32 Acts 10:9-16 Made Clean

March 11, 2024

Christopher C. Freeman

Title: Imperfect Perfection Text: Acts 10:1-8 FCF: We often struggle with the tension of works and faith. Prop: Because Christ is well-pleasing to God, we can live in imperfect obedience and be counted righteous by faith in Christ, so we must seek out and trust in the righteousness of Christ. Scripture Intro: [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Acts chapter 10. In a moment I’ll be reading starting in verse 1 from the NET which you can follow in the pew bible on page 1242 or in whatever version you prefer. Chapter 10 of the book of Acts represents a rather pivotal point in the expansion of the gospel of Jesus. In keeping with its significance, this next narrative episode is quite lengthy. From start to finish it encompasses a chapter and a half, 66 verses. That is the longest narrative episode we’ve seen yet in the book of Acts. Because it is so long it is difficult to know exactly where to break it up. At first, I had verses 1-23. Then I narrowed it down to 1-20. Then I went 1-16. I finally settled for 1-8. In this way I hope to build each detail of the narrative, one block at a time, as Luke does. The narrative as a whole is somewhat of a puzzle. We have several pieces handed to us, but until they are assembled, we won’t see the full picture. So, let’s begin with the first detail of the story… lets start with a man from Caesarea named Cornelius. Please stand with me to focus on and show respect for The Word of God. Transition: [Slide 2] Has this ever happened to you. You are standing in the line at the grocery store. It is a very busy day. Snow’s coming tomorrow so people are out in droves to make sure they have their bread milk and toilet paper. You are waiting and waiting, the line is moving slowly. Finally, you are getting close to the front. The magazines in the rack distract you… ok being honest it is the candy in the line that is distracting. All of a sudden you hear those wonderful words… “I can help you in line 3. You look up hoping to meet the gaze of the cashier only to find that this cashier had said this to the person who literally just got in line. Makes you a little hot right? Like, HEY! I’ve been here this whole time. What would justice be? Would it be that they have to wait the same amount you do, or more? We all kinda feel this way about short cuts don’t we. But Jesus taught a parable of men being hired for work at various times of the day and still getting paid the same amount. The employer couldn’t be accused of being stingy because he paid everyone a day’s wage. But to the one who worked less, it seemed like he got more. Jesus’ point was that it was the employer’s prerogative to be generous in the way He wished to be generous. Today, we will see the abundant graciousness and generosity of our Lord to offer the Jewish Messiah to a gentile. Let’s look at verse 1. I.) No matter how good man is perceived to be, he is not good enough by God’s standards, so we must seek out and trust in the righteousness of Christ. (1-2) a. [Slide 3] 1 – Now there was a man in Caesarea i. [Slide 4] Caesarea as we can see on our map, is the furthest Northwest that the gospel has ever gone in the book of Acts. ii. Damascus represents the furthest northeast. iii. Caesarea is almost at the furthest north border of Samaria. iv. In short, the gospel is spreading far and wide throughout all of Judea and Samaria. It doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. b. [Slide 5] named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort. i. Cornelius is a Latin name meaning Of the horn. Cornucopia means horn of plenty. ii. Having a Latin name is not the only indication that this man is a gentile. iii. He is also a centurion. Meaning he is the leader of about 100 men within the Roman army. iv. He was also part of a larger Italian division of the Roman army called a Legion or a Cohort. v. A legion or Cohort consisted of 600 men. Meaning that Cornelius was no doubt one of 6 military leaders within this particular division of the military. vi. All this establishes Cornelius not only as a gentile but also a prominent one at that. vii. The question arises, if this man was in the Italian Cohort, why was he in Caesarea? viii. Caesarea is a highly valued port city on the Mediterranean and it would not be unthinkable for the Roman Emperor to keep a Legion station here. Especially in the wake of the political upheaval of Caligula becoming emperor and Herod Antipas being exiled around this time. ix. It would actually make a great deal of sense to have extra troops in the area just in case something happens. x. But there is more to this man than simply his prominence and his nationality. c. [Slide 6] 2 - He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was all his household; i. What does Luke mean that he was a devout God-fearing man? ii. In some ways this could be a simple description of Cornelius’ affiliation with the Jewish faith. However, Luke hasn’t shied away from using the term proselyte. In Luke 6 he mentioned Nicholas who was a Gentile proselyte now converted to Christ. iii. So, what exactly is Cornelius? Is he a proselyte or something else? iv. [Slide 7] To answer this question, we must look back among the first century historical and archeological records to understand a hierarchy that existed within the Jewish faith. 