Hope Blog

▶ 1:05:09

Jayson began with a story about a friend whose daughter, after encountering toxic church experiences and personal disappointments, drifted away from the faith she grew up with. Many in the room, he noted, know this story from their own families or friends. Faith, he reminded, is never inherited or forced; it is always a personal invitation from Jesus: “Follow me.”

Longing for a safe and influential community

▶ 1:08:04

Jayson shared his hope that Hope Chapel will be “a safe place for those whom God would join to us.” He pointed to things like Alpha as doors for people to encounter Christ through real relationships. Safety, he said, means both a welcome for people to bring their whole selves and the kind of community where maturing in Christ is possible. He prayed that Hope would be a place of light—“a city set on a hill,” as Jesus put it, giving light in a dark world and bringing glory to God (Matthew 5:14–16).

The real vision, he said, is not just safety but influence: a church shaped by the kingdom of God, “sometimes opposing the spirit of the age, owning our own deviations from it, and leaning into spiritual formation.” He quoted John Foreman—“Love is the rebel song”—and described Christian love as a “counterculture rebellion.”

Jesus’ command: Love one another

▶ 1:08:58

The heart of the message was straightforward: love is the core of Christian life, and Jesus was insistent about it. “Don’t tune out because I said love,” Jayson urged, “I hope you can hear it in a fresh way.” He focused first on Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John, where love is a recurring theme.

Jayson pointed out that Jesus stacks command after command in this passage, but all of them “crescendo into the purpose of all of this… so that you will love one another.” The proof of discipleship, he said, is not words or titles but love lived out.

What love looks like—Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount

▶ 1:10:23

Jayson turned to the Sermon on the Mount for specifics. Jesus’ teaching is not just theory; it is practical and sometimes uncomfortable. He noted that commands like reconciling with someone before worship (Matthew 5:23–24) are not metaphors but real instructions—a call to forgiveness and relationship over ritual.

Jesus presses further: “pray for those who persecute you,” “forgive those who hurt you,” “greet those outside your comfort zone.” These are not suggestions, but the shape of the kingdom, often at odds with what is natural or easy.

Community in the early church—persecution and division

▶ 1:12:48

The earliest churches, Jayson reminded, longed for the vibrant life of Acts 2:42 (“they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers”). But he was candid about two realities: the early church suffered real persecution, and it was also plagued by divisions and broken relationships. “If it wasn’t for those problems,” he observed, “we wouldn’t have near the scriptures that we have”—since so many of Paul’s letters address conflict, reconciliation, and the real work of loving one another in hard situations.

He pointed to Paul’s public conflict with Peter in Galatians (Galatians 2:11–14), the disputes in Philippi, and the deep dysfunction in Corinth. The call for unity is not theoretical; it had to be hammered out in real life.

In Philippians, Paul pleads with two women by name—“I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord”—and appeals for unity as a sign to the world (Philippians 4:2–3).

How Paul measures spiritual maturity

▶ 1:14:49

In Corinth, Paul faces a church that equates maturity with giftedness, knowledge, or visible success. Jayson read through 1 Corinthians 13 and asked the room to use it as a “diagnostic tool” for daily life:

“Love is the right promotion,” he said. He warned that churches and society both tend to promote people for their gifts or charisma, but “character development” is what lasts.

How we see each other—new creations in Christ

▶ 1:16:43

Jayson then walked through 2 Corinthians 5:14–21, where Paul calls the church “ambassadors for Christ,” tasked with the ministry of reconciliation. Jayson emphasized that verse 17—“if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation”—is in context about how we see others, not just ourselves. “Behold, see it. See the new that has come. Don’t see the old that they’re behaving with now and hope that new will come. Look at the new that is being born in them and call it forth. Pray for it, protect it, encourage it. That’s what we do as a body.”

Putting off the old, putting on the new—Colossians 3

▶ 1:17:31

Jayson turned to Colossians, reflecting on Paul’s pastoral heart: “He prayed churches into existence. He also exhorted them. And he teaches them songs and poetry to remind us what God is doing and what Jesus is like.” He noted that Colossians 3 is “one of the best passages in the Bible about discipleship and how we participate with the Holy Spirit in his transforming work of becoming like Christ, more spiritual maturity.” He encouraged everyone, “If you want to live for the next decade in a passage that will never cease to bear fruit in your life, this is a passage to do it.”

Jayson explained, “We set our minds on Jesus—at least we set our minds on how he lived and how he lived on earth. We don’t set our mind on our own sin. When he convicts us of sin, we repent of it, we confess it. Jesus stands with us and looks at our sin. He’s not like on the other side of our sin looking at us through our sin, going, ‘Gosh, you really stunk it up this time. I don’t know if I can do anything with you now.’ He stands with us looking at our sin. Takes it upon himself because we were not created to sin. Sin kills. So Jesus deals with our sin. So he says, ‘Set your minds on things above, not on things on the earth.’”

