18:17,720
So Roman law didn’t work in your
favour until the gospel comes

299
00:18:17,720 –> 00:18:20,320
along.
Family life didn’t work in your

300
00:18:20,320 –> 00:18:22,480
favour until the gospel came
along.

301
00:18:23,640 –> 00:18:25,200
And.
And here’s the humdinger for

302
00:18:25,200 –> 00:18:27,040
Saturday morning when you’re
still a bit sleepy.

303
00:18:28,200 –> 00:18:31,880
The very structure of Roman
private life, well, it wasn’t

304
00:18:31,880 –> 00:18:35,360
very private meant that
everything became difficult.

305
00:18:35,360 –> 00:18:39,040
Roman women of status were
expected to marry shortly after

306
00:18:39,040 –> 00:18:40,600
puberty.
Men wouldn’t marry.

307
00:18:40,600 –> 00:18:42,840
Free men wouldn’t marry until
what?

308
00:18:42,840 –> 00:18:44,400
What the Romans called middle
age.

309
00:18:44,440 –> 00:18:47,120
OK, I’m not looking at anybody
in particular, but but late 20s,

310
00:18:47,120 –> 00:18:49,440
early 30s was in the Roman
Empire called middle age.

311
00:18:49,440 –> 00:18:51,160
So I think I’m still in middle
age, but there we are.

312
00:18:52,360 –> 00:18:55,800
If you married or sorry if you,
if you, if you violated somebody

313
00:18:55,800 –> 00:18:57,840
who was married, there were
penalties.

314
00:18:58,080 –> 00:19:00,000
But of course you had the
liberality.

315
00:19:00,000 –> 00:19:03,560
You had the freedom to do pretty
much whatever you wanted with

316
00:19:03,560 –> 00:19:06,840
anybody else.
You and I understand the

317
00:19:06,840 –> 00:19:09,040
expression a double standard on
morality.

318
00:19:09,800 –> 00:19:11,680
It means people are not being
treated equally.

319
00:19:11,680 –> 00:19:16,520
It means there is an imbalance
of power and some groups get to

320
00:19:16,520 –> 00:19:18,080
indulge themselves and others
don’t.

321
00:19:18,080 –> 00:19:20,600
Rome did not have a double
standard on morality.

322
00:19:21,360 –> 00:19:25,480
It had a quadruple standard on
morality because you had male

323
00:19:25,480 –> 00:19:29,200
and female, you had slave and
free, you had high status and

324
00:19:29,200 –> 00:19:31,880
low status, and you had
concubines.

325
00:19:31,880 –> 00:19:35,120
It wasn’t hypocrisy, it was just
different rules based on where

326
00:19:35,120 –> 00:19:39,520
you stood in the social order.
And then the gospel is here and

327
00:19:39,520 –> 00:19:41,680
it doesn’t wipe it all away in
one moment because it can’t.

328
00:19:41,680 –> 00:19:43,960
It’s not possible to do that.
But it radically changes the

329
00:19:43,960 –> 00:19:47,320
expectation that different
classes of people get to follow

330
00:19:47,320 –> 00:19:50,640
different rules based on whether
or not they’re free.

331
00:19:52,120 –> 00:19:54,320
And in the Roman world, it
wasn’t based on on right or

332
00:19:54,320 –> 00:19:55,880
wrong, it was based on social
shame.

333
00:19:56,120 –> 00:19:59,000
So a married man, a married
Roman free man, could choose to

334
00:19:59,000 –> 00:20:03,680
do what he wanted with somebody
in a lower social class, which

335
00:20:03,680 –> 00:20:06,240
is pretty unpleasant.
And not necessarily something

336
00:20:06,240 –> 00:20:08,640
that we want to spend too much
time thinking about, but Paul is

337
00:20:08,640 –> 00:20:11,200
writing, if you’ve got the
chapter open still, he’s homing

338
00:20:11,200 –> 00:20:13,720
right in on this in chapter 6,
verse 13.

339
00:20:13,720 –> 00:20:16,320
Now the body is not for
fornication, but for the Lord

340
00:20:16,600 –> 00:20:19,760
and the Lord for the body.
And he’s striking at the very

341
00:20:19,760 –> 00:20:23,640
heart of the Roman free man’s
attitude that says all things

342
00:20:23,640 –> 00:20:27,760
are lawful, that I can choose to
indulge myself in any way that I

343
00:20:27,760 –> 00:20:31,680
want because the premise of, of,
of Roman Pagan culture is

344
00:20:31,840 –> 00:20:34,840
self-control.
Limiting myself is utterly

345
00:20:34,840 –> 00:20:37,040
impossible and freedom is
everything.

346
00:20:38,680 –> 00:20:41,480
And Paul says, hang on a minute,
that’s not how it works.

347
00:20:41,480 –> 00:20:44,000
Even though it worked in the
Athenian empire as well.

348
00:20:44,440 –> 00:20:48,760
That’s not how the gospel works.
self-control is not possible.

349
00:20:49,320 –> 00:20:52,720
Yes, it is, says Paul.
Does that sound familiar?

350
00:20:54,880 –> 00:20:58,200
It’s never, never wise to draw
too many comparisons between a

351
00:20:58,320 –> 00:21:01,040
point in time and our day and
age.

352
00:21:01,840 –> 00:21:04,240
That sounds remarkably familiar
to some of the things that we’re

353
00:21:04,240 –> 00:21:06,480
seeing.
I asked you the other day

354
00:21:06,480 –> 00:21:09,440
whether anybody had read
Chronicles of Narnia, and you

355
00:21:09,440 –> 00:21:11,080
were very shy.
All the teens have, by the way.

356
00:21:11,080 –> 00:21:13,320
So just admit that.
Anybody read Augustine’s

357
00:21:13,320 –> 00:21:16,560
Confessions?
That’s the right answer.

358
00:21:16,560 –> 00:21:19,640
By the way, Augustine tells us
he was in a relationship with a

359
00:21:19,640 –> 00:21:24,040
concubine and then he sends her
away when he he gets engaged

360
00:21:24,040 –> 00:21:26,240
around about the age of 30.
But the problem is his

361
00:21:26,240 –> 00:21:29,120
engagement is quite a long one
and he doesn’t get married for a

362
00:21:29,120 –> 00:21:31,000
long time.
And, well, you know, he’s a

363
00:21:31,000 –> 00:21:33,040
Roman free man and he wants to
indulge himself.

364
00:21:33,040 –> 00:21:35,640
So he writes.
And I went and got me another

365
00:21:35,640 –> 00:21:39,880
one because that’s what you do.
That’s the expectation on this

366
00:21:39,880 –> 00:21:41,120
man.
It’s a world where people

367
00:21:41,120 –> 00:21:44,240
without protection, people
without social honour are

368
00:21:44,240 –> 00:21:48,440
utterly exploited and it makes
us feel a bit uncomfortable.

369
00:21:49,800 –> 00:21:52,800
You’ve seen this slide before in
another context, but suddenly

370
00:21:52,800 –> 00:21:57,840
the gospel comes along and
changes absolutely everything.

371
00:21:58,920 –> 00:22:03,360
First, Paul will approach in
Romans chapter 1 the issue of

372
00:22:03,360 –> 00:22:08,600
gender, and he will say if the
ACT is same gender to same

373
00:22:08,600 –> 00:22:10,880
gender, then it is wrong.
Ipso facto.