1. First there were Hebraic Jews. These were Jews who refused to allow Greek influence to spread among them. They continued to speak Hebrew or at least Aramaic. They did not assimilate into Greek traditions and heritages. They attended all the feasts and festivals and made sacrifices in the temple. 2. Second there were Hellenistic Jews. These were Jews who had succumbed to Greek influence in some way or another. Though still devout and Jewish, they had lost the ability to speak Hebrew and possibly even Aramaic. They, in some cases, had allowed Greek thought and culture to influence other aspects of their lives. They still attended feasts and festivals and made sacrifices in the temple. 3. Third there would be gentile proselytes. These would be gentiles who converted to Judaism and submitted themselves fully to the religious, ritualistic, and legal practices of the Jews. They would endure circumcision and offer whatever sacrifices they were permitted to offer though they would not be permitted in the inner courts of the temple. 4. Fourth there would be what would be known as God-Fearers. This is specifically a group of gentiles that are favorable to Jewish culture and faith and perhaps even in the process of becoming a proselyte, but are not yet truly converted. They were not circumcised. They did not necessarily attend the festivals and feasts, and they did not offer sacrifices at the temple. They would adopt monotheism and attempt to keep the 10 commandments in their lives. 5. Finally, would be, essentially, everyone else. The pagans and polytheists. These are the furthest away from God, since they worship false gods and not the one true God. v. [Slide 8] Cornelius then, is a God-Fearer. He is not quite a proselyte but is sympathetic to Jewish culture and faith. vi. Why is this significant? 1. This is the first time in the book of Acts so far that a non-Jew by blood and by religion becomes the focal point of the story. 2. Second, we’ve seen Luke’s story arch up to this point and it is reasonable to conclude even if we’ve never read the rest of this narrative, that the gospel circle is widening yet again. 3. Will the gospel go to gentiles not fully assimilated into Judaism? If so, do they need to be Jews first? We’ll have to see. vii. We also see that his whole household were also God-Fearers. Now what does this mean? 1. A household is the basic unit of social structure. But it differed from our household structure we have today. 2. Ignoring for the moment the fracturing of the modern household; even in the ideal with Father, Mother, children this would represent a much smaller sphere than 1st century households. 3. A household in the first century could include a much wider spectrum of kinship. There could also be servants and slaves included in the term household. 4. In short, a household could include anyone who lived in the home and met in the home as family. 5. And so, as we might expect, everyone in Cornelius’ house were God-Fearers also. We get the impression that he led the effort for this to be so. Most likely he was the patriarch and priest of his family. viii. How else did he lead? d. [Slide 9] he did many acts of charity for the people and prayed to God regularly. i. Alms giving and prayer have long been a standard measure for the truly pious. ii. As such the Pharisees were critiqued for their show of contributing large sums of money and long public prayers in order to seem very devout and pious. iii. Alms giving and prayer are two of the five pillars of the Islamic Faith. iv. Alms giving and prayer are sometimes a means of restitution in the Catholic Church. v. And even in the 1st century, Roman and Greek philosophers idealized acts of charity and devoted prayer to deities. vi. In short, giving charity to those who are less fortunate and praying regularly have always been associated with those who are devout and pious people. Whether it is true or not. And regardless of religion. You at least appear to be pious when you give alms and are consistently praying. vii. We ought also to see the correlation between Tabitha and Cornelius. Tabitha was a disciple of Christ who gave charitably too. We are not told that she prayed often, but it is reasonable to conclude she did. viii. On the surface then, we are given a man who has everything right, but he is missing one piece of the puzzle. But here is a hint. The piece of the puzzle he is missing isn’t that he hasn’t yet become a Jewish proselyte. e. [Slide 10] Summary of the Point: As wonderful of a man as Cornelius was, admired by men, prominent, a leader, a manager of a house, and pious to boot, he was still not good enough. He still lacked something. No doubt everyone admired and respected a man like Cornelius. And even though he wasn’t quite Jewish, we will see later he is highly respected by the Jews. The core truth we see in this first point is that a man can be judged to be a good man by all of society and still be short of the standard of God. For God does not require a