Not to Your Own Interests (Philippians 2:1-8)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
My name is Spencer I'm one of the pastors here we are continuing to walk through the book of Philippians we're in Chapter 2 now we're going to be in verses 1-8 and uh now you thought maybe a precedent was set last week we are going to go through all eight verses y'all not one verse left behind we will finish the entire passage before I sit down so you can follow along in your Bibles yeah that was a joke one left there we go starting out right we're going to go through all eight verses and we are going to uh continue to walk through what Philippians is unpacking which is this theme of unity.
So we'll have the text on the screen also be on page 570 in your blue Bibles I think the fa the Church gets uh really an unfair generalization uh on a lot of different levels I think that in a lot of ways uh it gets generalized as a social club of of just connections that we get to make uh that there isn't a lot of depth I think that that is an accusation that gets thrown at the Church quite a bit I think another thing gets thrown at the Church is that it's just a place where uh we're just kind of concerned about money and it's just more of a of a business.
It's more self-serving I think there's a lot of different things that get thrown at the Church uh and what I've seen over the years is something something quite different my experience with the Church of Jesus Christ and the local Church is that is a beautiful place to see the Gospel in action I've seen that time and time again uh many of you some of you may not know this about uh eight years ago my wife and I we actually moved down here uh to plant our own Church um that's why we we moved back to this area was to plant our own Church and uh you know I didn't grow up Baptist and didn't know.
How Baptist did things and they said you got to have a a Church that sponsors you kind of Church that gets behind you and I was like well I don't know a lot of them cuz I didn't wasn't raised Baptist but you know I did know Chad and Matt who just started a few years before I moved down here with mil City and I was like well I I'll rock with them and uh so we moved down here and uh in that.
First year as we were getting ready to uh kind of launch out ourselves and plant our own Church right out the gate um my uh my wife had a Mis carriage and it was a painful experience and there was a medical procedure that happened after that um that left us with some uh with some medical bills and we were just kind of dealing with that grief and loss and also having to deal with those medical bills and I remember this is back.
When we were at Glenn Forest I remember in the parking lot one day chat came out and met me he's like here and he just handed me a water of cash and he said you know Church you know we want to come alongside you and this know you've got some medical bills coming out of this to pay for uh and we just want to help with this and I just in that moment just felt so deeply loved and cared for and at that point it was right out the gate of us.
So so many of the people in this Church didn't really know us that well at all and I've seen some version of that story over and over and over again I've seen people who've given up cars to uh to other Christians that are in need I've seen uh uh time and time again medic our bills or medical bills are just just paid off I've seen the Church rally in a lot of different ways I've seen people give up their Saturdays their their cherished time off to be able to take a trade that they use to help others and give it away.
For free to someone who's in need I've seen that story play out over and over and over again so in my experience the Church of Jesus Christ is a wonderful place to be it is one of the most supportive and loving and Powerful human experiences that you can be a part of and yes I do believe that there are some Churches out there uh they can be described with a lot of labels that don't seem like they really buy into the Gospel I would argue that many of those churches have lost sight of the Gospel or many of them really aren't made up of those who profess and follow Christ in a way that reflects.
The fruit that is born out in Christians but I think largely and our churches I think is no different I churches all across the world that buy into the Gospel and live it out in humility with one another and the reason that is is because of passages like the one we're going to walk through today it's passages like we're going to read and and sit in today so want to pray for us and then we're going to walk through this passage together uh Heavenly.
Father we pray that you might speak to us this morning that we might have Humble Hearts to receive your word and that we would see that this faith that we so dearly and deeply love is built upon something bigger than ourselves bigger than our individual selves and I pray you'd open our eyes to that so we might be the people that you have called us to be we ask this in Jesus name amen all right so last week Chad walked us through what it looked like to strive and unity together the Gospel is the thing that unifies us to strive and unity that theme is being pulled through the book of Philippians and it gets.
Continued to be uh uh taught in this second chapter as we pick up in verse one so if there is any encouragement in Christ any comfort from love any participation in the spirit any affection and sympathy all right let let me stop there for a moment when he says if there it's not if in in the idea of of this is a possibility like I If that you know if if that will happen this is actually if in this in the word of of sense like sense this is true what he's saying is.
If this is true and if this is true and if this is true and if this is true that's what he he's he's building upon here and if you ever been in conflict with a friend and you've ever been in argument and all of a sudden you've lost a thread on your friendship for a moment sometimes you got to State some true things you say bro I'm on your team like I'm I'm for you I'm not against you if you've been in marital conflict where the.
If you if you're married you have that's a reality which also if if you're uh if you're married you come to our training weekend it's one of the things we're going to talk about at our training weekend come up in a few weeks but if you've ever been a maral conflict where you know you've lost a thread on on things you might have to just stop and say some true things you might have to look at your spouse and say you know.
Listen I I love you I'm actually I'm for you I don't think football is more important than you I'm not going to let 19y olds ruin our our our date night tonight because they lost again no like I'm I'm you got to say some true things to make sure you're you're framing like you don't lose the threat on what you're actually uh shooting for and that's what's happening here is that there seems to be a little bit of disunity that's snuck into uh the Church at Philippi which is common to a lot of new testament churches.
And then the disunity that's happened he's stating some true things he's saying if there is an encouragement in Christ which is way of sense like yes there is if there's any encouragement in Christ if there's any comfort from his love and there is if there's any participation in the spirit and there is if there's any if there's affection which is tenderness or sympathy which is compassion if these things are true and they are verse two complete my Joy by being of the same mind having the same love being in full Accord and of one mind.
So Paul says complete my joy which I love that phrasing it shows his deep desire for this Church to be unified there's this this deep desire for them to be unified he wants this that it will complete his Joy if the Church is doing this which I feel this as a pastor because that just makes me so uh Joy filled makes me so happy when I see our Church unified striving together in love and he gives some descriptives here of what uh this Unity looks like he says having the same mind having this the same love being in full Accord of one mind that's the type of unity he's he's he wants them he desires.
For them to have this single-mindedness it's being wred in the Same Love Of Christ to have the same uh uh mindset and being a full Accord together when you see this it's beautiful like maybe you've been in a community group where all of a sudden you got a message on your group text or your group me and all of a sudden it came in and it was someone that said Hey listen I I lost I lost my job and I'm devastated you get that message that comes in and all of a sudden you get to.
See what having the same mind the same love being in full of cour you get to see that just come to life and all of a sudden someone says Hey listen I want to make you a meal I want to just I'm I'm don't don't I'm doing it I'm making it I'm bringing it over it all show up a group that week for group meeting time and everyone's cool with in the catch up and life section of your group meeting time of just this being it that we're going to talk through this everyone's.
Okay with just like I got stuff I'm working through but at the same time like I want to be able to yield some time to this because our brother is hurting our sister is hurting and then you get to see it in action when all of a sudden usually this is how it plays out is that there's two people that are kind of doing some of the talking here and caring for them and it's like this tandem this this beautiful kind of the same Spirit The Same Spirit flowing through them together where you're just kind of playing off each other's words and communicating the Gospel and applying the good news to someone who's struggling.