374
00:22:10,880 –> 00:22:14,280
It is wrong not because God
likes to randomly draw lines in

375
00:22:14,280 –> 00:22:16,720
the sand and tell you not to
cross them, but because of the

376
00:22:16,720 –> 00:22:20,840
Genesis creation.
And then in First Corinthians 6

377
00:22:20,840 –> 00:22:24,760
and seven, he will focus on
partners and he will say if the

378
00:22:24,760 –> 00:22:28,920
ACT is with anyone other than
your spouse, then it’s wrong not

379
00:22:28,920 –> 00:22:31,440
because God is drawing lines
randomly in the sand, but

380
00:22:31,440 –> 00:22:35,160
because of the Genesis creation
and he’s taking care of gender

381
00:22:35,400 –> 00:22:39,400
and he’s taking care of partner.
And suddenly the boundaries of

382
00:22:39,400 –> 00:22:42,400
what Roman sexual propriety
could be have shrunk

383
00:22:42,640 –> 00:22:46,880
dramatically.
Chapter 6, verse 15 Know ye not

384
00:22:46,880 –> 00:22:48,880
that your bodies are the members
of Christ?

385
00:22:49,720 –> 00:22:52,080
Shall I then take the members of
Christ to make them the members

386
00:22:52,080 –> 00:22:53,640
of a prostitute?
God forbid.

387
00:22:54,240 –> 00:22:56,480
Don’t you know that he who is
joined to a prostitute shall be

388
00:22:56,480 –> 00:22:58,880
1 body for two says he shall be
1 flesh.

389
00:22:58,880 –> 00:23:03,440
There’s the Genesis creation,
but he that is joined to the

390
00:23:03,440 –> 00:23:08,040
Lord is 1 Spirit.
The fundamental premise of the

391
00:23:08,040 –> 00:23:10,480
gospel is to change the colour
of the sky.

392
00:23:12,640 –> 00:23:14,200
The gospel is going to reach
out.

393
00:23:14,200 –> 00:23:17,400
The Lord is going to reach out
to the marginalized, to the

394
00:23:17,400 –> 00:23:21,000
sexual sinners, to the unloved.
He’s going to cut across social

395
00:23:21,000 –> 00:23:24,560
assumptions in the early
Eclesias and obviously in wider

396
00:23:24,560 –> 00:23:28,640
society that are built on
hierarchy and are built on

397
00:23:28,640 –> 00:23:30,800
status.
And he’s going to home in on

398
00:23:30,800 –> 00:23:36,560
morality and and make the point,
the unavoidable point that

399
00:23:36,560 –> 00:23:40,600
everybody counts because
everybody’s made in the image of

400
00:23:40,600 –> 00:23:43,200
God.
Freedom starts with God as

401
00:23:43,200 –> 00:23:47,120
creator, with those those broad
liberal opportunities that he

402
00:23:47,120 –> 00:23:51,440
gives Adam and Eve with
guardrails and says everybody

403
00:23:51,440 –> 00:23:54,480
has agency because everybody is
made in God’s image.

404
00:23:54,680 –> 00:23:57,240
It’s true whether you are the
emperor with all the power in

405
00:23:57,240 –> 00:23:58,840
the world.
It’s true whether you are a

406
00:23:58,840 –> 00:24:01,680
craft maker’s slave girl.
It’s true whether you are an

407
00:24:01,680 –> 00:24:03,480
illegitimate son of a metal
worker.

408
00:24:04,000 –> 00:24:07,800
You matter.
You count in a way that you

409
00:24:07,800 –> 00:24:12,320
could never have expected before
because of a man who said, take

410
00:24:12,320 –> 00:24:16,000
my yoke upon you because my
burden is light.

411
00:24:16,480 –> 00:24:18,880
This is not a man, as we said
earlier on in the week, for whom

412
00:24:18,880 –> 00:24:22,960
domination matters.
Everybody has agency.

413
00:24:23,240 –> 00:24:28,200
Everybody now can be free.
But those two issues throw out

414
00:24:28,200 –> 00:24:32,400
some challenges because if you
exalt the marginalized and if

415
00:24:32,400 –> 00:24:35,760
you narrow the boundaries of
sexual activity, it it raises

416
00:24:36,400 –> 00:24:39,280
raises one of two tricky issues.
It raises the issue of rights

417
00:24:41,240 –> 00:24:43,920
because, you know, it’s not just
limited to our world.

418
00:24:44,760 –> 00:24:47,040
And it raises the issues of
freedom of activity.

419
00:24:47,040 –> 00:24:50,600
Does a person have to consent or
not to certain acts?

420
00:24:51,680 –> 00:24:54,760
That’s pretty contemporary.
Does a person have the right or

421
00:24:54,760 –> 00:24:58,320
not to certain freedoms?
And the Lord comes along, and

422
00:24:58,320 –> 00:25:01,440
Paul is writing this letter in
part to say that our moral

423
00:25:01,440 –> 00:25:03,320
actions are fundamental to who
we are.

424
00:25:04,720 –> 00:25:08,640
Not that love is love, but that
God is love.

425
00:25:10,160 –> 00:25:12,000
And so the gospel begins to
enhance.

426
00:25:12,000 –> 00:25:15,000
It doesn’t begin.
It does enhance the social

427
00:25:15,000 –> 00:25:18,560
status and the the dignity of
those who are unfree.

428
00:25:19,560 –> 00:25:22,360
And ecclesias have to start
confronting the issue of people

429
00:25:22,360 –> 00:25:29,160
who are not normally even given
the time of day, but now are to

430
00:25:29,160 –> 00:25:31,880
be elevated to to the level of
everybody else.

431
00:25:31,960 –> 00:25:35,960
Freedom means, Paul says, that a
powerful male can control his

432
00:25:35,960 –> 00:25:40,160
desires.
He has to make himself unfree.

433
00:25:41,320 –> 00:25:45,440
Freedom means that somebody who
is subservient in the eyes of

434
00:25:45,440 –> 00:25:48,480
1st century society, a slave
woman or a child almost

435
00:25:48,480 –> 00:25:52,360
certainly also has freedom,
which means they have agency to

436
00:25:52,360 –> 00:25:54,840
resist.
They are more free than they’ve

437
00:25:54,840 –> 00:25:58,960
ever been before.
Verse 18 Flee fornication.

438
00:25:58,960 –> 00:26:01,800
Every sin that a man does is
without the body, but he that

439
00:26:01,800 –> 00:26:04,480
commits fornication sins against
his own body.

440
00:26:05,600 –> 00:26:07,880
Don’t you know that your body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit,

441
00:26:07,880 –> 00:26:10,840
which is in you, which you have
of God, and you are not your

442
00:26:10,840 –> 00:26:13,400
own, for you are bought with a
price.

443
00:26:14,480 –> 00:26:17,880
Therefore glorify God in your
body and your spirit, which are

444
00:26:17,880 –> 00:26:21,240
gods.
And Paul says you, you are

445
00:26:21,240 –> 00:26:24,200
bought with a price.
He’s including the free man who

446
00:26:24,200 –> 00:26:29,360
never considered himself to be a
slave, would have been, would

447
00:26:29,360 –> 00:26:32,600
have been amazed if you accused
him of anything other than being

448
00:26:32,600 –> 00:26:36,360
as free as he wanted.
But a man who suddenly has to

449
00:26:36,360 –> 00:26:38,920
manage his desire towards his
actual slave?

450
00:26:39,880 –> 00:26:41,960
What a world that the gospel
comes into.

451
00:26:41,960 –> 00:26:45,200
What a change that this thing,
this thing brings about.

