Martyn Lawrence – Paradox of Liberty – Class 6 – All Things are Lawful

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Well, our first speaker this
morning is Brother Martin

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Lawrence from the Cleckheaton UK
Ecclesia.

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The theme for Brother Martin’s
classes this week has been The

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Paradox of Liberty and today’s
class is entitled All Things are

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Lawful.
Martin, we added, you might

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remember last yesterday, I was
going to say that last night,

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yesterday, an extra principle,
didn’t we, that service is not a

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transaction, that it’s been done
in love.

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And we’re going to spend our
final session just digging

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through the New Testament to
open up one or two more of these

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freedom ideas.
We’ve been working our way all

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the way through from beginning
to end.

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And the point I’ve been trying
to bring out my brothers and

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sisters is this, that the the
wall between US and the society

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in which we live is not quite as
solid as we might think and not

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perhaps quite as solid as we
might like it to be.

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Discipleship is about willingly
giving things up.

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And sometimes we just need a
gentle reminder about how we

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might best do that.
I’m going to take you on the

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whistle stop tour of the Gospel
of Mark to begin with.

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Can you come with me to Mark
chapter 1?

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Going to go flying through four
or five passages just to tease

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out this point once again.
So Mark chapter 1, it’s the

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beginning of the Lord’s
ministry.

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Of course it comes verse 14,
preaching the Kingdom of God,

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saying the Kingdom of God is a
hand, repent and believe the

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gospel and Mark one and verse
16, as Jesus walked by the Sea

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of Galilee, he saw Simon and
Andrew his brother, casting a

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net into the sea, for they were
fishers.

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And Jesus said to them, come
after me and I will make you

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fishers of men.
And straight away there’s

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Mark’s, Mark’s word, isn’t it?
Straight away they forsook their

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Nets and they followed him.
So nothing surprising, nothing

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revolutionary.
Jesus is walking by the sea and

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he called Simon and Andrew to
leave something behind and then

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they carry on and Jameson of
Zebedee and John his brother are

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in the ship mending their Nets.
And straight away he called them

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and they left their father in
the ship with the hired servants

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and went on after him.
Simon and Andrew leave their

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Nets, their job.
James and John leave the boat

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behind and their employees and
their dad.

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Nothing much to talk about there
other than the fact that people

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are leaving things behind.
Just come over to chapter 2 and

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verse 14, Jesus is walking by
the seaside again and he sees

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Levi, son of Alpheus, chapter 2,
verse 14, sitting at the receipt

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of custom and says to him,
follow me.

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And Levi rose and followed him.
There’s a pattern emerging,

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isn’t there already, that we’re
seeing that fellowship with the

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Lord doesn’t?
Just happen by accident, doesn’t

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just happen by coincidence.
There is a plan of of teaching

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and preaching and healing, and
the Lord is going to

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purposefully recruit a group of
disciples from that.

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But it won’t be popular with
everybody.

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Just come on to chapter 3 and
verse 31.

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There came his brothers and his
mother standing outside, sending

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to him, calling him.
And the multitude said, Behold.

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Your mother and your brothers
are outside looking for you.

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And he answered and said, well,
who?

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Are who is my mother or my
brothers?

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And he looked at those around
him and said, behold, my

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mother’s and my and my mother
and my brothers.

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For whoever will do the will of
God, the same is my brother and

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my sister and my mother.
Now there’s a point to be made

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that he doesn’t mention father.
And we could talk about that.

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But you know, everybody’s
leaving something.

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People are leaving their jobs.
People are leaving their

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livelihoods, their employees,
their parents.

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Now the Lord is leaving his
family behind.

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There’s a little marker being
laid down here about the Lord’s

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own commitment to His, to His
ministry, to the service to

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which His Father has called Him.
Chapter 6 and verse 4, I suppose

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verse 2, just to make sure we
know where we are.

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The Sabbath has come and He’s
back in the synagogue again.

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And they say of him, is this not
the Carpenter, the son of Mary,

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the brother of James and Josephs
and Judas and Judas and Simon?

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And are His sisters not here?
And they were offended by Him,

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and He could do no mighty work.
There, verse five, save laying

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his hands on a few sick folk,
the Lord is giving up things.

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He is without honour amongst his
own family and in the area in

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which he grows up.
Discipleship is about giving

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things up.
Come to chapter 8 for the last

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of this series of references.
Verse 34.

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When he had called the people to
him with his disciples, he said,

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Whoever will come after me, let
him deny himself, take up his

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cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life

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will lose it.
Whoever shall lose his life for

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my sake and the Gospels, the
same shall save it.

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Jesus.
Assumes that people are going to

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give up things to follow him.
It’s it’s discipleship 101.

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He doesn’t hide it for us.
He’s always upfront about it.

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It’s not as if we can work our
way through 30 or 40 years of

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discipleship and then suddenly
go, I didn’t realize we had to

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do that.
Lord, this is upfront.

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This is happening to everybody.
You have to give up certain

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things that you might feel very
close to.

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You know, when your phone
updates and shuts down unless

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you do something useful to it.
So you have to do a software

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update and you click OK, and
then it says you need to accept

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the terms and conditions.
And you go OK.

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And then it says Are you sure?
And you go OK.

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And then it says there are 84
pages of terms and conditions.

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Do you want to read them first?
And you say no, but OK.

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And then finally your phone
starts to do something.

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This is not like that.
The Lord is making it clear all

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the way through the ministry
that discipleship is about

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leaving your, about turning your
back on something important.

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It’s about not being as free as
sometimes you think it is.

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Now, some of us have come here
this week having turned our

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backs on something extremely
dear to us.

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You might find that you have to
turn your back on your career.

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You might find that there are
members of your family who who

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will not accept your faith.
There may be other things that

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that lie deep on your shoulders
late at night when you are in

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prayer and you are wrestling
with the very idea of giving

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them up.
Freedom is really hard.

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And yet the Lord is making it
clear that we understand that

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this is the process that we go
through and and as and as all of

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those examples show, sometimes
things can be very personal for

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us.
So.

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I’m going to bring you, if I
can, brothers and sisters, to

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some examples that the Apostle
Paul lays.

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Down for us in terms of how we
give up things in our

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discipleship, things that we
wouldn’t necessarily expect in

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order to, whilst seemingly
making ourselves less free.

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Actually understanding what
liberty is all about.

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But I ask you.
To turn over to Paul’s first

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letter to the Corinthians, that
was really just a preamble.

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We can spend the rest of our
time in First Corinthians.

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I’m going to bring you to
chapter 6 to some words that you

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know very well, not just.
Because they were the title of

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the session.
But because Paul is trying to

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tease out a conundrum for the
Corinthian brothers and sisters,

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you remember, Paul writes. 4
letters to Corinth.

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We’ve only got 2 of them.
First one he writes we don’t

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have.
And the second one he writes,

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which is a response to some
things that they’ve said is what

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we call One Corinthians.
And because it’s a response to

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the things that that they’ve
written to him, we get a whole

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load of quotations from that
Corinthian letter in our One

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Corinthians.
And then he writes a third

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letter, a severe letter that we
don’t have.

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And then he writes a fourth one,
which is which is what you and I

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call Second Corinthians.
And here in chapter 6 and verse

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12 Paul is quoting.
Them back at themselves all.

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Things are lawful unto me.
If you’ve got a modern version

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that I think it puts it in
quotation marks, he’s he’s.

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Quoting themselves, quoting them
back at themselves.

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This is what they’ve said to
him.

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We think that all things are
lawful, but Paul says not

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everything’s profitable, not
everything is expedient, all

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things are lawful For me.
There’s the quotation again.

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But Paul says I will not be
brought under the power of any.

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This is the mentality of the
Roman free man.

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Because I am free in Roman
society, I can choose to do what

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I like.
And we’ll have a look in a

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second at some of the ways in
which that particular line could

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be indulged.
But Paul is trying to say

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freedom doesn’t work like that.
Freedom, he says, verse 14, is

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because of the cross.
God has both raised up the Lord

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and also will raise up us.
By his own power.

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Now it’s Saturday morning.
You are checked out in part of

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your rooms and mentally checked
out of the Bible school already.

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Your children haven’t slept for
about 96 hours.

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You’ve eaten more hamburgers
than you’ve got through in an

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entire year.
You’re thinking about what the

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freeway is going to look like,
and we’re going to do a Roman

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history lesson just for fun
because we are now friends.

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Slavery, wrote one writer, has
been virtually ubiquitous in

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human civilization.
But the Romans created one of

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the few genuine slave societies
in the Western experience,

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stretching across half a
Millennium, sprawling across a

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vast tractor space.
Roman slavery existed on a

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different order of magnitude. 5
centuries, 3 continents, 10s of

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millions of souls.
Roman slavery stands as the true

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ancient predecessor to the
systems of mass scale slavery in

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the New World.
So when we’re reading about

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what’s going on as a freeman in
First Corinthians 6, when you

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think about the circumstances
that your early brothers and

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sisters lived in and the things
that they had to give up for the

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Gospel, it sits in that context.
In a world where 1/3 of Rome was

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not free, where the notion of
liberty meant something that you

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and I really will struggle to
get our get our arms around.

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Think, for example, about Roman
law.

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I’m conscious that text is quite
small.

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It’s even small on my screen.
Sorry.

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Slaves didn’t have a vote, which
meant that you couldn’t change

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the system legally and if they
rebelled they would be executed.

