My Christian Existence: The Reality

Posted by on August 8, 1999 under Sermons

I do not think that you can exaggerate the importance of the inside person and the outside person being the same person. The agony we experience when considerate actions do not come from inward kindness is extremely painful.

A husband is married to a wife who does all the right things. She grocery shops, prepares food, keeps an orderly house, and discharges her management responsibilities faithfully. She respects schedules and schedule requirements. She does her full share of the work. Publicly, her actions look like the actions of a responsible, caring wife. She does all the right things.

And she does. She is very conscientious about doing the right things. But she has no respect or appreciation for her husband. She has no positive feelings for her husband. The wife on the outside does not match the wife on the inside.

A wife is married to a husband who acts in thoughtful, considerate ways. He acts in those ways because that is who he is on the inside. What he does reflects what he truly feels for his wife. The inward husband matches the outward husband.

Virtually every adult understands that reality. To me, this is the amazing thing: we understand that reality in human relationships, but we do not understand that reality in our relationship with God.

  1. Look carefully with me at Romans 12:l, 2 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
    1. Consider a common approach that we take to spiritual life and spiritual responsibility.
      1. First, we create an artificial separation between the spiritual and the physical.
        1. The separation of the spiritual and the physical did not exist in Israel.
          1. Read Deuteronomy and note that the physicals and the spiritual are discussed side by side without pigeon hole categories.
          2. Israel knew that God was the God of the physical and the spiritual.
        2. The spiritual and the physical are interlinked in the New Testament.
          1. Being a martyr was both a physical act and a spiritual act.
          2. In the judgment scene of Matthew 25:31-46, people were separated on the basis of their treatment of the hungry, the thirsty, those without a place to stay, those without clothing, those who were sick, and those who were in prison–very physical situations.
            1. Those rewarded received God’s inheritance–very spiritual.
            2. Those who were rejected were sent to be with the devil and his angels–very spiritual.
          3. In Matthew 10:42 Jesus said that even a kindness as small as giving a cup of cold water to one of the little ones would be rewarded by God.
          4. The whole concept of stewardship is using the physical to benefit the spiritual.
      2. Second, if we regard something to be undesirable, we label it as being “worldly.”
      3. Third, we create lists of “worldly things” and condemned them.
        1. If I do what is condemned, I prove that I am “worldly.”
        2. If I physically conform, I am spiritual.
      4. That was the typical spiritual mandate when I was growing up, and that was the typical spiritual mandate that I stressed in my early years of preaching.
    2. I want you to look carefully at Romans 12:1, 2.
      1. This is a primary proof text for demanding that Christians conform.
        1. You are to present your bodies (the physical) to God.
        2. You are not to conform to the world.
        3. You are to be transformed, and transformation is typically focused on the physical.
      2. I want you to look carefully at this scripture.
      3. We are to present our bodies to God by climbing up on the altar.
        1. Does the presentation of our bodies focus on the physical or the spiritual, on the internal or the external?
        2. It focuses on the physicals, the external.
      4. We are not to conform to the world, but be transformed.
        1. Is transformation an emphasis on the physical or the spiritual, on the external or the internal?
        2. Before you answer those questions, look at all Paul’s emphasis.
      5. How is this transformation to occur?
        1. We are to renew the mind.
        2. Is that physical or spiritual, external or internal?
      6. What will the renewing the mind do as it produces transformation?
        1. It will enable me to prove what God’s will is.
          1. Since I am the sacrifice, since I am not to conform, since I am to be transformed, since I renew my mind, the focus on the “proving” is not what I tell other people but the focus is on me.
          2. I prove to me what God’s will is.
        2. The result of understanding God’s will is a new comprehension of what is good, what is acceptable, and what is perfect.
        3. Is this a physical process or a spiritual process, an external process or an internal process?
    3. This is what I want you to see for yourself.
      1. In Romans 12:1,2, becoming a living sacrifice is both a physical and spiritual process, both an external and internal process.
      2. Paul does not separate the physical from the spiritual in the process of not conforming and becoming a transformed person.
      3. Paul does not separate the external deeds from the internal renewing of the mind.
      4. A Christian becomes a living sacrifice through what occurs in his or her life both externally and internally.
        1. We cannot claim to be the Lord’s internally when we externally commit our lives to the ungodly.
        2. We cannot claim to be the Lord’s by doing “the right things” externally when internally we refuse to belong to God.
    4. In Galatians 5 Paul concludes his discussion of Christian freedom by contrasting the desire of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit.
      1. He stated plainly in 5:17 that the flesh and the Spirit oppose each other.
      2. After characterizing the desire of the flesh, Paul declared the fruit of the Spirit in 5:22,23.
        But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
        1. Is love physical or spiritual? External or internal? Both.
        2. Is joy physical or spiritual? External or internal? Both.
        3. Is peace physical or spiritual? External or internal? Both.
        4. Is patience physical or spiritual? External or internal? Both.
        5. What about kindness? Both.
        6. Or faithfulness? Both.
        7. Or gentleness? Both (the gentle spirit that produces gentle deeds).
        8. Or self-control? Both.
      3. If the Sprit lives in you internally, you must produce its fruit externally.
      4. The fruit of the Spirit cannot be expressed in your actions when the Spirit does not live in your heart.
  2. If I were to make my personal list of the ten most tragic mistakes that we make, this mistake would be high on the list: we try to create personal spirituality by using a system of physical control instead of a process of inward transformation.
    1. We create the impression that we become spiritual by doing the right acts and rejecting the wrong acts.
      1. We create a control system.
      2. We create a list of definitions and a list of deeds.
        1. We define purity in physical terms, and we make a list of things that are and are not pure.
        2. We define faithfulness in physical terms, and we make a list of the things that the faithful do and do not do.
        3. We define godliness in physical terms, and we make a list of what is and is not godly.
        4. We define holiness in physical terms, and we make a list of what is and is not holy.
      3. Then we demand that Christians conform to our lists.
        1. Those who conform are faithful, spiritual people.
        2. Those who do not conform are worldly.
    2. I am not trying to ridicule or discourage.
      1. Listen to me very closely: I am not talking about the Christian man or woman who struggles against a problem, who wages a personal war against Satan, whose conscience is tender and heart is open.
      2. But I do want to give you some general examples when there is no struggle, no conscience problem.
      3. Why will a person come to the church building without fail on Sundays, but rarely be in the assembly?
      4. Why will a leader in a congregation quietly have an affair or quietly indulge his fantasies in pornography?
      5. Why will a Christian say and do all the right things when with friends from church, but say and do all the wrong things when with friends who do not go to church?
      6. Why have too many of young people concluded that religion is a matter of conforming to certain practices, but those practices have nothing to do with what you do or how you live?
      7. Why can we get so shook up about worship methods that are different but do not violate any teaching of scripture?
    3. Why?
      1. Yes, I understand that there is more than one reason that this happens.
      2. But I also know that one major reason is this:
        1. We convinced ourselves to determine right and wrong by externals.
        2. We convinced ourselves to define spirituality by externals.
        3. We convinced ourselves to measure faithfulness by lists that stress externals.
      3. So we have a large number of Christians who have concluded that being a faithful member of the church is just like being a faithful member of a business organization or civic club.
        1. You do the church thing.
        2. You pay your dues and satisfy basic requirements.
        3. You are physically present to go through the motions.

The bad news: the church is “eating” the crop it planted for decades. We have created too many Christians who place their spiritual security in external acts, but have never developed internally. They are literally afraid of the fruit of the Spirit.

The good news: there is a growing, fresh, renewed awareness of the need for internal transformation in a selfish, indulgent, evil society. More and more Christians are learning that life is found by letting God transform us internally.

To you, what is the good news, and what is the bad news?

“Re”creation Occurs From the Inside Out

Posted by on under Sermons

Recently I heard Vernon Ray share some thoughts. He used an illustration that I want to expand and share.

If you are familiar with the caterpillar that loves to eat tomato vines, hold up your hand. I doubt there is a caterpillar actually named, “tomato caterpillar,” but that is what we called it when I was a boy because it loved to eat tomato plants. And it had an enormous appetite. When you went to the tomato row and saw a tomato vine with a lot of its leaves eaten off, you immediately looked for the caterpillar. He was hard to find because he was the same color green of the tomato vine.

tomato hornworm

This caterpillar is about as big around as my little finger. He is soft and flexible on the outside, and very gooey on the inside. Vernon said that if you do it just right, that you can step on a caterpillar and slide your foot and stretch the goo for about four feet.

This is the amazing fact. That ugly, soft, gooey caterpillar will turn into a butterfly. Have you ever stepped on a butterfly? If you do, all you will leave is a splotch of color. Inside, the butterfly is very different to the caterpillar.

The incredible change from caterpillar to butterfly is strikingly obvious from outward appearances. By outward appearance, never would you think that a caterpillar and a butterfly have anything in common.