452
00:26:45,200 –> 00:26:50,200
Freedom, I guess I’m trying to
say, cuts both ways in terms of

453
00:26:50,200 –> 00:26:53,840
the way we restrict ourselves.
Again, it’s not freedom in a

454
00:26:53,840 –> 00:26:57,320
1960 sense.
It’s a freedom because I am

455
00:26:57,320 –> 00:27:03,000
willingly free, because I of
what I saw as a necessity, I am

456
00:27:03,240 –> 00:27:08,920
choosing to be free.
I am choosing to show grace to

457
00:27:08,920 –> 00:27:15,440
those who would normally not get
noticed, not not for me, but to

458
00:27:15,440 –> 00:27:19,280
those for whom the Lord dies.
And I don’t know about you and

459
00:27:19,280 –> 00:27:21,720
maybe I just see it around me,
but but I, I think we fall into

460
00:27:21,720 –> 00:27:24,280
this sneaky kind of dualism
sometimes where we say, you

461
00:27:24,280 –> 00:27:26,600
know, just just one more time
and I’ll stop.

462
00:27:27,280 –> 00:27:30,120
Whatever it is, whatever sin you
carry with you that you know

463
00:27:30,120 –> 00:27:32,360
about most of all, we just say,
well, one more time, Lord, and

464
00:27:32,360 –> 00:27:33,880
I’ll stop.
It won’t happen more than once,

465
00:27:33,880 –> 00:27:37,000
Lord, as if we can somehow leave
our physical bodies at the scene

466
00:27:37,000 –> 00:27:38,720
of the crime and move on with
our lives.

467
00:27:40,080 –> 00:27:43,280
And the attitude of 2025 just
seeps into the way in which we

468
00:27:43,280 –> 00:27:46,680
live.
And, and there is a temptation

469
00:27:46,680 –> 00:27:50,400
sometimes to see the, the, the,
the sexual holiness to which the

470
00:27:50,400 –> 00:27:55,840
gospel calls us as some sort of
outdated toxic culture.

471
00:27:56,760 –> 00:27:59,360
And, and, and I beg and implore
you brothers and sisters, to not

472
00:27:59,360 –> 00:28:03,560
see it as that, to see it as the
elevated, inspired and holy word

473
00:28:03,560 –> 00:28:09,440
of God, and not to make it start
sounding oppressive and limiting

474
00:28:09,720 –> 00:28:13,400
and unfree.
Because at that point we go

475
00:28:13,400 –> 00:28:14,560
right the way back to the Garden
of Eden.

476
00:28:14,560 –> 00:28:16,920
We go all the way full circle to
Adam and Eve saying I want more

477
00:28:16,920 –> 00:28:19,000
freedom, Lord, please.
I don’t like your boundaries.

478
00:28:19,000 –> 00:28:23,800
Lord, let’s be more confident in
what scripture is telling us

479
00:28:24,000 –> 00:28:29,240
about these issues.
CS Lewis wrote.

480
00:28:29,640 –> 00:28:32,680
I apologise for yet another non
Christadelphian author, but this

481
00:28:32,680 –> 00:28:35,760
one, this one touches me.
One of the great difficulties he

482
00:28:35,760 –> 00:28:37,760
wrote back at the end of World
War 2 is to keep before an

483
00:28:37,760 –> 00:28:39,600
audience’s mind the question of
truth.

484
00:28:40,240 –> 00:28:42,240
They always think you are
recommending Christianity, not

485
00:28:42,240 –> 00:28:45,440
because it is true, but because
it is comforting and useful.

486
00:28:46,120 –> 00:28:49,800
You have to keep forcing them
back and again, back to the real

487
00:28:49,800 –> 00:28:52,240
point.
Only then will you be able to

488
00:28:52,240 –> 00:28:56,120
undermine their belief that a
certain amount of religion is

489
00:28:56,120 –> 00:28:58,080
desirable.
But one mustn’t carry it too

490
00:28:58,080 –> 00:29:00,920
far.
One must keep on pointing out

491
00:29:01,520 –> 00:29:06,160
that Christianity is a statement
which, if false, is of no

492
00:29:06,160 –> 00:29:11,440
importance, and if true, of
infinite importance.

493
00:29:12,160 –> 00:29:15,360
The one thing it cannot be is
moderately important.

494
00:29:16,720 –> 00:29:21,280
Of course the gospel is useful.
Praise God, the gospel is

495
00:29:21,280 –> 00:29:24,240
useful.
It can help you with any issue

496
00:29:24,240 –> 00:29:26,640
you might ever face.
It can help you with sexual

497
00:29:26,640 –> 00:29:28,280
temptation.
It can help you manage your

498
00:29:28,280 –> 00:29:32,880
money or deal with grief or
understand childlessness or or

499
00:29:33,360 –> 00:29:37,040
rationalize your declining
health or your dislike of your

500
00:29:37,040 –> 00:29:39,480
body or whatever issues that we
might come to face.

501
00:29:39,480 –> 00:29:41,480
Of course it’s, of course it’s
useful.

502
00:29:43,560 –> 00:29:45,160
It’s not true because it’s
useful.

503
00:29:45,160 –> 00:29:50,920
It’s useful because it’s true.
That’s the point that he was

504
00:29:50,920 –> 00:29:53,200
trying to make as well.
Once we start talking about

505
00:29:53,200 –> 00:29:55,240
these issues, severed from the
gospel, we’re just shouting at

506
00:29:55,240 –> 00:29:59,080
the stars.
You and I, brothers and sisters,

507
00:29:59,080 –> 00:30:01,840
live in a world that has sawn
off the branch that it’s sitting

508
00:30:01,840 –> 00:30:05,280
on and wondering why the ground
is getting closer.

509
00:30:06,680 –> 00:30:09,720
It’s completely ridiculous.
And it’s fascinating that the

510
00:30:09,720 –> 00:30:15,320
most explicitly gospel value of,
of love is now used as a banner

511
00:30:15,320 –> 00:30:18,800
to object to Christianity, to,
to object to the true gospel.

512
00:30:19,440 –> 00:30:21,600
You know, people who objected to
the gospel of the Roman world

513
00:30:21,600 –> 00:30:24,880
objected because it promoted a
lifestyle that wasn’t manly and

514
00:30:24,880 –> 00:30:26,600
virile enough.
And it, we’ve touched some of

515
00:30:26,600 –> 00:30:29,640
those issues already.
It was so the line said it was

516
00:30:29,640 –> 00:30:32,480
for fools and women and slaves
and, and they flocked to it in

517
00:30:32,480 –> 00:30:35,360
their droves.
Well, now it’s the opposite.

518
00:30:36,560 –> 00:30:38,920
Now it’s attacked for being
hostile to fools and women and

519
00:30:38,920 –> 00:30:42,600
slaves because love is love and
Love Is All you need, right?

520
00:30:43,760 –> 00:30:48,040
Our 21st century sexual ethics
are reduced to a single

521
00:30:48,040 –> 00:30:51,200
prohibition.
Thou shalt not suppress any

522
00:30:51,200 –> 00:30:54,040
desire.
And the gospel says it doesn’t

523
00:30:54,040 –> 00:30:56,520
work like that.
You need to turn the world on

524
00:30:56,520 –> 00:31:00,240
its head.
And he will begin to go on in

525
00:31:00,240 –> 00:31:03,320
the letter to dig into some more
of these freedom issues.

526
00:31:04,000 –> 00:31:06,960
Paul’s letter to the to the
Corinthians or the 1st letter to

527
00:31:06,960 –> 00:31:10,080
the Corinthians begins to open
up all manner of freedom issues.

528
00:31:10,080 –> 00:31:11,720
We will not cover them all, of
course.

529
00:31:12,160 –> 00:31:14,440
So he’s talking about all things
being lawful.

