WEBVTT - This file was automatically generated by VIMEO 0 00:00:00.660 --> 00:00:03.440 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 1 00:00:05.770 --> 00:00:09.520 Jesus drenches our ears in the good news of his kingdom. 2 00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:12.720 It was John the Baptist who got it all going in the first place, 3 00:00:13.140 --> 00:00:17.360 he shows up and says, repent for the kingdom of the heavens is at hand. 4 00:00:17.900 --> 00:00:21.160 And then Jesus begins his ministry with the exact same words. 5 00:00:21.700 --> 00:00:25.280 Repent for the kingdom of the heavens is at hand. 6 00:00:25.860 --> 00:00:29.520 No wonder the crowds thought that Jesus must be either John the Baptist, 7 00:00:30.300 --> 00:00:32.880 Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets. 8 00:00:33.070 --> 00:00:37.800 They were all harbinger of repentance and so was 9 00:00:37.970 --> 00:00:42.760 Jesus as well. But something is quite different as Jesus comes along. 10 00:00:43.390 --> 00:00:46.400 It's not only that the kingdom of heavens is coming near, 11 00:00:46.780 --> 00:00:48.960 but now it has arrived. 12 00:00:49.700 --> 00:00:54.680 The kingdom of the heavens is present in Jesus Christ and 13 00:00:54.680 --> 00:00:57.840 he lets us know what his reign and rule looks like. 14 00:00:58.220 --> 00:01:03.040 He tells us about that in the preceding chapter for our text today, Matthew 15. 15 00:01:03.140 --> 00:01:07.880 We get a series of Kingdom of the Heaven's parables, including, uh, 16 00:01:08.100 --> 00:01:11.160 one of my favorite ones. And Dr. Lewis, if you're here, 17 00:01:11.300 --> 00:01:13.040 I'm going with the other, uh, 18 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:17.480 other interpretation of this than what you preached last month in this chapel. 19 00:01:18.260 --> 00:01:22.280 Namely, the kingdom of the heavens is like treasure hidden in a field. 20 00:01:22.910 --> 00:01:26.200 This is what the rule and reign of God in Christ looks like. 21 00:01:26.900 --> 00:01:31.080 He gives up everything in order to gain the treasure in the field, 22 00:01:31.180 --> 00:01:35.920 to gain his church because he so loves his church. 23 00:01:37.020 --> 00:01:41.840 And today we continue with more of that good news of the 24 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:46.680 kingdom as we are told that his rule in reign is 25 00:01:46.680 --> 00:01:48.880 about binding. And Lucy, 26 00:01:50.440 --> 00:01:53.880 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. 27 00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:58.120 Whatever you will bind on earth will be bound in heaven. 28 00:01:58.800 --> 00:02:02.560 Whatever you will loose on earth will be loose in heaven, 29 00:02:04.320 --> 00:02:08.400 binding and loosening. This is not a sedentary kingdom. 30 00:02:08.860 --> 00:02:11.520 It is a very active kingdom. 31 00:02:12.460 --> 00:02:15.440 The confession of Jesus as the Christ, 32 00:02:15.980 --> 00:02:19.760 the Son of the living God does stuff. 33 00:02:20.620 --> 00:02:24.960 It accomplishes things and most gloriously it 34 00:02:25.570 --> 00:02:28.520 loses us from the bonds of sin. 35 00:02:29.420 --> 00:02:34.160 But when the kingdom of the heavens, when its proclamation is rejected, 36 00:02:34.870 --> 00:02:37.320 well then that binds us. 37 00:02:38.660 --> 00:02:43.550 So which is it gonna be freedom or bondage? 38 00:02:44.570 --> 00:02:46.510 It seems like a no brainer. 