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So you couldn’t change the
system illegally.

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Spartacus being the most sort of
high profile example of all of

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that.
There were no Social Security

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laws.
If you had a slave who got old

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or a slave who got sick, it was
the equivalent of your toast to

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having broken, and so you just
got rid of it and got a new

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slave.
Everything is utterly

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dehumanized.
You couldn’t emancipate your

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slaves.
In other words, you couldn’t set

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them free.
And even though there’s a series

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of laws that are brought in to
do that, there are limits put

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around that.
So you can only free a certain

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proportion of slaves in your
house in order to make sure that

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society still continued to
function.

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If you were freed, for example,
under the age of 30, you could

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never be a Roman citizen.
So there were a whole bunch of

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challenges that exist.
In Athens, if you were freed,

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you became a a free, not
citizen.

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But in Rome, even if you became
a citizen eventually, you would

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still never really be free.
Your master could still call on

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you.
There’s a famous letter that

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floats around that Cicero writes
to a former slave and he’s

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really just checking in and
says, I just wanted to see how

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you’re doing, making sure that
your health is OK.

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And by the way, if you don’t
reply, I’ll thrash you.

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In other words, even though
you’re free, you’re not really

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free.
That’s why Paul says in Romans

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chapter 8 that slavery is
associated with.

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Fear, because it really was.
There is a proposal.

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00:12:28,720 –> 00:12:31,840
That turns up in Rome in the 1st
century that slaves should wear

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00:12:31,840 –> 00:12:35,360
uniforms because in the street
you can’t tell who the slaves

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00:12:35,360 –> 00:12:37,240
are and who the free people are.
And it’s voted down by the

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00:12:37,240 –> 00:12:41,520
Senate because if you’ve got the
slaves in the street wearing

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00:12:41,520 –> 00:12:43,920
uniforms, they will realize how
many they are.

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00:12:45,880 –> 00:12:48,040
And so it gets turned down
because you don’t want to

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00:12:48,040 –> 00:12:50,960
ferment a rebellion.
Now, the gospel is not about

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00:12:50,960 –> 00:12:55,800
freeing slaves, just like it’s
not about healing everybody who

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00:12:55,800 –> 00:12:57,360
was sick.
You remember the Lord’s dilemma.

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00:12:57,360 –> 00:13:00,800
Do I stay here and heal, or do I
go on and preach?

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00:13:01,400 –> 00:13:04,600
The gospel is is about
explaining the condition that

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00:13:04,600 –> 00:13:08,960
people find themselves in, about
allowing people to understand

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00:13:08,960 –> 00:13:11,680
discipleship in their particular
circumstances.

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Because if you were a slave,
coming to Christ would feel like

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00:13:15,480 –> 00:13:18,600
freedom.
Ironically, if you were free,

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00:13:19,400 –> 00:13:24,560
coming to Christ might feel
decidedly restrictive, which is

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00:13:24,560 –> 00:13:27,120
what Paul is trying to help us
understand here in First

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00:13:27,120 –> 00:13:29,640
Corinthians.
Think about what he says to the

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00:13:29,640 –> 00:13:32,880
Romans or the Galatians or the
Colossians.

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00:13:33,120 –> 00:13:38,320
Think about what comes up in
Philemon where we have a real

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00:13:38,320 –> 00:13:42,160
life situation of a slave who
has gone free and Paul is saying

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00:13:42,160 –> 00:13:45,640
reconciliation between brothers
is actually ironically more

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00:13:45,640 –> 00:13:48,120
important than making sure that
slaves go free.

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00:13:48,120 –> 00:13:52,280
What the Gospel is doing is
deconstructing the Roman social

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00:13:52,280 –> 00:13:55,160
hierarchy without a revolution
because it will put brothers and

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00:13:55,160 –> 00:13:59,520
sisters lives in jeopardy.
And so Roman law is going to

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00:13:59,520 –> 00:14:03,280
bump up against the Gospel.
What about Roman families?

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00:14:03,840 –> 00:14:05,960
Well, of course, one of the
cruelties of slavery was that it

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00:14:06,520 –> 00:14:10,560
assaulted the family structure.
Slave marriages were not

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00:14:10,560 –> 00:14:13,840
recognized.
You could sell members of the

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00:14:13,840 –> 00:14:18,440
slaves family or the slave, but
not the family, just on a whim.

248
00:14:19,160 –> 00:14:21,520
If you had your friends round
for the evening and they took a

249
00:14:21,880 –> 00:14:25,120
fancy to the slave girl who’d
been dancing, you would package

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00:14:25,120 –> 00:14:27,200
her up and send her off,
regardless of whether she had

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00:14:27,200 –> 00:14:30,160
children in your house.
Slaves are systematically

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00:14:30,160 –> 00:14:34,240
dehumanized.
And so when the gospel comes

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00:14:34,240 –> 00:14:40,280
along, not only does it liberate
the marginalized, not only does

254
00:14:40,280 –> 00:14:42,240
it blow a hole in everything
that people are used to, but it

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00:14:42,240 –> 00:14:45,680
moves family structure to a more
central position.

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00:14:45,680 –> 00:14:49,560
And the number of conversations
I’ve had about the value of

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00:14:49,560 –> 00:14:51,920
families at this Bible school
should make us understand how

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00:14:51,920 –> 00:14:56,600
important that is.
The entire structure is being

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00:14:56,600 –> 00:14:59,480
turned entirely on its head.
Think about some of the things

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00:14:59,480 –> 00:15:02,560
that the New Testament asks
brothers and sisters to do.

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00:15:03,200 –> 00:15:07,920
Sitting with your slave, having
a meal with your slave, breaking

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00:15:07,920 –> 00:15:10,320
bread and sharing wine with your
slave.

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00:15:12,040 –> 00:15:15,000
When Paul writes, greet one
another with a holy kiss, he

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00:15:15,000 –> 00:15:16,520
might as well have asked them to
go to the moon.

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00:15:17,600 –> 00:15:20,400
It was completely different from
what they were expected.

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00:15:22,480 –> 00:15:23,840
Paul says in Philemon, doesn’t
he?

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00:15:23,840 –> 00:15:26,760
You are no longer a bondservant,
but more than a bondservant, A

268
00:15:27,040 –> 00:15:30,960
beloved brother.
Your entire social status has

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00:15:30,960 –> 00:15:35,800
been moved to another position,
even though the idea of greeting

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00:15:35,800 –> 00:15:40,800
your slave with a holy kiss was
utterly, utterly revolutionary.

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00:15:42,080 –> 00:15:45,120
So Roman law didn’t work in your
favor until the gospel comes

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00:15:45,120 –> 00:15:47,720
along.
Family life didn’t work in your

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00:15:47,720 –> 00:15:49,880
favor until the gospel came
along.

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00:15:51,040 –> 00:15:53,520
And here’s the humdinger for
Saturday morning, when you’re

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00:15:53,520 –> 00:15:57,720
still a bit sleepy.
The very structure of Roman

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00:15:57,840 –> 00:16:00,080
private life.
It wasn’t very private.

277
00:16:00,760 –> 00:16:02,760
It meant that everything became
difficult.

278
00:16:02,760 –> 00:16:06,440
Roman women of status were
expected to marry shortly after

279
00:16:06,440 –> 00:16:08,560
puberty.
Men wouldn’t marry free men

280
00:16:08,560 –> 00:16:11,360
wouldn’t marry until what?
What the Romans called middle

281
00:16:11,360 –> 00:16:12,960
age.
OK, I’m not looking at anybody

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00:16:12,960 –> 00:16:15,880
in particular, but but late 20s,
early 30s was in the Roman

283
00:16:15,880 –> 00:16:17,920
Empire called middle age.
So I think I’m still in middle

284
00:16:17,920 –> 00:16:18,560
age.
But there we are.

285
00:16:19,760 –> 00:16:23,200
If you married or sorry if you,
if you, if you violated somebody

286
00:16:23,200 –> 00:16:25,240
who was married, there were
penalties.

287
00:16:25,480 –> 00:16:27,400
But of course you had the
liberality.

288
00:16:27,400 –> 00:16:31,000
You had the freedom to do pretty
much whatever you wanted with

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00:16:31,000 –> 00:16:34,280
anybody else.
You and I understand the

290
00:16:34,280 –> 00:16:36,440
expression a double standard on
morality.

291
00:16:37,240 –> 00:16:39,120
It means people are not being
treated equally.

292
00:16:39,120 –> 00:16:43,960
It means there is an imbalance
of power and some groups get to

293
00:16:43,960 –> 00:16:45,480
indulge themselves and others
don’t.

294
00:16:45,480 –> 00:16:48,000
Rome did not have a double
standard on morality.

295
00:16:48,800 –> 00:16:52,920
It had a quadruple standard on
morality because you had male

296
00:16:52,920 –> 00:16:56,600
and female, you had slave and
free, you had high status and

297
00:16:56,600 –> 00:16:59,360
low status and you had
concubines.

298
00:16:59,640 –> 00:17:01,520
Wasn’t hypocrisy.
It was just different rules

299
00:17:01,960 –> 00:17:03,920
based on where you stood in the
social order.

300
00:17:05,079 –> 00:17:08,000
And then the gospel is here and
it doesn’t wipe it all away in

301
00:17:08,000 –> 00:17:10,119
one moment because it can’t.
It’s not possible to do that.