530
00:31:14,440 –> 00:31:17,960
As we’ve explained, Chapter 7 is
going to focus in on the issues

531
00:31:17,960 –> 00:31:21,720
of self-control, self-control in
particular within a marriage

532
00:31:21,760 –> 00:31:25,720
situation and says within that,
that that if a slave is

533
00:31:25,720 –> 00:31:28,240
baptized, there is no stigma to
being a slave.

534
00:31:28,960 –> 00:31:33,120
It’s OK in society’s eyes to be
unfree because in the gospel’s

535
00:31:33,120 –> 00:31:38,320
eyes you are much more free.
You can even be free, he says,

536
00:31:38,320 –> 00:31:41,000
from anxiety.
You can be liberated from a

537
00:31:41,000 –> 00:31:42,880
whole series of things.
In fact, in Chapter 7, Paul

538
00:31:42,880 –> 00:31:48,440
takes a a very exalted view of
singleness, which which I think

539
00:31:48,440 –> 00:31:50,880
is something that we ought to
make sure we talk about more.

540
00:31:51,920 –> 00:31:54,960
We often either consciously or
unconsciously talk about

541
00:31:54,960 –> 00:31:57,400
singleness as a transit point on
the way to marriage.

542
00:31:59,280 –> 00:32:00,560
And, and I don’t think Paul does
that.

543
00:32:00,560 –> 00:32:02,840
He says singleness is an exalted
state.

544
00:32:03,600 –> 00:32:06,200
I suspect if he was sat down
there he would say 50% of us who

545
00:32:06,200 –> 00:32:09,160
are married are going to be
single again in the future.

546
00:32:10,040 –> 00:32:14,760
So being a disciple and not
being married, it’s not just OK,

547
00:32:15,360 –> 00:32:19,200
it’s an honourable state to be
in and you can work out your

548
00:32:19,200 –> 00:32:22,000
freedom in those worlds as well.
He will go on in Chapter 9 to

549
00:32:22,000 –> 00:32:24,880
talk about though he is free,
he’s made a servant of all.

550
00:32:24,880 –> 00:32:27,800
He’s disciplined his body and
limited himself and kept it

551
00:32:27,800 –> 00:32:29,960
under control.
He’s going to talk in chapter 10

552
00:32:29,960 –> 00:32:32,680
about not seeking his own good
but those of his neighbor.

553
00:32:32,680 –> 00:32:34,960
In other words, voluntary
submission and giving himself

554
00:32:35,000 –> 00:32:36,720
up.
He’ll talk about chapter in

555
00:32:36,720 –> 00:32:41,440
Chapter 11 about symbols of
voluntary subjection, voluntary

556
00:32:41,440 –> 00:32:44,080
submission.
He’ll talk a little bit further

557
00:32:44,080 –> 00:32:46,240
down in Chapter 11 about what
happens when the ecclesia

558
00:32:46,240 –> 00:32:51,520
gathers, when if you’ve got a
meal and somebody else doesn’t,

559
00:32:51,520 –> 00:32:54,880
you don’t just plow in and fill
your plate, but that you

560
00:32:54,880 –> 00:32:58,280
recognise that you might need to
restrict yourself because others

561
00:32:58,280 –> 00:33:00,760
don’t have what you have.
And then of course, write the

562
00:33:00,760 –> 00:33:03,840
way down in chapter 16 and in
the second letter as well, he’ll

563
00:33:03,840 –> 00:33:07,040
talk about the collections for
the Saints and echo the, the the

564
00:33:07,040 –> 00:33:10,920
Exodus metaphor and say when you
make your collection, you are to

565
00:33:10,920 –> 00:33:13,080
freely give.
It’s a free will offering, just

566
00:33:13,080 –> 00:33:16,040
like it was when they came out
of Egypt, just like it was when

567
00:33:16,040 –> 00:33:18,920
God gave the manner to them in
the wilderness and they could go

568
00:33:18,920 –> 00:33:21,320
out and collect what they chose
to collect.

569
00:33:22,760 –> 00:33:25,400
All of these things that are
going on are telling us that

570
00:33:25,400 –> 00:33:29,280
Scripture is not giving carte
blanche to to any one person.

571
00:33:29,720 –> 00:33:32,240
It’s teaching us to restrict
ourselves for the benefit of

572
00:33:32,240 –> 00:33:35,440
other people.
Slaves are not set free, but

573
00:33:35,440 –> 00:33:37,560
masters are told to moderate
their behaviour.

574
00:33:38,000 –> 00:33:40,680
Wives are not given authority,
but husbands are told to love

575
00:33:40,680 –> 00:33:43,760
their wives.
Sisters are not given freedom to

576
00:33:43,760 –> 00:33:47,480
do all that we now say they can,
but men are told to stand up and

577
00:33:47,480 –> 00:33:49,640
take a lead.
Those who are married are

578
00:33:49,640 –> 00:33:52,480
encouraged not to divorce.
I’m trying to get my words

579
00:33:52,480 –> 00:33:55,160
carefully here.
It’s about freedom to restrain,

580
00:33:55,360 –> 00:33:59,680
not freedom to dominate in every
possible shape and shade of

581
00:33:59,680 –> 00:34:03,240
life.
Hence Mary’s song.

582
00:34:04,120 –> 00:34:07,280
He’s brought down the mighty and
he’s raised up the humble.

583
00:34:10,120 –> 00:34:12,320
So I’ve scandalized you by
talking about Roman sexual

584
00:34:12,320 –> 00:34:13,760
ethics.
Let’s talk about human rights

585
00:34:13,760 –> 00:34:23,880
just to round things off.
Come on to chapter 8, 1st

586
00:34:23,880 –> 00:34:27,000
Corinthians 8 and verse one.
Now as touching things offered

587
00:34:27,000 –> 00:34:30,040
to idols, we know that, and
here’s a quote of them back to

588
00:34:30,040 –> 00:34:31,600
them.
We all have knowledge.

589
00:34:32,639 –> 00:34:36,800
Knowledge, Paul says, puffs up,
but love builds up.

590
00:34:37,639 –> 00:34:40,280
And if any man think that he
knows anything, he knows nothing

591
00:34:40,280 –> 00:34:44,120
as yet as he ought to know.
But if any man love God, the

592
00:34:44,120 –> 00:34:47,520
same is known of him.
As concerning, therefore, the

593
00:34:47,520 –> 00:34:49,679
eating of those things offered
in sacrifice to idols.

594
00:34:49,679 –> 00:34:54,400
We know that an idol is nothing
in the world and there is no

595
00:34:54,400 –> 00:34:57,040
other God but one.
And he will go on to talk in

596
00:34:57,040 –> 00:35:00,240
this chapter about the challenge
of food being offered to idols.

597
00:35:00,720 –> 00:35:02,880
We sometimes put this side by
side, don’t we, with what’s

598
00:35:02,880 –> 00:35:07,480
going on in Romans chapter 14.
Just want to keep this tight

599
00:35:07,480 –> 00:35:09,800
just because that clock is about
to consume me.

600
00:35:10,440 –> 00:35:14,040
But you remember back in Romans
14, Paul sets up a a comparison

601
00:35:14,040 –> 00:35:18,120
between the strong and the weak.
And the focus there is the

602
00:35:18,120 –> 00:35:22,240
Jewish food laws.
And the point Paul tries to make

603
00:35:22,240 –> 00:35:25,520
in Romans 14 is that all food is
clean, that the the law has been

604
00:35:25,520 –> 00:35:28,760
abrogated.
Nothing that you eat from the

605
00:35:28,760 –> 00:35:30,960
outside can make you unclean
because of course, it’s what is

606
00:35:30,960 –> 00:35:35,560
on the inside.
But if it feels unclean, if if

607
00:35:35,560 –> 00:35:37,920
you bring something to the
table, as it were, from your

608
00:35:37,920 –> 00:35:41,400
past that makes you feel that
eating food that under the Law

609
00:35:41,400 –> 00:35:43,120
of Moses will be unclean, then
don’t do it.