Never forget this: the striking outward change that produces the beauty of a butterfly happens because there was a more incredible change on the inside.

  1. Our God is the creator God who brought all things into existence.
    1. Everything had its origin in God, and everything was good when God created it.
      1. Evil totally corrupted everything God made.
        1. By corrupting it, evil distorted everything God made, including us.
        2. Because of evil, the physical world that God created was no longer good.
      2. If you have not considered how totally evil corrupted everything God made, focus on an illustration you will easily comprehend.
        1. Before sin, Adam and Eve lived naked.
        2. Until they rebelled against God, they wore no clothing.
        3. And that was not vulgar.
        4. And that was not lurid.
        5. And that was not crude.
        6. And that was not dirty.
        7. And that was not impure.
        8. And it produced no shame, no guilt, and no embarrassment.
      3. Be honest. In that single consideration, can you grasp that?
        1. Can you imagine public nakedness as the common reality without evil?
        2. No vulgar words, or thoughts, or actions.
        3. No lurid words, or thoughts, or actions.
        4. No crude words, or thoughts, or actions.
        5. No dirty words, or thoughts, or actions.
        6. No impure words, or thoughts, or actions.
        7. No shame, no guilt, no embarrassment, no danger.
        8. Does that give you just a hint of what evil did to us?
      4. God created, evil destroyed, and in Christ God recreates.
        1. What God does in the act of recreating is just as real as what God did when He created.
        2. What God does in the act of recreating is just as much the work and power of God, is just as much a miracle as God’s original creation.
    2. “David, is it really important that a Christian understand this?”
      1. No, it goes beyond being “really important.”
      2. It is essential that a Christian understand this.
      3. It is essential that you understand this.
    3. Paul stressed the importance of this understanding in two letters to Christians.
      1. He stressed it to the Ephesians when he wrote Ephesians 4:17-24.
        So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
        1. Because you are Christians, you do not live and act like people who do not know the living God.
        2. They do not understand; they do not know; and their hearts are hard.
        3. The calluses on their hearts allow physical appetites and greed to control their lives.
        4. That is not what you learned when you were taught Christ.
        5. You learned the you were to no longer live like people who do not believe in the living God.
        6. You learned an entirely new way to see the world, and an entirely new way to think.
        7. You learned that you must put off the old existence and put on the new existence.
        8. This new existence was created by God Himself in the righteousness and holiness of truth.
      2. Paul emphasized the same understanding to the congregation at Colossae in Colossians 3:5-10.
        Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him– (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
        1. Do not use your bodies for immoral sexual purposes, or evil desires, or greed.
        2. You responded to God’s love; these things invite God’s wrath.
        3. That is the kind of life you used to live, but you don’t live that life anymore.
        4. Nor do you let anger, wrath, malice, abusive talking, or lying be a part of your new existence.
        5. Those things were part of the old self that died.
        6. You put on the new self fashioned in the image of Christ who has created you again.
    4. I want you to notice something plainly emphasized in each of these scriptures.
      1. We do not use our bodies for ungodly purposes, and we do not live our lives in ungodly ways because we have been recreated on the inside.
      2. Both scriptures stress the fact that Christians are a spiritual creation of God.
      3. This creation makes us a new self.
      4. We behave differently and live a different life because we changed on the inside.
      5. God recreated the inside, and the outside makes that new creation obvious.
  2. As Christians, we have long stressed the way things look.
    1. We place an enormous emphasis on what we do with our bodies.
      1. We stressed restrictions on how we dress.
      2. We stressed restrictions on where we go.
      3. We stressed activities that Christians should avoid.
      4. One of our big questions is, “How will this look to other people?”
    2. It is legitimate to emphasize that a Christian must be concerned about how he or she uses the body.
      1. Both the Ephesians’ scripture and the Colossians’ scripture stressed that our bodies and our lives are not to be used for evil purposes.
      2. Paul urged Christians to present their bodies as a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1).
      3. Paul also urged Christians to realize that their bodies must not be used for sexual sin because the Christian’s body is God’s temple (1 Corinthians 6:19,20).
    3. But our outward appearance is meaningless if the outside does not reflect the inside.
      1. When we brought our sins to God for forgiveness and allowed God to place us in Christ, we allowed God to use His creative power in us.
      2. God created us all over again on the inside.
      3. We will spend the rest of our lives learning how to let our outside reflect what God did inside.
    4. What happens when God recreates me on the inside?
      1. A lot of things!
      2. One thing that it brings into existence is a godly conscience.
      3. My conscience constantly monitors my outside to see if it matches my inside.
      4. Will my conscience be your conscience and your conscience be my conscience? No, each conscience reflects that Christian’s heart.
      5. Romans 14 deals powerfully with the truth that each conscience is the voice of a Christian heart that belongs to God.
        1. The converted idol worshipper is convinced that he must be a vegetarian (14:2).
        2. The converted Jew is convinced that he must continue to observe Jewish holy days (14:5,6).
        3. Paul said don’t judge each other or hold each other in contempt (14:3).
        4. Paul said don’t judge the Lord’s servant (14:4)
        5. Christ sees the heart and conscience behind every Christian action done to honor God.
    5. Last Sunday morning I shared with you from Ephesians that God destroyed the wall that separated people.
      1. Last Sunday evening at the close of worship Lloyd Summers invited everyone to come stand as a group in this area and sing the last two songs together.
      2. A large group came to stand together, and a large group remained in the pews.
        1. Did God see the hearts and consciences of those who came and stood as a group? Yes.
        2. Did God see the hearts and consciences of those who stayed at the pews? Yes.
        3. Those who sang from the heart to honor God in the group praised God, and those who sang from the heart to honor God at the pew praised God.
        4. Could a godly heart and conscience be in the group and honor God? Yes.
        5. Could a godly heart and conscience stay in the pew and honor God? Yes.
        6. Would a godly heart and conscience pass judgment on “those who did not do what I did?” No.
    6. May I ask a question: when Christians do things to show and express their love for God that are different from the way I do them, do I build walls, or do I reflect God’s new creation?

[Prayer: God, help us not resist your inner recreation of us. Help us be new inside out. Help us be yours inside out.]

Caterpillars give me the creeps. Butterflies are beautiful. The primary difference between a caterpillar and butterfly is not what you see, but what you can’t see. The incredible change that you see on the outside is the result of the incredible change on the inside.

Carolina Sphinx Moth

Christ died for us to change us on the inside. When God recreates us on the inside, the outside must change.

My Christian Existence: The Decision

Posted by on August 1, 1999 under Sermons

If someone asked you, “What decisions must I make to become a Christian?” I hope that you could answer that question clearly. First, you must decide to place your active trust in the resurrected Jesus. We refer to that as having faith. Second, you must decide to redirect your life. You decide that you will not continue to live as you have been living. We refer to that as repentance. Third, you must decide to be baptized. This is the visible act, the visible declaration that states that you are placing your life in Christ in order that you might be alive in Christ and that Christ might be alive in you.

If the same person asked you, “What decisions must I make to exist as a Christian?” how would you answer that question? Would you say, “If you want to exist as a Christian, you must decide to go to church, to pray, and to study your Bible.” Are questions such as these the foundation questions of Christian existence?