It's almost like you can finish each other's sentences because you're just on the same page because you're playing from the same Playbook we have the same mindset while that's going on you've got someone in uh a few chairs over that's just silently praying for this brother or sister who's struggling you got someone else who's already thinking about how how can we pull together some money to be able to help them pay pay bills while they're looking for a new job like you.
See all of this at work and it's beautiful and it's wonderful and none of that happens none of that happens if when you get that message on group me and you just go oh man this is probably going to dominate our group discussion for the next few weeks this is probably all we're going to talk about and they're probably going to need money and right now our budget is strapped and groceries cost way too much I just I don't we're have to chip in I just.
Okay well here we go because we got to care for this new situation that's popped up in our group that attitude that posture is the very thing that Paul is going to address in the next few verses that's something that kills unity in the Church verse three and four says do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interest of others.
If you want to destroy the same mind the same love this unity in the Church an easy way to do that is selfish ambition and conceit which is pride a way of saying this is that it's you wanting your own way for your own good for your own Glory so one thanks for one of things our own way for our own good for our own Glory that's our mindset that destroys this Unity that Christ has gifted to the Church now this selfish ambition this conceit is not anything new this is an ancient poison it's the reason why in the book of Proverbs 3,000 years ago Solomon was saying Pride goes before destruction and a hotty.
Spirit before a fall this is something that has existed for thousands of years in humanity this this mindset of just thinking only of ourselves for our own good for our own glory and when I hear stories of pastors who have train wrecked their churches their Ministries because they made it all about themselves that it was all about their own Glory when I when I've see this it makes me sad and it makes me sick and yet they didn't get there overnight they made a series of decisions that led them in this direction to this is where they are.
And then I look in the mirror and I see some of those same things in my own heart I see some of that same conceit that same selfish ambition and I realize I do like to get my own way I do like think to work out for my own good and my flesh really does like getting its own glory and you make decision after decision to get there which is the opposite of what he's calling us to he says but in humility count others more significant than yourselves he says Let each of you not.
Look only to his own interest but to the interest of others that we make these decisions over and over again for our own interest for our own good we count ourselves more significant than others all the time and and again it's it's a I think it's a series of decisions that you make over time until this is who you are happens in the Small Things the small things like cutting people off in traffic because if you ain't first you're last that's the mindset of a lot of us who drive just like I just and you just get I don't care I'm busy I'm I'm quick I I gotta I gotta get to work I got.
This and we'll cut people off left and right I think this happens in when you don't return the shopping cart back to the shopping cart rack in the parking lot oh man that's like that's a long walk I me they get paid to do this right so I'm I just I just leave it here and it's like you you consider your interest there not the interest of others also next time Pro tip just park by the rack just is that easy it's a little bit farther walk.
But you just park right there boom here you go you're welcome this happens in a lot of small ways this happens with roommates it's not a lot of pettiness can happen in in roommate situations this is not cleaning up after yourself not you know not not take care of your own dishes this is like when you when you set the milk down all the way to like the bottom but you you know if you like set the whole thing if you.
If you pour it all out like it's like I'm going have to do something about this so you leave like two sips and the next person grabs it and they like pour it into the serial and it's the saddest moment because you have no you have no cereal now because you counted yourself more significant than others this happens in bigger things this happens when we treat people like utility a means to our own end I mean if you're an employer this is treating employees like this say.
Well they work for me and what you see them as as a means to your bottom line they're a means of me making money as opposed to having a servant's mindset where it's like I to serve them and I'm serving their families by giving them good work to do and it's just seeing them as utility seeing as a means to your bottom line this happens with co-workers who climb the ladder and use the people around them to climb the ladder you might fake a friendship with somebody.
And then all of a sudden when you moved past them up a rung of that ladder it's like I you know you're not eating lunch with them anymore you're not returning calls and texts it was just for that season so that you can move ahead this happens with friendships where the only reason that you reach out to someone who you consider a friend is you need something and they kind of know it too when you call you Le hey how are you doing it's.
Okay but you won't also happens in friendships this is particularly true if you struggle with being an out of sight out of- mind person that friendships are for the season that they're with you but once you move on to something else move on to a new group move on to a new city you never think about them again because they were utility they were for That season they were for your benefit then and not later this happens in marriages seeing your spouse as a means to an end why.
Listen I I bring home the money I'm owed intimacy I'm owed companionship I'm owed child care I'm ow a clean house don't they don't don't you see everything that I do for her this happens with time and how we treat our schedules boy oh boy I feel this one that a lot of times when we think about our own schedules we don't count others interests as more significant than our own because when we think about our schedules we're the centerpiece of the schedule we're the centerpiece it's us.
And when someone asks hey look I'm really struggling with something right now would you want to eat and get lunch oh man just right now I'm so busy like I don't know like I mean I think like maybe in like four or five weeks on a Tuesday at like 11:30 I might have you know 45 minutes for you and it's like are you the president I like I look at the mirror sometimes like I'm to the president is my time so valuable that I can't make time.
For someone I can't you skip a workout or I don't work out but if I did skip a workout I can't I can't pull this I can't adjust this I can't count someone more significant than myself and make time for them and it's just like man I I I tell you what if the bank call you tomorrow and say come in on Tuesday at at 3:30 and we're going to give you $10,000 that you'd find time like that cuz you value that.
Because we value that but someone's interests above our own is like oh man I don't know I'll fit you in at some point or the reverse of that is if you're the kind of person that doesn't I I think it's good to be a person who plans I think it's good to have a schedule you might be the person that doesn't plan at all and you expect someone to drop everything immediately to meet your needs and you get frustrated when they don't I guess they what are we we're a Church family or you know we're friends it's like yeah that's fake you're not dropping everything.
For me because you are counting yourself more significant than them this happens when someone submits their humbly submits their desires or their feelings and conversation and you just dismiss it or you bulldoze over them or you don't listen this happens in social media when you know man so too often I get on Facebook which I just want to be on their less and less because it's just it's gotten to be just ugly but people just man they just say the ugliest things about family and friends and spouses making themselves the center of attention to get likes and they just trash their loved ones it maybe in like subtle ways.
But everyone knows what they're talking about they try to get everyone on their team and it's I mean it's it's self focused and it's Tacky by the way but you should do it for more biblical reasons than that it's just there's so many ways that we do this we make decision after decision after decision that's for it's our own way for our own good for our own glory and it's made worse because we live in a culture in an American culture which is we're we're kind of a post-enlightenment post-modern western culture which is basically we're the center of our universe that's what our culture sells to us you're the center of your own Universe along.
Ons side of the American dream and the pursuit of riches that really the American Dreams built upon everyone seeing themselves as the most important so they'll buy and buy and buy and buy and buy and fill in the machine and all that like just I mean all we make all these decisions and we're in a culture that just feeds this to us and then we bring that mindset of self-interest into the Church and that's why you get frustrated when you hear a song on a Sunday that you don't like I know I feel that and I have a say in what the music is sometimes every.