610
00:35:43,960 –> 00:35:46,600
It’s an individual choice.
He says it’s better to be

611
00:35:46,600 –> 00:35:50,720
strong.
Paul says he’s strong, it’s

612
00:35:50,720 –> 00:35:53,160
better to be strong, but it
brings more responsibility when

613
00:35:53,160 –> 00:35:55,960
you do so.
And he actually gives us the

614
00:35:55,960 –> 00:36:00,160
example in Romans 15 of the one
who was the strongest, the one

615
00:36:00,160 –> 00:36:03,040
who took the most responsibility
upon himself, IE the Lord.

616
00:36:04,120 –> 00:36:07,760
So, So what Romans 14 is doing
is setting up a comparison

617
00:36:07,760 –> 00:36:12,040
between the strong and the weak,
but over an issue that in one

618
00:36:12,040 –> 00:36:14,920
way has already been dealt with
the the the Jewish food laws.

619
00:36:15,400 –> 00:36:18,680
What first Corinthians chapters
8, what chapter 8 is going to do

620
00:36:18,680 –> 00:36:21,160
is focus in on a slightly
different food issue.

621
00:36:21,560 –> 00:36:25,280
It’s not strong VE weak, it’s
knowledge VE conscience.

622
00:36:26,120 –> 00:36:31,560
And the food is not the law
unclean under the Mosaic law,

623
00:36:32,080 –> 00:36:34,960
but it’s food which has been
offered in a Pagan temple.

624
00:36:36,200 –> 00:36:38,040
And here things are slightly
different, aren’t they?

625
00:36:38,760 –> 00:36:41,560
Because what Paul is trying to
say here is don’t offer food.

626
00:36:41,840 –> 00:36:45,080
Don’t eat food offered to idols
because it sends the wrong

627
00:36:45,080 –> 00:36:47,600
message.
It will cause others to stumble.

628
00:36:47,600 –> 00:36:51,200
Yes, all food is clean.
He said an idol is nothing, but

629
00:36:51,800 –> 00:36:55,600
don’t eat it if it causes your
brother to stumble.

630
00:36:55,600 –> 00:36:58,280
Don’t eat it if it sends the
wrong message.

631
00:36:58,800 –> 00:37:01,000
In other words, in the Romans
example, you can make a choice.

632
00:37:01,720 –> 00:37:04,880
In the Corinthians example he
says it’s better not to do that.

633
00:37:05,360 –> 00:37:08,600
Not that knowledge is better or
that conscience is better, but

634
00:37:08,600 –> 00:37:10,320
it’s the way in which they are
applied.

635
00:37:11,000 –> 00:37:13,040
Now there are some Corinthians,
he says, who are insisting that

636
00:37:13,040 –> 00:37:14,400
they can eat food offered to
idols.

637
00:37:14,680 –> 00:37:16,840
And you know, others just have
to learn to live with it because

638
00:37:16,840 –> 00:37:18,480
it’s my freedom.
I can do what I want and you

639
00:37:18,480 –> 00:37:20,440
just have to figure it out.
Verse seven.

640
00:37:20,600 –> 00:37:23,600
However, there is in every man
not that knowledge For some with

641
00:37:23,600 –> 00:37:25,840
conscience of the idol to this
hour, eat is a thing offered to

642
00:37:25,840 –> 00:37:28,560
an idol and their conscience
being weak is defiled.

643
00:37:28,920 –> 00:37:32,840
But meat commends us not to God.
For neither if we eat are we

644
00:37:32,840 –> 00:37:36,800
better, neither if we eat not
are we the worst.

645
00:37:36,800 –> 00:37:39,880
Paul’s response is that
knowledge is good.

646
00:37:40,600 –> 00:37:44,120
In other words, ignorance is not
a target, but that it should

647
00:37:44,120 –> 00:37:46,960
lead to love.
It shouldn’t lead to claiming

648
00:37:47,440 –> 00:37:49,760
rights over your brother and
sister.

649
00:37:49,760 –> 00:37:51,920
Verse 9.
Take heed, lest by any means

650
00:37:51,920 –> 00:37:57,360
this liberty of yours becomes a
stumbling block to those who are

651
00:37:57,360 –> 00:37:59,720
weak.
Stumbling block is not a

652
00:37:59,720 –> 00:38:03,440
shorthand for something you do
that I don’t like, which we

653
00:38:03,440 –> 00:38:06,200
sometimes think that it is.
It’s about whether or not you

654
00:38:06,200 –> 00:38:08,640
and I can agree with something.
It’s a particular kind of

655
00:38:08,640 –> 00:38:13,080
offence that leads a disciple to
sin against his or her

656
00:38:13,080 –> 00:38:16,480
conscience.
And it’s never right to sin

657
00:38:16,480 –> 00:38:19,360
against your conscience because
it leads you towards sin, it

658
00:38:19,360 –> 00:38:21,600
leads you towards destruction,
as Paul says, doesn’t it in

659
00:38:21,600 –> 00:38:26,520
verse doesn’t he in verse 11 If
through your quote knowledge the

660
00:38:26,520 –> 00:38:29,920
weak brother perish for whom
Christ died.

661
00:38:30,640 –> 00:38:34,280
There is an issue there of, of
whether or not we claim our

662
00:38:34,800 –> 00:38:38,280
liberty in Christ to choose to
do as we want in this

663
00:38:38,280 –> 00:38:41,080
circumstance.
And Paul says, no, that’s not

664
00:38:41,080 –> 00:38:44,400
how it works.
If when you sin or but when you

665
00:38:44,400 –> 00:38:48,280
sin so against your brother and
wound their weak conscience, you

666
00:38:48,280 –> 00:38:54,480
sin against Christ.
And then Paul will go on to use

667
00:38:54,480 –> 00:38:57,040
two examples just to underpin
his argument.

668
00:38:58,080 –> 00:39:01,000
And the first is in Chapter 9.
He’ll give us the example of

669
00:39:01,000 –> 00:39:04,400
himself.
The second is in chapter 10, and

670
00:39:04,400 –> 00:39:07,760
he’ll give us the example of the
nation, and they are both there

671
00:39:07,760 –> 00:39:11,360
specifically to underpin this
issue of what he can and can’t

672
00:39:11,360 –> 00:39:14,760
claim.
So he will tell us in Chapter 9

673
00:39:14,920 –> 00:39:18,280
that he’s an apostle and
therefore he’s free to claim

674
00:39:18,280 –> 00:39:22,960
certain rights because he’s an
apostle, but he declines to do

675
00:39:22,960 –> 00:39:24,720
so.
He chooses not to claim those

676
00:39:24,720 –> 00:39:27,960
rights because he doesn’t want
to put any barriers in the way

677
00:39:27,960 –> 00:39:29,720
of others.
When he does that.

678
00:39:31,600 –> 00:39:34,240
And it’s ironic because Paul
tells us that he knows and I’m

679
00:39:34,240 –> 00:39:36,480
I’m just skipping over rather
than diving into the verses just

680
00:39:36,480 –> 00:39:39,120
because I want to make sure we
don’t run too tight on time.

