Responsibilies / Obligations

The point: Grasp the two fundamental principles of the Christian life: the structure of ethical demands (indicatives/imperatives) and the pattern of motivational impulse (gratitude).

This analogy illustrates the difference between 'do to become' and 'you have become, therefore do.' God doesn't command us to do what we cannot; He transforms us by grace, enabling us to obey the imperatives.

When I look out my large study window in my study, I have a menagerie of different kinds of animals. A groundhog, rabbits, squirrels, little creatures with the brown stripe down their back called chipmunks, and occasionally some other creatures like big grown-up deer in my backyard, sometimes accompanied by several fawn. Well, I want you to imagine that one day I go out in my backyard and I'm able to catch one of the little chipmunks.

11:15 - 11:56 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He presents a parable of a rebellious son adopted by a compassionate king to explain the pattern of motivational impulse. Our obedience to God as King and Father is constrained by…

This extended parable illustrates the pattern of motivational impulse. A rebellious, disease-ridden son is pardoned and adopted by a king he once despised. His subsequent obedience is motivated by both the king's authority and profound gratitude for undeserved mercy, demonstrating the believer's motivation to obey God.

Well, here again, I want you to think with me as I've made up a rather impossible and grotesque illustration. But if it helps to nail down these principles, then it will be worth tolerating the rather grotesque illustration. Imagine you live in the days when there were real kings who ruled over real kingdoms, who had real subjects who felt accountability to the sovereign. And here is a man who has utterly rebelled against the sovereign.

16:59 - 17:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Come to every sermon with a disposition to please God, seeking light on how to please Him more out of love and gratitude.

This anecdote tells of a parishioner searching the commandments late at night to determine if he truly loved the Lord, illustrating the desire of a true child of God to know and obey God's will out of love.

Remember the incident that's been often told of one of the old Scottish preachers walked by the home of, I think it was the preacher walked by the home of one of his parishioners. I think that's the way the story went. And the light was on in the wee hours of the morning. And when he later saw this individual, he said, what in the world were you doing up that late or that early?

39:44 - 40:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Pattern your life after Christ, the perfect image of God, to legitimately become like God.

This analogy, building on the 'rebellious son' parable, illustrates that the adopted son, though an heir, must learn the 'etiquette of the court' by observing the king's natural son. This represents believers learning to imitate God by patterning their lives after Christ.

image of God therefore if we want to be like God we are set upon being like Christ go back to that man who was the criminal the son of the terrorist himself having imbibed these wicked views of the king and of his character and his government uneducated ignorant and now he's been adopted he's been brought into the family but you see he has known very little of the etiquette of the court and so what does the king the father say he said my son was born in the court from the time he was in his diapers he's learned courtly ways and courtly manners you are freely

48:15 - 48:59 Read in full sermon

The point: Let your light shine before men through good works, so that they may see and glorify your Father in heaven.

This analogy describes wanting others to think well of your good, gracious father, and seeking to conduct yourself in a way that reflects his character. It illustrates the motivation to glorify God by a consistent Christian life that wears down negative perceptions.

shine before men in the presence of men before the face of men in order that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven suppose you were privileged to have a godly gracious loving fair father the kind of father that was described this morning and yet all the kids on the block for some reason had imbibed totally totally distorted views of your dad and they spoke ill of him reflecting that they thought ill of him and everything in you short of going

51:56 - 52:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Do all things without murmuring and questioning, even when crossed or facing unreasonable demands, shining as lights in the world.

Martin shares personal experiences of his and his wife's cheerfulness and servant's heart in doctors' offices and hospitals, which amazed staff and opened doors for gospel witness. This illustrates how simple Christian conduct can glorify God in a 'crooked and perverse generation.'

and as child of God, the passion must be to glorify God by a consistent Christian life that touches even how you react to the unreasonable demands. In whatever sphere those demands are laid upon you, sons of God without rebuke, shining as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. I was sharing with someone, it's no option of sharing this week, I don't know at what table, what meal, what day, it's all a blur. One of the things that amazed my wife and me in all of the six years of our many,

55:46 - 56:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Live out your identity as a child of God, endowed with grace, by flying with the wings God has given you.

The anecdote of a Roman citizen dismissing temptation with 'I am a Roman' is used to convey the believer's identity and resolve: 'I am a child of God,' which should motivate righteous living.

the Father, to glorify the Father. You and I are God's birds with wings. Now fly. In the golden age of Rome, it is said that if a Roman citizen were tempted to dishonesty, that that citizen would look his tempter in the eye with pride and indignation and dismiss him with the words, I am a Roman. You got the application? I am a child of God. In every situation,

61:08 - 61:52 Read in full sermon