  1. I want you to follow me as we do a rapid survey of Paul’s first message in the letter we call Romans.
    1. This morning I asked you to be certain that you brought your Bible tonight.
      1. Turn to Romans chapter one.
      2. I want you to see these thoughts as I call them to your attention.
    2. Look at Romans 1:18: “God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against ungodly, unrighteous people who suppress the truth.”
      1. The rest of chapter one shows why these people are ungodly and unrighteous.
      2. It also shows why it is just for God to use His wrath against them.
    3. Look at Romans 2:1-5: “You religious people who exist to pass judgment on other people will also receive God’s wrath.”
      1. Why?
      2. Your condemnation of others is inexcusable.
      3. You make the same kinds of mistakes that you condemn.
      4. You expect others to live it, but you fail to live it.
    4. Look at Romans 2:14-16: “Those who never had God’s law (the law that God gave to Israel) but who respond to God from the heart and the conscience will receive good treatment from God.”
    5. Look at Romans 2:24: “You who always had God’s law live in ways that cause other people to blaspheme God.”
    6. Look at Romans 2:28,29: “The real Israelite is not the person who has Jewish parents and was circumcised; the real Israelite is the person whose heart belongs to God.”
    7. Paul in Romans 3:1 anticipates the Jewish reaction to these thoughts: “That is not fair! We have been God’s people for centuries. What you are saying totally destroys the benefits of being God’s people all this time.”
    8. Now consider Paul’s response to their reaction:
      1. Romans 3:5,6: “It is not possible for God to be unfair!”
      2. Romans 3:9 following: “Are Jews better than Gentiles? No. Both Jews and Gentiles are sinners before God. Everyone is a sinner before God.”
      3. Then in Romans 3:21-26 Paul gave the most specific, concise statement found in the New Testament that states how God makes a righteous person out of a sinner.
    9. Then Paul emphasized some basic awarenesses.
      1. Romans 4: “God has justified the person who placed his trust in God’s promises since the time of Abraham.”
        1. Justification is produced by trusting God.
        2. Justification is something God gives, not something the person deserves.
      2. Romans 5: “It is trusting God’s work and promises in Jesus Christ that produces justification, and it is God’s justification that gives the person peace.”
      3. Romans 6: “The purpose of your baptism was to place you in relationship with Christ and end the rule of sin in your life.”
      4. Romans 7: “The law that God gave the Jewish people does not give and cannot sustain a relationship with God.”
      5. Romans 8: “God’s Spirit that God gives to those who are in Christ sustains relationship with God.”
      6. Romans 9: “I am in deep grief because my Jewish brothers reject Jesus.”
        1. “More than anyone else, they should understand that the sovereign God does not base His acts or His decisions on human understanding.”
        2. “Remember Jacob and Esau: God decided to work through Jacob, the younger, before the two were born.”
      7. Romans 10: “I fervently wish that physical Israel would come to God through Christ.”
      8. Romans 11: A serious warning from Paul: “You Gentiles who have been accepted and welcomed by God, do not get arrogant because God is working in you.”
  2. Bottom line, Paul, what does this mean about Christian existence?
    1. In everyday, understood concepts, what are you saying, Paul?
      1. You are writing to Christians.
      2. What does all this have to do with Christian existence?
    2. Bottom line, in understood concepts, what it said about Christian existence is stated in Romans 12:1.
      1. “Christian, put yourself on God’s altar.”
        1. “Jewish Christian, put yourself on God’s altar.”
        2. “Non-Jewish Christian, put yourself on God’s altar.”
        3. That is THE decision of Christian existence.”
      2. Paul, do we have to understand fully all these technical, historical matters you shared? No. But you must decide to put yourself on the altar.
      3. Paul, do we have to follow fully all your theological reasoning? No. But you must decide to put yourself on the altar.
      4. Paul, do we have to come to all the conclusions you reached so we understand exactly what you understand? No. But you must decide to put yourself on the altar.
      5. Paul, must we be able to dissect and analyze all your arguments? No. But you must decide to put yourself on the altar.
      6. Paul, do you mean that because we place our trust in Christ and belong to God through Christ that every Christian must climb up on the altar to be a daily, living offering to God? Yes! Yes! Yes!
    3. You and I have a problem here that the Christians who heard this letter did not have.
      1. All of them were very familiar with sacrificial worship; you and I are not.
      2. They knew what a sacrificial altar was and its purpose in worship; most of us have never seen a sacrificial altar.
      3. They knew that worship and sacrificial altars were powerfully connected; we never think of a sacrificial altar in connection with worship.
      4. When Paul challenged them to place themselves on the altar as a living sacrifice, they instantly knew what he meant and what he was saying; all of us have to be educated in altars and sacrifices before we can understand what Paul said.
    4. Think just a minute about sacrificial altars.
      1. First, you had the priest to place on the altar an animal that you owned.
      2. Second, that sacrificial animal had no part in the decision to be the sacrifice.
      3. Third, the animal was dead when it was placed on the altar, or it died on the altar.
      4. The purpose of altars was to receive dead sacrifices. Death and the altar were inseparable linked.
      5. I seriously doubt that any of us can imagine worshipping through an animal sacrifice and blood.
  3. The sacrifice that Paul called for Christians to make stands in basic contrast to animal sacrifices.
    1. First, we place ourselves on the altar instead of a priest placing something we own on the altar.
    2. Second, it is our decision to be on the altar. We are the sacrifice and we make the decision.
    3. Third, we climb on the altar to give our lives to God by living, not by dying.
    4. There is an inherent problem when we put a living sacrifice on the altar, a problem that does not exist when we put a dead sacrifice on the altar.
      1. A living sacrifice that climbs on the altar can also climb off the altar.
      2. If we are to exist as Christians, we must decide to place ourselves on the altar, and we must decide to stay on the altar.
    5. Most of us have a problem deciding to climb on the altar.
      1. We had rather reduce Christian existence to:
        1. Deciding to attend worship assemblies.
        2. Deciding to attend Bible classes.
        3. Deciding to develop a prayer life.
        4. Deciding to study the Bible.
        5. Deciding to assume some type of responsibility.
      2. Deciding to climb on the altar is more essential than these things.
        1. Certainly, if you place yourself on the altar you will do all these things.
        2. But what happens when we put our hearts, emotions, attitudes, and motives on the altar goes far beyond attending church, praying, and Bible study.
    6. All of us have a problem deciding to stay on the altar.
      1. When things are not going well in the family, we want to climb off the altar.
      2. When things are not going well on the job, we want to climb off the altar.
      3. When we are in conflict with another person, we want to climb off the altar.
      4. When we want to indulge ourselves in pleasure, we want to climb off the altar.
      5. When we struggle with a temptation that powerfully appeals to us, we want to climb off the altar.
      6. Virtually every day, we are tempted to climb off the altar.
      7. When we climb off the altar, we never intend to stay off the altar.
      8. We intend to be on the altar when it is important; we do not realize it is always important to be on the altar.

Remember: altars were not made to create wonderful, pleasant experiences. Altars were made for sacrifice.

A very real part of Christian existence is the peace, contentment, joy, and fulfillment found in Christ. Those are real. They are God’s promises.

But it is equally truth that a very real part of Christian existence involves surrender, sacrifice, and struggle. That is why Christian existence involves decision. It is impossible to be a Christian without making decisions.

And the key decision is to climb on the altar and stay there.

The Ancient Challenge and the Now Challenge Are the Same

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Woodstock ’99 was held last weekend. The slogan of the original Woodstock thirty years ago was “Three days of peace and music.” At Woodstock ’99, about 200,000 people attended the last night. It ended with about 50,000 of those people starting a bonfire, then torching the concession stands, then torching the equipment trailers, and finally setting fire to some of the set.