681
00:39:39,120 –> 00:39:43,400
Paul says he knows that idols
are nothing, but he also

682
00:39:43,400 –> 00:39:46,160
acknowledges their influence to
avoid many being destroyed.

683
00:39:46,160 –> 00:39:48,600
That’s the problem that he goes
through in Chapter 9.

684
00:39:48,600 –> 00:39:52,480
Just come actually to verse 19.
In Chapter 9, though I be free

685
00:39:52,480 –> 00:39:57,320
from all, yet have I made myself
servant to all that I might gain

686
00:39:57,320 –> 00:40:00,080
them more.
To the Jews, I became a Jew that

687
00:40:00,080 –> 00:40:02,760
I might gain the Jews to them
under the law, as under the law,

688
00:40:02,760 –> 00:40:04,320
that I might gain them under the
law.

689
00:40:04,320 –> 00:40:07,120
And so he goes on verse 22 as
well to the weak.

690
00:40:07,120 –> 00:40:09,680
I became as weak that I might
gain the weak.

691
00:40:10,240 –> 00:40:14,720
What I am trying to avoid doing,
he says, is or what I am doing

692
00:40:14,720 –> 00:40:18,440
is limiting myself for the sake
of others so that I serve God

693
00:40:18,440 –> 00:40:20,240
and therefore serve my brothers
and sisters.

694
00:40:21,720 –> 00:40:25,000
Freedom is not about just
indulging yourself.

695
00:40:25,440 –> 00:40:30,800
Randomly I therefore verse 26
run not as uncertainly, so I

696
00:40:30,800 –> 00:40:34,640
fight not as one that beats the
air, but I keep under my body

697
00:40:34,880 –> 00:40:37,840
and bring it into subjection,
lest by any means when I preach

698
00:40:37,840 –> 00:40:40,240
to others, I myself should be a
castaway.

699
00:40:40,800 –> 00:40:44,480
Remember Jeremiah 2, that one
place that the Hebrew word ever

700
00:40:44,480 –> 00:40:47,800
gets translated as slave in in
in in your King James Version?

701
00:40:48,040 –> 00:40:50,720
And that verse about the wild
camel running around randomly in

702
00:40:50,720 –> 00:40:54,280
the desert that Israel had let
themselves go free and God was

703
00:40:54,280 –> 00:40:55,560
going to deal with the
consequences.

704
00:40:55,560 –> 00:41:00,520
Paul says I’m trying not to be
that camel and rather hopefully

705
00:41:00,520 –> 00:41:03,760
he doesn’t use that word at the
end of Chapter 9 to make it.

706
00:41:04,040 –> 00:41:06,440
Then he talks to us about
Israel, who of course were free

707
00:41:06,840 –> 00:41:09,680
in a different sense because
they were God’s first born son.

708
00:41:10,280 –> 00:41:13,160
But they fell.
Why did they fall chapter 10?

709
00:41:13,160 –> 00:41:16,760
Well, because despite having all
these things laid out before

710
00:41:16,760 –> 00:41:18,960
them, despite being under the
cloud and eating the same

711
00:41:18,960 –> 00:41:22,200
spiritual meat and drinking the
same spiritual drink of the the

712
00:41:22,200 –> 00:41:24,560
rock that went with them, which
was Christ with many of them,

713
00:41:24,560 –> 00:41:27,440
Paul says God was not well
pleased because they put

714
00:41:27,440 –> 00:41:29,880
barriers in the way of their own
faith.

715
00:41:31,280 –> 00:41:37,120
And they knew because they were
told in every possible way

716
00:41:37,640 –> 00:41:39,680
through the law of Moses and
through the prophets and through

717
00:41:39,680 –> 00:41:44,800
through those he sent.
The idols were nothing, but they

718
00:41:44,800 –> 00:41:46,640
didn’t acknowledge their
influence and many were

719
00:41:46,640 –> 00:41:48,800
destroyed.
It’s the exact counterpart of

720
00:41:48,800 –> 00:41:51,880
what Paul is telling us about
himself in the previous chapter.

721
00:41:51,880 –> 00:41:56,680
And again, it just rounds off
our our look at the servant

722
00:41:56,680 –> 00:41:58,680
songs, doesn’t it?
The Israel who were free to

723
00:41:58,680 –> 00:42:03,400
serve God, but ended up serving
idols and giving themselves over

724
00:42:03,600 –> 00:42:06,840
to something else.
Paul is telling us that that one

725
00:42:06,840 –> 00:42:09,880
of the reasons we do what we do
is love for our weaker brothers

726
00:42:09,880 –> 00:42:12,280
and sisters.
And if I bring you all the way

727
00:42:12,280 –> 00:42:19,240
down to chapter 10 and verse 23,
all things he says are lawful

728
00:42:19,240 –> 00:42:22,240
for me, quoting them back at
themselves.

729
00:42:22,760 –> 00:42:24,400
But all things are not
expedient.

730
00:42:24,400 –> 00:42:27,200
All things are lawful for me,
but not all things build up.

731
00:42:27,760 –> 00:42:33,600
Let’s no man seek his own, but
every man another’s wealth.

732
00:42:33,640 –> 00:42:36,240
There are limits, Paul says in
how far you need to go.

733
00:42:36,240 –> 00:42:38,040
You don’t need to go and dig
through the bins to make sure

734
00:42:38,040 –> 00:42:40,360
that the food that you eat in
the kitchen is clean in a

735
00:42:40,360 –> 00:42:42,680
particular way.
But if you know it’s from the

736
00:42:42,680 –> 00:42:46,320
temple, verse 28, if any man
says to you, it’s offered in

737
00:42:46,320 –> 00:42:50,680
sacrifice, don’t eat it for his
sake that showed you and for

738
00:42:50,680 –> 00:42:52,520
conscience sake.
Why?

739
00:42:52,840 –> 00:42:56,760
Because of the Genesis creation
because end of verse 28.

740
00:42:57,120 –> 00:42:59,680
The earth is the Lord’s and the
fullness thereof.

741
00:43:00,520 –> 00:43:02,240
What is sorry, let me get that
right.

742
00:43:02,240 –> 00:43:06,480
What is Paul trying to to get
across As I, as I fire out these

743
00:43:06,480 –> 00:43:09,560
verses to a bunch of very tired
looking people?

744
00:43:10,280 –> 00:43:12,360
What is Paul trying to
communicate to us?

745
00:43:12,640 –> 00:43:16,160
He’s trying to say don’t do
anything that gives the

746
00:43:16,160 –> 00:43:18,560
impression you are soft on
idolatry.

747
00:43:19,680 –> 00:43:23,240
Don’t do anything that gives the
impression that you share in the

748
00:43:23,240 –> 00:43:27,600
cult of the city.
In his day and age, it’s me

749
00:43:27,600 –> 00:43:30,640
offered to idols.
In our day and age, it’s a whole

750
00:43:30,640 –> 00:43:36,000
bunch of other issues.
Rainbow flags, right?

751
00:43:37,240 –> 00:43:39,800
I, I, I know good friends who
will say we have no issue with

752
00:43:39,800 –> 00:43:42,320
our, our son or daughter going
to school carrying a bag with a

753
00:43:42,320 –> 00:43:46,120
rainbow on it because it’s God’s
symbol, because it’s a symbol

754
00:43:46,120 –> 00:43:49,080
of, of his power and his
creation and his judgement.

755
00:43:50,040 –> 00:43:55,800
And it’s just a little flag,
only I don’t think it is because

756
00:43:55,840 –> 00:43:58,880
it’s not just a little flag to
the organization that that now

757
00:43:59,080 –> 00:44:01,160
hang their hat on that
particular life.