39 00:02:47.930 --> 00:02:50.910 But then why aren't all free? 40 00:02:51.890 --> 00:02:56.030 Why are still some bound by the chains of their sin? 41 00:02:56.850 --> 00:02:58.150 Why would anyone choose 42 00:02:58.910 --> 00:03:00.360 Bondage? Now? 43 00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:04.560 This is the kind of question that some people will put to Jesus himself as if to 44 00:03:04.860 --> 00:03:09.160 put Jesus on trial. Now, people who had asked that question, 45 00:03:09.300 --> 00:03:12.440 we ought to have an answer for them. But today, 46 00:03:12.700 --> 00:03:17.560 rather than put Jesus on trial, I'm putting that question to you. 47 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:23.640 Why would you choose bondage rather than being 48 00:03:23.970 --> 00:03:25.920 loose from the chains? 49 00:03:27.420 --> 00:03:31.320 We cannot escape that question. Indeed, 50 00:03:31.740 --> 00:03:36.520 it presses in upon each and every one of us because we 51 00:03:36.660 --> 00:03:41.520 all clinging to our chains rather than live in 52 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:45.400 freedom. Now, it makes absolutely no sense. 53 00:03:46.260 --> 00:03:49.760 Why would anyone choose bondage over freedom? 54 00:03:51.180 --> 00:03:52.680 The answer is rather simple. 55 00:03:53.700 --> 00:03:57.320 We are at home in our chains. 56 00:03:58.590 --> 00:04:03.200 Just ask Harriet Tubman. Of course, her work is legendary, 57 00:04:03.310 --> 00:04:05.120 both her work during the Civil War, 58 00:04:05.430 --> 00:04:09.000 also on the Underground Railroad leading up to the Civil War as well. 59 00:04:09.660 --> 00:04:13.280 And while she went about her courageous work all the time, 60 00:04:13.980 --> 00:04:18.920 she was packing heat, she kept a pistol on her and it makes good sense, 61 00:04:18.980 --> 00:04:21.480 of course, when slave catchers would come along, 62 00:04:21.500 --> 00:04:23.440 she needed to be able to defend herself. 63 00:04:23.900 --> 00:04:28.080 But what might be just as interesting is that she would pull that gun 64 00:04:29.300 --> 00:04:34.040 on on weak hearted slaves who began to have second 65 00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:37.720 thoughts about whether they should be on the Underground Railroad or not. 66 00:04:38.020 --> 00:04:42.840 And were thinking about returning back to the plantation from which 67 00:04:43.230 --> 00:04:44.960 they had fled. Now, 68 00:04:45.100 --> 00:04:49.600 she would pull the gun on them and make them continue towards freedom because 69 00:04:49.660 --> 00:04:53.800 she knew that if they returned home back to the plantation, 70 00:04:55.150 --> 00:04:59.480 they could be put under duress at which they would give out information that 71 00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:04.000 would endanger the entire operation of the Underground Railroad. Now, 72 00:05:04.140 --> 00:05:07.160 her actions make good sense, 73 00:05:09.020 --> 00:05:10.400 but why did she have to do it? 74 00:05:11.340 --> 00:05:16.240 Why would anyone who's headed towards freedom choose to go back 75 00:05:17.020 --> 00:05:20.640 to slavery? Well, you know why? 76 00:05:21.510 --> 00:05:25.880 Because we are all comfortable with our chains. 77 00:05:27.860 --> 00:05:31.360 Chains restrict us. They bind us, 78 00:05:31.950 --> 00:05:33.360 they limit us, 79 00:05:34.700 --> 00:05:37.640 but they also will give us a sense of security. 80 00:05:38.460 --> 00:05:42.040 We know what to expect when we're bound by those chains. 81 00:05:43.180 --> 00:05:45.200 And when you live in chains long enough, 82 00:05:46.230 --> 00:05:48.600 they begin to feel like home. 83 00:05:49.550 --> 00:05:51.960 When you live in bondage long enough, 84 00:05:52.660 --> 00:05:57.320 you cannot imagine what life would be like if you were free. 85 00:05:58.590 --> 00:06:00.560 Even when you know that freedom is greater, 86 00:06:01.150 --> 00:06:05.680 even when you know that you are made to live free rather than in bondage. 87 00:06:06.380 --> 00:06:09.720 The thought of freedom is just downright unsettling. 