good man. He requires a perfect man. Jesus died for sinners… even those whom our society labels as saints. So, we must not rest on our laurels and our own self-righteousness, for it will never be good enough. But we must seek out and trust in the righteousness of Christ. Transition: [Slide 11 (blank)] But we have made some logical leaps here. Is God not pleased at all by Cornelius’ lifestyle? And how do we know Cornelius lacks Jesus? Well, God sends this man an angel. Let’s see what the angel says. II.) God is pleased with and graciously corrects those who sincerely worship Him, so we must seek out and trust in the righteousness of Christ. (3-6) a. [Slide 12] 3 – About three o’clock one afternoon he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God, who came in and said to him, “Cornelius.” i. At 3 in the afternoon, it would be a traditional time for sacrifices and prayers to be offered up at the temple. ii. It was at this time that Cornelius, who was probably entering again into prayer, saw a waking vision. iii. A vision is something that appears clearly, vividly, and credibly in the mind but is not actually present. iv. An angel appears to him in this vision and calls to him. v. Like Jesus to Saul before him, this angel identifies Cornelius by name. b. [Slide 13] 4 – Staring at him and becoming greatly afraid, Cornelius replied, “What is it, Lord?” i. Cornelius had never seen anything like this before. ii. Like every person who encounters an angel of God, he becomes sorely afraid. iii. Cornelius responds to this angel’s call by using almost the same words Saul used when he was met by Christ. iv. Saul asked, who are you, Lord? And Cornelius says, “What is it, Lord?” v. What does this mean? vi. It is difficult to know whether Cornelius has assumed that he was seeing God Himself or whether he is using this term “lord” in its less theologically charged meaning, “Sir.” vii. Even if he did mistake this angel for God, would you blame him? viii. Regardless of what Cornelius meant, the angel makes it plain that he is not God but bears God’s message to him. c. [Slide 14] The angel said to him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity have gone up as a memorial before God. i. The angel indicates clearly that he is not God, but informs him that his prayers and charity have gone up before God. ii. What does it mean that his prayers and offerings have “Gone up before God?“ iii. And what is meant by it being a memorial or as other translations have it a “memorial offering?” iv. In the book of Leviticus, in several sacrifices the priests are instructed to take a handful of the offering and burn it on the altar before the Lord. The rest of the offering would be used by the priests. v. These are called memorial offerings because the one who gives the offering and the one burning the offering are all reminded that though God deserves all of the offering, he is pleased with a small portion. vi. How appropriate for the angel messenger to convey this to Cornelius. vii. Cornelius is, after all, not circumcised. He does not go to the temple for sacrifices. He meets in synagogues to learn of the Jewish faith and practice, and attempts to live accordingly, but is not Jewish. viii. Yet Yahweh, The God of Israel, through His angel, tells Cornelius that his charity and prayers have amounted to a memorial sacrifice. They have pleased God. ix. Though he has never sacrificed in the temple, his charity and prayers have been his offering. x. And his offering has pleased God. xi. So, is he good? Is Cornelius saved? Is that enough? Did he earn his salvation by an offering? xii. No. The angel had more to say. d. [Slide 15] Now send men to Joppa and summon a man named Simon, who is called Peter. 6 This man is staying as a guest with a man named Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” i. The angel communicates another message to Cornelius that, at first, appears to be separate from the first. ii. However, they are related. iii. He tells him to send men to fetch Peter and tells him where Peter is staying. iv. But we all know the reason for this. v. And later we find out that the angel told Cornelius not only that Peter needed to come to see him, but that he had a message to give to him. A message of salvation. For him, and his household. vi. It is almost as if God is telling Cornelius, “Remember, though you stand a far way off, you have gotten the important part of Judaism. You have gotten enough of Judaism to be ready for the next step in Judaism. Now Peter will come and show you what you lack.” vii. Is God giving Cornelius a shortcut? Is God saying… I desire obedience and not sacrifices? e. [Slide 16] Summary of the Point: And so, in this point, although those who are perceived as good and devout men are still not good enough, God is good and gracious to those who diligently seek Him. Though Cornelius had just enough truth and just enough good works to condemn him to hell, God rewards those who are pursuing Him. In many ways, Cornelius was probably more devout than most Jews of his day, because his motives were pure. He sincerely sought the Lord. God is pleased with those who, even imperfectly, sincerely worship Him. And