Paul lists things to put off—internal and external habits: “Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and covetousness, which is idolatry. … Anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk from your mouth. Don’t lie to one another.” Jayson noted, “Those are all things we do outside that are much more visible. If you can’t grasp anything else I’ve been hammering on today, these verses are the gold that you can take home and live with.”

He emphasized, “Putting on the new self is not a one-time event. It’s a renewing of your mind. It’s a setting these things before you. This is why worship is so important. Why dwelling on the truth and songs get stuck in your head. … Whatever you meditate on, whatever you think about, affects everything—who you are, what you become, how you treat others.”

Jayson stressed these words: “You are chosen. You are holy. You are beloved. That’s who you are, whether you feel like it or not, whether your resume reflects it. You are holy because of what Christ has done. … The prerequisite to moving on in spiritual maturity and putting on Christ is to understand who you are: chosen, holy, and beloved.” He invited the church to bear with and forgive one another, “not because we’re really special and smart and spiritual, but because God forgave us—even ahead of time, knowing you’re going to be in a room with somebody who you don’t like, who rubs you the wrong way, who gets on your nerves. Preparing yourself in advance by putting these things on. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts… because you were called in one body. You are a reflection of Christ, his body. And then the magic word: be thankful.”

Summary, practical counsel, and Paul’s prayer

▶ 1:20:19

As a summary, Jayson urged the church: “Put off the old self with its practices, the habits. Quit filling in the ruts that are carved in our souls by repeated sins. Starve it. Think differently about it. Confess it. Do some practical house cleaning.” He shared a personal illustration: “If chips and hot sauce are really an issue for me, I sin less—I do less anxiety eating—when they’re not in the house. That’s a silly example, but there are also places we go, things we read, things we watch, things we listen to and entertain ourselves with that put us down the wrong road and keep those ruts getting deeper. Just deal with your addictions. Let Jesus deal with your addictions.”

“And above all, remember: the prerequisite is your identity. Above all, put on love, which binds it all together.”

Jayson then led the church in Paul’s prayer from Ephesians 3:14–21, standing together as a congregation:

Jayson concluded with Paul’s blessing:

As the service ended, Jayson invited those needing prayer to come forward and encouraged the church, “Go in peace. Be Christ to the world waiting to encounter you this week.”

▶ 1:15:36

Matt picked the theme back up from communion and kept it as the spine of the
whole message: Jesus Christ is the perfect union of God and man, flawlessly both — and he
himself is our covenant with God. Which means the covenant is perfect. Nothing was
left out, nothing unthought of.

The recap that is actually the argument

▶ 1:16:49

Back to Adam, because Paul keeps going back there. Adam is walking, talking humanity —
all of us neatly unified in one man, which is itself a foreshadowing of the man who unifies
tribes and nations. We were not labeled sinners with a label maker; we really were
in him. And that, Matt said, is the scandalous force of
Romans 5:19
running the other direction: in Christ we are not called righteous by some legal maneuver
while remaining otherwise. In the same way we were made sinners, we were made righteous.

Romans is long and hard, but it is Galatians at length — you get the king and the kingdom
for free, with no room anywhere for earning part or whole of a gift.

What you can put to death, and what you cannot

▶ 1:18:56

Paul does tell us to put to death what is earthly in us
(Romans 8:13,
Colossians 3:5).
He never tells us to crucify the flesh itself. “Everywhere we infer it, we’re wrong,” Matt
said. “If you can mortify your actual flesh, why did Jesus have to die for us?” The
crucifixion of the flesh already happened, on a real cross, and it is ours by union with
him.

No condemnation is not a reprimand

▶ 1:20:10

Which is why
Romans 8:1–2
opens with therefore. Matt was blunt about the common misreading: that “no
condemnation” means you are not in huge trouble, but you are still in trouble and
you have a lot to clean up. That is a poor and diminished reading of a sentence that says we
are completely free from the law
(Romans 7:4–6,
Galatians 3:25).

Note whose flesh sin was condemned in. His. No law, however perfect, could reform weak
and corrupted humanity — trying again has never brought life, and we have all been there.
God the Son, who by nature cannot die, took the nature that by nature dies, so that we who
have no immortality could be joined to the immortal God
(2 Peter 1:4).
Matt reached for Lewis in Mere Christianity: God became man so that men could
become sons of God.

Two chances to sneak legalism back in

▶ 1:23:13

The first is verse 4 itself. “Those who walk according to the Spirit” is not top-shelf
Christians as opposed to ordinary ones — read
Galatians 5
carefully. Anyone in Christ walks according to the Spirit. All who are led by the Spirit are
sons of God; those sons are the ones hidden in Christ, who did not receive a spirit of
slavery falling back into fear but the Spirit of adoption
(Romans 8:14–16).
Paul is not smuggling legalism in under spiritual language.

▶ 1:25:37

The second is verse 17 — heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him. Read
that as a quota and you delete everything Paul has said so far, and Paul is not that crazy.
He is describing those who stay when there is heat and opposition, because it does come.
Those who abide.

