Sermon Tone Analysis

Guiltless by Association

PRAYER

I don’t want to boast, and it is not something I talk about all the time, because I don’t want to be that guy, but I am a card carrying

“Gold Star Costco Card” - gold member.

It’s true!!

And even though I’ve made this public, I don’t want you to think that you have to act differently around me!!

I’m just a regular guy....(I mean I think we all realize that both a star and gold signify something important) but I’m just a regular guy!

Who doesn’t get a sense of accomplishment and joy when they find they have been found worthy of being pre-approved by MasterCard!!??

I mean even Capital One’s phrase “What’s in your wallet?”

Implies that there is a prestige that comes with having the right method of payment.

I mean even Capital One’s phrase “What’s in your wallet?”

Implies that there is a prestige that comes with having the right method of payment.

We all want to be associated with something!

Right we want to be a part of a group, or a community (even if it is a virtual online community)

We associate ourselves with people and groups by what we click like one online, by the shirts we wear and the events we go to.

If it is accomplishment at work, we will find ourselves enslaved to our work, and eventutally it will chew us up and spit us out.

If our worth is found in our association with sexuality, sexual preference or political party, we will find ourselves following a brand, a label, a group ethic in spite of obvious failures in its worldview.

And you and I right now are in the middle of a bit of a cultural war that says you MUST pick a label, and once you’ve attached yourself to a label, it will be assumed what you believe on every subject because of your association.

It is assumed if you are a conservative Christian, you must support all that Trump says and does, hate homosexuals, and cuddle up with your riffle at night!!

I am a Christian and would not say any of those things about myself.

But there is guilt by association.

And there can also be ignorance by association, because..

If we establish anything imperfect as the light of our life, we will tend to ignore the long dark shadows it casts.

without a willingness to soberly judge

And one of the things that happens when our lives are not first and foremost built on our association with Christ and the cross, we find ourselves attaching ourselves to other identities without a willingness to soberly judge them.

Many of us have found ourselves in relationships with others in whom we find so much to like; they tell how great we are, they make us feel good about ourselves, ....and so even when we see hints of shadow we ignore it.

We even sacrifice part of who we are in order to appease them sometimes because we find so much of our worth in our association with them.

Often to our own detriment!!

Paul says in this text, be careful who and what story you associate with.

What you unite yourself with and find you worth in.

Whether it is a community, a belief, a lifestyle.

Be very careful which story you associate with.

There is no story like the story of Christ and his cross.

Paul uses these words and this theme I’ve tried to point our over the last month of “union with” Christ.

you are complete through your union with Christ (v.10)

you were buried with Christ when you were baptized.

And with him you were raised to new life (v.12)

Being attached to /associated with Christ....

God made you alive with Christ (v.

13)

So let’s unpack what that means.

Being attached to /associated with Christ....

Union with Christ means we move from ....

empty to full

lost to found

stained to sanctified

deflated to elevated

A. Empty to Full (vv.

9-10)

As God fills Christ, you too can be filled by Christ.

The head of all creation in your corner, AND dwells within you.

The head of all creation in your corner (9-10)

If that is true than the most fulfilled a human can be is when he or she belongs to Christ.

This is such a hard message to hear, and I don’t mean because it is painful, I mean because there are so many voices promising fulfillment that come with glamour, a declaration that you are good the way you are, that you deserve the world that the proclamation of a cross entering the picture ruins the delusion!!

Like a photobomb in all the worlds promises!

Years ago I was in Venezuela part of a massive youth event in Caracas.

And before my group went on a magician took the stage.

And if you think about the stereotypical cheesy magician....you got it!!

We were back stage feeling so sorry for this guy.

Every trick he did, you could hear people saying....we can see what you’re doing?

I mean when he did saw the lady in the box in half, the feet on the bottom half were wearing different coloured socks than the lady that stepped into the box.

Trick after trick the kids got closer and closer and from the side of the stage we could see hm sweating more and more.

To the promises of the world, the gospel is like that annoying kids at a magic show, who continually points out inconstancies and asks questions that irritate the magician.

to the promises of the world, the gospel is like that annoying kids at a magic show, who continually points out inconstancies and asks questions that irritate the magician.

Unable to deal with deeper issues of sin, of belonging, of good and evil, of morality, and ultimate hope.

Only the cross properly and fully deals with that!

The questions of belonging, identity, fullest expression of love, purpose.

they are found in Christ.

other movement

Paul says the fullness of God dwells in Christ and Christ dwells in you.

the most fulfilled a human can be is when he or she belongs to Christ.

the most fulfilled a human can be is when he or she belongs to Christ.

That is why the point of the gospel is never just about a new philosophy or an idea, it is Christ himself!!

Union with Christ means we move from empty to full.

Union with Christ means we move from empty to full.

It also means we move from....

B. Lost to found (v 11)

—you are marked as belonging to him (11)

Now in order to understand what circumcision is …I made a few doodles...

I am going to assume you know what circumcision is....

In , with the Father of the Jewish nation, God established that as a sign of belonging to God, male Jews would be circumcised.

Literal circumcision was a minor operation that removed a small portion of flesh, but it had major significance for Jews as the sign of obedience to God’s covenant.

It meant that one was incorporated into the people of God and a beneficiary of the covenant promises to Abraham.

and signified inclusion in God’s chosen nation.

I’ve Literal circumcision was a minor operation that removed a small portion of flesh, but it had major significance for Jews as the sign of obedience to God’s covenant.

It meant that one was incorporated into the people of God and a beneficiary of the covenant promises to Abraham.

Circumcision was the sign God gave to Abraham as a covenant in the flesh () and signified inclusion in God’s chosen nation.

In the ESV it translated v 11 this way.

This holds a very visual picture in the Greek

Pauls point in verse 11 is that by Christ’s sacrifice, by the fact that his flesh was cut, literally by Christ’s flesh being severed, you and I are given belonging into covenantal relationship with God.

pictures?

Not by your work

That your marks of covenantal relationship with God are on Christ’s body!

Not in circumcision but in complete destruction of his body on the cross to purchase our way into relationship with Christ.

And that means that a work done, not by you, makes you right with God!!

That is a relief.

Because not only did Christ’s act bring you in, it keeps you in.

It was feely given without you earning it, so it cannot be removed by your failures!!

Union with Christ means you are no longer lost you are found, and you cannot be less found!

Thirdly, Union with Christ means we have moved from...

C. Stained to Sanctified (vv.

12-13)

Means your past doesn’t stick to you (12-13)