God is sure to lead such people to what they lack. So, we must not be satisfied with our broken attempts to please God, even if He is pleased by our sincerity. Instead, we must seek out and trust in the righteousness of Christ. For it is in Jesus that the Lord has said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.” Transition: [Slide 17(blank)] God rewards Cornelius’ diligent seeking by revealing his need. He needs to call on Peter. Peter needs to come and give him and his household a message. So, what do those who have been illuminated by God do? What do those whose eyes have been opened do? They obey… III.) All who God corrects and instructs with truth obey His commands, so we must seek out and trust in the righteousness of Christ. (7-8) a. [Slide 18] 7 – When the angel who had spoken to him departed, Cornelius called two of his personal servants and a devout soldier from among those who served him, i. Like Aeneas and Tabitha before, Cornelius sets out to obey what has been revealed to him. ii. Aeneas was healed of his paralysis, Tabitha raised from death, but Cornelius was healed of another malady. A malady equally as hopeless. iii. You see for Cornelius though he was a God-Fearer, and though he could potentially achieve proselyte status in the Jewish faith and gain some measure of closeness to Yahweh, the God of Israel. He could never come closer than this. He could never enter the courts of the Jews much less the holy place or the Holy of Holies for that matter. iv. But what has his acts of charity and prayer done? It is a memorial offering. A reminder to him that though God requires all, He is pleased with what Cornelius has done. For he has done it while sincerely seeking Yahweh. v. So God rewards Cornelius by sending an angel, with the truth of the way he could be healed of that relational distance. vi. He has been told that he can come and receive the same gospel message that was given to the Jews. He need not be a proselyte first. Cornelius doesn’t need to be circumcised. He doesn’t need to become a Jew first. He simply needs the message that Peter will give him. What is that message? Jesus Christ crucified for sinners. 1. Jesus is the funnel. Jesus is the choke point. Jesus is not only the next and final redemptive step in Judaism, but He is also the next and final redemptive step for the Gentile as well. 2. He is the next and final step in the covenants He made with Adam and Eve. a. He is the sacrifice that was killed in their place so that they could be clothed perfectly and completely. b. He is the seed that has crushed the head of the serpent and enlarged the family of God. c. He is the New Adam, our new representative, keeping the covenant of works perfectly. 3. He is the next and final step in the covenant made with Noah. a. He is the ark delivering His people from the world of sin and the judgment that will overwhelm it. b. He is the bow of promise establishing peace between the Father and His people. c. He is bringing the next baptism with the Spirit and with Fire. 4. All the covenants of God, to Jews and Gentiles alike, are funneled down to Jesus. vii. And what does Cornelius do after receiving this command which he is told will be the solution for his malady of relational distance to Yahweh? What does he do when he is told that Peter holds the key for that distance to be erased? He obeys the angel and sends for Peter. b. [Slide 19] 8 - and when he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. i. It is difficult to know exactly what he tells these two servants and soldier. ii. The text says he had explained everything. iii. It seems as though everything he knew, saw, and believed was given to these men as he sent them to bring Peter. iv. Cornelius not only believed the angel, but wanted his whole house to believe as well. c. [Slide 20] Summary of the Point: We’ve seen how the devotion and goodness of Cornelius was not enough, that he still lacked true righteousness. We’ve also seen the faithfulness and compassion of God to reward those who seek Him diligently. And finally, we see the faithful obedience of all whom God reveals truth to… Cornelius was given life changing truth that would free him from his relational distance to God. And that truth would be given to him by Peter the apostle. So, what does Cornelius do when he is told that Peter holds the key for him to be brought into a close and special relationship with Yahweh? He obeys the angel and sends for Peter immediately. My friends, we know the piece that Cornelius was missing. It is Jesus crucified for sinners. So, we too must seek out and trust in the righteousness of Christ. Conclusion: So, CBC, what has the Lord said and how then shall we live? What doctrinal takeaway can we pull from this today? Doctrinal Takeaway: [Slide 21] Men and women can live lives that are devout and pious, being paragons of good among humanity. God is pleased with those who attempt to live out His law and seek to please Him. But mankind’s devotion and piety is not enough to satisfy the holy standard of God. So, God in His grace rewards those who diligently seek to please and worship Him. He rewards them by revealing to them how they can be made right