Valley Church Clinton
June 14th

      • Romans 1:16-17CSB

  • Goodness Of God
  • Living Hope
  • Hello and welcome to Valley Church Clinton!
    I’m so excited to announce our newest sermon series, which will run all summer long,
    It’s centered around Romans chapter 8.
    The chapter 8 you ask? Well, the famous preacher/theologian John Piper famously took 8 years to preach through Romans, 225 sermons,
    And while I do believe that could be beneficial, we’re going to focus on chapter 8 of Romans, which we believe, as well as many scholars and Bible studiers out there, to be the central message of Romans.
    So, as we go into Romans 8, let’s give these next 12 weeks up to God, and just see what He does with it. Join me in prayer.
    Wonderful!
    So, I just got back from a little trip to Canada yesterday…
    We went to visit our long-time missionaries in Western Ontario at a place called Camp of the Woods.
    And let me tell you, this is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been on the planet. And it comes with the territory that this place is also pretty darn remote, the closest town with a Walmart called Dryden is about 45 minutes away.
    The goal of this camp is to reach out to the kids and families around the area to give them a place to experience love and fun, and most importantly, Jesus Christ.
    The problem in this area is isolation, big time loneliness, and there’s a large population of indigenous Canadians.
    And this loneliness is very apparent because the suicide rate is extremely high, so Camp of the Woods just tries to be a beacon of light in a dark, dark place.
    The staff and our missionaries there are incredible. They are wonderful hosts and you can tell they’re the real deal.
    And it’s amazing, although the bugs will literally carry you off (seriously, I tried to go for a morning hike and I had around 20 mosquitos on the back of my hands at once), it’s off the grid, it’s a much needed break from the constant flow of information that we’re used to.
    We spent the week essentially building a shed type building for some winter storage and for the kids air rifle range in the summer camps.
    And with us, there were all kinds of groups from all different places, and they were all doing different things.
    Building. Mowing grass. Picking up the dump. Getting camp ready.
    By the end of the week, I looked around, and the place looked really nice. It really looked better than when we got there.
    But as you look closer, especially being a remote camp in Ontario, there’s always work to do.
    There’s always something to do, something to fix, something to maintenance, someone to feed, something to cook, sinking buildings to straighten, staff to train….
    The list goes on and on.
    Even though the camp every year is prepared for the incoming kids, the camp director always has something in his mind to do, something that needs done.
    Something that is wrong to make right.
    And the more time I spend at Camp of the Woods this year, the more I realized that this is creation.
    This is the world we live in.
    Even though, yes, there are so many great things about this world, and the places we find ourselves, and the blessings God gives us, and the good things in life,
    It doesn’t take long to find things that aren’t right. Things in God’s creation that are wrong. Evil.
    Things that aren’t God’s intention. Suffering, sin.
    Things that we know need fixing.
    And this is really the story of the Book of Romans.
    See, Romans is this really incredible book packed with beautiful language and amazing thought and argument from the apostle Paul,
    And a lot of times we look at this book to answer our theological questions about justification, and calvanism, and faith, and sin,
    But if you zoom out, Romans is simply a complete work about the gospel.
    It’s Paul’s writing about the beauty of the gospel, which is God setting His creation right.
    So, before we dive into Romans chapter 8, this week, let’s spend some time understanding what that means, and what exactly the gospel even is,
    And the the first thing we need to understand, if we define the gospel as the good news that God is setting His creation right…
    Is that….