Now and then I'm like I wouldn't have chosen that song ever I you know I have sinfully I didn't mean I didn't mean to go here but I'm going go I've sinfully just W I've gone and gotten coffee during a song because I didn't want to worship it being petty and it's like that's so self-focused and self-interested that's we do this in a lot of different ways we do this in volunteering to bring the easiest uh item to group our volunteering.
For the easiest task to do or doing something just to be seen like I only want to serve in the Church if it's visible if I can see and be seen and get the glory we do this in community groups if you're the kind of person that dominates the discussion every week and you want to talk about and it's I got problems I need to talk about these things well so does everyone else in the room and if you struggle with being able to condense down what you need to say maybe write it down before him.
But look to the interest of others this happens in the discussion in community groups when when there's a side conversation happening over here when someone else is talking and it's like well y'all aren't being considerate of she's pouring her heart out over here and y'all just having a side conversation or you're on your phone and you're not paying attention so I'm reading the Bible maybe this happens in a lot of different ways in the Church this happens when we don't consider others words.
When we're in Conflict there are times y'all when I'm confronted in my sin or in my error and like I know about five or 10 minutes into the into the discussion that I'm wrong look it's like you've made some compelling points but there's that part of me that's like but no I'm going keep fighting for my own way this happens in a lot of different ways we bring this into the life of the Church we make decision after decision after decision after decision after decision decision after decision until we eventually become the people we never thought we would be until we become.
So self-focused and self-interested so blind to conceit and pride and we become hurtful people that are just drunk off of our own pride and selves let me tell you a story about a miserable King there once was a miserable King who woke up every day annoyed angry frustrated sad he woke up every day to his kingdom and he'd wake up first thing and he'd see his wife and his children and they weren't happy to be in his presence they were tired.
When they woke up and he was annoyed by this because don't they know that he's the king they should be happy that he Grace them with their with his presence this morning but they're not they're bickering over what to eat the wife is tired and he's like they I don't get the respect that I'm deserved and he leaves his Palace every day annoyed hops into his Chariot and goes across his kingdom and he's the kind of person who drives his Chariot weaves in and out of all the other chariots not actually getting really anywhere further or faster.
But just switching lanes all the time and then he gets to his work site where he oversees a special project and he gets there and his servants have not done the work like they're supposed to they're behind delayed yet again and an anger he lashes out at them he he he unloads on them and they respond The Recoil because they're so used to hearing this being berated by the king and then he leaves and he goes to lunch to his favorite lunch spot and his favorite lunch spot is UND Saft slow he takes it out on the waitress cuz she's not doing they're not not not bringing me the king what I want on my.
Timing I have I've got a schedule here I've got to move on to the next thing and that's how he spends his days to the next thing the next thing and then all of a sudden he's on his way home annoyed angry frustrated with the day and then his wife calls him and says can you stop by the grocery store I forgot this he's like don't you know how important my time is could you not thought about this ahead of time.
When you got groceries goes into the grocery store always in a hurry always low-key angry and then he runs to the checkout line and then he sees somebody who's also walking to the checkout line but they're like equidistant to the checkout so he speeds up because he gets in front of them and he kind of cuts them off and doesn't make eye contact because he's a coward a lot of confessions today sorry you guys and he checks out and he goes home annoyed and it's not the meal that he wanted he would have preferred something different and he sits in his throne and he surfs through his phone and watches videos until he progressingly puts.
His children to bed and then he goes to sleep angry preach this is a miserable king and a miserable Kingdom of his own making and this is how he lives his life and he's depressed and he's angry and he's frustrated and he's burned out what hope does a miserable King like this have the hope that he has is the hope that Paul points him to in verses 5-8 that's his Hope for Change verse 5 have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ.
Jesus who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped he say have this mind miserable King have this mind amongst yourself which is yours in Christ Jesus who Christ though who is in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped which Chad's going to spend more time in this next week with the phrasing here and waiting into this but what he's getting at is.
Verse 7 but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men that the God and Sovereign true king of the universe who made everything out of nothing and sovereignly rules and Reigns over every aspect of creation simultaneously before during and after the Eternal God who rules over all things loved his creation so much that he left the throne of heaven and he took on flesh and he dwelt among us and that he lived a life of perfection that we could not live and he went to.
Verse 8 being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross that the king took on Humanity to go to the Cross to die for miserable kings and queens who were only about their own interest and their own good he looked at us in our own sin and says I will will die for your sin I will die for your rebellion and then I will bring you into Resurrection Life I will bring you into a new life in Christ.
Well you will no longer be a selfish little king or queen but you will be a servant of the most high king and you will live your life out of this picture always looking to our Savior who humbled himself always looking to our King who loved us so much that he gave up his life for us us the only hope for miserable kings and queens is to look at the true king of the universe and to look what he did for us and the own overwhelming Act of humility that he displayed.
For us when we did not deserve it and our own pride and our own selfish ambition and desires that through faith we look to him and what he did for us on the cross and we submit Our Lives to him and then we spend the rest of our day is coming back to the Gospel to have this mind among ourselves that was so poly put and poly put in verses three and four do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility the humility that Christ displays count others more significant than yourselves Let each of you.
Look not only to his own interest but also to the interest of others the way that you get there is we look to Christ who was not selfish but selflessly came to save us that we look to Christ who in humility was beaten and murdered for our sin we looked at Christ who counted us significant enough to not leave us in our sin and to damn us to hell but came to save us we look to Christ who had our interest in mind.
When he went to the cross on our behalf when we understand what Christ Our King did for us it is then that we will live not not for our own way and not for our own good and not for our own glory and then we will make all the decisions along the way to live out of that truth and it means we'll be the kind of people that though we're busy give up time out of our schedule because our dear sister is going through chemo and I want to give her a ride not.
Because she forgot how to drive when she got cancer but because I don't want her to be alone will be the kind of people that when someone is suffering is like yeah I'm Gonna Make A Meal I'm make a good meal I'm GNA spend some time and I don't have in the grocery budget but I'll go over this month because I want to love them well and it's a good meal yall know what I'm talking about too some of youall been on a meal train before and you know who's putting in the work it's like yeah they put the time in and and and we're be kind of people that refuse to leave group meeting.
Time with our group we refuse to leave that house in disarray our our kids are tornadoes of Destruction and it's like and they're tired it's 8:30 and they're they're going to be grumpy in the morning but we're going to spend the next 5 10 minutes cleaning up and helping them reset the house because I love them and I want to consider their interest above my own would be the kind of people that volunteer to watch someone else's child so they can go on a date watch watch someone else's three-year-old.
So they can go on a date because we remember what it was like to have a three-year-old because three-year-olds can be terrist or if you haven't had a three-year-old you've served in Kid City and you've seen what kind of actions happen in there right now and it's like I want to give you some time so that you can go and have just you know three hours to yourself to just enjoy each other's presence because it's good for your marriage or you're the kind of married couple that considers single people and their interest above your own and invite single people into your family dinners into your life not forgetting about them.