  1. I want to use this event and its ending as an illustration.
    1. Some of us sitting here literally cannot grasp that event or its fiery end.
      1. We could not be tempted to attend a rock concert, and certainly not that one.
      2. We are repulsed by the attitudes and words in the song lyrics.
      3. We will never grasp why anyone would burn the entertainment they attend.
    2. Some of us sitting here can understand the appeal of the event and the emotions of the people who started the fires.
      1. You have no personal interest in that kind of concert.
      2. You understand the song lyrics are destructive.
      3. But you have accurate insights into the mind set that would set the fires.
    3. Some of us sitting here know exactly why people attended and exactly why people set the fires.
      1. You frequently are around people who think as they thought.
      2. You clearly know the appeal of the concert, and you fully understand how it could turn violent.
    4. In this assembly there are at least three reactions to what I just said.
      1. Some of you are saying, “How could anyone sitting here understand anyone who thinks and behaves like that.”
      2. Some of you are saying, “If we refuse to try to understand people who are so different to us, a lot of people will never listen to us.”
      3. Some of you are saying, “The church does not understand the world around it, and I doubt that the church will ever understand me.”
  2. Our God specializes in doing the impossible.
    1. God always has specialized in doing the impossible.
      1. Building a nation from one child born to a ninety-year-old woman and a one hundred-year-old man was truly impossible, but God did it.
      2. Creating a special people for Himself from the enslaved descendants of this elderly couple was impossible, but God did it.
      3. Creating His unique kingdom, the church, from “every tribe and tongue and people and nation” was impossible, but God did it (Revelation 5:9).
    2. We spend a lot of time studying and talking about the church that God built through Jesus Christ.
      1. Too often the focus we have on the church is an injustice to God’s work through Jesus Christ.
      2. To make a nation out of the slave descendants of ninety- and one hundred-year-olds seems to us a huge impossibility.
      3. To begin with that nation and make a global kingdom comprised of people of all languages and cultures is, in comparison, an incredible impossibility.
    3. People who declare themselves to be God’s people always have struggled with the same problem.
      1. Ancient Israel never trusted God or what God did.
        1. They believed that God made them a nation.
        2. They just never understood God’s purpose in making them a nation.
        3. As a consequence they always thought of themselves as special, but rarely thought of God’s purpose as special.
      2. We have never truly trusted God or what God did.
        1. We believe that God made us to be His church.
        2. We just do not understand God’s purpose in making us the church.
        3. As a consequence we think of ourselves as being special, but rarely think that God’s purpose is special.
      3. We make the same mistake that Old Testament Israel made: we fail to grasp how special God and His purposes are.
      4. We have much greater faith in our concepts than our God; we trust our concepts more than we trust God’s purposes.
  3. Consider the magnitude of the impossible thing God did when He created the church through the redemption of Christ’s blood.
    1. God took people who believed in Christ from:
      1. Jewish people who had lived their lives in religious isolation for centuries.
      2. Proselytes, converts to Judaism from peoples who worshipped idols.
      3. God-fearers, people who had believed in many gods but who had become believers in Israel’s God, but had not become converts.
      4. People who were disillusioned with all gods.
      5. People who worshipped the Roman gods.
      6. People who worshipped the Greek gods.
      7. People who worshipped the mystery religions from the East.
      8. And God made one spiritual kingdom out of all of those people who placed their trust in God’s redemption through Jesus Christ.
    2. Precisely what was it that all these people had in common?
      1. Did they all speak the same primary language? No.
      2. Did they all share a common culture? No.
      3. Did they all know the Jewish scriptures? No.
      4. Did they all have similar social positions in life? No.
      5. Did they all have a similar way of looking at God? No.
      6. Did they all have the same customs? No.
      7. Did they eat similar foods? No.
      8. Then what did they have in common? Only one thing: faith in Jesus Christ and the God who sent him.
    3. “David, that is impossible!”
      1. For people, yes, that is impossible.
      2. For God, no, that is not impossible.
    4. Consider Ephesians 2:11-16.
      Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands–remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
      1. Before Christ, there was the wall of impossibility separating Israel from people of other nations.
      2. The people of other nations had one of two choices: either stay on the other side of that wall, or convert to Judaism.
      3. In Christ and through Christ God destroyed that wall–it was a done deed!
        1. It is not that God will destroy it at some future time.
        2. When Christ was resurrected from the dead, God destroyed the wall.
        3. Now any person from any background in any nation can approach God.
        4. Now God has established peace in Christ for any person in any nation.
        5. God made (past tense) both groups into one.
        6. God broke down (past tense) the wall of separation.
        7. That did not and does not depend on everyone thinking alike, or looking at the world alike, or approaching problems alike; it depends on what God did in Christ.
      4. Did these Christians to whom Paul wrote understand that God had destroyed the wall of separation? No.
        1. Did they believe and trust as fact that God destroyed the wall? No.
        2. They behaved like the wall still existed.
        3. Paul said, “God did it! God reconciles! Believe it! Trust it!”
        4. “Stop building walls in the church! Accept and trust God’s peace in Christ!”
  4. We are a loving, caring, involved congregation, but we face an enormous challenge.
    1. The “right now” times we live in are called the postmodern or postchristian age.
      1. I want you to consider four terms.
        1. The modern age: that time when people believed that absolute truth answered all questions and solved all problems.
        2. The Christian age: that time when Christian principles governed society.
        3. The postmodern age: the time when people reject the existence of absolute truth.
        4. The postchristian age: the time when society is not governed by Christian principles.
      2. Many of us lived in what was called the Christian age or the modern age.
        1. That was the time when society was regulated by Christian principles.
        2. The modern age, basically the same age, was when people believed absolute truth solved all problems. It was the key in all concerns.
      3. Some of us were born too late to live in the Christian age or modern age.
        1. You have not lived in an American society that accepted Christian standards.
        2. You have not lived in an American society that believed absolute truth solved all problems.
        3. Your whole life you have lived in what is referred to as the postmodern or postchristian age.
      4. Because of that, in the church, among Christians, all of us do not look at the world in the same way; we do not see problems in the same way; we do not look for solutions in the same way; we do not seek answers in the same way.
      5. That creates a very real, all-the-time problem among Christians.
        1. Those who come from the age of absolute truth tend to make every question, every issue, every concern a question of truth.
        2. And we discredit ourselves because every issue is not a truth issue.
        3. Those who live in the age of no absolute truth tend to reject all absolutes.
        4. And we discredit ourselves because absolutes definitely do exist.
        5. Both groups of Christians believe that God sent Jesus to allow us to be a part of God’s kingdom and to be forgiven of our sins.
        6. However, much too often, each group of Christians seriously damages their credibility.
      6. We do not have to look at the world alike, or solve problems in the same way, or find solutions in the same way, or seek answers in the same way.
      7. But we all must see God’s full work in Jesus Christ, God’s full purposes in Christ’s death and resurrection, and God’s true purposes in His people.

[Prayer for us to trust the God who does the impossible.]

Converts from Judaism who worshipped at the Jerusalem temple and converts from idolatry who worshipped many gods did not see the world alike or see divinity alike or see much of anything else alike. But all of them saw Jesus Christ for who he was and what he did, and all of them saw the work of God in Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. And God did the impossible. God made them one. God destroyed the wall.

God is not about building walls in the church. God is about tearing walls down so that we all, in Christ Jesus, can be the church. The ancient challenge continues. Will we busy ourselves building walls? Is that what we are about? Or we will be about learning to be God’s new creation in Christ Jesus?

Does the Compass or the Clock Control Your Life?

Posted by on July 18, 1999 under Sermons

In the early 1960s Benton Harnage, Gordon Teffeteller, and I went catfishing in a north Florida swamp. We used a boat ramp deep in a north Florida wilderness area and traveled about two miles into a river swamp. Our plan was to fish late Friday afternoon and all night, get home about noon on Saturday.

We made camp a couple of hours before dark. Gordon had a brand new shotgun, and he wanted to squirrel hunt until dark. It was the last weekend of squirrel hunting season, and he wanted to try his new gun out. Then Benton and I were going to fish until dark.

Dark came, the wind started blowing, and we started supper. Gordon did not return to camp. Do you have any idea how dark it gets in a swamp when the sun sets? Do you have any idea of how little you can hear when the wind blows in a swamp?

Benton left me in camp to go look for Gordon in pitch dark. And I am wondering what will I ever do if he does not come back. He was gone almost an hour. He came back without Gordon. He went again for about an hour. He returned without Gordon. He went a third time for about an hour. He returned without Gordon.

I was anxious the first time he went out. I was extremely nervous the second time he went out. I was just plain afraid the third time he went out. Gordon was lost. For all I knew, Benton was lost. And I had no idea of how to get back to the boat ramp.

That night I gained a new understanding of being lost. We finally found Gordon and got out just fine. But I never forgot the feeling of being lost.

In a recent interview I conducted with Jackie Hamilton, she stated that people needed to check their personal lives to see if they were living life by the clock or by the compass.

  1. The clock and the compass are two incredible instruments.
    1. The clock is a complex instrument that measures the passing of time.
      1. A clock tells us what time it is.
        1. It tells us the immediate present, but basically that is all it tells us.
        2. It does not predict how much time we have left.
        3. It does not give us time and cannot create time.
        4. It just measures time.
      2. In our society, the clock is an instrument of stress.
        1. It reminds us of how much time has passed, time that we no longer have.
        2. It cannot predict how much time we have left because it cannot predict interruptions yet to occur.
        3. In our society, the clock controls when we get up, how fast we live our lives, how hard we push, how long our day is, how fast we drive, and dictates our schedule as it alters our priorities.
        4. “What time is it?” is far more likely to be an anxiety question than a curiosity question.
    2. A compass is a very simple instrument that points north.
      1. Its only purpose is to provide direction.
      2. Not matter how expensive or inexpensive , no matter how complex or how simple compasses are, they have the same simple purpose–point north.
      3. By always pointing north, the compass enables us to establish a sense of direction.
        1. The compass is an invaluable instrument when we need direction.
        2. It can always help us establish a course, a direction that we can trust even if we don’t know where we are.
      4. Because the compass provides a certainty in times of uncertainty, the compass is an instrument of reassurance and comfort.
  2. The Bible is a compass, not a clock.
    1. Why should we regard the Bible to be a compass?
      1. Its basic purpose is to always point you in the direction of God.
      2. Jesus Christ is the compass needle that always, without fail, points a person in God’s direction.
      3. When we have no sense of direction in our life, when we are confused and disoriented, when we are not sure where we are or where we are going, the Bible focuses us on Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ points us to God.
    2. Throughout the Bible, one essential, basic responsibility of all people in all ages has been the same: find God and move toward Him.
      1. For an example, consider the nation of Israel.
        1. What was a primary purpose of the plagues when Israel was enslaved in Egypt? To direct them toward the living God whom they did not know.
          1. Exodus 6:6,7 Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.’ (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
          2. “Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God…”
        2. What was a primary purpose of Israel’s experience at Mount Sinai when the presence of God descended on the mountain and He spoke the ten commandments to them?
          1. To establish the identify to God in their minds and hearts.
          2. To give them a sense of direction that would lead them to God.
        3. What a primary purpose in Joshua’s statement to the nation of Israel when he challenged them to forsake idols and serve God?
          1. Joshua 24:15 “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
          2. A primary purpose was to give them a sense of direction toward God and challenge them to take it.
        4. What was a primary purpose in David’s Psalms or the Prophets’ writings?
          1. To establish the identity of God in their hearts and minds.
          2. To give them a sense of direction that would lead them to God.
      2. For a second example, consider the Christians in the New Testament.
        1. What was a primary purpose of Jesus’ death on the cross?
          1. To establish the identity of the living God who loved sinful people so much that He would sacrifice His own Son for their forgiveness.
          2. To provide a sense of direction that could lead all people to God.
        2. What was a primary purpose of the resurrection of Jesus?
          1. To establish the identity of the living God who not only would redeem us but raise us from the dead.
          2. To provide us a sense of direction that would lead us to God as we live in a world that denies God.
        3. What was a primary purpose of the evangelism and world wide teachings in the book of Acts?
          1. To establish the identity of the living God not only among Israelites but also among all people anywhere in the world.
          2. To provide all people a sense of direction that could lead them to God.
        4. What was a primary purpose of the New Testament letters written to churches and to individuals?
          1. To nurture believers as they fixed their focus on the living God.
          2. To provide believers a sense of direction that would lead them to the living God as they lived in an evil world.
  3. Jesus became the needle of our spiritual compass by never losing his sense of direct, by always facing and following God.
    1. Nothing ever deceived Jesus; nothing ever led Jesus off God’s course for him.
      1. When Satan tempted him person-to-person, Jesus stayed on course.
      2. When the Pharisees challenged and attacked him, Jesus stayed on course.
      3. When his disciples argued and fussed in ignorance and misunderstanding, Jesus stayed on course.
      4. When one of his best friends betrayed him, Jesus stayed on course.
      5. When his disciples deserted him at his arrest, Jesus stayed on course.
      6. When he was tried, falsely condemned, ridiculed, and abused, Jesus stayed on course.
      7. When he died hanging from a cross, Jesus stayed on course.
      8. Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
    2. He is the needle in our spiritual compass.
      1. As you live life, if you want to identify God, you start with Jesus.
      2. As you struggle in life, if you want direction that will point you to God, you start with Jesus.
      3. As Jesus declared to Philip, (John 14:10) Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
  4. Is your personal life ruled by the clock or guided by the compass?
    1. If you are honest with yourself as you examine the major segments of your life, is the clock or the compass in control?
      1. Is what is happening in your family relationships and interaction controlled by the clock or the compass?
      2. Is what is happening in your personal behavior controlled by the clock or the compass?
      3. Is what is happening in your work controlled by the clock or the compass?
      4. Is what is happening in your mind and heart right now controlled by the clock or the compass?
    2. Beware!
      1. Clocks run down and time runs out.
      2. The compass is always there, always steady.
      3. When we meet God, and we will, there will be no clock.
        1. Time will be no more.
        2. But the compass will be there, still pointing to God.