    Something is Wrong

    There’s something wrong afoot. Just like Morpheus’ famous line to Neo in the Matrix: there’s something wrong with the world, you’ve felt it your entire life….
    There’s something wrong with our world. You can feel it. Our kids can feel it. Religious or not, we can all feel it.
    All of creation can feel it.
    Again, just like in our book study of Philippians, the writer here is Paul, the Apostle, writing a letter to the church in Rome,
    And he doesn’t skirt around the fact that creation is not right.
    In fact, he writes:
    Romans 8:22 CSB
    22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.
    And unlike Morpheus, Paul makes it abundantly clear what the problem with creation is.
    It’s us. It’s humanity who has caused something called sin to enter God’s good creation.
    This is what God must make right, somehow He has to save His creation from themselves, God has to unravel what we’ve raveled into a whole, giant mess.
    And the church in Rome is acutely aware of a world that isn’t right….
    Becuase at the time Paul is writing this letter, which was around 56-57 AD, the Jews were returning to Rome after being exiled by an emperor named Claudius.
    Specifically, around 5 years earlier or so, Claudius was feeling threatened by Jews, mostly those who had converted to Christianity,
    And with their history of rebellion and strife with the Roman Empire, Claudius made a blanket ban on all Jews, because he didn’t really care about parcing out religions.
    And just to make a connection and prove that the Bible is a cohesive work, we can know these things because Paul actually meets some Jews named Aquila and Priscilla on his missionary journeys who ended up being some of Paul’s closest companions.
    Acts 18:1–2 CSB
    1 After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth, 2 where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them,
    So there you go, Paul was well aware of the situation in Rome.
    So, left behind in Rome were the Gentile Christians, or Greek Christians, basically anyone other than Jewish Christians, were holding together the churches in Rome.
    And in 5 years, as we all know, lot’s of things can change, especially in a church body,
    So as Claudius dies and the Jews start to reintegrate into the Roman churches, immediately there’s conflict.
    The Jews come back to find their churches absolutely defiled, at least in their eyes.
    Afterall, these gentiles, these people outside God’s royal family,
    They’re not eating kosher!
    They aren’t circumcised!
    They aren’t holding to Shabbat, the holy Jewish day of rest, the sacred sabbath!
    How dare they!
    And as Paul catches wind of this, he starts writing.
    And he starts by writing: something is wrong.
    This is essentially the basis of the first section of Romans, which is chapters 1-4,
    Paul writes something is wrong…
    But it’s not what you think.
    Because the wrong thing isn’t all these gentile Christians not following the law of Moses,
    It’s that everything everywhere isn’t right.
    All nations and all people are trapped under sin, and idolatry, everyone is guilty, even sacred Israel.
    Romans 3:9–10 CSB
    9 What then? Are we any better off? Not at all! For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, 10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.
    See, through chapter 1-4, Paul puts forth the argument that God is always faithful, he is always just, he will always come through,
    And humanity will not. Humanity will always be unrighteous, unjust, and unfaithful, at least by God’s standards.
    But, by God’s grace, we have rescue from being trapped in sin. We have rescue, we have salvation, and we have the opportunity to have a faith-based religion.
    Suddenly, it doesn’t matter if you have the exact lineage or genes that you “need”, like the Israelites constantly boasted,
    No, now you can have a new identity, a new family, and a new status through one man who did it it right.
    One man who showed us what it is to be exactly how humanity was meant to be,
    The perfect person that perfectly performed in the image of God,
    And his name is Jesus. The Christ. The Messiah.
    And this perfect human, who happened to also be God Himself, is what leads to that world where something is wrong, to a world that is made right.
    And this is how God fixes what we screwed up, it’s the promise of a new hope.