But bringing them into your life because we're all the family of God we're the kind of people that when they see someone struggling maybe maybe you know of a woman in your community group right now who's just she's just struggling right now like the house is a mess and she's behind on laundry like piles of laundry you know what I'm talking about when all the laundry Stacks up on the couch and it's just a mountain and you want to like you want to like approach it.
But it's just it's un approachable and you're the kind of person that says hey I'm coming over to to help you I want to clean bathrooms I'm I'm I'm fold some laundry oh no it's okay no no no you're going to have to give me a Biblical reason for why I can't come serve you and spoiler alert there is none so I'm coming I'll be there in an hour we be get to be the kind of people who when we get the text message that says can we talk and you know that message is not just can we talk.
For 5 minutes you know it's going to be 45 minutes and it's going to be a difficult conversation that we don't ignore that text that we don't put that off because we consider their interests more than our owns more than our own that we get to use our giftings as Builders and mechanics and accountants whatever God has given you to do that you're good at to serve others in the Church what you should if you're good at something if you're good at building things.
If you're good at working on cars if you're good at spreadsheets and numbers you should and you should have the mindset that doesn't like I get paid to do this you have the mindset that says man I God who do you want me to serve next you should pray joyfully God who who do you want me to serve next who needs who needs something fixed to their house who needs me to go through their budget who do who do you want me to serve next.
God we should have this mind amongst ourselves and we should prayerfully eagerly wait for the opportunity to in humility count others more significant than ourselves to let each of us not look to our own interest but the interest of others but until we see Jesus as king we will never escape the tyranny of our miserable kingdoms so we have to look to Christ as our King first and if we look to Christ truly look and behold for what he has done.
For us it is then that you get invited into a better Kingdom and that is when miserable Kings become joyful servants let me tell you how the miserable king became a joyful servant he beheld Christ for who he is he finally realized that the whole universe didn't revolve around him but it re revolved around Christ and he saw what Jesus did for him and he said I want that and he gave up his Fox kingship to become a joyful servant and every day that he woke up even.
When he was tired he was ready to give himself away that even when his children bickered at the table over who gets to look at the box of cereal he came in and and and lovingly LED them through breakfast and helped them get out the door that when he jumped into his Chariot he drove a little slower and was a little kinder to everyone else in the road and he listened to worship music and redeem the time through prayer and worship arriving 3 to four minutes later than he normally would.
But at peace and when he AR when he arrived at his work site his employees servants were excited to see him because they saw the change that he had that had happened in his heart he'd become a servant leader and actually they worked harder for him they got more done working for him because when you work for someone who's a servant leader you're ready to run for through a wall for them because you love them and you know that they love you and he left his work site he'd go to lunch and the and the waitress he used to cringe.
When he would come in was now excited to be able to serve him because he was kind with his words and he was patient and he left better tips that he went through his Day always seeking to count others more significant than himself to serve others and he went home every night to a family that loved him who was excited to see him because he was a more joyful servant who did not make his family about himself and then one day someone asked him they got the nerve to.
Finally ask hey man what what happened I I don't mean to be blunt but you used to be a jerk like what's your secret you seem so much more at peace you seem so much more joy-filled than you used to be and he cracked a smile and he said how much time do you have I'll tell you of how I became a joyful servant by submitting to the humble King that transformation is offered to all of us that can be our story I think many of us run around in life always busy always frustrated never joyful and I think that the secret is found in this text.
And if you want to be the kind of person that actually lives a life forth living that is filled with peace and joy and fulfillment and satisfaction it is found and not looking to ourselves but looking to Christ and out of looking to Christ and looking to others interests before our own let me pray heavenly father I pray that you might help us who are filled with selfish ambition and conceit I pray that you might help us look to you to what you have done.
For us as not only the hope that saves us but as the model that sanctifies us that shows us the way to live God help us be not miserable kings and queens and kingdoms that never satisfy but joyful servants in the Kingdom that you've made but that comes through believing in the Gospel and truly applying it to our lives through repentance and ultimately delighting in you over all things we ask this in Jesus name amen the choice is ours if you want to be a miserable king or.
If you want to be a joyful servant that choice is offered to everyone and the only way that you get there is in faith it is by believing in Christ and trusting in what he has done for us and when you do that you are transformed as second Corinthians says if anyone is in Christ he's a new creat the old is gone the new has come you get to be this new creation this joyful servant that's offered but you must have that through faith.
And when you finally submit to the king through faith then you get to enter into the baptism Waters which are the waters that symbolize the inward change that has happened and that's what we get to celebrate today we get to celebrate the baptism of one of our brothers in Christ and the transformation that has happened in his life so I'm going to invite Isaac to come up and he's going to introduce baptism today.
A Life Worthy of the Gospel (Philippians 1:27-30)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here we are in the book of Philippians so if you'll grab a Bible and go to the book of Philippians if you don't have a Bible there should be one tucked under the seat in front of you will be on page 570 in one of these blue Bibles um if this is your first time with us we're glad that you're here this morning we mostly just work our way through books of the Bible and that's what we're doing we're in Philippians this is a letter written by the Apostle Paul.
While he is in prison in Rome he was under house arrest so he most likely would have been chained to a guard in a home in Rome he's writing this letter to a Church in Philippi which is about 800 miles away um that has uh sent a gift basically like a care package for him where he is in Rome that they gave him this gift because when you were in under house arrest you were still responsible for your own care your own provision.
And so they found out that he was in Rome under house arrest they they send this gift to him and he's writing this letter back in thankfulness to them and he just got got done and what we were looking at last week in saying that he doesn't know whether he's going to live or die he doesn't know if they're going to set him free he doesn't know if they're going to execute him this where you get the verse that is to live is Christ to die is gain he's not just pontificating about a theological truth he's talking about a theological reality.
For himself while he is sitting in Chains facing a very real potential death he's saying if if they set me free I'll keep serving the lord it'll be for Christ fruitful Ministry is the way he puts it there'll be fruitful labor and if they execute me I'll go be with Christ to live as Christ to die as gain I I'll get what's better I'll get to go be with Christ and he's now turning from that to some instruction to the Philippians.
So we're in verse 27 he says this only let your manner of Life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ so now he's turning to giving them instructions he starts off with the word only we should perk our ears up he's boiling it down he's giving them something essential kind of a if if you forget everything else remember this now we know because of how talking with people goes this isn't the actual only thing he's going to say otherwise he wouldn't have written the rest of the letter.
But he is saying hey this is primary pay attention only and like okay what what's the main thing we have to do let your manner of Life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ oh is that all that's a massive instruction your manner of life so the way you live let your whole life be fitting matching to the Gospel of Christ do you know what the Gospel El of Christ is it's the message the reality the news that the God of the universe.
While we were in our sin and Rebellion against him took on flesh was born as a human that he lived a perfect sinless life so that he might pay the penalty for our sins he dies on a cross he's buried he rises again to show his victory over death and sin and hell that his his sacrifice was accepted he doesn't stay in the Tomb he's not just like a a a good man that we look to for for um uh some sort of motivation no he actually literally paid the price of our sin as a sacrifice and rose again.
