Episode Transcript
For consider your calling, brothers; not many of you were wise, according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world.
Even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. So that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. So that, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.
It's good to understand scripture with scripture. It's good to see how beautifully consistent God's revelation is. And even now, saints, we see the nations, the birds of the air, coming to find shade in the branches of this tree called the kingdom of God. We have come. And one day, we'll stand in the midst of a multitude that no one can count from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, and we will all be standing there, clothed in white robes that have been washed and made white in the blood of the Savior.
And we'll cry out that salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. It's sewn. It's small; looks like nothing, but it ends in that. It's what Jesus is saying. So, the parables of Christ, what can we say about them? Well, they are not a Christian version of Aesop's fables for us to read them.
Think about them and learn a few moral tips on how we can be better. They're not morality tales. They're not Jesus looking at us and saying, you know, you need to do better. Do better. That's what God requires of you. They are about realities of the kingdom of God. They're about God's law and God's gospel.
Just go ahead and have this in your minds, beloved, as you come to service, whenever we're going to be looking at one of these parables. We should hear these parables, and we should think, "He was talking about me." That's what we should think. Not talking about other people; he was talking about me. So secondarily what- given that secondarily,
yes, I am going to strive to live better according to God's law. I'm going to strive to love my neighbor better. I'm going to strive to live in a more sacrificial way. I'm going to strive to forgive my brothers and sisters more eagerly. I'm going to strive to forgive more joyfully- you fill in the blank. You should take that away.
And primarily, given that I know he's talking about me, my takeaway from the parables of my Savior is that I need him.
Everyday Grace 044
