Does Sinless = Happiness? | Theocast Clips

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There's some PTSD coming out of pietism. There was, uh, there was, there was struggle where you wonder, is it, is it possible to live in the

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Christian realm and not be hurt and, and to not struggle with your identity and struggle with your assurance?

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And I can say with full confidence that, that the only way to endure pain and suffering and the only way to endure strife and, um, the frailties of this world is through resting in Christ.

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Uh, so sometimes, um, when we say things like that, people think, give up and just sit there and hum, you know, in a meditative sense and then just rest in Christ, rest in Christ, rest in Christ.

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Uh, no, uh, that's not what we mean. So what's complicated about, uh, what's complicated about Christianity is that, uh, our flesh tends to clutter and bring in requirements that, uh, the

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Bible never does. Uh, Paul says this in the end of Colossians chapter two, that we have all of these asceticistic asceticisms, the systems that we'd like to place upon ourselves thinking that it's going to curb the flesh because Justin, our ultimate thought is this sinlessness brings joy.

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So what do we pursue? We pursue to be sinless, but when that's impossible to do, which it is, uh, we then become depressed because, yeah, because now, right.

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So we think if we don't have sin, then we'll be happy and we'll have joy. Actually, uh, Jesus describes thus in this way, as we confess our sin for Sean, as we run and receive mercy,

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Hebrews four, as we look for wisdom, James one, we are then given the means to actually have joy, which is to love your brother.

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So in the midst of our struggle against the flesh spirit, against the flesh, flesh and spirit, he isn't calling us to sinlessness for joy.

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That's impossible. He says in the midst of your struggle against the flesh, you're going to constantly be called to lay it down.

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And as you do, I will provide you joy. And it's not introspective. It's not you laying yourself down for you.

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He says, consider other people more significant than yourself, because that's where the source of your joy is. Think of it this way.

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You're taking the love that God has showed you, unconditional, full of grace and mercy. As James is dealing with this,

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I love this. He's dealing with the church like by the end of chapter four, he's like, you guys,

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I created such a mess, but there's more grace. That's how he describes it. Your struggle against this life, he says there's always more grace, which means we don't have to try and reach perfection to have the joy of the

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Lord. The joy of the Lord can be ours because God's love for us is static.

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It does not waver. This is first James. This is James one. It does not waver. It's not due to change.

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So if God's affection for us is static, it means we can always use that. As it says in second

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Corinthians three, looking at the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, Hebrews 12, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

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First Peter chapter or second Peter one, where it's nine, forgetting that we've been cleansed from our former sins.

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We're always looking to Christ. And then we use that to motivate us to love our brothers and sisters, which is where we find what

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I call a double dose of joy. We get joy of knowing our safety in Christ, and then we get a second set of joy in giving that love and that grace to those who are in need.

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Yeah. Couple thoughts. I think this is maybe going to sound theoretical or ethereal, and I don't mean it to, because this is part of that, like recalling to mind things that are true, and then it affects everything in terms of how

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I live. Paul may have said that. Think on these things. Yeah. It's a number of places in the scripture, right, that we're to recall things, think on these things, whatever.

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One is we need to continually remind ourselves that we are no longer under the law as a covenant of works.

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We are no longer under the law in the sense that it would condemn us and be our death sentence. That is a struggle for us because we are so prone to think of the law that way.

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And we're no longer under the law in terms of merit, earning something. We're no longer under the law when it comes to, like,

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I need to do well enough to escape punishment. We think in these terms. If we could understand that we are not under the law, but are under grace, right, we've been set free, we are not now under the law as a condemnation or as a covenant of works.