So that we know that God's blessing is on him and that he accepts the sacrifice that he is the king of kings the Lord of lords that everything he said about himself is real that he rises and that all who Trust in him are forgiven your your debt is paid it's gone one of my favorite representations of this is in the movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou Delmer goes down in the water he gets baptized he comes back out he says all my sins are forgiven I'm clean I'm washed they're washed away he says even that Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in yazu and his friends go you said you were innocent of those charges.
And he goes well I lied and that's forgiven too and that's the reality that in Christ we're forgiven it's gone that he's paid the debt of our sin that was mounted against us that stood to accuse us that stood to drag us to Hell he's paid for it that there's hope and redemption and forgiveness and so Paul says let your life match that now for the Christians in the room we should want that we should want our life to match that we should immediately say yes I actually do want to live in such a way that it it's fitting that it matches that that it's worthy of that.
But that's a heavy request it's weighty someone came to you and said hey I I got a guest coming over to my house and I need you to help help me prepare a meal help me get the house ready they're going to be over on Saturday and you're like okay I can help cook they're like you're pretty good cook yeah I'm okay all right cool I need you to help cook uh it is the newly um crowned King of England Charles III he's coming to my house.
So I need you to make a meal fit for a king and you're like I was going to do cheese grits so I guess we could put shrimp in there I don't I don't know that's like my one dish I got like I didn't I for a king and this it's like yeah and remember he's British so nothing spicier than Salt but it needs to be delicious it's like okay here we go and that's some of what feels like here when he says I want your manner of life to be worthy.
And then all of a sudden he says of the Gospel and it's it elevates it to this oh okay what does that look like well he's going to tell us he doesn't leave us here to to just figure this out on our own he doesn't leave the Philippian Church to just figure it out on own he's going to say this is what it would look like this is a a life matching the Gospel before we read that part let's pray because as Christians we want this and we need the help of the spirit to achieve it.
Lord we ask that we would by your grace live a life that corresponds to the Gospel that we would live in such a way that we proclaim the truth of the rescue and the hope and the kingship of Jesus May our Church look this way and may our individual lives look this way and may by your grace and by the work of your spirit this be carried out in a real practical level in Jesus name amen all right only let your manner of Life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ.
So that so now he's going to say if it if that's happening if it's worthy of the Gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or am absent whether I'm released from prison and get to make it to you or I'm kept in prison or I'm executed or I just can't make it to you I may hear of you that you are so now he's about to say if your life if you're living in a manner worthy of the Gospel this is what I'll hear about you this is the report I'll get that I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by.
Side for the faith of the Gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents I'm going to read that again that I may hear of you that you are standing firm fir in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents a life fitting to the message of the Gospel a life fitting to what Christ has done for us is one that is Unified in the spirit with the Church.
For the Gospel fearlessly unified in the spirit with the Church for the Gospel fearlessly that's what he lays out for them so let's talk about that the first part unified in the spirit he says that I may hear that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind this is the unified in the spirit with the Church so that you're in one spirit with one mind you're on the same page and specific to this context he has said right before it that there are those who are uh out.
For selfish ambition they're out for their own name they're out for their own good and then below it he's going to talk about what we read together which is the humility of Christ and how we should have the same mind among ourselves that though he was in the form of God he humbled himself and took on the form of a man that we should be humble and and relate to one another so there's this idea of that we would relate to one another in humility.
Now there is some question as to whether or not when he says in one Spirit he means the Holy Spirit specifically and that should be a capital S which is what the NIV does with it it's the same word same word he uses in similar phrasing that he uses in chapter 2: 1 where it says any participation in the spirit and that's capital S we to understand that as the Holy Spirit or if he just means kind of the way we use it which is school spirit or we were all of the Same Spirit meaning we were all on the same page.
And then it really just means in one spirit with one mind is kind of saying the same thing twice I think if you were to follow Paul's logic because he uses this phrasing in other places in Ephesians 4 he uses it in Corinthians that if you were to ask him about it and say okay well what do you mean unified What Spirit what what's our Unity over he would You' eventually get to where he would be saying oh well the Holy Spirit like the the Holy Spirit is the one who's the one spirit that we have that's going to keep us unified there's no way.
For the Church to be unified without the work of the spirit and so it's going to be ultimately a work of the spirit for this to happen whether or not we need the Holy Spirit to work whether he intentionally brings it to mind here the Holy Spirit to mind or whether or not he is just saying to be unified that's still a work of the spirit so that we would be unified in the spirit with one another on the same page have you ever thought be a lot easier to be a Christian.
If I didn't have to hang out with these other Christians have you ever thought like I would be in a group and I know y'all say we should join a community group but that's going to be tough yeah it is do you know how agreeable I am when I'm by myself every one of my ideas is brilliant like I got married and I was surprised that she wasn't able ble to catch up with that as quickly as I thought it's like I don't know you don't think I'm I'm confused I've always thought I was a genius why are you acting like this.
But I'm patient with her um the idea that we're going to have to relate to other people takes work it takes effort there's there's difficulty and it takes the work of the spirit to be in us to create humility to create Grace but y'all we don't get to say well I love Jesus I just don't love the Church oh I'm I'm spiritual I walk in the spirit the Holy Spirit he you know I just I go alone and the Holy Spirit just tells me stuff and it's wonderful and it's like what Church are you a part of I don't need one of those you haven't been listening to the spirit he loves the Church he.
Loves Jesus and he loves the Church and he's going to help you belong to a group of people who love Jesus and love the Church and it's going to take humility and it's going to take work and it's going to take effort it's going to be frustrating in times but it's also going to be really beautiful we're better together it's going to be wonderful and you're going to grow in ways that you hadn't intended to you're going to grow in ways that you never would have grown.
If you were on your own and I do want to add this if people if you're saying okay I want to know how to listen to the spirit I want to know how to walk in the spirit what I would say is you begin by sticking your facei in your Bible and then putting yourself around other Christians that's how we walk well in the spirit that's how you learn how to hear the voice of the spirit to discern the voice of the spirit do you know the word of.
God you know that he's not going to lead you outside of what this says he's going to to speak and to teach you things but he's not going to say something contrary to the Scriptures and you begin to discern his voice you begin to learn how to walk in the spirit I want you to walk in the spirit I want you to be filled with grace I want you to be used by God mightily and I I want you to be in the word.
So that it's tethered as we do that and so that we get to walk in Church family together I want you to be in a situation when you were about to do something really stupid but you're in Church family and everybody in your group says we love you you that's really stupid I want you to be mad at them and I want you to submit to them I want you to get your Bibles out I want you to say why is it dumb why does everybody disagree with me I don't want you to go home and go wow I'm the smartest person in my group I'm the only one who knows what's right I want.