88 00:06:10.590 --> 00:06:12.760 Freedom is frightening, 89 00:06:13.460 --> 00:06:17.680 not just because of all the unknowns of what life will be like when I'm no 90 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:20.000 longer bound up in my chains, 91 00:06:20.700 --> 00:06:25.030 but also because we're just at home in bondage. 92 00:06:26.540 --> 00:06:28.270 It's not a theoretical thing, 93 00:06:28.740 --> 00:06:32.390 it's a reality of what we recognize as sinners. 94 00:06:33.170 --> 00:06:35.310 We are all in bondage. 95 00:06:35.810 --> 00:06:39.030 It is not the physical chains that bind us, 96 00:06:40.010 --> 00:06:44.430 but it is sin that binds us. Now, 97 00:06:44.430 --> 00:06:48.990 it's most readily seen in those who are in bondage through addictions that 98 00:06:48.990 --> 00:06:52.670 control them. Alcoholism, drugs, 99 00:06:53.540 --> 00:06:55.790 pornography, uh, gambling. 100 00:06:57.060 --> 00:07:01.950 Some who are enslaved to those specific sins have been blinded to 101 00:07:01.950 --> 00:07:06.270 the horrors that it inflicts on themselves and on those who love them. 102 00:07:07.410 --> 00:07:12.030 But then there are those moments when the enslaved person 103 00:07:13.090 --> 00:07:17.150 can see the heavy burden it is placed on them and others, 104 00:07:17.850 --> 00:07:22.030 and then they begin to hate their chains. 105 00:07:22.540 --> 00:07:24.350 They hate their addiction, 106 00:07:25.650 --> 00:07:30.630 but they're so at home in that addiction that they can't imagine 107 00:07:31.010 --> 00:07:33.030 living free from it. 108 00:07:33.850 --> 00:07:38.590 The life of freedom is so foreign that it is downright frightening, 109 00:07:40.090 --> 00:07:45.070 but that experience isn't just restricted to those who suffer from alcoholism. 110 00:07:45.340 --> 00:07:48.310 Drug addiction, pornography or gambling, 111 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:52.150 every sin is addicted. 112 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:58.310 Every sin will bind you in chains that you cannot render a sunder. 113 00:07:59.090 --> 00:08:00.830 So when Jesus calls out to you, 114 00:08:01.330 --> 00:08:04.110 repent for the kingdom of the heavens is at hand. 115 00:08:04.610 --> 00:08:09.390 He is calling you to just contrition sorrow 116 00:08:09.860 --> 00:08:14.710 over the reality of the chains that you have chosen that bind you 117 00:08:15.010 --> 00:08:15.843 in sin. 118 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:21.020 So what sin is it that is controlling you? 119 00:08:22.370 --> 00:08:26.780 Perhaps you've matched stereotypical Peter now, 120 00:08:26.960 --> 00:08:29.860 not the Peter actually of Matthew chapter 16, 121 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:35.020 to whom the father has revealed Jesus's identity so he can make the good 122 00:08:35.020 --> 00:08:39.340 confession. Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. No, 123 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:40.273 not that Peter, 124 00:08:40.680 --> 00:08:44.980 but the stereotypical Peter who is hasty to speak 125 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:48.740 and therefore usually just gets it all wrong. 126 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:54.900 Are you like him addicted to a loose tongue? 127 00:08:56.110 --> 00:08:58.440 Instead of binding your tongue, 128 00:08:58.900 --> 00:09:03.640 you set it loose to slander another as you assume 129 00:09:03.940 --> 00:09:07.600 the worst about one for whom Christ died, 130 00:09:08.180 --> 00:09:11.520 rather than putting the best construction on everything 131 00:09:13.180 --> 00:09:16.120 you see, if you don't bind your tongue, 132 00:09:17.340 --> 00:09:21.200 it ends up binding you in its sin. 133 00:09:22.580 --> 00:09:26.160 And what sets you down that path that you would set your tongue so loose? 