[Song of reflection: 613–Hold to God’s Unchanging Hand]

If your life follows the same course it is on right now, where are you going? If your attitudes of right now never change, where are you going? If the feeling of your heart that you have right now never change, where are you going? If things continue to happen in your family as they are happening right now, where is your family going? If your pleasures of right now never change, where are you going? If your priorities of right now continue to be your priorities, where are you going?

Does your life have a course of direction that points to God every day in every circumstance? Are you following the compass?

How Do You Look At the World?

Posted by on July 11, 1999 under Sermons

Revelation 1:4-6 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood– and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father–to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)

In the early 1900’s, members of the Churches of Christ looked at the world from a common perspective. Most of the members and most of the congregations were rural. In fact, in America, Churches of Christ began and spread as a rural movement. The church basically looked at the world through the eyes of a farmer. This world view was simple. It was close to nature. It incorporated hard, honest, physical work. Existence was a family endeavor. Families lived on the same land generation after generation. That was the way the world was intended to be. That was God’s way.

This view became the church’s accepted view of the world. What we taught and the way we approached life appealed to people who saw the world like we did. We had little contact with and little influence on people who looked at the world differently.

But that was not a problem then. Rural churches existed in rural isolation where little ever changed. Families lived in the same area for generations. In rural isolation, It was an effective approach to life.

When agriculture declined, family farms began to disappear. Grown children looked for work in towns and cities. Then their adult children went to college. Then their adult children pursued opportunity any place any where.

At first, careers had some basic things in common. You did on the job training. You learned the skills you needed. And you were basically set for life because many jobs were lifetime jobs. You bought a house, settled down, reared a family, and eventually retired. It was stable, predictable, and routine. And we did not need to change our view of the world.

  1. Many of us sitting here do not remember those times; many of us do.
    1. Help me illustrate the change. (All you need to do is raise your hand. Don’t hold your hand up until I ask, but hold it up long enough for others to see).
      1. I’ll ask just three questions.
        1. How many of your expect Fort Smith to be your home for the rest of your life? Hold you hand up, and look around. Thank you!
        2. How many of you expect to retire in your current job? Hold you hand up, and look around. Thank you!
        3. How many of you expect Fort Smith to be just one of the stops you make on the journey of life? Hold your hand up, and look around. Thank you!
      2. Most of you do not expect to retire in your current job, and most of you do not expect to live in Fort Smith the rest of your life.
        1. How do you think members of a rural congregation would have answered those questions fifty years ago?
        2. The transition from rural life to urban life changed the way we look at the world.
    2. Consider just jobs.
      1. The typical person in today’s work force will change careers (not jobs) four times in his or her work life.
      2. The growing reality is this: a job can take you anywhere.
        1. Recently a company paid one of my sons to come to California to convince workers in a plant that was closing to move to another company plant in Camden, Arkansas.
        2. In this era of downsizing, reorganizing, consolidating, and disappearing markets, jobs take people everywhere.
        3. One of our members commutes by plane within the country every week, and another member commutes by plane overseas frequently.
      3. What is this reality doing to us?
        1. It produces a different kind of needs.
        2. It produces a different kind of problems.
        3. It produces many different ways to look at the world.
  2. I want to share with you some of the different ways that we, within this congregation, look at the world. (I am talking about us, in this assembly, right this moment.)
    1. Some of us look at the world with some form of the “God is in control” view.
      1. There are several, but consider just two forms of the “God is in control” view.
      2. View one: the world chooses to be extremely wicked.
        1. God is angry and deeply offended by all this wickedness.
        2. God is primarily a God of wrath and justice.
        3. God will take vengeance; He will punish the world for its wickedness.
        4. The world should live in terror of God.
      3. View two: the world has been deceived and enslaved by Satan.
        1. God wants to rescue everyone who has been deceived and enslaved.
        2. God uses Jesus’ grace and mercy to rescue the deceived and enslaved.
        3. The purpose of salvation is to rescue people.
        4. The world should find hope in Jesus Christ.
    2. Some of us look at the world with the “God wants me to be happy” view.
      1. God wants me to be happy.
      2. God is for anything that makes me happy.
      3. When I know what will make me happy, God wants me to do it or to have it.
      4. God’s purpose for me on earth is to be happy.
    3. Some of us look at the world with the “God exists, but God is not in control” view.
      1. Evil controls this world, and obviously evil is defeating righteousness.
      2. God cannot change things; and He certainly cannot change them in my life.
      3. Church talk, church rules, and church principles do not work in the real world.
      4. I worship to put me in a more favorable position with God when I die–God rules that world, but He cannot do anything about this world.
    4. Some of us have the “God is not the origin of life or people” view.
      1. Life is an accident, people are the result of pure chance, and human life has no purpose beyond earth.
      2. Life is at the mercy of turmoil and suffering.
      3. We need to find ways to escape distress and suffering, and we should experience pleasure every way possible.
      4. Life is depressing; it is full of rejection, betrayal, and disappointment.
      5. There is nothing after death.
    5. Each of those views is held right now by someone sitting here.
      1. And I am supposed to preach sermons that are relevant and life-changing to each one of you regardless of your view of life.
      2. And I am supposed to do it in a way that lets many of you continue to think that everyone here sees the world just like you do.
      3. And every sermon ideally should be only twenty-five minutes long.
      4. And no matter how you look at God, or life, or the world, every sermon should have obvious meaning and value to you.
  3. Too much of the time what we do in our assemblies is not designed to “connect” the real, every day lives of people with God.
    1. We do not know what to do when people do not look at the world alike.
      1. Preachers do not.
      2. Leaders do not.
      3. Teachers do not.
      4. Opinion leaders do not.
      5. The core group does not.
      6. Increasingly, we struggle because we all do not look at the world alike.
    2. A typical congregation rarely makes a significant “connection” with the lives of people who attend.
      1. Every typical congregation has many struggling Christians.
        1. Lost jobs, terrible debt, troubled marriages, sickness, death, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, pornography, abusive relationships, unmarried pregnancy, abortion, anger, violence, drug addictions, alcoholism, and a long list of similar things constantly torment struggling Christians.
        2. So they find the motivation to “attend church” one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half hours on Sunday morning, mostly sit and listen, and then go away to struggle alone for six days and twenty-one hours.
      2. To me it is obvious that the design and intention of the New Testament letters was to connect the every day lives of Christians to God and teach them how to look at the world.
        1. For example, read the letters that Paul or Peter or John wrote.
        2. Look at how frequently they wrote about the common, every day problems of Christians: sexual sins, anger, jealousy, envy, greed, lying, idolatry, drunkenness, and such like things.
        3. Notice how rarely they stomped on Christians for their behavior.
        4. Notice how they consistently challenged them to let God, Christ, and the Spirit teach them how to look at themselves and the world differently.
        5. When God taught them how to look at the world, they became kind, gentle, patient, forbearing, forgiving, merciful, honest, truthful, and helpful.
  4. “David, where ever did you get that idea?” From the New Testament.
    1. See it for yourself.
      1. Paul visited Athens and spoke to the elite leaders of Greek idolatry and philosophy
      2. He tried to connect their view of the world with the living God.
    2. Acts 17:24-31 The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)

[Prayer: God, open our eyes, and help us see the world as you do.]