    The Promise of a New Hope

    And this is something we really need to get right,
    Because remember, Romans wasn’t written to you.
    Yes, you use Paul’s work, and it’s amazing, and the Spirit will use it to shape your life,
    But, Paul wasn’t writing to you. He was writing to Christians in Rome in 56 AD.
    And trust me, I’ve been to Rome. I don’t get all the hype about the art and whatever,
    But that is a completley different culture even in modern times, and especially in 56 AD.
    That was before pasta was even introduced in Italy, trust me I looked it. It was a really long time ago, a carbless reality that I don’t understand, nor do I want to imagine.
    My point is, we need to think a little bit like first century Christians/Jews for a second.
    And their entire understanding of God revolved around something called “covenants”.
    Basically, covenants were contracts. And they weren’t contracts you could break without disaster.
    Their society was built on covenants where you held your word, and if you didn’t something as bad as death would happen.
    It would be better to die than to break a covenant on purpose.
    And God’s covenant to Israel, back in the beginning, was to bless Israel, the nation of Hebrews, and make them a great and prosperous nation.
    One of the most prolific covenants that God made with his nation of Israel was his covenant with Abraham, so called the Father of Nations.
    This was God’s way of setting the world right.
    Genesis 15:4–6 CSB
    4 Now the word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
    This was the covenant God made with Abraham, that his family would be numerous, and later in Genesis, that his family would inherit the promised land.
    And this covenant is the basis of why the Jews felt they were okay. They just needed to live life by their heritage and they could ride that all the way into salvation.
    But the problem is, that’s not faith. Notice, Abraham was credited as righteous, or simply being right in the mind of God,
    Not by his actions, but simply for believing God’s promise.
    This is what faith is.
    Faith, at least in the mind of the Jew, is so much different than how we think about it today,
    Faith is actually defined by the Hebrew word Hesed.
    And Hesed essentially means covenant loyalty, faithful obedience, it’s translated a bunch of different ways,
    So when you hear faith, don’t think blind belief, think obedience.
    Think loyalty. Think believing God for His word, for his promises,
    This is faith.
    This is what God actually desires.
    Hosea 6:6 CSB
    6 For I desire faithful love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
    And the problem with the Jews as time went on,
    They relied on the law, their Torah laws, to justify them before God.
    That if they could just be a faithful Jew they could convince God to come down and save them, and make them great again, make them powerful and rich, have lots of children,
    And you know what, it’s no different today.
    We think we can trick God into coming down and helping us, we think we can earn salvation, we think coming to church, living a conservative life, having the right theology and doctrine,
    If I just make enough money for my family, stay out of trouble, generally be morally good,
    I’ll earn favor with God.
    The problem is none of those are solutions to our problems,
    Because none of those things can rescue us from the problem, which is sin and death.
    This is the same situation as the Jews: the law was never meant to be a solution for their death problem.
    Romans 3:20 CSB
    20 For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.
    Romans 5:20 CSB
    20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more
    See, the real problem here is that we can’t fulfil our side of any of God’s covenants.
    We can’t follow the law - the more we do, the more guilty we become, and the more it’s obvious that we fall short.
    We can’t show ourselves grace or forgiveness, because we have none to give.
    We can’t be humans who truly and whole-heartedly are obedient to God in all ways, with all of our strength and souls and mind and hearts,
    It’s just not possible.
    So, what then is our solution? Well, according to Paul, it’s to cling to the one who can complete our side of the covenant, which is Jesus Christ.
    He is our only hope, and he alone has fulfilled every single covenant that God tried to make with humanity,
    Because it turns out, the only one that can be held to God’s standards, is God Himself.
    See, God knew this rescue plan would cost Him.
    He did…
    He knew it cost him his only son,
    Yet he sent Jesus to us anyway.
    He sent Jesus to fulfil any side of the covenant that we’ve failed, and it resulted in death.
    But, through that death is only thing that brings life.
    Because Jesus didn’t stay dead, he defeated death,
    And now, we have a new covenant.
    One of love, one of faith, one that is free and open to us as humanity,
    It was the final covenant that God needed to save us, to save humanity and his creation.
    And now, that covenant is creating a new humanity based on Jesus Christ as the example in which humans should aspire to be.
    This is the absolute gospel, the good news that God give us,
    This is the new covenant in Jesus Christ, the new hope we have.
    And in this covenant, God promises to restore our humanity and make the world right through us and Jesus Christ.

    Everything Set Back Right (Including Us)