302
00:17:10,119 –> 00:17:13,079
But it radically changes the
expectation that different

303
00:17:13,079 –> 00:17:17,000
classes of people get to follow
different rules with based on

304
00:17:17,000 –> 00:17:20,400
whether or not they’re free.
And in the Roman world, it

305
00:17:20,400 –> 00:17:21,920
wasn’t based on on right or
wrong.

306
00:17:21,920 –> 00:17:25,000
It was based on social shame.
So a married man, a married

307
00:17:25,000 –> 00:17:28,720
Roman free man could choose to
do what he wanted with somebody

308
00:17:28,720 –> 00:17:32,880
in a lower social class, which
is pretty unpleasant and not

309
00:17:32,880 –> 00:17:35,000
necessarily something that we
want to spend too much time

310
00:17:35,000 –> 00:17:36,720
thinking about.
But Paul is writing, if you’ve

311
00:17:36,720 –> 00:17:39,960
got the chapter open still, he’s
homing right in on this in

312
00:17:39,960 –> 00:17:42,200
chapter 6, verse 13.
Now the body is not for

313
00:17:42,200 –> 00:17:45,120
fornication, but for the Lord
and the Lord for the body.

314
00:17:45,120 –> 00:17:48,760
And he’s striking at the very
heart of the Roman free man’s

315
00:17:48,760 –> 00:17:53,560
attitude that says all things
are lawful, that I can choose to

316
00:17:53,560 –> 00:17:57,320
indulge myself in any way that I
want because the premise of, of,

317
00:17:57,360 –> 00:18:00,320
of Roman Pagan culture is
self-control.

318
00:18:00,480 –> 00:18:03,960
Limiting myself is utterly
impossible and freedom is

319
00:18:03,960 –> 00:18:07,320
everything.
And Paul says, hang on a minute,

320
00:18:07,760 –> 00:18:10,200
that’s not how it works.
Even though it worked in the

321
00:18:10,200 –> 00:18:13,840
Athenian empire as well.
That’s not how the gospel works.

322
00:18:14,400 –> 00:18:17,800
self-control is not possible.
Yes, it is, says Paul.

323
00:18:19,320 –> 00:18:23,760
Does that sound familiar?
It’s never, never wise to draw

324
00:18:23,760 –> 00:18:28,000
too many comparisons between a
point in time and our day and

325
00:18:28,000 –> 00:18:30,760
age.
That sounds remarkably familiar

326
00:18:30,760 –> 00:18:32,040
to some of the things that we’re
seeing.

327
00:18:33,200 –> 00:18:35,240
I asked you the other day
whether anybody had read

328
00:18:35,800 –> 00:18:37,480
Chronicles of Narnia, and you
were very shy.

329
00:18:37,480 –> 00:18:39,520
All the teens have, by the way.
So just admit that.

330
00:18:39,840 –> 00:18:41,520
Anybody read Augustine’s
Confessions?

331
00:18:43,120 –> 00:18:46,040
That’s the right answer.
By the way, Augustine tells us

332
00:18:46,040 –> 00:18:49,400
he was in a relationship with a
concubine, and then he sends her

333
00:18:49,400 –> 00:18:52,760
away when he gets engaged around
about the age of 30.

334
00:18:52,760 –> 00:18:55,000
But the problem is his
engagement is quite a long one.

335
00:18:55,560 –> 00:18:57,160
And he doesn’t get married for a
long time.

336
00:18:57,160 –> 00:18:59,720
And, well, you know, he’s a
Roman Free man, and he wants to

337
00:18:59,720 –> 00:19:01,320
indulge himself.
So he writes.

338
00:19:01,680 –> 00:19:05,440
And I went and got me another
one because that’s what you do.

339
00:19:05,800 –> 00:19:07,520
That’s the expectation on this
man.

340
00:19:07,520 –> 00:19:10,160
It’s a world where people
without protection, people

341
00:19:10,160 –> 00:19:13,000
without social honor are utterly
exploited.

342
00:19:14,160 –> 00:19:15,840
And it makes us feel a bit
uncomfortable.

343
00:19:17,240 –> 00:19:20,240
You’ve seen this slide before in
another context, but suddenly

344
00:19:20,240 –> 00:19:25,280
the gospel comes along and
changes absolutely everything.

345
00:19:26,360 –> 00:19:30,800
First, Paul will approach in
Romans chapter 1, the issue of

346
00:19:30,800 –> 00:19:34,400
gender.
And he will say, if the ACT is

347
00:19:34,600 –> 00:19:37,480
same gender to same gender, then
it is wrong.

348
00:19:37,560 –> 00:19:40,240
It’s so facto.
It is wrong not because God

349
00:19:40,240 –> 00:19:42,240
likes to randomly draw lines in
the sand and.

350
00:19:42,240 –> 00:19:45,160
Tell you not to cross them, but
because of the Genesis creation.

351
00:19:46,800 –> 00:19:49,640
And then in First Corinthians 6
and seven, he will focus on

352
00:19:49,640 –> 00:19:53,480
partners and he will say, if the
ACT is with anyone other than

353
00:19:53,480 –> 00:19:57,480
your spouse, then it’s wrong.
Not because God is drawing lines

354
00:19:57,480 –> 00:20:00,440
randomly in the sand, but
because of the Genesis creation.

355
00:20:01,240 –> 00:20:04,320
And he’s taking care of gender
and he’s taking care of partner.

356
00:20:04,720 –> 00:20:08,320
And suddenly the boundaries of
what Roman sexual propriety

357
00:20:08,320 –> 00:20:10,920
could be have shrunk
dramatically.

358
00:20:12,600 –> 00:20:15,640
Chapter 6, Verse 15 Know ye not
that your bodies are the members

359
00:20:15,640 –> 00:20:18,400
of Christ?
Shall I then take the members of

360
00:20:18,400 –> 00:20:20,360
Christ to make them the members
of a prostitute?

361
00:20:20,360 –> 00:20:22,720
God forbid.
Don’t you know that he who is

362
00:20:22,720 –> 00:20:25,720
joined to a prostitute shall be
1 body for two says he shall be

363
00:20:25,720 –> 00:20:27,760
1 flesh.
There’s the Genesis creation,

364
00:20:29,320 –> 00:20:33,000
but he that is joined to the
Lord is 1 Spirit.

365
00:20:33,720 –> 00:20:37,080
The fundamental premise of the
gospel is to change the colour

366
00:20:37,080 –> 00:20:41,520
of the sky.
The gospel is going to reach

367
00:20:41,520 –> 00:20:42,720
out.
The Lord is going to reach out

368
00:20:42,720 –> 00:20:45,920
to the marginalized.
To the sexual sinners, to the

369
00:20:45,960 –> 00:20:49,840
unloved, he’s going to cut
across social assumptions in the

370
00:20:49,840 –> 00:20:54,640
early Eclesias and obviously in
wider society that are built on

371
00:20:54,640 –> 00:20:56,720
hierarchy and are built on
status.

372
00:20:56,720 –> 00:21:01,440
And he’s going to home in on
morality and and make the point,

373
00:21:01,840 –> 00:21:06,720
the unavoidable point that
everybody counts because

374
00:21:06,720 –> 00:21:08,400
everybody’s made in the image of
God.

375
00:21:09,000 –> 00:21:12,800
Freedom starts with God as
creator, with those those broad

376
00:21:12,800 –> 00:21:15,560
liberal opportunities that he
gives Adam and Eve with

377
00:21:15,560 –> 00:21:20,960
guardrails and says everybody
has agency because everybody is

378
00:21:20,960 –> 00:21:23,120
made in God’s image.
It’s true whether you are the

379
00:21:23,120 –> 00:21:25,160
emperor with all the power in
the world.

380
00:21:25,320 –> 00:21:27,880
It’s true whether you are a
craftmaker slave girl.

381
00:21:28,040 –> 00:21:30,440
It’s true whether you are an
illegitimate son of a metal

382
00:21:30,440 –> 00:21:32,120
worker.
You matter.

383
00:21:32,120 –> 00:21:36,840
You count in a way that you
could never have expected before

384
00:21:37,040 –> 00:21:42,440
because of a man who said, take
my yoke upon you because my

385
00:21:42,440 –> 00:21:45,240
burden is light.
This is not a man, as we said

386
00:21:45,240 –> 00:21:48,160
earlier on in the week, for whom
domination matters.

387
00:21:49,080 –> 00:21:52,480
Everybody has agency.
Everybody now can be free.

388
00:21:54,560 –> 00:21:57,560
But those two issues throw out
some challenges because if you

389
00:21:57,560 –> 00:22:01,120
exalt the marginalized and if
you narrow the boundaries of

390
00:22:01,120 –> 00:22:05,200
sexual activity, it raises one
of two tricky issues.

391
00:22:05,200 –> 00:22:10,320
It raises the issue of rights
because, you know, it’s not just

392
00:22:10,320 –> 00:22:13,400
limited to our world.
And it raises the issues of

393
00:22:13,400 –> 00:22:16,120
freedom of activity.
Does a person have to consent or

394
00:22:16,120 –> 00:22:20,400
not to certain acts?
That’s pretty contemporary.

395
00:22:20,920 –> 00:22:23,720
Does a person have the right or
not to certain freedoms?