758
00:44:01,600 –> 00:44:03,720
Just like Paul is saying in
these chapters, it’s not just

759
00:44:03,720 –> 00:44:05,960
me.
It’s a way of placating an angry

760
00:44:05,960 –> 00:44:10,400
deity.
And so if you you wear rainbow

761
00:44:10,400 –> 00:44:13,880
laces to fall to school or, or
to football or whatever it might

762
00:44:13,880 –> 00:44:17,160
be, you are absolutely 100%
correct that the rainbow is

763
00:44:17,160 –> 00:44:19,600
God’s symbol and he sent it to
prove his promises.

764
00:44:20,200 –> 00:44:22,680
Verse 26 again, the earth is the
Lord’s and the fullness thereof.

765
00:44:22,680 –> 00:44:26,960
It’s absolutely right that it’s
his, but you’re sending mixed

766
00:44:26,960 –> 00:44:30,120
signals, I think, because that
symbol has now been offered to

767
00:44:30,120 –> 00:44:35,400
idols, and the way that that
symbol lands in the 21st century

768
00:44:35,680 –> 00:44:39,280
is going to cause people to sin
against their conscience, which

769
00:44:39,280 –> 00:44:41,120
is what all of these chapters
are trying to get us to

770
00:44:41,120 –> 00:44:44,440
understand.
Or maybe your company says you

771
00:44:44,440 –> 00:44:46,600
need to put your preferred
pronouns in your e-mail

772
00:44:46,600 –> 00:44:51,480
signature and the same issue
comes up again because even

773
00:44:51,480 –> 00:44:54,840
gender has been offered to idols
now and we need to be careful

774
00:44:54,840 –> 00:44:57,440
not to appear as if we are
indulging in the cult of the

775
00:44:57,440 –> 00:44:59,200
city.
These are wisdom issues.

776
00:44:59,800 –> 00:45:05,760
Freedom is is about giving stuff
up and and maybe there needs to

777
00:45:05,760 –> 00:45:09,840
be a sharper break between
discipleship and a world that

778
00:45:09,840 –> 00:45:13,080
says my identity is anything
that I want it to be.

779
00:45:13,760 –> 00:45:16,560
Which of course, was what Paul
was saying in Galatians 5 when

780
00:45:16,560 –> 00:45:20,320
we were there yesterday.
Don’t submit again to a yoke of

781
00:45:20,320 –> 00:45:21,800
bondage.
Don’t go back to Egypt.

782
00:45:21,800 –> 00:45:25,280
Don’t go back to lockdown.
Don’t choose to voluntarily put

783
00:45:25,280 –> 00:45:30,720
yourself in these situations.
How do you consume culture?

784
00:45:30,720 –> 00:45:34,000
How do we consume culture?
Well, what’s the late?

785
00:45:34,000 –> 00:45:37,000
I mean, I gave some of these
studies last year and the latest

786
00:45:37,040 –> 00:45:39,280
culture crisis is not what it
was last year.

787
00:45:39,520 –> 00:45:41,080
But you know, what’s, what’s the
latest one?

788
00:45:41,080 –> 00:45:42,960
Is it AI?
Well, the media tells us that

789
00:45:42,960 –> 00:45:44,960
the biggest challenge of AI is
that machines are going to

790
00:45:44,960 –> 00:45:48,800
become like humans.
But I suspect that for a

791
00:45:48,800 –> 00:45:53,120
disciple, biggest challenge is
that humans start to look like

792
00:45:53,120 –> 00:45:56,200
machines.
It is fine.

793
00:45:56,360 –> 00:45:58,520
This might be a test to see if
anybody’s got one in their bag.

794
00:45:58,520 –> 00:46:01,720
It is fine to ask Alexa what the
weather’s like tomorrow, though

795
00:46:01,760 –> 00:46:03,520
I’d be tempted to say go and
open the curtains.

796
00:46:04,040 –> 00:46:07,920
It is maybe less wise to ask
Alexa how to deal with your

797
00:46:07,920 –> 00:46:13,000
depression, or how to fight your
marriage battles for you, or a

798
00:46:13,000 –> 00:46:14,800
whole bunch of other issues that
might come up.

799
00:46:16,320 –> 00:46:19,160
Not because it’s necessarily
going to give you the wrong

800
00:46:19,160 –> 00:46:23,000
answer, though it probably will,
but because when things go

801
00:46:23,000 –> 00:46:25,280
wrong, the next time you’ll just
ask the same box in the corner

802
00:46:25,280 –> 00:46:27,960
for the next answer.
And we haven’t gained anything

803
00:46:27,960 –> 00:46:30,880
and we haven’t learned anything.
And we are outsourcing our

804
00:46:30,880 –> 00:46:35,400
discipleship at our peril.
Paul is is trying to get us to

805
00:46:35,400 –> 00:46:37,840
realise that gospel freedom is
really important.

806
00:46:37,840 –> 00:46:40,440
It’s not a line that you roll
out when you’re trying to, to

807
00:46:40,440 –> 00:46:44,160
resist falling into line.
It’s not a line that you roll

808
00:46:44,160 –> 00:46:46,800
out when you’re trying to bind
somebody else’s conscience in a

809
00:46:46,800 –> 00:46:48,040
way that Scripture doesn’t allow
us.

810
00:46:48,040 –> 00:46:50,160
It’s why there is so few
shortcuts.

811
00:46:50,160 –> 00:46:53,120
It’s why it’s so difficult.
I, I gave you this quote right

812
00:46:53,120 –> 00:46:54,040
back at the beginning of the
week.

813
00:46:54,040 –> 00:46:57,360
This, this line that, that
everybody worships, that the

814
00:46:57,360 –> 00:47:00,040
only choice that we have is what
to worship.

815
00:47:00,960 –> 00:47:04,680
Well, David Foster Wallace went
on and, and he said something

816
00:47:04,680 –> 00:47:06,160
that I thought was really quite
powerful.

817
00:47:06,160 –> 00:47:09,000
The only insidious thing he says
about these forms of worship,

818
00:47:09,320 –> 00:47:11,080
it’s not that they’re evil or
sinful.

819
00:47:11,240 –> 00:47:15,960
It’s that they are unconscious.
They are default settings, the

820
00:47:15,960 –> 00:47:18,600
kind of worship that you just
gradually slip into day after

821
00:47:18,600 –> 00:47:21,640
day, getting more and more
selective about what you see and

822
00:47:21,640 –> 00:47:24,320
how you measure value without
ever being fully aware that

823
00:47:24,320 –> 00:47:27,960
that’s what you’re doing.
And the world will not

824
00:47:27,960 –> 00:47:30,520
discourage you from operating on
your default settings, because

825
00:47:30,520 –> 00:47:33,920
the world of men and money and
power hums along quite nicely on

826
00:47:33,920 –> 00:47:37,360
the fear of the fuel of fear and
contempt and frustration and

827
00:47:37,360 –> 00:47:40,520
craving and the worship of self.
That’s why freedom is difficult.

828
00:47:40,520 –> 00:47:43,720
I’m not holding him up as a, as
a, as a totem of gospel liberty

829
00:47:43,720 –> 00:47:46,880
and nothing like it, but it
captures the ideas that we’ve

830
00:47:46,880 –> 00:47:48,040
been trying to get to, doesn’t
it?

831
00:47:48,040 –> 00:47:51,400
Freedom is about living,
brothers and sisters, as if what

832
00:47:51,400 –> 00:47:53,760
the Lord said about his body is
true.