You to have some humility I want you to get what he's saying is that they would be in the same mind on the same page but it's not just for no reason it's not just so that they would have each other that's wonderful but there's a purpose behind it he says I want you to what I want to hear about you is that you're standing firm yall haven't fallen apart you haven't split up that you haven't been knocked over why standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by side.
For the faith of the Gospel there's a purpose to the unity given to the Church and that's the proclamation of the Gospel that we're better together in proclaiming the Gospel and declaring that message y'all know that we have one primary thing that we're about as a Church is that some more people might meet Jesus every once a while I'll hear things and I'm like yeah yeah people say like I like the Church when it was small and then it's gotten bigger Praise.
Jesus you know it got bigger with a bunch of Sinners who needed Grace right and they're like yeah but they're aggravating yeah so are you me too that's that's the we we need Jesus we're we're here to Proclaim this message we're here to work together with this this is why we want to keep the main thing the main thing you know we don't do a whole lot we have a big pretty building the Lord's blessed us with but we don't do a whole lot at this building we don't invite a whole bunch of people here we don't have a bunch of programs here.
Because we want you to be out in the world telling people about Jesus we want your time to be freed up we love Gathering and pointing to Christ together and singing together and walking and studying the Scriptures together but we want to be be missionaries out in the world that's the main thing that's what we're after is to be standing firm with one in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel there's a Church that I know of I'm affiliated with it.
Well enough I know that at one point I think they're a good Church I think they love Jesus but I know that at one point they had multiple business meetings heated passionate business meetings over the purchase of doorknobs we're not going to do that here because it's not the main thing I I'm be honest with you I don't want you to be that passionate about doorknobs I just don't and if you are I want you to keep it to yourself honestly maybe don't tell people you know like we we want to be about seeing people meet.
Jesus which means that we give some freedom to our people who run Ministries to make decisions and and to handle their own budget and to do some things and every once in a while there should be times when you show up and see something you don't like I don't like that color and then you should remind yourself the Gospel is the main thing I've had people say to me I don't like this and I'm like yeah me neither Move Along let's go it's not the main thing we want to be pulling together striving not having Strife.
But striving for the Gospel which means that it should take some effort and some labor and some sacrifice that is a life matching to the Gospel I think that if we were to fill this out if we were to say okay I'm going to try to guess what Paul's going to say to have a life live a life in a manner worthy of the Gospel so that I may hear of you and if we begin to fill that out we would begin to say he's probably going to say this he's probably going to say this he's probably going to say this I'm sure we would put good things on the list.
But it's possible it would all boil down to at some point behave be moral live a life good enough but it's not something that we earn we respond to Jesus in obedience certainly we respond to Jesus in Repentance but a manner of life in a Church that matches the Gospel is a bunch of people who want to tell other people about the Gospel because it's so good that he redeems Sinners that he offers Grace that he rescued us not because we're good and not.
Because we're intelligent and capable and hardworking and that you need to come be a part of us if you're good enough it's no it's he saves Sinners he redeems the weak he died for us while we were still his enemies we have a king who rules and Reigns in love and grace and kindness towards us so that we strive to share the Gospel we're going to get to uh end our time this morning we're not about to so don't get all excited there's more to go.
But when we end our time long long time in the future from now we're going to get to pray over two Community groups that are getting launched out and I'm so excited because launching healthy Community groups the multiplication of healthy groups is one of the things that we've said that this helps us see that we're actually trying to do this and every time we multiply a group everybody in the group a lot of times is like Yay because it hurts it's sad I've told people before.
If your if half your group is being sent out and your response is good riddens you probably weren't doing a real good job of being in your community group you should love those people you should miss those people I had someone this past week say to me I miss every group I've ever been a part of yeah absolutely but we're striving for the Gospel which means there are times that takes sacrifice it takes effort it takes a little bit of something hurting a little bit.
For us to be able to see more people come to know Jesus it's the best way I know to put it I talk to our group leaders about this I tell them tell your group this this is the way I think about it at some point if I'm hosting a group you're hos on a group the table is full I got a table at my house that seats 8 we put a table outside to seat children cuz we love them so much we just don't want to hear them you know.
While we're trying to eat want to be able to see them there's a glass window you know put that stick in at some point Point there's no more room in my house and you love these people and so there's this this desire to go we did it this is it but as a Church family what we're hoping to do is to have group leaders train leaders in training and then eventually send them out to make disciples and to multiply and when we do that.
Now there's space there's space at this table and there's space at that table every time I've ever multiplied a group every time I've ever sent people out I'm sad about people who are leaving this group who weren't in my group the last time we multiplied which means that if we hadn't done that I never would have known this person loved this person seen this person meet Jesus we didn't have room for him we have room for him now and now we got to make more room.
For the next person who's going to come in and y'all there is a table that has enough seats there is a wedding supper of the Lamb that has the right number of seats and there's going to be a day when we get to all sit around it and there's going to be a day when we get to see the people who we got to know in life for a season to come to know Jesus but then we get to see the next person who we got to.
See come to know Jesus and the next person through our striving to proclaim the Gospel the effort and the intentionality that we put down and there's going to be a day when we sit at the wedding supper where the king rules and Reigns for all of eternity and there are enough seats at the table but until that day comes we strive so that more people might come to know how good and glorious King Jesus is more people might be at that table.
So some of your money should walk out the door and go to Mission work to generosity to this Church some of there should be times where you're you're mourning the loss of a community group while having to celebrate the launch of a new one we should put effort in to see people come to know Jesus that's the goal so we stand firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel and then he says this and not frightened in anything by your opponents not frightened in anything by your opponents he says I want to hear y'all are on the same page you're laboring to.
See people meet Jesus because he's so good and the Gospel is so good and the hope of Eternity is so good and the fact that this isn't all we get there's this this reality of forgiveness and joy I want to hear that you're proclaiming that and I want to hear that you're not afraid afraid of anybody who tells you to shut up you know that Christians we're not supposed to be scared of everything this is one of the things that that grats on me in our current cultural climate is that I hear a lot of noise on like online and stuff of Christians like ringing alarm Bells all the time we're not supposed to be.
Scared of everything y' we have such a bigger story with a king who wins and he's specifically saying they have opponents and they know that the one of the people who's the starter one of the starting people of the Philippian Church was a Jailer who Paul met because Paul was beaten and thrown into jail Paul's writing this letter from prison they have real opponents who don't want the proclamation of the Gospel he says I want to hear that you're not afraid of them.
And if you follow Christian logic what are we afraid of they have nothing they can give you on the on the grand scheme of Eternity there's nothing that anybody if you're a Christian that anybody can offer you there's nothing that they can take away from you and you can say like Paul who very really means this if I live I'll serve Jesus and if I die I'll go be with him so he says this not frightened at anything by your opponents this is a clear sign to them of their destruction.
But of your salvation and that from God that a lack of fear in the face of opposition declares the Gospel it co-signs it it's a clear sign of your salvation and their destruction because those who would oppose the Gospel are going to use human means to oppose it but human means aren't supposed to work on Christians all of them are supposed to Short Circuit we'll throw you in jail okay that's how jailers meet Jesus the Philippian jailers is like I I I just I know it was bad.