396
00:22:24,800 –> 00:22:27,000
And the Lord comes along, and
Paul is writing this letter in

397
00:22:27,000 –> 00:22:30,200
part to say that our moral
actions are fundamental to who

398
00:22:30,200 –> 00:22:35,320
we are.
Not that love is love, but that

399
00:22:35,320 –> 00:22:39,040
God is love.
And so the gospel begins to

400
00:22:39,040 –> 00:22:40,040
enhance.
It doesn’t begin.

401
00:22:40,040 –> 00:22:43,960
It does enhance the social
status and the indignity, the

402
00:22:43,960 –> 00:22:48,000
dignity of those who are unfree.
And ecclesias have to start

403
00:22:48,000 –> 00:22:52,520
confronting the issue of people
who are not normally even given

404
00:22:52,520 –> 00:22:58,520
the time of day, but now are to
be elevated to to the level of

405
00:22:58,520 –> 00:23:00,960
everybody else.
Freedom means, Paul says, that a

406
00:23:00,960 –> 00:23:04,080
powerful male can control his
desires.

407
00:23:05,600 –> 00:23:10,360
He has to make himself unfree.
Freedom means that somebody who

408
00:23:10,360 –> 00:23:14,640
is subservient in the eyes of
1st century society, a slave

409
00:23:14,640 –> 00:23:18,120
woman or a child almost.
Certainly also has freedom,

410
00:23:18,600 –> 00:23:20,320
which means they have agency to
resist.

411
00:23:21,120 –> 00:23:23,120
They are more free than they’ve
ever been before.

412
00:23:24,520 –> 00:23:27,440
Verse 18 Flee fornication.
Every sin that a man does is

413
00:23:27,440 –> 00:23:30,840
without the body, but he that
commits fornication sins against

414
00:23:30,840 –> 00:23:34,000
his own body.
Don’t you know that your body is

415
00:23:34,000 –> 00:23:37,040
the temple of the Holy Spirit,
which is in you, which you have

416
00:23:37,040 –> 00:23:40,000
of God, and you are not your
own, for you are bought with a

417
00:23:40,000 –> 00:23:43,280
price.
Therefore, glorify God in your

418
00:23:43,280 –> 00:23:45,960
body and your spirit, which are
gods.

419
00:23:46,640 –> 00:23:49,720
And Paul says you, you are
bought with a price.

420
00:23:50,040 –> 00:23:53,240
He’s including the free man who
never considered himself to be a

421
00:23:53,240 –> 00:23:57,120
slave.
Would have been, would have been

422
00:23:57,120 –> 00:24:00,200
amazed if you accused him of
anything other than being as

423
00:24:00,200 –> 00:24:03,800
free as he wanted.
But a man who suddenly has to

424
00:24:03,800 –> 00:24:08,080
manage his desire towards his
actual slave, What a world that

425
00:24:08,080 –> 00:24:11,000
the gospel comes into.
What a change that this thing,

426
00:24:11,520 –> 00:24:15,560
this thing brings about.
Freedom, I guess I’m trying to

427
00:24:15,560 –> 00:24:19,280
say, cuts both ways in terms of
the way we restrict ourselves.

428
00:24:19,760 –> 00:24:22,680
Again, it’s not freedom in a
1960 sense.

429
00:24:23,360 –> 00:24:27,080
It’s a freedom because I am
willingly free, because I of

430
00:24:27,080 –> 00:24:32,120
what I saw as a necessity, I am
choosing to be free.

431
00:24:32,960 –> 00:24:37,840
I am choosing to show grace to
those who would normally not get

432
00:24:37,840 –> 00:24:45,240
noticed, not not for me, but to
those for whom the Lord dies.

433
00:24:45,800 –> 00:24:47,760
And I don’t know about you, and
maybe I just see it around me,

434
00:24:47,760 –> 00:24:50,600
but but I think we fall into
this sneaky kind of dualism

435
00:24:50,600 –> 00:24:53,400
sometimes where we say, you
know, just just one more time

436
00:24:53,400 –> 00:24:56,000
and I’ll stop.
Whatever it is, whatever sin you

437
00:24:56,000 –> 00:24:58,760
carry with you that you know
about most of all, we just say,

438
00:24:58,760 –> 00:25:00,160
well, one more Time Lord, and
I’ll stop.

439
00:25:00,160 –> 00:25:03,240
It won’t happen more than once,
Lord, as if we can somehow leave

440
00:25:03,240 –> 00:25:05,440
our physical bodies at the scene
of the crime and move on with

441
00:25:05,440 –> 00:25:09,400
our lives.
And the attitude of 2025 just

442
00:25:09,400 –> 00:25:11,080
seeps into the way in which we
live.

443
00:25:11,080 –> 00:25:15,440
And, and there is a temptation
sometimes to see the, the, the,

444
00:25:15,520 –> 00:25:21,480
the sexual holiness to which the
gospel calls us as some sort of

445
00:25:21,480 –> 00:25:25,680
outdated toxic culture.
And, and I beg and implore you

446
00:25:25,680 –> 00:25:29,280
brothers and sisters to not see
it as that, to see it as the

447
00:25:29,280 –> 00:25:34,200
elevated, inspired and holy word
of God and not to make it start

448
00:25:34,200 –> 00:25:38,960
sounding oppressive and limiting
and unfree.

449
00:25:39,800 –> 00:25:41,720
Because at that point we go
right the way back to the Garden

450
00:25:41,720 –> 00:25:43,160
of Eden.
We go all the way full circle to

451
00:25:43,160 –> 00:25:45,160
Adam and Eve saying I want more
freedom, Lord, please.

452
00:25:45,360 –> 00:25:49,560
I don’t like your boundaries.
Lord, let’s be more confident in

453
00:25:49,560 –> 00:25:52,520
what scripture is telling us
about these issues.

454
00:25:55,720 –> 00:25:58,520
CS Lewis wrote.
I apologize for yet another non

455
00:25:58,520 –> 00:26:01,680
Christadelphian author, but this
one, this one touches me.

456
00:26:01,960 –> 00:26:04,120
One of the great difficulties he
wrote back at the end of World

457
00:26:04,120 –> 00:26:06,640
War 2 is to keep before an
audience’s mind the question of

458
00:26:06,640 –> 00:26:08,400
truth.
They always think you are

459
00:26:08,400 –> 00:26:11,360
recommending Christianity, not
because it is true, but because

460
00:26:11,360 –> 00:26:14,760
it is comforting and useful.
You have to keep forcing them

461
00:26:14,760 –> 00:26:17,680
back and again, back to the real
point.

462
00:26:18,200 –> 00:26:22,000
Only then will you be able to
undermine their belief that a

463
00:26:22,000 –> 00:26:24,240
certain amount of religion is
desirable.

464
00:26:24,240 –> 00:26:25,760
But one mustn’t carry it too
far.

465
00:26:26,800 –> 00:26:30,520
One must keep on pointing out
that Christianity is a statement

466
00:26:30,520 –> 00:26:37,360
which, if false, is of no
importance, and if true, of

467
00:26:37,400 –> 00:26:41,200
infinite importance.
The one thing it cannot be is

468
00:26:41,200 –> 00:26:46,240
moderately important.
Of course the gospel is useful.

469
00:26:47,400 –> 00:26:49,160
Praise God, the gospel is
useful.

470
00:26:49,160 –> 00:26:52,720
It can help you with any issue
you might ever face.

471
00:26:53,160 –> 00:26:54,680
It can help you with sexual
temptation.

472
00:26:54,680 –> 00:26:57,520
It can help you manage your
money or deal with grief or

473
00:26:57,880 –> 00:27:02,400
understand childlessness or or
rationalize your declining

474
00:27:02,400 –> 00:27:06,120
health or your dislike of your
body or whatever issues that we

475
00:27:06,120 –> 00:27:08,240
might come to face.
Of course it’s, of course it’s

476
00:27:08,240 –> 00:27:12,160
useful.
It’s not true because it’s

477
00:27:12,160 –> 00:27:15,720
useful.
It’s useful because it’s true.

478
00:27:17,440 –> 00:27:19,240
That’s the point that he was
trying to make as well.

479
00:27:19,520 –> 00:27:21,680
Once we start talking about
these issues, severed from the

480
00:27:21,680 –> 00:27:23,360
gospel, we’re just shouting at
the stars.

481
00:27:25,400 –> 00:27:27,880
You and I, brothers and sisters,
live in a world that has sawn

482
00:27:27,880 –> 00:27:31,800
off the branch that it’s sitting
on and wondering why the ground

483
00:27:31,800 –> 00:27:35,600
is getting closer.
It’s completely ridiculous.

484
00:27:36,080 –> 00:27:39,320
And it’s fascinating that the
most explicitly gospel value of,

485
00:27:39,720 –> 00:27:44,120
of love is now used as a banner
to object to Christianity, to,

486
00:27:44,440 –> 00:27:47,880
to object to the true gospel.
You know, people who objected to

487
00:27:47,880 –> 00:27:50,280
the gospel of the Roman world
objected because it promoted a

488
00:27:50,280 –> 00:27:53,080
lifestyle that wasn’t manly and
virile enough.

489
00:27:53,080 –> 00:27:54,920
And it, we’ve touched some of
those issues already.

490
00:27:55,240 –> 00:27:58,600
It was so the line said it was
for fools and women and slaves

491
00:27:58,600 –> 00:28:00,720
and, and they flocked to it in
their droves.