833
00:47:55,480 –> 00:47:58,720
I am the Lord your God who
brought you out of the House of

834
00:47:58,720 –> 00:48:01,520
bondage.
You will have no other gods

835
00:48:01,520 –> 00:48:05,120
before me.
Come very quickly to Romans

836
00:48:05,120 –> 00:48:17,190
chapter 8, please.
And in Romans chapter 8, you

837
00:48:17,190 –> 00:48:19,270
know where we are.
We are back where we started.

838
00:48:21,830 –> 00:48:24,990
Verse 19 In Romans 8, the
earnest expectation of creation

839
00:48:24,990 –> 00:48:27,630
waits for the manifestation of
the sons of God.

840
00:48:28,240 –> 00:48:30,560
For the creation was made
subject to vanity, not

841
00:48:30,560 –> 00:48:33,560
willingly, but by reason of Him
who’s subjected the same in

842
00:48:33,560 –> 00:48:38,120
hope, because the creation
itself also will be delivered

843
00:48:38,120 –> 00:48:43,160
from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the

844
00:48:43,160 –> 00:48:46,400
children of God.
It’s the very way of going full

845
00:48:46,400 –> 00:48:48,360
circle from the beginning of
Genesis, isn’t it?

846
00:48:48,960 –> 00:48:53,760
And it brings us our 10th and
final freedom principle, that

847
00:48:53,760 –> 00:48:58,200
creation itself is going to be
set free from bondage.

848
00:48:58,560 –> 00:49:01,480
It’s what Paul is telling us
later on in the chapter, that if

849
00:49:01,480 –> 00:49:04,640
God can be for us, who can be
against us?

850
00:49:04,880 –> 00:49:10,840
If God can justify if Christ
died, then no one can separate

851
00:49:10,840 –> 00:49:14,280
us from the love of Christ.
The love that was in Isaiah’s

852
00:49:14,280 –> 00:49:17,360
servant, the love that was shown
in the journey from bondage in

853
00:49:17,360 –> 00:49:20,600
the through the wilderness, the
love that was shown in the

854
00:49:20,600 –> 00:49:29,800
crucified Messiah.
I well, there’s the ten I I

855
00:49:29,800 –> 00:49:36,400
don’t think you know there will
be a monument to freedom in the

856
00:49:36,400 –> 00:49:39,160
Kingdom age, or at least not a
national one.

857
00:49:40,760 –> 00:49:42,360
I guess that’s what I’ve been
trying to say all the way

858
00:49:42,360 –> 00:49:45,600
through events do not come naked
into the world.

859
00:49:46,000 –> 00:49:48,880
When Benjamin Franklin made that
change to the Declaration of

860
00:49:48,880 –> 00:49:51,320
Independence, he was emblematic
of a world that was trusting

861
00:49:51,320 –> 00:49:54,160
itself.
And I don’t think there will be

862
00:49:54,160 –> 00:49:58,800
a a National Monument to freedom
in the Kingdom of God because it

863
00:49:58,800 –> 00:50:01,760
will be so much bigger and more
important than that.

864
00:50:02,200 –> 00:50:05,840
We will sing songs and hymns and
spiritual songs.

865
00:50:08,040 –> 00:50:11,400
The paradox of liberty is a is a
reminder to you and I that we

866
00:50:11,400 –> 00:50:14,000
can be certain in the deep roots
of our faith.

867
00:50:15,080 –> 00:50:17,200
You want to talk about social
justice?

868
00:50:18,320 –> 00:50:20,440
Amos talked about it 2700 years
ago.

869
00:50:21,280 –> 00:50:23,200
You want to talk about standing
up for your rights?

870
00:50:23,640 –> 00:50:25,640
Paul says.
I’ll show you whose rights

871
00:50:25,640 –> 00:50:28,240
matter most.
You want to talk about racial

872
00:50:28,240 –> 00:50:30,280
equality?
Read the promises to Abraham.

873
00:50:30,280 –> 00:50:33,120
They are full of it.
You want to talk about sexual

874
00:50:33,120 –> 00:50:35,880
temptation or managing your
money or dealing with grief or

875
00:50:35,880 –> 00:50:38,880
childlessness or declining
health or all the other issues

876
00:50:38,880 –> 00:50:40,920
I’ve mentioned already.
Your children not coming to

877
00:50:40,920 –> 00:50:44,160
faith and the heartbreak that
that brings.

878
00:50:44,280 –> 00:50:54,480
Scripture has this verse 38.
I am persuaded that neither

879
00:50:54,480 –> 00:50:59,400
death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor

880
00:50:59,400 –> 00:51:03,680
things present, nor things to
come, nor height, nor depth, nor

881
00:51:03,760 –> 00:51:07,640
anything else in all of
creation, shall separate us from

882
00:51:07,640 –> 00:51:11,000
the love of God which is in
Jesus Christ our Lord.

883
00:51:11,840 –> 00:51:15,240
There will come a day when the
trumpet will sound.

884
00:51:16,800 –> 00:51:20,440
There will come a day when the
sun will rise in the east.

885
00:51:21,760 –> 00:51:25,760
There will come a day when the
mantras of the secular age,

886
00:51:25,760 –> 00:51:28,680
whether it’s freedom or
happiness or power or authority,

887
00:51:29,720 –> 00:51:33,880
will will melt away in the light
of the glory of Christ.

888
00:51:33,880 –> 00:51:38,640
There will come a day when we
will fly away on the wings of

889
00:51:38,640 –> 00:51:42,480
dawn and be as young as the
morning and as old as the sea.

890
00:51:42,840 –> 00:51:48,200
There will come a day when the
kingdoms of this world become

891
00:51:48,200 –> 00:51:53,440
the kingdoms of our Lord and of
His Christ, and when the

892
00:51:53,440 –> 00:51:56,440
captives of all kinds will be
set free.

893
00:52:11,080 –> 00:52:13,160
Thank you for listening to the
good Chris Adelphian Talks

894
00:52:13,160 –> 00:52:15,760
podcast.
We hope this talk helped you in

895
00:52:15,760 –> 00:52:17,280
your walk and brightened your
day.

896
00:52:18,440 –> 00:52:20,520
If you would like to hear more,
please subscribe for new

897
00:52:20,520 –> 00:52:23,040
episodes.
We are on all major podcast

898
00:52:23,040 –> 00:52:27,120
platforms and also on YouTube.
If you enjoyed this particular

899
00:52:27,120 –> 00:52:29,600
talk, please share it with
someone else who you think might

900
00:52:29,600 –> 00:52:32,360
enjoy it too.
For show notes on the talk you

901
00:52:32,360 –> 00:52:36,480
just listened to, visit
[email protected]

902
00:52:36,720 –> 00:52:39,240
or check out the Show Notes
section of your podcast player.

903
00:52:40,520 –> 00:52:43,000
Please share your thoughts on
the talk from this week on our

904
00:52:43,000 –> 00:52:45,480
Facebook or Instagram pages
where we are at good

905
00:52:45,480 –> 00:52:49,000
Christadelphian talks, or leave
a comment on our YouTube channel

906
00:52:49,000 –> 00:52:50,560
where these talks are posted as
well.

907
00:52:50,920 –> 00:52:53,560
If you enjoy listening to the
talks that we post and hear one

908
00:52:53,560 –> 00:52:55,760
that you think we should share,
please tell us about it.

909
00:52:56,360 –> 00:52:59,360
You can send us a suggestion
using the Contact Us tab on our

910
00:52:59,360 –> 00:53:02,360
website or message us on any of
our social media accounts.

911
00:53:02,960 –> 00:53:05,880
Thank you for listening.
God bless and talk to you next

912
00:53:05,880 –> 00:53:06,080
week.