“David, how a person looks at the world does not matter!” Really? I wonder how Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris looked at the world before they walked in Columbine High School. I wonder how Benjamin Smith looked at the world before he began shooting people last weekend.”

How YOU look at the world matters. If you are serious about changing your life, if you are serious about letting God help you with your struggles, you must change the way that you look at the world. You must allow God, Christ, and the Spirit to teach you how to see life and the world from the eyes of heaven.

Getting It Together

Posted by on July 4, 1999 under Sermons

Please help me introduce our thoughts this evening. The help I need is painless. All I need is for you to answer a few questions by raising your hand. The questions are so simple that your initial response will be that they are stupid. Trust me. The importance of the questions will become obvious.

Question one: how many of you know your name? Excellent! That is 100%!

Question two: how many of your know where you live? Great!

Question three: how many of you who have a telephone know your telephone number? Wonderful!

The last two are a little more difficult, but not hard.

Question four: how many of you know your abilities, your talents?

Question five: how many of you know ways you want to serve as a Christian?

  1. Consider some scriptures from Acts that talk about the very first Christian congregation to exist, the church in Jerusalem.
    1. The scriptures in Acts:
      1. Acts 2:40,41, And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
        1. Note that this congregation began with 3000 new converts.
        2. They had 3000 new converts the very first day of their existence!
      2. Acts 2:47, … praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
        1. Every day God increased the number of Christians in that congregation.
        2. Every single day it was growing numerically.
      3. Acts 4:4, But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
        1. This interest was produced when the lame man was healed at the temple and Peter and John were arrested.
        2. The number of men in the congregation were now 5000.
      4. Acts 5:12-14, At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico. But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem. And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number, (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
        1. Ananias and Saphira died sudden deaths because Satan filled their hearts and motivated them to lie to the Holy Spirit.
        2. As a result converts increased, not decreased.
        3. Multitudes of men and women were constantly added to their number.
      5. Acts 6:7, The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
        1. This statement is made after the congregation faced its first major crisis that could have produced a major split.
        2. The way the crisis was handled produced the opposite affect.
        3. Not only did the number of disciples greatly increase, but many of the priests were obedient to Christ.
    2. How big was this first congregation? I have no idea. After we passed 5000 men converts, terms like “multitudes” and “great numbers” are used.
      1. I do not care whose standards you use, this congregation was enormous.
      2. Now I want you to note what this enormous congregation did when they faced their first major crisis.
        Acts 6:1,2, Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
        1. In this enormous congregation, the widows who were not native to Palestine did not receive the food they needed.
        2. Can you imagine establishing and overseeing an internal benevolent program in a congregation of this size with their needs?
        3. To deal with this serious crisis, the twelve apostles summoned the congregation.
      3. Note what happened when this huge congregation faced a second major crisis.
        Acts 15:4,12,22, When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.
        12 All the people kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
        22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas–Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
        1. The crisis: should non-Jewish converts be required to be circumcised before they were baptized? Did they have to comply with Jewish law before they became Christians?
        2. When Paul and Barnabas traveled to the Jerusalem church to discuss this urgent question, the congregation, and the apostles, and the elders received them.
        3. The congregation listened to the discussion of the apostles, elders, and principle opinion leaders .
        4. The whole church agreed with the apostles and elders that it was a good idea to send personal representatives from the Jerusalem congregation to verify their controversial decision.
      4. Years later, after the Jerusalem persecution, this congregation was still huge.
        Acts 21:20, And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law; (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
        1. Its membership still numbered in the thousands.
    3. How did a huge congregation at that time function so effectively?
      1. I have no idea; I just know that they did, and they did very successfully.
      2. And they did without:
        1. A church building.
        2. Mail.
        3. A telephone.
        4. A fax machine.
        5. Computer.
        6. E-mail.
        7. Typewriters.
        8. Paper.
        9. Bibles.
        10. Bulletins.
        11. Printed information.
        12. Or automobiles.
      3. I cannot imagine addressing their needs, nurturing new converts, evangelizing, and caring for essential matters in a congregation that size without those things.
      4. I have no idea about how they functioned, interacted, maintained themselves, assimilated new converts, or coordinated serving.
      5. I do not even comprehend how leadership functioned in those circumstances.
  2. With a huge church building, mail, telephones, fax, computers, e-mail, typewriters, offset printing press, paper, bulletin, printed information, Bibles, and automobiles, we could not do what they did.
    1. We could not assimilate into this congregation, nurture, and coordinate the essentials if twenty-five new converts a week were added to West-Ark.
      1. We could open the doors and preach, but we could not take care of them.
      2. Our current methods and forms of leadership could not handle it.
      3. Our current methods and forms of fellowship could not handle it.
      4. Our current methods and forms of teaching could not handle it.
      5. Our current methods and forms of nurturing could not handle it.
      6. Our current methods and forms of serving could not handle it.
      7. Do you doubt me?
        1. If twenty-five new members became a part of this congregation each week, we would double in number in less than 6 months.
        2. In one year we would have almost 1500 members not counting children and visitors.
        3. Do you have any idea of what that would mean?
    2. “Yes, we would have trouble seating people in worship.”
      1. Our assembly challenges would be minor compared the challenges we faced in being a living, interactive, serving community of Christians.
      2. There is not one thing we currently have in place that would be adequate for such growth.
      3. There is not one fellowship method, teaching method, interacting method, nurturing method, or serving method that would be adequate for such growth.
      4. Yet, the very first congregation was adequate for that kind of growth.
  3. We do not know all of our inadequacies, but we do know several of them.
    1. In the immediate future we will begin building a better data base and better methods of communicating and coordinating.
      1. That begins with very simple things.
      2. It begins with names, addresses, telephone numbers, abilities, interests, and desires to serve.
      3. It begins with your name, address, telephone number, and interests.
    2. We will urgently need your help; please help us become a growing, serving, interacting congregation.

Question: why should the Lord entrust us with more believers if we are not prepared to take care of them? Acts 2:47 And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)

“Answers” That Produce No “Solutions”

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In 1953 Joseph Stalin died. Shortly after Stalin’s death, Nikita Krushchev became the Premier of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. That was before many of you were born. Some of us remember those times well.

Nikita Krushchev was the Premier of the Soviet Union for 11 years. When he became premier, the Cold war between the Soviet Union and the United States began. A number of significant things happened as Krushchev controlled the Soviet Union. Within the Soviet Union, he began the process of removing the memories of Stalin and his influence. He also began promoting the development of technology and the Soviet Union’s global military presence.

These are among Krushchev’s notable world accomplishments. (1) He ordered the building of the Berlin Wall to control defections to the West. I still remember the pictures of the wall being built.

(2) He crushed a revolt in Hungary by sending in Soviet tanks and troops. I still remember the pictures of Hungarians attacking tanks with rocks.

(3) In 1959 he visited the United States. It was a strained visit. In a United Nations assembly, while sitting at a desk and making a speech he took a shoe off and beat on the desk. He said, “We will bury you.” Later, in a visit to Los Angeles, his anger almost caused a major incident. He was angry at a statement the Mayor made, and he was angry because he was refused a visit to Disneyland.

(4) Also in 1959 he and Richard Nixon had a confrontation in Moscow at the American National Exhibit. He declared Russian technology would soon pass American technology. He said, “When we pass you, we will wave to you.” At the exposition, Ampex was demonstrating the first video recorder and captured their argument on video tape.

(5) In 1962 he placed missiles with atomic warheads in Cuba. His actions literally brought the world within minutes of an atomic war between the Soviet Union and the United States. I remember those days very well. I was living in Tallahassee, Florida.