But I'm so glad he got arrested maybe they shouldn't have beat him but I'm glad he got arrested Paul says that everybody in the Roman guard they know about the Gospel because Paul's sharing the Gospel to the Roman guard while he's in jail we'll take everything from you okay I'll get Eternal versions of all that stuff because the Bible says anything sacrificed for the Lord that our reward is great in heaven like that anything that you try to take from me is actually ultimately you accidentally gave it to me forever like I don't I don't know exactly how that works I don't think it's like I got the best Toaster in life life.
If you stole it but it's like I think that there's just reward he honors this we'll kill you okay half a second later I'll be standing before the king and I'll have done all the work I ever had to do it's a clear sign to them of their destruction but of your salvation I love this quote it's a story from a pastor in Romania when they were under communist occupation he was preaching the Gospel and putting it on tapes and passing them out and he had passed it out and he got called in by some communist officers who were trying to stop the Church and they were correcting him rebuking him threatening him and he.
Says this during an early interrog ation I had told an officer who was threatening to kill me so he says sir let me explain to you let me explain how I see this issue your Supreme weapon is killing my Supreme weapon is dying here's how it works you know that my sermons are my sermons on tape have spread all over the country if you kill me those sermons will be sprinkled with my blood everyone will know I died for my preaching and everyone who has a tape will pick it up and say I'd better.
Listen again to what this man preached because he really meant it he sealed it with his life so sir my sermons will speak 10 times louder than before I will actually rejoice in this supreme Victory if you kill me after I said this the interrogator sent me home it's a clear sign I I have hope that you can't touch so when he says that the Church is to be unafraid in all these situations it's because we have something they can't touch and we serve a.
God they can't touch and he owns everything and guards everything and leads everything that we can trust him and so in the middle of all this there's nothing that they can give to us or take away from us a life a Church lived out in response to how good the Gospel is is that we would be humbly unified working side by side laboring together and we are better together we we want you to be a missionary where you are if you're the only person at your gym.
If you're the only person in that class if you're the only person uh on your floor at work that's a Christian we want you to be a a missionary there but we also want to be missionaries together because we're better together our groups are better together there are certain things that you're good at strong in built for as a Christian that someone else in your group isn't and so we work better when we're a team when we invite people in.
When we intentionally invite ourselves into other situations so look a lot of times as a group you can say hey I've been inviting this person who doesn't know Jesus to join our group but you can also invite the people who do know Jesus to join that person meaning that you know that they're going to go see this new movie or that they really would go throw axes or do a poker night or knit and drink tea or whatever it is is you know they'll accept that invitation.
So you just smuggle other Christians into the situation hey would you like to do blank and they say yeah and then they show up and two people from your group are also there and you just say hey welcome whatever and y'all hang out and just be normal Christian people who are kind and fun to be around and then later when you say hey you want to come hang out with our group you already know blank blank blank you already met this person at that thing it's easier to walk in you ever been invited to a party and you only know one person there what do you do.
Okay if you're like one of these people who's really good at parties I'm not talking to you I'm talking to everybody else what do you do you follow that yeah don't go correct you follow that person around like a lost puppy like hey be my friend hey talk to me hey hey hey hey hey or you do what I do you grab six cookies and stand in the corner just I'm I I don't know my friends over there I only know them and someone's like oh hey how you know them and you're like they my friend and they're like oh neat.
And then they walk off and you're like I'm I'm real good at this that shouldn't be your invitation all the time to people who hey do you want to come hang out at my house uh with a bunch of people you don't know read a book you don't care about and do some weird things that you're not sure about like pray also since you don't know much about Christianity it could be weirder than that and you don't know surprise you want to do that I invited them they didn't come yeah.
Okay it was a it was a high you know it's a high bar but if you can get your Church family around them to be friends with them to be kind to them to show them that we aren't weird and that the message is wonderful so that we're alive in response to the Gospel unified striving side by side for the Gospel without fear and he keeps going he's going to say he's pressing into this idea and he's kind of bringing this in front of them.
Look at verse 29 for it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake it's been granted to you that you should not only get to believe in him that that's given to you that's granted that was Grace to you that was given to you that's what granted means it's a gift it was given to you that you would believe in him but also that you would get to suffer.
For his sake we're going to talk about suffering for his sake in a second but take a moment Do You Believe In Christ that was given to you he says it was given to you that you would get to believe in Jesus God do you know that there are people who don't there are people who don't have a hope of an eternity there are people who haven't had their sins forgiven there are people who are still dead in their trespasses and it's been given to you that you would believe some of you you're the only person in your family who believes some of you you're a wild minority from your your country of origin who.
Believe it's odd that you would believe some of you this is a lineage of Christian faith in your household and that was granted you by the grace of God Don't Blink at that I mean don't sneeze at that don't don't just move on past that like that's just something to take for granted it's something to understand that it's been so wonderfully good that you have a hope of Eternity through the work of Jesus that was not earned by you it was not given to you by your works or your ability or your intelligence.
But it was given by the blood of Christ and his goodness and mercy on your behalf and he says it was given to you that you might believe and it was also given he's talking to the Philippian Church but I think this rolls right into us that you would get the opportunity the grace the gift of suffering for the sake of Christ and that's how we're supposed to see it do you know that if you'll strive for the sake of the Gospel there's a chance that at some point you'll get to suffer reproach.
For the name of Jesus and do you know how wonderful that is there's a chance you might get mocked or reviled do you know there's a chance that someone might oppose you do you know there's a chance that something really Earthly bad might happen to you that is as this beautiful Heavenly gift that you might get to suffer for the sake of Christ that you might actually get to drop some sweat and some blood and some money and some effort and some tears.
For something that rolls into eternity that's how we're supposed to see that that's what Jesus says Matthew 5 he's talking to his disciples he says blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
If we labor for the Gospel there's a chance that we get to operate on Jesus's account that we get to be reviled on his account that we get to be participating him in suffering for his sake and it is blessed that's why the disciples in Acts chapter 5 when they're beaten for sharing the Gospel it says then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name so what if you strive to share the Gospel with people in in your school in your classes and what.
If they oppose you and what if eventually they revile you and they accuse you and what if on that day we do what Jesus says and we look at him and say thank you thank you that I got a taste of what it was like to be you and to suffer and thank you that I got to join in your suffering for the sake of those who don't want to know you what if you share the Gospel at work and I tell you not to and you do it again and they say.
If you keep this up you're going to be in trouble what if you graciously humbly say I'm G to have to keep trying I'm going keep trying to share the Gospel I'm not what if one day you get fired not because you're bad at your job I want them to have to find three people to replace you if you get fired but but what if you just had these opportunities and you were sharing the Gospel and you were trying to point people to.
Jesus and they were opposing you and what if you walk out into the parking lot and you look at the sky you look up raise your eyes to the Lord and you say Lord I don't know how I'm going to pay my bills because that was my job but I trust you and thank you that I got to suffer reproach for the sake of your name now there's ways to walk this out in wisdom and there's ways to be as wise as a serpent innocent as a dove.