    If God was running a campaign, his slogan would be “make the world right again”
    Because that is his mission.
    See, we often say “we, I’m just human, I can’t be perfect” which is true…
    “Well, thats the world we live in”, which is also true….
    But if we were truly human, we would be completley one with God. We would be uncorrupt, perfect images of our creator, perfect ourselves,
    But we aren’t truly human. And the world is not truly the world, us and this place we live, it is a corrupt version of God’s creation.
    We are not truly human, but we are some kind of evil hybrid because we have chosen to lead a life of sin, and therefore death.
    But the cool thing about the work of God in our lives is transformation.
    Romans 12:1–2 CSB
    1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
    See, God is slowly transforming us into true humans, how we were designed.
    And you know what the really cool thing about God making the world right again?
    I’ts actually our job.
    Remember Genesis?
    Genesis 2:15 CSB
    15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.
    We were originally supposed to tend the world, at that time the Garden of Eden.
    We were supposed to work it, tend it, make it good and right.
    But instead of being co-laborers with God, we decided we had better things to do.
    And now, the offer of Jesus Christ, who is described as the new, perfect Adam in Romans, invites us to re-up our role.
    This is so amazing, this is redemption that we don’t deserve.
    You know how Jesus asks?
    It’s the great commission.
    Matthew 28:18–20 CSB
    18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
    Jesus says - go reclaim my world. Go rework my creation.
    I really like how N.T. Wright puts it:
    Humans were made to be Gods agents within his world; that is part of what it means to be made in God's image. Until humans can take up this role, the world will remain unredeemed. Thus, the resurrection of God's people is what the whole world is waiting for (8.19-21). We are saved, not from the world but for the world. -N.T. Wright
    Let me challenge you this morning with a perspective shift.
    Most of the time, I think we view our faith as a good ticket to God.
    We view our salvation in terms of “how can I get to God?” or “How can I get to heaven?”
    “How can I get other people to heaven”
    And I’m not saying that isn’t good, in fact, I wish a lot more people on this planet would be thinking about that at all, even that would be wonderful.
    But here’s my challenge - that isn’t Biblical language.
    That isn’t what the Biblical writers, and especially Paul, it’s not what they were worried about or defended.
    What they defended was the idea of the resurrected Jesus.
    What they defended, until death, is Jesus Christ as Lord of all.
    So, the perspective shift, we shouldn’t be thinking “how can I get to God”….
    We should be thinking “How has God come down to rescue me, and where can I join him?”
    Because heaven isn’t a future reality, it’s right now.
    And yes, the world isn’t quite right,
    But imagine if I went to Camp of Woods this week and told Johnny, the camp director
    It’s good enough, nothing really needs done, let’s kick back, the kids are coming this summer for camp any way, they’re already signed up, why bother doing anything now?
    I think this is how we treat God.
    God, I’m going to heaven, why do I need to do anything now?
    Why do I need transformation now? I’ll indulge in my sin, I’ll sit back and coast. I mean, I’m not that bad, right?
    That’s the exact lie satan told in the garden, and that’s the exact lie he wants us to believe today,
    But the truth is Jesus is free and available right NOW.
    He’s waiting to transform you right now,
    And his new covenant, which he spilled his precious blood for,
    You can enter it now.
    Transformation and redemption is available now, and yes it will be completed at a later time,
    But the world needs set right.
    As Jesus says:
    Matthew 9:37–38 CSB
    37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”
    We are those workers.
    We are called to start setting creation right.
    And we fulfil our side of this new covenant with nothing other than faith, which is believing Gods promise, and being loyal to Him and Him alone.
    And we don’t fulfill our side of the covenant to make right with God through works. We do it because we want to be right. We want to be correct image bearers of God.
    Because we’re sick and tired of living in sin, of being adulterous to God, of putting up idols to worship,
    We do it because we’re sick of seeing our brothers and sisters hurt, we’re sick of seeing disunity,
    We live right by God because we want to worship him with our lives.
    Romans 13:8–10 CSB
    8 Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not covet; and any other commandment, are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself. 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.
    So, my final challenge to you as we dive into our study on Romans chapter 8,
    Look around and see the goodness of God, and have the desire to join Him in the work.
    Jesus is a present reality, He is on the throne, He promises
    John 16:33 CSB
    33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
    He’s already conquered the world. And Jesus lovingly invites us in to work with him to make it right again.
    Enter into communion.
    Luke 22:19–20 CSB
    19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

      • Romans 8:22CSB

      • Acts 18:1–2CSB

      • Romans 3:9–10CSB

      • Genesis 15:4–6CSB

      • Hosea 6:6CSB

      • Romans 3:20CSB

      • Romans 5:20CSB

      • Romans 12:1–2CSB

      • Genesis 2:15CSB

      • Matthew 28:18–20CSB

      • Matthew 9:37–38CSB

      • Romans 13:8–10CSB

      • John 16:33CSB

      • Luke 22:19–20CSB

  • King Of Kings
  • How Great Thou Art
Valley Church Clinton
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