492
00:28:01,880 –> 00:28:05,000
Well, now it’s the opposite.
Now it’s attacked for being

493
00:28:05,000 –> 00:28:09,080
hostile to fools and women and
slaves because love is love and

494
00:28:09,080 –> 00:28:13,880
Love Is All you need, right?
Our 21st century sexual ethics

495
00:28:14,360 –> 00:28:16,160
are reduced to a single
prohibition.

496
00:28:16,760 –> 00:28:19,080
Thou shalt not suppress any
desire.

497
00:28:20,360 –> 00:28:22,120
And the gospel says it doesn’t
work like that.

498
00:28:22,240 –> 00:28:24,400
You need to turn the world on
its head.

499
00:28:25,720 –> 00:28:29,400
And he will begin to go on in
the letter to dig into some more

500
00:28:29,400 –> 00:28:33,160
of these freedom issues.
Paul’s letter to the to the

501
00:28:33,160 –> 00:28:35,880
Corinthians or the 1st letter to
the Corinthians begins to open

502
00:28:35,880 –> 00:28:38,640
up all manner of freedom issues.
We will not cover them all, of

503
00:28:38,640 –> 00:28:41,160
course.
So he’s talking about all things

504
00:28:41,160 –> 00:28:43,920
being lawful.
As we’ve explained, Chapter 7 is

505
00:28:43,920 –> 00:28:47,720
going to focus in on the issues
of self-control, self-control in

506
00:28:47,720 –> 00:28:51,960
particular within a marriage
situation, and says within that,

507
00:28:51,960 –> 00:28:54,760
that that if a slave is
baptized, there is no stigma to

508
00:28:54,760 –> 00:28:58,880
being a slave.
It’s OK in society’s eyes to be

509
00:28:58,880 –> 00:29:02,480
unfree because in the gospel’s
eyes you are much more free.

510
00:29:04,280 –> 00:29:06,760
You can even be free, he says,
from anxiety.

511
00:29:07,240 –> 00:29:09,320
You can be liberated from a
whole series of things.

512
00:29:09,320 –> 00:29:11,960
In fact, in Chapter 7, Paul
takes a very exaltive view of

513
00:29:11,960 –> 00:29:16,760
singleness, which which I think
is something that we ought to

514
00:29:16,760 –> 00:29:21,200
make sure we talk about more.
We often either consciously or

515
00:29:21,200 –> 00:29:23,840
unconsciously talk about
singleness as a transit point on

516
00:29:23,840 –> 00:29:28,000
the way to marriage, and I don’t
think Paul does that.

517
00:29:28,000 –> 00:29:30,240
He says singleness is an exalted
state.

518
00:29:31,040 –> 00:29:33,560
I suspect if he was sat down
there, he would say 50% of us

519
00:29:33,560 –> 00:29:36,600
who are married are going to be
single again in the future.

520
00:29:37,480 –> 00:29:42,040
So being a disciple and not
being married, it’s not just OK,

521
00:29:42,760 –> 00:29:46,640
it’s an honorable state to be in
and you can work out your

522
00:29:46,640 –> 00:29:49,400
freedom in those worlds as well.
He will go on in Chapter 9 to

523
00:29:49,400 –> 00:29:52,280
talk about though he is free,
he’s made a servant of all.

524
00:29:52,280 –> 00:29:55,200
He’s disciplined his body and
limited himself and kept it

525
00:29:55,200 –> 00:29:57,360
under control.
He’s going to talk in chapter 10

526
00:29:57,360 –> 00:30:00,080
about not seeking his own good,
but those of his neighbor.

527
00:30:00,080 –> 00:30:02,360
In other words, voluntary
submission and giving himself

528
00:30:02,400 –> 00:30:04,120
up.
He’ll talk about chapter in

529
00:30:04,120 –> 00:30:08,840
Chapter 11 about symbols of
voluntary subjection, voluntary

530
00:30:08,840 –> 00:30:11,480
submission.
He’ll talk a little bit further

531
00:30:11,480 –> 00:30:13,640
down in Chapter 11 about what
happens when the ecclesia

532
00:30:13,640 –> 00:30:18,960
gathers, when if you’ve got a
meal and somebody else doesn’t,

533
00:30:18,960 –> 00:30:22,320
you don’t just plow in and fill
your plate, but that you

534
00:30:22,320 –> 00:30:25,680
recognize that you might need to
restrict yourself because others

535
00:30:25,680 –> 00:30:28,160
don’t have what you have.
And then of course, right the

536
00:30:28,160 –> 00:30:31,280
way down in chapter 16 and in
the second letter as well, he’ll

537
00:30:31,280 –> 00:30:34,920
talk about the collections for
the Saints and echo the Exodus

538
00:30:34,920 –> 00:30:38,360
metaphor and say when you make
your collection, you are to

539
00:30:38,360 –> 00:30:40,520
freely give.
It’s a free will offering just

540
00:30:40,520 –> 00:30:43,440
like it was when they came out
of Egypt, just like it was when

541
00:30:43,440 –> 00:30:46,320
God gave the manner to them in
the wilderness and they could go

542
00:30:46,320 –> 00:30:48,720
out and collect what they chose
to collect.

543
00:30:50,200 –> 00:30:52,840
All of these things that are
going on are telling us that

544
00:30:52,840 –> 00:30:56,680
Scripture is not giving carte
blanche to to any one person.

545
00:30:57,160 –> 00:30:59,680
It’s teaching us to restrict
ourselves for the benefit of

546
00:30:59,680 –> 00:31:02,920
other people.
Slaves are not set free, but

547
00:31:02,920 –> 00:31:05,000
masters are told to moderate
their behaviour.

548
00:31:05,440 –> 00:31:08,120
Wives are not given authority,
but husbands are told to love

549
00:31:08,120 –> 00:31:11,240
their wives.
Sisters are not given freedom to

550
00:31:11,240 –> 00:31:14,960
do all that we now say they can,
but men are told to stand up and

551
00:31:14,960 –> 00:31:17,080
take a lead.
Those who are married are

552
00:31:17,080 –> 00:31:19,960
encouraged not to divorce.
I’m trying to get my words

553
00:31:19,960 –> 00:31:22,600
carefully here.
It’s about freedom to restrain,

554
00:31:22,840 –> 00:31:27,120
not freedom to dominate in every
possible shape and shade of

555
00:31:27,120 –> 00:31:30,680
life.
Hence Mary’s song.

556
00:31:31,560 –> 00:31:34,680
He’s brought down the mighty and
he’s raised up the humble.

557
00:31:37,560 –> 00:31:39,760
So I’ve scandalized you by
talking about Roman sexual

558
00:31:39,760 –> 00:31:41,200
ethics.
Let’s talk about human rights.

559
00:31:41,200 –> 00:31:51,300
Just to round things off.
Come on to Chapter 8. 1st

560
00:31:51,300 –> 00:31:54,380
Corinthians 8 and verse one.
Now as touching things off for

561
00:31:54,380 –> 00:31:57,500
two idols, we know that and
here’s a quote of them back to

562
00:31:57,500 –> 00:31:59,020
them.
We all have knowledge.

563
00:32:00,100 –> 00:32:04,260
Knowledge Paul says, puffs up,
but love builds up.

564
00:32:05,060 –> 00:32:07,740
And if any man think that he
knows anything, he knows nothing

565
00:32:07,740 –> 00:32:11,580
as yet as he ought to know.
But if any man love God, the

566
00:32:11,580 –> 00:32:15,240
same is known of Him as
concerning, therefore the eating

567
00:32:15,240 –> 00:32:17,120
of those things offered in
sacrifice to idols.

568
00:32:17,120 –> 00:32:21,880
We know that an idol is nothing
in the world, and there is no

569
00:32:21,880 –> 00:32:24,480
other God but one.
And He will go on to talk in

570
00:32:24,480 –> 00:32:27,680
this chapter about the challenge
of food being offered to idols.

571
00:32:28,200 –> 00:32:30,600
We sometimes put this side by
side, don’t we with what’s going

572
00:32:30,600 –> 00:32:34,960
on in Romans chapter 14.
Just want to keep this tight

573
00:32:34,960 –> 00:32:37,240
just because that clock is about
to consume me.

574
00:32:38,080 –> 00:32:41,480
You remember back in Romans 14,
Paul sets up a a comparison

575
00:32:41,480 –> 00:32:45,560
between the strong and the weak.
And the focus there is the

576
00:32:45,560 –> 00:32:49,720
Jewish food laws.
And the point Paul tries to make

577
00:32:49,720 –> 00:32:53,000
in Romans 14 is that all food is
clean, that the the law has been

578
00:32:53,000 –> 00:32:56,200
abrogated.
Nothing that you eat from the

579
00:32:56,200 –> 00:32:58,400
outside can make you unclean,
because of course it’s what is

580
00:32:58,400 –> 00:32:59,800
on the inside.
But.

581
00:33:01,320 –> 00:33:04,640
If it feels unclean, if if you
bring something to the table, as

582
00:33:04,640 –> 00:33:08,200
it were, from your past that
makes you feel that eating food

583
00:33:08,200 –> 00:33:10,560
that under the Law of Moses will
be unclean, then don’t do it.