  1. In 1964 Nikita Krushchev was deposed as Premier, and he became the first premier of the Soviet Union who did not die in office.
    1. He immediately became a “non-person” in the Soviet Union; it was a crime to even mention his name.
    2. In the thirty-five years that have followed:
      1. The Berlin wall has been torn down and Germany has been reunited.
      2. The Soviet Union has collapsed and no longer exists.
      3. Most of the satellite countries that were under the absolute control of the Soviet Union are now independent.
      4. Soviet technology did not surpass American technology, and today Russian technology is severely distressed by a lack of funds.
    3. To me, the most astounding develop of all is this: his 64-year-old son, Sergei Krushchev, lives in the United States and is applying for American citizenship.
  2. When the Soviet Union collapsed, many of us who lived through the time of the Cold War could not believe the Soviet Union no longer existed.
    1. The greatest, constant, serious dangers we faced in our teens and early adult life were the dangers generated by the Cold War.
      1. When the Soviet Union collapsed, some of us thought, “This is the beginning of a new world.”
        1. “The major threat of nuclear war is over.”
        2. “The arms race cannot be resurrected as a global concern.”
        3. “The threat of the world being controlled by communism is over.”
        4. “The world will be a much more peaceful place.”
      2. Some of us assumed that the introduction of democracy and Western style economics in Russia would transform Russia as we watched.
    2. Russian was not transformed before our eyes. Instead:
      1. Worsening poverty engulfed the population, poverty worse than anything we have known.
      2. An immense personal struggle began for the majority of the Russian people: no hope, nowhere to turn, no opportunity, nothing to believe in.
      3. An enormous escalation of crime; when the authoritarian control of the police ceased, the crime rate soared
      4. Immediately they became a society without direction or anchors.
      5. Immediately they experienced deep disillusionment.
        1. The people were consistently told that as bad as things were in the Soviet Union, things were worse in the Western world.
        2. The people were told that the only real answer to all their problems was communism.
        3. They placed their trust in those statements.
        4. When both proved to be false what were they to trust?
  3. Atheistic communism systematically removed religious influence from Soviet society.
    1. Church buildings were devoted to nonreligious purposes.
    2. A concerted effort was made to remove all religious words from their vocabulary.
      1. In the early 1990s I had opportunity to lecture to an Institute in Kaliningrad.
      2. The English department invited me to lecture on religious subjects, but I had to lecture in English.
      3. Each day for three days I was allowed to speak once or twice in their largest lecture hall.
      4. I taught about Jesus’ sermon on the mount, Matthew 5,6,7 to illustrate how that Jesus’ teachings would benefit any society.
      5. The head of the English department was my translator.
        1. It was not unusual for her to stop and explain that they had no word to translate what I was saying.
        2. For example, the word “heart” had only one meaning, the physical organ that pumps blood.
        3. They had never heard the English word “divine.”
  4. Since the Soviet Union collapsed, conditions are worse for the Russian people.
    1. Conditions are worse in almost every context.
      1. Society is less stable.
      2. The state provided everything from a job to a home, to energy in a home to retirement; it is very difficult to relearn how to live in a society where the state does not provide for your needs.
      3. Their money has almost no value.
      4. The pensions of the elderly are not enough to sustain life.
      5. The crime rate and the nature of the crimes is unbelievable.
      6. Greed and graft rule and control.
    2. Why? How could a people move from a system of atheistic communism to democracy and things get worse?
      1. Many significant reasons produced that result.
      2. May I cite one significant reason that most Americans never think about.
      3. When a society moves from atheistic communism to godless democracy, there is no progress.
    3. We Americans are deceived about the freedoms provided by our democratic existence.
      1. We think that the primary answer to the world’s problems are the rights and freedoms provided by a democratic society.
      2. But again and again we watch as democracy fails to work in other nations that leave a dictator’s control or a communistic philosophy.
      3. We watch as such transitions often create new problems and instability.
      4. We watch as situations get worse and the suffering of the people increases.
    4. No matter how often this happens, we fail to see the obvious.
      1. Democracy works to the benefit and blessing of a society only when the people have unselfish values and moral principles that:
        1. Respect the dignity of the person.
        2. Value human life.
        3. Accept the worth and significance of the individual.
        4. Believe “I exist for purposes that go beyond self-interest and selfishness.”
        5. Believe honesty and integrity are the responsibilities of every individual.
      2. What will transform a people into that kind of society?
        1. Religion?
          1. No!
          2. Some of the most horrible acts our world has experienced were committed in devotion to religion.
        2. Faith in the living God who loved us enough to give us a Savior will transform any people into that kind of society.
          1. The living God teaches us the value of the person.
          2. The living God teaches us mercy and forgiveness.
          3. The living God teaches us unselfishness.
          4. The living God teaches us to be servants.
          5. The teachings of the living God empower the principles of democracy.
        3. Systematically remove the influence and teachings of the living God from a people, and democracy will not work in that society.
          1. People will sell recreational drugs to people to make money with no concern about what this does to persons, to families, or to society.
          2. People use people for selfish, sexual gratification with no concern about what it does to the persons, to families, or to society.
          3. People in their greed to exploit people for the love of money with no concern about what happens to the persons, to families or to society.
          4. People make victims out of people through crimes of every kind with no concern about what it does to persons, to families, or to society.
        4. Democracy works only in societies where responsible people of integrity value people.
        5. Democracy cannot work in societies where irresponsible people exploit others to achieve their own selfish objectives.
        6. Remove God from society, and you destroy society’s ability to be a successful democracy.

Ephesians 4:25-32 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)

People who trust the living God and give their lives to the Savior He sent seek to become that kind of people. That transforms the society because it transforms the people.

[Prayer to become increasingly godly people.]

Is the godliness of our society increased because of you?

The “Point System” Marriage

Posted by on June 27, 1999 under Sermons

[This lesson will be introduced by a video presentation entitled, The Ledger People. Running time: 7 minutes 17 seconds.]

What makes marriage successful? The popular answer to that question is a “no brainer.” In fact, the popular answer to that question is the same in virtually all generations. If we divided everyone into decades–teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, etc., I would expect the popular answer to be the same in every age group.

What makes marriage successful? LOVE!

  1. I have a question, a rather important question.
    1. The greater majority of people who marry each other in Western culture marry because they love.
      1. They are so convinced that love exists that you would seriously insult them if you suggested that their love did not exist.
        1. I can imagine the reaction of a couple working with me in premarital counseling if I suggested that they did not love each other.
        2. Talking about someone being indignant and offended!
      2. Yet, as certain as the greater majority are of their love, almost one in two of all couples who marry for the first time divorce.
        1. Of those who do not divorce, a significant percentage are miserable in their marriage.
        2. In marriages that do not divorce, more are unsuccessful than are successful.
    2. How do you explain this situation?
      1. If the majority of couples who marry are totally convinced at the time of marriage that they love each other,
      2. If almost fifty per cent of those who marry divorce,
      3. If the majority of those who never divorce have unsuccessful marriages,
      4. How can the key to successful marriage be love?
    3. “They thought they loved each other, but they really did not love each other.”
      1. Assumption: all divorces occur because of the absence of love.
      2. Conclusion: all people who divorce never loved each other.
      3. I have known divorced people who continued to love each other.
        1. They love each other.
        2. They have deep feelings for each other.
        3. They just cannot live with each other; it does not work.
      4. Many things other than a lack of love can cause a marriage to fail.
  2. A suggestion: if mutual love is healthy, maturing, and responsible, marriage will be successful.
    1. The real question: what allows mutual love to be healthy, mature, and responsible?
      1. There are many factors involved in love being healthy, mature, and responsible.
      2. Consider two key factors.
        1. A healthy, mature, responsible love has the courage to be vulnerable because it is rooted in and nourished by trust.
          1. “I give you my heart because I trust you not to break it.”
          2. “I give you my emotions because I trust you not to trash them.”
          3. “I give you my confidence because I trust you to be fair with me.”
          4. “Because I trust, I know you won’t hurt me.”
          5. “Therefore, I am not afraid to be vulnerable with you.”
        2. A healthy, mature, responsible love expresses itself in unselfish devotion.
          1. “You matter to me.”
          2. “Your happiness matters to me.”
          3. “Your will being matters to me.”
          4. “Your joy and contentment matter to me.”
          5. “You matter so much to me that I will not knowingly make you unhappy, put you at risk, or destroy your joy and contentment.”
          6. “You are so important to me that I will not hesitate to make sacrifices for you.”
  3. A marriage that chooses to function on the “point system” or the “ledger system” opposes the health, maturity, and responsible nature of love.
    1. What is the “point system” or the “ledger system?”
      1. It is a system that determines what happens in your marriage, when it happens, and to whom it happens.
        1. “I get my way this time; you get your way next time.”
        2. “We must be very careful to take turns about everything every time, and we keep very careful records about whose turn it is.”
        3. “We always keep track of who owes whom what.”
    2. Why does the point system or ledger system work against the health, maturity, and responsibility of love?
      1. First, it works against healthy, mature, responsible love by declaring:
        1. “I do not trust you to take care of me; I must take care of me.”
        2. “I am so focused on taking care of me and making certain that you are fair to me that I am rarely focused on you.”
        3. “I must protect myself; I must force you to be fair to me.”
        4. “My mother (or my father) was really hurt in her (his) marriage, and I will never let you hurt me.”
        5. “I do not have confidence in you; I really don’t believe that you know how to take care of me or want to take care of me.”
        6. This approach to marriage proceeds on an insecure foundation of self-centered thinking.
      2. Second, it works against love because men and women are different.
        1. “Duh! That is a brilliant observation!”
        2. The differences between men and women go far beyond sexuality and physical makeup.
          1. There are significant emotional differences.
          2. There are significant differences in perspectives.
          3. There are significant differences in their approach to life.
          4. Such differences do not make one superior to the other.
      3. I have no desire to build or promote stereotypes, but in speaking in this context it is necessary to deal with generalities. I readily acknowledge that there are exceptions. But, for the sake of illustration, let me cite two things.
        1. Illustration one: shopping.
          1. Telephone rings, husband answers, his wife’s friend asks for her, his reply: “She’s gone shopping.” Interpretation: I don’t know when she will be home.
          2. Telephone rings, wife answers, her husband’s friend asks for him, her reply, “He has gone to buy something.” Interpretation: call back in thirty minutes.
          3. Women shop; men buy; women search before they buy; men just buy.
          4. We husbands should be eternally grateful they do.
          5. If they did not, the economy would collapse, there would be no Christmas and birthday presents, and we men would wear the same thing every day.
        2. Decision making.
          1. Men solve problems; they consider only facts; they reach decisions privately with what they consider to be logic.
          2. Women are intuitive; considerations other than facts are as important as facts; they reach conclusions by talking about it.
      4. So what? So men and women are different. What does that have to do with the point or ledger system?
        1. They will never be perceived as fair by both husband and wife.
        2. Men and women’s definition of “fair” is different.
        3. Men and women’s definition of “big matters” and “little matters” is different.
        4. Men and women’s definition of “important matters” and “unimportant matters” are different.
      5. Any such system will do three things.
        1. At times it will make each of them feel exploited.
        2. At times it will depersonalize each of them.
        3. Many times it will make both of them feel like they are losing.