with Him. In this we see the tension of mankind’s spiritual status as dead and paralyzed juxtaposed against being able to actually, in some way, please God with our meager efforts. Another riddle. The great answer is that God’s legal standard is perfection, even if it is pleasing for us to obey Him and seek Him, it will never satisfy the legal requirement of perfection. But that is why God has sent His Son. And that is why God promises to reward those who seek Him. Cornelius was rewarded for faithfully pursuing the God if Israel. How was He rewarded? He was rewarded by God offering Him the next and final step in His redemption. And it was not to make him a Jew first. It was to transfer him directly into the family of the Son. So Cornelius obeyed the Lord and sent for Peter. Jesus is the answer for all men and not just the Jews. All the covenants of God are fulfilled in Him. My friends, although it is true that when we are God’s people, we obey Him… our obedience is not what we rely on. Because our obedience will always be imperfect in this life. Instead, we depend on Christ’s righteousness. For it is only in Christ that the Lord’s legal standard is met. The best we can hope for is God to be pleased with us. With Christ, The Father is well-pleased. So let me improve upon this point in a few ways for us this morning. 1.) [Slide 22] Mind Transformation: “What truth must we believe from this text?” or “What might we not naturally believe that we must believe because of what this text has said?” We must believe that no matter how much righteousness we can muster, it will never satisfy God’s perfect standard. a. Cornelius was a man who put many Jews to shame. He devoted himself and his entire household to upholding monotheism and the law of the God of Israel. b. Even though he would never be accepted into the inner relationship to Yahweh, he still served Him and sought Him. c. This is a far cry from the Sadducees who only wanted power with their piety. It is lightyears away from the Pharisees who desired honor from men by their devotion to God. d. Nevertheless, as righteous as he was, Cornelius was still missing something. As pleasing as his actions were to God, he still lacked what Peter would bring. e. From meticulous legalism to liberal sincerity, mankind cannot ever achieve the perfect standard of God. f. As we spoke last week, we are all dead in sin. We are hopeless to heal ourselves. Hopeless to raise ourselves. The Lord must do this work. g. But our problem only begins there. Even though the Lord must raise us from sin death that is only half of our problem. For not only are we dead in sin, but we also dead to righteousness, h. Mankind, my friends, is in quite the pickle. Not only do they not want to please God, but even if they did want to, they couldn’t. You see God can’t bring us to life and then let us go. For we would simply die in sin again when we fail. i. No. God must unite us to something that will never fail. j. This is what orthodox Christianity teaches. Mankind is doubly damned. Not only are we dead in sin, but God’s standard is perfection. You cannot be perfect if you are by nature dead in flaws. k. Like a computer with a hardware problem. Even if you reboot it and debug it… if there is a flaw with the hard drive or the motherboard… it will never function properly. The bad hardware must be replaced. l. Mankind not only needs a reboot, but a hardware replacement as well. 2.) [Slide 23] Refutation: “What lies must we cast down” or “What do we naturally believe, or have been taught to believe, that this passage shows is false?” We must deny that being dead in sin means we are unable to do good. a. Some having misunderstood this teaching have critiqued it by saying, “If mankind is dead in sin, If mankind is not righteous, then why do my Muslim neighbors shovel my driveway out of kindness? Why do my lost family members buy me flowers when I’m down? Why do my unbelieving co-workers pay their taxes and offer sacrificial love to their families?” b. They offer a wise critique to a doctrine no one is teaching. c. No one teaches that because mankind is dead in sin they can do no good thing. No one is teaching that because mankind is enslaved to sin that all they can do is sin. d. What we mean when we say that mankind is totally depraved or totally unable is that man is not able and not willing to spiritually free himself from sin or seek God or be made right with God. e. In the previous example we said that “mankind not only needs a reboot, but a hardware replacement as well.” Now think with me… if we are the computer, can we do that on our own? f. And I know you are thinking – well sometimes my computer reboots on its own. g. Does it? Or did someone program the computer to reboot under certain conditions? h. This is what this doctrine means. Just like a computer, we are not able to reboot ourselves or change our hardware. i. But that doesn’t mean that the computer can’t do some good things right? It just means that those good things don’t fix the problem. j. Cornelius proves this out. He was able to do good things, things that were pleasing to God – but he still needed God to send an angel and an apostle to bring him to Christ. 