584
00:33:11,440 –> 00:33:14,040
It’s an individual choice.
He says it’s better to be

585
00:33:14,040 –> 00:33:18,080
strong.
Paul says he’s strong, it’s

586
00:33:18,120 –> 00:33:20,560
better to be strong, but it
brings more responsibility when

587
00:33:20,560 –> 00:33:23,360
you do so.
And he actually gives us the

588
00:33:23,360 –> 00:33:27,560
example in Romans 15 of the one
who was the strongest, the one

589
00:33:27,560 –> 00:33:30,440
who took the most responsibility
upon himself, IE the Lord.

590
00:33:31,520 –> 00:33:35,680
So what Romans 14 is doing is
setting up a comparison between

591
00:33:36,040 –> 00:33:39,560
the strong and the weak, but
over an issue that in one way

592
00:33:39,560 –> 00:33:42,280
has already been dealt with, the
Jewish food laws.

593
00:33:42,760 –> 00:33:46,240
What First Corinthians chapters
8 or chapter 8 is going to do is

594
00:33:46,240 –> 00:33:48,560
focusing on a slightly different
food issue.

595
00:33:49,000 –> 00:33:52,680
It’s not strong V weak, it’s
knowledge V conscience.

596
00:33:53,520 –> 00:33:59,000
And the food is not the law
unclean under the Mosaic Law.

597
00:33:59,600 –> 00:34:02,400
But it’s food which has been
offered in a Pagan temple.

598
00:34:03,680 –> 00:34:05,520
And here things are slightly
different, aren’t they?

599
00:34:06,240 –> 00:34:09,000
Because what Paul is trying to
say here is don’t offer food.

600
00:34:09,280 –> 00:34:12,560
Don’t eat food offered to.
Idols because it sends the wrong

601
00:34:12,560 –> 00:34:15,040
message, it will cause others to
stumble.

602
00:34:15,040 –> 00:34:19,600
Yes, all food is clean, he said.
An idol is nothing, but don’t

603
00:34:19,600 –> 00:34:23,040
eat it if it causes your brother
to stumble.

604
00:34:23,040 –> 00:34:25,760
Don’t eat it if it sends the
wrong message.

605
00:34:26,280 –> 00:34:28,440
In other words, in the Romans
example, you can make a choice.

606
00:34:29,239 –> 00:34:32,280
In the Corinthians example, he
says it’s better not to do that,

607
00:34:32,840 –> 00:34:36,080
not that knowledge is better or
that conscience is better, but

608
00:34:36,080 –> 00:34:37,760
it’s the way in which they are
applied.

609
00:34:38,400 –> 00:34:40,480
Now there are some Corinthians,
he says, who are insisting that

610
00:34:40,480 –> 00:34:41,840
they can eat food offered to
idols.

611
00:34:42,120 –> 00:34:44,280
And you know, others just have
to learn to live with it because

612
00:34:44,280 –> 00:34:45,920
it’s my freedom.
I can do what I want and you

613
00:34:45,920 –> 00:34:47,880
just have to figure it out.
Verse seven.

614
00:34:48,000 –> 00:34:51,040
However, there is in every man
not that knowledge for some with

615
00:34:51,040 –> 00:34:52,960
conscience of the idol.
To this hour he says a thing

616
00:34:52,960 –> 00:34:55,280
offered to an idol, and their
conscience being weak, is

617
00:34:55,280 –> 00:34:58,320
defiled.
But meat commends us not to God.

618
00:34:58,600 –> 00:35:02,440
For neither if we eat are we
better, neither if we eat not

619
00:35:02,960 –> 00:35:06,240
are we the worst.
Paul’s response is that

620
00:35:06,240 –> 00:35:09,080
knowledge is good.
In other words, ignorance is not

621
00:35:09,080 –> 00:35:12,360
a target, but that it should
lead to love.

622
00:35:12,720 –> 00:35:16,800
It shouldn’t lead to claiming
rights over your brother and

623
00:35:16,800 –> 00:35:17,840
sister.
Verse 9.

624
00:35:17,840 –> 00:35:22,640
Take heed, lest by any means
this liberty of yours becomes a

625
00:35:22,640 –> 00:35:25,240
stumbling block to those who are
weak.

626
00:35:26,200 –> 00:35:28,520
Stumbling block is not a
shorthand for something you do

627
00:35:28,520 –> 00:35:32,080
that I don’t like, which we
sometimes think that it is.

628
00:35:32,640 –> 00:35:34,920
It’s about whether or not you
and I can agree with something.

629
00:35:34,920 –> 00:35:38,520
It’s a particular kind of
offense that leads a disciple to

630
00:35:38,520 –> 00:35:41,240
sin against his or her
conscience.

631
00:35:42,880 –> 00:35:45,000
And it’s never right to sin
against your conscience because

632
00:35:45,000 –> 00:35:47,480
it leads you towards sin.
It leads you towards

633
00:35:47,480 –> 00:35:49,320
destruction, as Paul says,
Doesn’t he in verse?

634
00:35:49,440 –> 00:35:52,800
Doesn’t he in verse 11 if
through your quote knowledge.

635
00:35:53,840 –> 00:35:57,320
The weak brother perish, for
whom Christ died.

636
00:35:58,080 –> 00:36:01,360
There is an issue there.
Of of whether or not we claim

637
00:36:01,480 –> 00:36:04,760
our liberty in Christ to choose
to do as.

638
00:36:04,760 –> 00:36:08,800
We want in this circumstance and
Paul says no, that’s not how it

639
00:36:08,800 –> 00:36:13,280
works if when you sin or but
when you sin so against your

640
00:36:13,280 –> 00:36:16,600
brother and wound their weak
conscience, you sin against

641
00:36:16,600 –> 00:36:20,360
Christ and then Paul we’ll go
on.

642
00:36:21,520 –> 00:36:25,680
To use two examples just to
underpin his argument, and the

643
00:36:25,680 –> 00:36:29,120
first is in Chapter 9, he’ll
give us the example of himself.

644
00:36:29,720 –> 00:36:33,040
The second is in chapter 10 and
he’ll give us the example of the

645
00:36:33,040 –> 00:36:36,920
nation, and they are both there
specifically to underpin this

646
00:36:36,920 –> 00:36:39,240
issue of what he can and can’t
claim.

647
00:36:39,840 –> 00:36:44,000
So he will tell us in Chapter 9
that he’s an apostle and

648
00:36:44,000 –> 00:36:47,000
therefore he’s free to claim
certain rights because he’s an

649
00:36:47,000 –> 00:36:50,600
apostle, but he declines to do
so.

650
00:36:50,600 –> 00:36:53,400
He chooses not to claim those
rights because he doesn’t want

651
00:36:53,400 –> 00:36:57,160
to put any barriers in the way
of others when he does that.

652
00:36:58,960 –> 00:37:01,440
And it’s ironic because Paul
tells us that he knows.

653
00:37:01,440 –> 00:37:03,360
And I’m, I’m just skipping over
rather than diving into the

654
00:37:03,360 –> 00:37:06,120
verses just because I want to
make sure we don’t run too tight

655
00:37:06,120 –> 00:37:08,480
on time.
Paul says he knows that idols

656
00:37:08,480 –> 00:37:12,080
are nothing, but he also
acknowledges their influence to

657
00:37:12,080 –> 00:37:14,720
avoid many being destroyed.
That’s the problem that he goes

658
00:37:14,720 –> 00:37:18,080
through in Chapter 9.
Just come actually to verse 19.

659
00:37:18,120 –> 00:37:22,360
In Chapter 9, though I be free
from all, yet have I made myself

660
00:37:22,360 –> 00:37:26,240
servant to all, that I might
gain them more to the Jews I

661
00:37:26,240 –> 00:37:29,320
became a Jew, that I might gain
the Jews to them under the law,

662
00:37:29,320 –> 00:37:31,760
as under the law, that I might
gain them under the law.

663
00:37:31,760 –> 00:37:34,080
And so he goes on verse 22 as
well.

664
00:37:34,080 –> 00:37:36,240
To the weak.
I became as weak that I might

665
00:37:36,240 –> 00:37:39,160
gain the weak.
What I am trying to avoid doing,

666
00:37:39,160 –> 00:37:44,360
he says, is or what I am doing
is limiting myself for the sake

667
00:37:44,360 –> 00:37:47,080
of others so that I serve God
and therefore serve my brothers

668
00:37:47,080 –> 00:37:51,280
and sisters.
Freedom is not about just

669
00:37:51,280 –> 00:37:56,520
indulging yourself randomly.
I therefore, verse 26, run not

670
00:37:56,520 –> 00:38:00,960
as uncertainly, so I fight not
as one that beats the air, but I

671
00:38:00,960 –> 00:38:04,560
keep under my body and bring it
into subjection, lest by any

672
00:38:04,560 –> 00:38:07,680
means when I preach to others, I
myself should be a castaway.

673
00:38:08,240 –> 00:38:11,920
Remember Jeremiah 2, that one
place that the Hebrew word avid

674
00:38:11,920 –> 00:38:15,240
gets translated as slave in your
King James Version?

675
00:38:15,480 –> 00:38:18,160
And that verse about the wild
camel running around randomly in

676
00:38:18,160 –> 00:38:19,760
the desert?
That Israel had let themselves

677
00:38:19,760 –> 00:38:23,000
go free and God was going to
deal with the consequences.

678
00:38:23,000 –> 00:38:27,960
Paul says I’m trying not to be
that camel and rather helpfully,

679
00:38:27,960 –> 00:38:31,200
he doesn’t use that word at the
end of Chapter 9 to make it.