134 00:09:27.310 --> 00:09:28.143 Typically, 135 00:09:28.540 --> 00:09:33.360 it is pride that elevates you to a position where you believe that you are the 136 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:37.400 one who ought to be judging others and putting them in their place. 137 00:09:39.100 --> 00:09:41.200 Christ calls you to repentance, 138 00:09:42.180 --> 00:09:46.920 to put to death your pride and replace it with humility 139 00:09:47.430 --> 00:09:50.600 that confesses most merciful God. 140 00:09:51.300 --> 00:09:56.120 We confess that we have sinned against you in thought word and deeded 141 00:09:56.620 --> 00:10:00.160 by what we have done and by what we have left undone. 142 00:10:01.900 --> 00:10:03.520 Sin binds us. 143 00:10:04.620 --> 00:10:08.760 So how will we be set free? Well, 144 00:10:08.760 --> 00:10:11.760 freedom is found in Godly repentance, 145 00:10:12.130 --> 00:10:15.920 which includes not only contrition but faith. 146 00:10:17.090 --> 00:10:21.240 Faith that trust that in Christ there is freedom. 147 00:10:21.870 --> 00:10:26.760 That Christ loses his people from their sins and 148 00:10:26.760 --> 00:10:29.920 he does it right here in his church, 149 00:10:30.510 --> 00:10:34.480 against whom even the gates of hell cannot prevail. 150 00:10:35.700 --> 00:10:36.533 Why? 151 00:10:36.970 --> 00:10:41.380 Because one little word confe him who 152 00:10:41.420 --> 00:10:45.540 commands the gates of hell. I forgive you. 153 00:10:45.640 --> 00:10:50.580 All your sin in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 154 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:56.620 the gates of hell are powerless against such a word. 155 00:10:57.330 --> 00:10:59.020 Your chains are gone. 156 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:03.420 The gates of the kingdom of heaven stand open. 157 00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:08.340 You are loosed for life in the kingdom. 158 00:11:09.330 --> 00:11:11.300 Freedom is yours. 159 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:14.980 And it's all right here. 160 00:11:16.010 --> 00:11:20.180 Freedom is found in Christ church. Now, 161 00:11:20.180 --> 00:11:22.820 this seminary is of the church. 162 00:11:23.720 --> 00:11:27.260 So here in the seminary you find freedom, 163 00:11:28.760 --> 00:11:33.020 but it's not the freedom to pass over an assignment and not complete it. 164 00:11:33.800 --> 00:11:36.740 Grades are earned. They aren't given out by grace. 165 00:11:37.920 --> 00:11:41.940 But then this seminary, there still is freedom. 166 00:11:43.240 --> 00:11:44.700 The freedom to be honest, 167 00:11:45.570 --> 00:11:50.340 that we are sinners who have bound ourselves in the chains of 168 00:11:50.360 --> 00:11:52.740 our sin. The freedom 169 00:11:53.310 --> 00:11:58.120 That comes with the losing of that sin by the grace of God 170 00:11:58.260 --> 00:11:59.093 in Christ. 171 00:12:00.220 --> 00:12:03.640 We confess it in the third article of the Creed, 172 00:12:04.100 --> 00:12:08.960 or in the Catechisms explanation to the third article of the Creed in 173 00:12:08.990 --> 00:12:10.240 this Christian Church, 174 00:12:10.940 --> 00:12:15.880 he daily and richly forgives me all my sins and the sins 175 00:12:16.260 --> 00:12:19.560 of all believers. So what is the church? 176 00:12:20.780 --> 00:12:24.040 The church is a house of forgiveness. 177 00:12:24.860 --> 00:12:27.000 It is a house of freedom. 178 00:12:28.020 --> 00:12:30.880 It is the place of Christ's kingdom. 179 00:12:32.580 --> 00:12:36.760 The church is the kingdom of forgiveness, the kingdom of losing, 180 00:12:37.380 --> 00:12:41.280 the kingdom of freedom. Rejoice. 181 00:12:42.220 --> 00:12:46.080 The reign of Christ has set you free. 182 00:12:46.980 --> 00:12:51.920 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 183 00:12:52.110 --> 00:12:52.400 Amen.