3.) [Slide 24] De-Exhortation: “What actions should we stop doing” or “What behaviors do we naturally practice that this passage tells us to stop doing?” We must stop relying on our own obedience to perfectly please God. a. No doubt we all sometimes succumb to this erroneous teaching that has bound so many of God’s dear children. b. We speak harshly to our wives and hit every red light on the way to work. Immediately we observe, God is punishing me for being harsh. c. We pray for our neighbor and then we inherit a small house form a distant uncle who passed. Apparently, God is pleased with me for praying for my neighbors. d. If I wear this, or go to that movie, or drink that, or say this, God will be most displeased with me. e. Even though there is a certain measure of truth in some of this – God is pleased and displeased by our choices, the thing that is faulty is our reliance on our performance to please God. f. My friends, our performance is not what perfectly pleases God. Why? Because our performance is never perfect. g. The scriptures teach us that there is no condemnation in Christ. The scriptures teach us that although we will be rewarded with crowns for our faithfulness to God – we will cast them all at the feet of Jesus. h. The whole of it my friends is that we can’t be more or less pleasing to God because we are in Christ. And with Christ, the Father is well-pleased. i. But we could pendulum swing here couldn’t we… 4.) [Slide 25] Exhortation: “What actions should we take?” or “What is this passage specifically commanding us to do that we don’t naturally do or aren’t currently doing?” We must obey the Lord while trusting that Christ has satisfied God’s perfect standard of performance. a. You see my friends, we obey the Lord out of love and thanksgiving. b. We are not trying to please Him more or fear displeasing him. We are obeying His law because we love Him and are thankful that He first loved us. c. We rest in the perfect righteousness of Christ, knowing that we will never lose that perfect standing before our Father. And then in that state of declared righteousness, we imperfectly obey. d. This is the beauty of the gospel. e. We are imperfectly perfect by faith in Christ. f. And it works because He changes our desires. We no longer want to wallow in imperfection. Instead, we long to be like Christ, while knowing that God has made us to be His righteousness. g. What a great God we serve that although His standard is perfection, He has achieved it for us while changing us to continue to desire it. 5.) [Slide 26] Comfort: “What comfort can we find here?” or “What peace does the Lord promise us in light of this passage of scripture?” God will reveal Himself to those who diligently pursue Him. a. Perhaps you left last week with a feeling of despair. b. God must wake up people from spiritual death and paralysis. I get it. But what if someone really really really wants to serve God but God says no to waking them up? c. What if someone really wants to be saved but God never turns the lights on, God never opens the prison cell. God never raises them up. What happens then? d. My friends… God promises that those who diligently seek Him will be rewarded. Those who keep knocking on His door, He won’t cast out. He will welcome them in. e. Perhaps that is you today. Perhaps you have desired to be God’s child and have been knocking and knocking and still He has not answered. f. Will you give up now? Will you turn away? Where will you go? Who else can save like our God? g. There is no other name under heaven by which men can be saved. He is the Son of God who has the words of life… where else can you go? h. Don’t stop knocking my friends. The Lord promises that He will let you in. Let me close with a prayer from the church father Eusebius of Caesarea, fitting since Cornelius was from this city. We give you thanks, our God and Savior, and to you, O Christ, in our own feeble way. You are the supreme providence of the mighty Father, who both saves us from evil and teaches us in the way of truth. I say these things not to praise, but simply to give thanks. Who among us is worthy to give you praise? You called creation into being from nothing. You illuminated it with your light. You regulated the confusion of the elements by your laws of harmony and order. More than that, we recognize your lovingkindness. You caused those whose hearts inclined toward you to sincerely seek a divine and blessed life. You’ve allowed us to pass along what we’ve received from you, like merchants of wisdom and true blessings. We reap the everlasting fruit of your goodness. Freed from the net of sin, and permeated with a love for others, mercy is always our point of view. We hope for the promise of faith, and we are devoted to modest living – all the virtues we had once thrown aside, but are now restored by you whose generous care is over all. In Jesus name we pray… Amen. May the God who did not spare His own Son, But sent Him to gladly bear our burden on the cross, Remind you always of these things, though you Know them and are firmly established in the truth, Until you arrive to a full measure of glory. Until we meet again… Go in peace.