680
00:38:31,480 –> 00:38:33,920
Then he talked to us about
Israel, who of course were free

681
00:38:34,280 –> 00:38:37,160
in a different sense because
they were God’s first born son.

682
00:38:37,760 –> 00:38:40,640
But they fell.
Why did they fall chapter 10?

683
00:38:40,640 –> 00:38:44,200
Well, because despite having all
these things laid out before

684
00:38:44,200 –> 00:38:46,400
them, despite being under the
cloud and eating the same

685
00:38:46,400 –> 00:38:49,240
spiritual meat and drinking the
same spiritual drink of the

686
00:38:49,240 –> 00:38:51,720
wrap, the rock that went with
them, which was Christ with many

687
00:38:51,720 –> 00:38:54,840
of them, Paul says God was not
well pleased because they put

688
00:38:54,840 –> 00:38:57,280
barriers in the way of their own
faith.

689
00:38:58,680 –> 00:39:04,520
And they knew because they were
told in every possible way

690
00:39:05,040 –> 00:39:07,120
through the law of Moses and
through the prophets and through

691
00:39:07,120 –> 00:39:12,240
through those he sent.
The idols were nothing, but they

692
00:39:12,240 –> 00:39:14,080
didn’t acknowledge their
influence and many were

693
00:39:14,080 –> 00:39:16,200
destroyed.
It’s the exact counterpart of

694
00:39:16,200 –> 00:39:19,400
what Paul is telling us about
himself in the previous chapter.

695
00:39:21,520 –> 00:39:24,120
And again, it just rounds off
our our look at the Servant

696
00:39:24,120 –> 00:39:24,920
songs, doesn’t it?
The.

697
00:39:24,920 –> 00:39:29,360
Israel who were free to serve
God, but ended up serving idols

698
00:39:29,560 –> 00:39:32,000
and giving themselves over to
something else.

699
00:39:32,400 –> 00:39:35,800
Paul is telling us that that one
of the reasons we do what we do

700
00:39:35,800 –> 00:39:37,960
is love for our weaker brothers
and sisters.

701
00:39:38,920 –> 00:39:42,560
And if I bring you all the way
down to chapter 10 and verse 23,

702
00:39:45,120 –> 00:39:48,960
all things he says are lawful
for me, quoting them back at

703
00:39:48,960 –> 00:39:51,160
themselves.
But all things are not

704
00:39:51,160 –> 00:39:52,960
expedient.
All things are lawful for me,

705
00:39:52,960 –> 00:39:58,880
but not all things build up.
Let’s no man seek his own, but

706
00:39:58,880 –> 00:40:02,880
every man another’s wealth.
There are limits, Paul says in

707
00:40:02,880 –> 00:40:04,520
how far you need to go.
You don’t need to go and dig

708
00:40:04,520 –> 00:40:06,320
through the bins to make sure
that the food that you eat in

709
00:40:06,320 –> 00:40:08,680
the kitchen is clean in a
particular way.

710
00:40:09,200 –> 00:40:12,400
But if you know it’s from the
temple, verse 28, if any man

711
00:40:12,400 –> 00:40:15,920
says to you, it’s offered in
sacrifice, don’t eat it for his

712
00:40:15,920 –> 00:40:16,600
sake.
That showed.

713
00:40:16,600 –> 00:40:19,040
You.
And for conscience sake.

714
00:40:19,560 –> 00:40:21,680
Why?
Because of the Genesis creation?

715
00:40:22,520 –> 00:40:26,240
Because end of verse 28, the
earth is the Lord’s and the

716
00:40:26,240 –> 00:40:29,480
fullness thereof.
What is Sorry, let me get that

717
00:40:29,480 –> 00:40:31,400
right.
What is Paul trying to to get

718
00:40:31,400 –> 00:40:34,440
across?
As I as I fire out these verses

719
00:40:34,440 –> 00:40:38,720
to a bunch of very tired looking
people, what is Paul trying to

720
00:40:38,720 –> 00:40:42,120
communicate to us?
He’s trying to say don’t do

721
00:40:42,120 –> 00:40:45,280
anything that gives the
impression you are soft on

722
00:40:45,280 –> 00:40:48,680
idolatry.
Don’t do anything that gives the

723
00:40:48,680 –> 00:40:52,000
impression that you share in the
cult of the city.

724
00:40:53,120 –> 00:40:57,560
In his day and age, it’s me
offered to idols in our day and

725
00:40:57,560 –> 00:40:59,240
age, it’s a whole bunch of other
issues.

726
00:41:00,520 –> 00:41:06,120
Rainbow flags, right?
I I know good friends who will

727
00:41:06,120 –> 00:41:08,800
say we have no issue with our
our son or daughter going to

728
00:41:08,800 –> 00:41:11,200
school carrying a bag with a
rainbow on it because it’s God’s

729
00:41:11,200 –> 00:41:15,640
symbol, because it’s a symbol of
of his power and his creation

730
00:41:15,640 –> 00:41:18,680
and his judgement.
And it’s just a little flag.

731
00:41:20,360 –> 00:41:24,640
Only I don’t think it is because
it’s not just a little flag to

732
00:41:24,640 –> 00:41:28,160
the organization that now hang
their hat on that particular

733
00:41:28,160 –> 00:41:30,160
life.
Just like Paul is saying in

734
00:41:30,160 –> 00:41:31,520
these chapters, It’s not just
me.

735
00:41:31,960 –> 00:41:34,040
It’s a way of placating an angry
deity.

736
00:41:35,880 –> 00:41:40,120
And so if you you wear rainbow
laces to fall to school or, or

737
00:41:40,120 –> 00:41:43,160
to football or whatever it might
be, you are absolutely 100%

738
00:41:43,160 –> 00:41:46,040
correct that the rainbow is
God’s symbol and he sent it to

739
00:41:46,040 –> 00:41:49,040
prove his promises.
Verse 26 Again, the earth is the

740
00:41:49,040 –> 00:41:51,240
Lord’s and the fullness thereof
is absolutely right that it’s

741
00:41:51,240 –> 00:41:54,400
his.
But you’re sending mixed

742
00:41:54,400 –> 00:41:57,560
signals, I think, because that
symbol has now been offered to

743
00:41:57,560 –> 00:42:00,040
idols.
And the way that that symbol

744
00:42:00,040 –> 00:42:04,600
lands in the 21st century is
going to cause people to sin

745
00:42:04,600 –> 00:42:07,800
against their conscience, which
is what all of these chapters

746
00:42:07,800 –> 00:42:09,280
are trying to get us to
understand.

747
00:42:10,560 –> 00:42:12,880
Or maybe your company says you
need to put your preferred

748
00:42:12,880 –> 00:42:14,640
pronouns in your e-mail
signature.

749
00:42:15,960 –> 00:42:17,560
And the same issue comes up
again.

750
00:42:18,040 –> 00:42:21,600
Because even gender has been
offered to idols now, and we

751
00:42:21,600 –> 00:42:24,360
need to be careful not to appear
as if we are indulging in the

752
00:42:24,360 –> 00:42:26,600
cult of the city.
These are wisdom issues.

753
00:42:27,240 –> 00:42:32,920
Freedom is, is about giving
stuff up and and maybe there

754
00:42:32,920 –> 00:42:37,120
needs to be a sharper break
between discipleship and a world

755
00:42:37,120 –> 00:42:40,480
that says my identity is
anything that I want it to be.

756
00:42:41,200 –> 00:42:44,000
Which of course was what Paul
was saying in Galatians 5 when

757
00:42:44,000 –> 00:42:47,760
we were there yesterday.
Don’t submit again to a yoke of

758
00:42:47,760 –> 00:42:49,240
bondage.
Don’t go back to Egypt.

759
00:42:49,240 –> 00:42:52,720
Don’t go back to lockdown.
Don’t choose to voluntarily put

760
00:42:52,720 –> 00:42:58,160
yourself in these situations.
How do you consume culture?

761
00:42:58,160 –> 00:43:01,640
How do we consume culture?
Well, what’s the late I mean?

762
00:43:02,560 –> 00:43:04,840
Gave some of these studies last
year when the latest culture

763
00:43:04,840 –> 00:43:06,680
crisis is not what it was last
year.

764
00:43:06,920 –> 00:43:08,480
But you know what’s what’s the
latest one?

765
00:43:08,480 –> 00:43:10,360
Is it AI?
Well, the media tells us that

766
00:43:10,360 –> 00:43:12,360
the biggest challenge of AI is
that machines are going to

767
00:43:12,360 –> 00:43:16,240
become like humans.
But I suspect that for a

768
00:43:16,240 –> 00:43:20,560
disciple, biggest challenge is
that humans start to look like

769
00:43:20,560 –> 00:43:23,640
machines.
It is fine.

770
00:43:23,800 –> 00:43:25,960
This might be a test to see if
anybody’s got one in their bag.

771
00:43:25,960 –> 00:43:29,160
It is fine to ask Alexa what the
weather’s like tomorrow, though

772
00:43:29,200 –> 00:43:30,920
I’d be tempted to say go and
open the curtains.

773
00:43:31,520 –> 00:43:35,400
It is maybe less wise to ask
Alexa how to deal with your

774
00:43:35,400 –> 00:43:40,480
depression, or how to fight your
marriage battles for you, or a

775
00:43:40,480 –> 00:43:42,240
whole bunch of other issues that
might come up.