Groaning, and the glory the universe is waiting on

▶ 1:27:18

This is not a passage about composting. It is massive, unhinged glory awaiting the
saints. The cosmos is held captive to decay on our account, so our glorification — the
natural result of Christ’s work — is what finally sets it loose. Creation groans in the
pains of childbirth, and so do we, waiting for the redemption of our bodies
(Romans 8:22–25).
The waiting is not a gap we supplement. If we have joined into his death we will share a
resurrection like his, unable to die anymore
(Luke 20:36).

Two-thirds of the Trinity on your prayer team

▶ 1:29:18

The Spirit helps us in our weakness and intercedes with groanings too deep for words
(Romans 8:26–27).
Matt made a careful textual point: the manuscript tradition the ESV translates here does not
even contain “for us.” It simply says the Spirit himself intercedes — something God
sovereignly does for all believers regardless of gifting, too deep to file under tongues of
men or angels. So he intercedes during our disciplined prayer times, and also while we are
eating a pickle, watching TV, or walking the dog.

▶ 1:34:10

Later, with Christ interceding at the right hand of God as well, Matt turned it into a
joke that carried the whole doctrine: ask how his prayer life is going and the answer is
incredible — beyond 24/7 coverage, at least two persons of the Trinity on the team. “Oh, you
meant my contribution. Not great.” He would like to be a man of prayer one day; for
now he writes his prayers down to keep from drifting, and awards himself bronze in
distracted praying.

The golden chain

▶ 1:31:27

Foreknew, predestined, called, justified, glorified. “You’re strapped into this roller
coaster for the whole ride, not just part,” Matt said. “You’re not going to jump out
halfway. Glory is the last stop.” He set the free-will questions aside for another week and
pointed out that Paul never says what God foreknew — it is enough to be satisfied with
Christ himself. And the destination is not a pittance. Not alms for the poor, not a seat in
the cheap seats, not sleeping on the ground in heaven. Conformity to the image of the
Son.

Isaiah’s servant, and Paul’s switch

▶ 1:35:59

Here is the move Matt did not want to skip. Twice already in Romans, Paul has argued for
abundant provision by grace through a figure — Abraham, then Adam. In chapter 8 he does it
again with a figure from Isaiah: the servant who lets people strike him, tear out his beard
and spit at him, and who sets his face like a flint because the Lord helps him
(Isaiah 50:6–7).

That is a courtroom — the Hebrew is the language of a lawsuit — and the question-and-answer
cadence is exactly what Paul mimics in
Romans 8:31–34:
who can be against us, who shall bring a charge, who is to condemn. The same section of
Isaiah gives us the beautiful feet of those who bring good news
(Isaiah 52:7)
and the servant whose appearance is marred beyond human semblance — stricken by men,
vindicated by God, hundreds of years before Jesus.

▶ 1:39:54

If God declares believers righteous, who files the countercharge? The law — but who
outranks whom? The enemy — same question. Your own thoughts and ideas, which rank below
both? There is not even a comparison.

▶ 1:40:32

But the parallel has one deliberate seam in it. In Isaiah it is the servant who is
vindicated. In Romans 8 it is all believers. Why would Paul take a text about the Messiah
and apply every conclusion about him to Christians? Because the work of Jesus, not our
response to it, is the basis of our identity and our confidence. His victory, his suffering,
his death and his reward are ours — the same argument as the new Adam in Romans 5, made a
third time with a new figure.

Nothing separates, and nothing is left to buy

▶ 1:43:38

Tribulation, persecution, famine, sword — sheep to be slaughtered, all the day long
(Romans 8:35–36)
— and none of it earns anything, because all of it sits under the servant’s identity. We are
more than conquerors through him, and, as Matt put it, in wild cahoots with the judge in the
courtrooms of heaven.

So transactional Christianity is finished. The abundant favor we want comes through union
with Jesus, not by acting like him.

▶ 1:45:48

Which does not leave us with nothing to do — it changes what the doing is. We spend
ourselves on the king for the love of the game, for honor, for joy, never earning anything
back. Serve him with all your heart and mind and strength; you purchased nothing with it,
and that is the point. A free will offering, not a sin offering.

Matt named the sales pitch he keeps hearing under all of it: you got the free package
when you became a Christian, but there is a platinum tier, and the good stuff — real
intimacy, real closeness — is available if you work at it. He does not know how that could
even be possible. He abides in us and we abide in him. There is no closer.

▶ 1:47:30

He ended, by his own admission, because he does not know how to end sermons — with the
line the message had been building toward, and then a prayer that the Spirit would tell each
person what to do with it.

One more thing, from the top of the message, worth keeping through the week: Steve had
said during worship that it is a wonder we have legal standing to speak to God at all — even
to bring someone else’s pain before the throne — and that he actually listens. Matt turned
that into an assignment. Pick a person or a family, here at Hope or at work, and bless them.
Ask the Lord who.