When marriage becomes a win/lose situation, everybody loses.

The Most Difficult Thing God Asks Us To Do

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The most difficult thing God asks us to do is to love. “David, that is an absolutely ridiculous statement! There are many, many things God asks us to do that are far more difficult than loving. One of the easiest things on earth to do is to love!”

Oh…it is? I am sorry. I did not realize how easy it is to love.

  1. Consider how simple it is to love by considering the easiest people to love.
    1. First, consider the words of love.
      1. Since it is simple to love, how often do you tell the individual members of your family that you love them?
        1. Do you tell your wife every day that you love her?
        2. Do you tell your husband every day that you love him?
        3. Do you tell each of your children at home every day that you love them?
        4. Children at home, do you tell Mom and Dad every day that you love them?
      2. Oh, I feel certain that everyone one of us tell every family member every day, “I love you,” because it is such an easy thing to do, and we are only talking about using words.
    2. Second, how often do you tell your husband, your wife, each of your children, your Mom, or your Dad in specifics why you love him or her?
      1. If I asked you to write down why your husband, wife, child, Mom, or Dad said that you were loved, could you do it?
        1. Wives, could you write down three reasons that your husband told you that he loved you?
        2. Husbands, could you write down three reasons that your wife told you that she loved you?
        3. Children, could you write down three reasons that your Mom and Dad told you that he or she loved you?
        4. Moms and Dads, could you write down three reasons that your children told you that they loved you?
      2. I am sure that each of us could do that because love is so easy, and we are only talking about being truthful with the people that we love.
    3. Third, if I asked each family member to write down three things done for you this month to express love for you, could you do it?
      1. What was done this month to express love for you, wives? husbands? children? Moms? Dads?
      2. And we are only talking about expressing love for the people we should find to be the easiest people to love.
    4. Fourth, do the people living in your household know your deepest feelings for each of them?
      1. A major crises exists in our families because many family members do not feel loved.
      2. Husbands and wives in troubled marriages don’t feel loved; husbands, wives, and children caught in a divorce don’t feel loved; people who live in impersonal families or alienated families or families hiding addictions don’t feel loved.
    5. Question: if loving is so easy, so simple, why do we have so much trouble with love in our families?
  2. “David, David, David, you might have a point about families, but you do not have a point about God. The most difficult thing God asks us to do cannot possibly be to love. It simply has to be something else.” Like what?
    1. “The most difficult thing that God asks us to do must be some act of obedience.”
      1. Of course! You are absolutely right! It must be obedience!
      2. Matthew 22:36-38 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
      3. Romans 13:8-10 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
    2. “No, no, no, David! The most difficult thing God asks us to do has to be some sacrifice!”
      1. Oh, I am sorry. Your are right!
      2. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
      3. 2 Corinthians 5:14,15 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
  3. Why is loving the most difficult thing that God ever asked us to do?
    1. I do not think it is necessary for me to answer that question; I think that you understand all too well why it is so difficult to be a loving person.
      1. As a result of years of working with people, this is my observation: the people who declare that it is easy and simple to love are the people who do not love.
        1. They talk about love.
        2. But they don’t actually do much loving.
      2. Be honest: would you honestly say that one of the easiest, simplest things you to do in your life is to love other people, to feel love for other people, and to express love for other people?
    2. If you are honestly convinced that loving is easy and simple, would you consider the last night of Jesus’ earthly life?
      1. If Jesus knew that all of his disciples would desert him, why did Jesus take them to the garden?
        1. Have you every been deserted? Did you enjoy the experience? Would you knowingly create the experience?
        2. Then why did Jesus do that? Because of love.
      2. If Jesus knew that Peter would deny him three times, what did Jesus take Peter to the actual place he prayed and ask Peter to pray also?
        1. Have you ever been denied by your best friend? Did you enjoy the experience? Would you knowingly create the experience?
        2. Then why did Jesus do it? Because of love.
      3. With all the power and options available to Jesus, why did he surrender to the soldiers when he knew they would kill him?
        1. Would you do that?
        2. Then why did Jesus do that? Because of love.
      4. Why endure the agony of the cross? Because of love.
      5. Why pray for the forgiveness of the mob who rejoiced in his death? Because of love.
      6. Why be kind enough to save a thief who died beside him? Because of love.
    3. “Now, David, put the situation in perspective: Jesus was the son of God.”
      1. And so are you.
      2. And so am I.
  4. Loving is the most difficult thing God asks us to do because all the difficult things God does for us begin with His loving us.
    1. Love breathes grace upon all it touches.
      1. It is good and kind to those who do not deserve goodness and kindness.
      2. We who love share grace for one reason: that is the way God’s love treats us.
    2. Love is an ever flowing fountain of mercy.
      1. You can show mercy only to the people who do not deserve mercy.
      2. We who love show mercy for only one reason: that is the way God’s love treats us.
    3. Love forgives failures and mistakes.
      1. You forgive people who failed you and hurt you.
      2. We forgive for only one reason: that is the way God’s love treats us.
    4. If we remove love from our lives and our motives, we remove God from our lives and our actions.
  5. Among the many problems in the congregation at Corinth were the mean spirited squabbles in their worship assemblies.
    1. Many things that should not be able to exist when Christians gather to worship were there: superiority attitudes, arrogance, jealousy, rivalries, condescending attitudes.
      1. Too many members were full of their own sense of self importance.
      2. Because love did not exist, they grotesquely abused the gifts of the Spirit and the power of God.
    2. 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:3 And I show you a still more excellent way. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
      1. If I spoke every human language, and I even spoke the language spoken in heaven, but there was no love in me or what I did, it would only be a noise.
      2. If I by divine revelation could teach the truths of God accurately, if I could explain every spiritual mystery (the exact work of the Holy Spirit; exactly where we go when we die; exactly what we will experience when we die; exactly what will happen in the resurrection), if I personally possessed the most powerful faith on earth, but had no love, I am a spiritual nothing.
      3. If I am totally benevolent even to the point of sacrificing my life, and do not have love, there is no spiritual benefit in my benevolence.

[Project this slide on the screen during the conclusion: Matthew 5:46,47 If we love those who love us, we are no different to people who do not believe in God.]

This congregation stands on the brink of the most significant work and growth that it has ever experienced. But no matter what we do, if we are not a people who love and who are motivated by love, nothing we do will mean anything to God. If love does not rule our hearts, our minds, and our emotions, God cannot use us. Satan can, but God can’t. Satan has his greatest successes in the darkness and void where there is no love. God cannot function where there is no love.

That is true in marriage, true in the home, true in the congregation, true in the community, true in the nation, and true in the world.

Perhaps the reason so many people think that it is so easy to love is because we have never truly discovered what love is.

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