776
00:43:43,800 –> 00:43:46,640
Not because it’s necessarily
going to give you the wrong

777
00:43:46,680 –> 00:43:50,640
answer, though it probably will,
but because when things go wrong

778
00:43:50,640 –> 00:43:52,880
the next time, you’ll just ask
the same box in the corner for

779
00:43:52,880 –> 00:43:55,400
the next answer.
And we haven’t gained anything,

780
00:43:55,400 –> 00:43:58,280
and we haven’t learned anything.
And we are outsourcing our

781
00:43:58,320 –> 00:44:02,840
discipleship at our peril.
Paul is, is trying to get us to

782
00:44:02,840 –> 00:44:05,400
realize that gospel freedom is
really important.

783
00:44:05,400 –> 00:44:07,880
It’s not a line that you roll
out when you’re trying to, to

784
00:44:07,880 –> 00:44:11,600
resist falling into line.
It’s not a line that you roll

785
00:44:11,600 –> 00:44:14,240
out when you’re trying to bind
somebody else’s conscience in a

786
00:44:14,240 –> 00:44:15,480
way that Scripture doesn’t allow
us.

787
00:44:15,480 –> 00:44:17,600
It’s why there is so few
shortcuts.

788
00:44:17,600 –> 00:44:20,560
It’s why it’s so difficult.
I, I gave you this quote right

789
00:44:20,560 –> 00:44:21,480
back at the beginning of the
week.

790
00:44:21,480 –> 00:44:24,800
This, this line that, that
everybody worships, that the

791
00:44:24,800 –> 00:44:27,480
only choice that we have is what
to worship.

792
00:44:28,400 –> 00:44:32,280
Well, David Foster Wallace went
on, and he said something that I

793
00:44:32,280 –> 00:44:33,600
thought was really quite
powerful.

794
00:44:33,600 –> 00:44:36,960
The only insidious thing he says
about these forms of worship is

795
00:44:36,960 –> 00:44:40,240
not that they’re evil or sinful.
It’s that they are unconscious.

796
00:44:40,440 –> 00:44:44,480
They are default settings, the
kind of worship that you just

797
00:44:44,480 –> 00:44:46,840
gradually slip into day after
day, getting more and more

798
00:44:46,840 –> 00:44:50,240
selective about what you see and
how you measure value without

799
00:44:50,240 –> 00:44:52,800
ever being fully aware that
that’s what you’re doing.

800
00:44:54,800 –> 00:44:56,720
And the world will not
discourage you from operating on

801
00:44:56,720 –> 00:44:59,280
your default settings, because
the world of men and money and

802
00:44:59,280 –> 00:45:03,120
power hums along quite nicely on
the fear of the fuel of fear and

803
00:45:03,120 –> 00:45:06,360
contempt and frustration and
craving and the worship of self.

804
00:45:06,600 –> 00:45:09,440
That’s why freedom is difficult.
I’m not holding him up as a, as

805
00:45:09,600 –> 00:45:13,080
a, as a totem of gospel liberty
and nothing like it, but it

806
00:45:13,080 –> 00:45:15,400
captures the ideas that we’ve
been trying to get to, doesn’t

807
00:45:15,400 –> 00:45:16,800
it?
Freedom is about living,

808
00:45:16,800 –> 00:45:20,600
brothers and sisters, as if what
the Lord said about his body is

809
00:45:20,600 –> 00:45:24,920
true.
I am the Lord your God who

810
00:45:24,920 –> 00:45:26,760
brought you out of the House of
bondage.

811
00:45:27,800 –> 00:45:29,600
You will have no other gods
before me.

812
00:45:31,520 –> 00:45:33,320
Come very quickly to Romans
chapter 8, please.

813
00:45:43,560 –> 00:45:45,120
And in Romans chapter 8, you
know where we are.

814
00:45:45,120 –> 00:45:50,960
We are back where we started.
Verse 19 In Romans 8 the earnest

815
00:45:50,960 –> 00:45:54,160
expectation of creation waits
for the manifestation of the

816
00:45:54,160 –> 00:45:56,800
sons of God.
For the creation was made

817
00:45:56,800 –> 00:45:59,800
subject to vanity, not
willingly, but by reason of him

818
00:45:59,800 –> 00:46:03,320
who’s subjected the same in
hope, because the creation

819
00:46:03,320 –> 00:46:07,560
itself also will be delivered
from the bondage of corruption

820
00:46:08,160 –> 00:46:11,120
into the glorious liberty of the
children of.

821
00:46:11,120 –> 00:46:14,880
God, it’s the very way of going
full circle from the beginning

822
00:46:14,880 –> 00:46:17,920
of Genesis, isn’t it?
And it brings us our 10th and

823
00:46:17,920 –> 00:46:22,520
final freedom principle, that
creation itself.

824
00:46:23,200 –> 00:46:25,640
Is going to be set free from
bondage.

825
00:46:26,000 –> 00:46:28,920
It’s what Paul is telling us
later on in the chapter, that if

826
00:46:28,920 –> 00:46:32,040
God can be for us, who can be
against us?

827
00:46:32,320 –> 00:46:38,280
If God can justify if Christ
died, then no one can separate

828
00:46:38,280 –> 00:46:41,680
us from the love of Christ.
The love that was in Isaiah’s

829
00:46:41,680 –> 00:46:43,640
servant.
The love that was shown in the

830
00:46:43,640 –> 00:46:45,920
journey from bondage in the
through the wilderness.

831
00:46:46,400 –> 00:46:49,720
The love that was shown in the
crucified Messiah.

832
00:46:52,680 –> 00:47:00,560
I am well, there’s the ten I I
don’t think you know there will

833
00:47:00,560 –> 00:47:06,000
be a monument to freedom in the
Kingdom age, or at least not a

834
00:47:06,000 –> 00:47:09,040
national one.
I guess that’s what I’ve been

835
00:47:09,040 –> 00:47:10,120
trying to say all the way
through.

836
00:47:10,240 –> 00:47:13,000
Events do not come naked into
the world.

837
00:47:13,440 –> 00:47:16,320
When Benjamin Franklin made that
change to the Declaration of

838
00:47:16,320 –> 00:47:18,760
Independence, he was emblematic
of a world that was trusting

839
00:47:18,760 –> 00:47:21,600
itself.
And I don’t think there will be

840
00:47:21,600 –> 00:47:26,280
a a National Monument to freedom
in the Kingdom of God because it

841
00:47:26,280 –> 00:47:29,240
will be so much bigger and more
important than that.

842
00:47:29,640 –> 00:47:33,320
We will sing songs and hymns and
spiritual songs.

843
00:47:35,480 –> 00:47:38,880
The paradox of liberty is a is a
reminder to you and I that we

844
00:47:38,880 –> 00:47:41,400
can be certain in the deep roots
of our faith.

845
00:47:42,560 –> 00:47:44,640
You want to talk about social
justice?

846
00:47:45,800 –> 00:47:47,840
Amos talked about it 2700 years
ago.

847
00:47:48,720 –> 00:47:50,640
You want to talk about standing
up for your rights?

848
00:47:51,080 –> 00:47:53,080
Paul says.
I’ll show you whose rights

849
00:47:53,080 –> 00:47:55,640
matter most.
You want to talk about racial

850
00:47:55,640 –> 00:47:57,680
equality?
Read the promises to Abraham.

851
00:47:57,680 –> 00:48:00,520
They are full of it.
You want to talk about sexual

852
00:48:00,520 –> 00:48:03,320
temptation or managing your
money, or dealing with grief or

853
00:48:03,320 –> 00:48:06,320
childlessness or declining
health or all the other issues

854
00:48:06,320 –> 00:48:08,360
I’ve mentioned already.
Your children not coming to

855
00:48:08,360 –> 00:48:11,560
faith and the heartbreak that
that brings.

856
00:48:11,720 –> 00:48:18,760
Scripture has.
This verse 38 I am persuaded

857
00:48:21,440 –> 00:48:25,120
that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,

858
00:48:26,040 –> 00:48:30,200
nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height,

859
00:48:30,200 –> 00:48:34,760
nor depth, nor anything else in
all of creation, shall separate

860
00:48:34,760 –> 00:48:38,080
us from the love of God.
Which is in Jesus Christ our

861
00:48:38,080 –> 00:48:41,840
Lord.
There will come a day when the

862
00:48:41,840 –> 00:48:45,800
trumpet will sound.
There will come a day when the

863
00:48:45,800 –> 00:48:51,440
sun will rise in the east.
There will come a day when the

864
00:48:51,440 –> 00:48:54,160
mantras of the secular age,
whether it’s freedom or

865
00:48:54,160 –> 00:49:00,280
happiness or power or authority,
will will melt away in the light

866
00:49:00,280 –> 00:49:03,840
of the glory of Christ.
There will come a day when we

867
00:49:03,840 –> 00:49:08,520
will fly away on the wings of
dawn and be as young as the

868
00:49:08,520 –> 00:49:13,240
morning and as old as the sea.
There will come a day when the

869
00:49:13,240 –> 00:49:18,520
kingdoms of this world become
the kingdoms of our Lord and of

870
00:49:18,520 –> 00:49:23,320
His Christ, and when the
captives of all kinds will be

871
00:49:23,320 –> 00:49:23,840
set free.