But y'all we're not supposed to be afraid we're not supposed to have one little remark from some kind of an opponent to the Gospel and we just clam up and stop may we stand in the spirit with the Church for the Gospel fearlessly because it's so worth it because the message is worth it because none of the other things that we labor for are ultimately worth it none of the other stuff lasts none of the other stuff stretches into eternity no other message no other no other person forgives sin rescues there's a movie that came out in 1998 called Saving Private Ryan and it's it's a good movie it's a war movie there's a.
Four brothers and three of them die and they go to write all three of the letters and send all of the folded up American flags to the mother at the same time they notice that there's one brother left and they just decide we're going to go find him and we're going to send him home it's the premise of the movie so they task a captain and a handful of people to go find Ryan and bring him home and as they're going several of them die they die going to get one guy out of the War the movie ends With Private Ryan as an old man standing over the graves of one of the men who.
Died for him and talking to it and he says I've thought every day about what you've did and I've tried I've tried to live something fitting and y'all we're the people who know Jesus know what he did know what awaits oh let's live in a way fitting let's respond in a way worthy to the Gospel let's live in a way that makes way more sense with Christ and Eternity than with the American dream let's pray L we ask that by your grace the reality of Eternity would grow grip us we ask.
Lord that you would help us to see the hope that is in Christ and to respond to tell other people about him to repent of our refusing to submit to a Church to repent from our not walking in the spirit and studying the word word and and listening to your voice and following your will to repent of all the times when we've lost the thread on what the main thing is so that we're worried about other things that don't matter.
Lord to walk fearlessly together and to see people come to know you we pray that you would bless this Church with more and more people who are saved by grace that will step in and walk shoulder-to-shoulder with us to see more and more people be saved by grace because this message is too good for us to sit on it you are a glor glorious King and we love you in Jesus name amen amen verse 30 says engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had.
Now here that I still have and I should have read that earlier the band's going to come back up what Paul's saying is that they are laboring I went to pray and I was like I didn't read my whole text Paul's saying that they are late laboring in the same conflict he's telling them not to be afraid in the same conflict that they saw that he had meaning that he was preaching the Gospel and went to jail and that they see that he still has.
Because he's in jail meaning they had real opponents and so I should have just read that earlier and said that sentence earlier and then said all the other stuff I said you're welcome the hope as we stand and sing and respond is that we would take a moment to consider the matchless worth of Christ and that we would say Okay Lord let me let me have a life that tries to mirror that and point to that let me have a life that only makes sense in light of that let's stand and sing.
To Live is Christ, To Die is Gain (Philippians 1:18b-26)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Spencer I am one of the pastors here we are continuing to walk through the book of Philippians we're in chapter 1 still uh we're going to be in the second half of Verse 18 all the way through verse 26 so you can follow along with us on the screen you also can follow along in a blue Bible it's on page 570 you can track along with us so the other day it dawned upon me that my oldest uh is going to turn nine this year which means that we're kind of at the halfway point of her being in the house.
God willing uh and that there's not a lot of years left to really you know influence to be able to show her what it means to love Christ what it means to display that love to others what it means to uh have a Gospel centered life like we don't have as much time it's and I'm also you know I'm not naive I understand that when she gets more into uh you know the teenage years that my influence is going to WAN a little bit and her wife as she starts to become her own adult uh person.
But it's just I mean it's kind of hit me honestly oh man um you know we you know we read the Bible at night we do some worship songs at night we we try to have some time where we talk about applying God's word to um their lives and to our lives and it's like I want to I want to maximize this time as much as possible because I'm losing it the time is is is running away and that's going to happen with each of my children as they get older old and as I get closer and closer to 40 which is typically the time where a lot of men start to ask Big Life.
Questions because you're at the halfway point of life and you're like I I mean this is like I'm I'm I'm nearing I'm nearing the end the halfway point is just going to keep going like and that's when you know midlife crises come into play and people make sometimes really bad decisions uh you know some of those are less bad than others uh you know some might say I'm going to get a car I I got to get I got to get the car.
Because if I don't get the car like what am I doing if I'm I got to travel I got to get to Europe I got to do this I got to do that there's all types of things some things I think are good people might say I got to go back to school I got to refocus I got to you know join a gym do CrossFit whatever it is like I but there's just this evaluation when you understand that time is a finite resource and you don't have much of it left.
But what are you actually going to do that reality check Dawns upon us and it does leave you asking questions like I'm just like am I am I always going to drive a Prius is that how this is like I mean I'm just kind of Peace meing this car together as it goes like am I am I going to like keep wearing flannels and rocking beards I started that Trend like in my early 20s and it's I mean it just kind of continued like those can like fall upon you and you start to re-evaluate and I think to have the really the the finite nature of time and really the reality that death will one.
Day come to us all I think that's actually a good thing to do I don't think you should do that at 40 years old I think you should regularly as a Christian think about that reality and to make the best use of our time and to live the best life that you could possibly live that we should ask the question what is the what is the ultimate life worth living now I have good news for us today the book of Philippians and where we're at in this part of the book speaks directly to that it gives us.
If you're asking questions about how should I live my life but is the best possible life I could live we're at the place that absolutely addresses that God has a good word for us today so I want to pray for us as we really lean into that question and then we'll walk through the text together heavenly father I pray that you would help us be open to receiving your word and that we would not just be hearers of the word but we would be doers and that comes through.
First acknowledging the Gospel and trusting in you and out of that Faith Comes repentance that changes the way we live so that we can worship and honor and Delight in you God I pray that you would do that work within us this morning so that we might be a people that take this life life seriously in Jesus name amen all right so we've been in Philippians in chapter 1 for a bit one of the things we've seen the last few weeks is that Paul in his imprisonment as he's in Rome he's in prison and house arrest the Philippians they're they're exchanging letters in this letter he is talking about how his imprisonment is being used.
To advance the Gospel it's encouraging Believers Christians on the ground in Rome and he was excited about that even as we saw last week that there are some people who were preaching from Bad motives from selfish ambition a rivalry with Paul but there are others who are preaching with good motivations and he goes regardless of the motivations I'm just jacked I'm rejoicing because the Gospel is being preached because Christ is being proclaimed so he's at this moment where he's just rejoicing that Christ is being preached and he has something else to Rejoice about in the back end of.
Verse 18 where we pick up when he says yes and I will rejoice for I know that through your prayers and the help of the spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my Deliverance that's his rescue he's going to be rescued as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by by death so he's not just rejoicing that the Gospel is being repe is being preached and being proclaimed he's also rejoicing.
Because he's going to be delivered and this is I I don't want us to miss this isn't the main point of this but he says due to your prayers through the prayers of the Philippian Christians and the work of the spirit that he's going to be delivered which just should really Center us on like prayer is unbelievably important God accomplishes his will through his people through the prayers of his people from Old Testament into the New Testament so we should be a people that are praying.
For God to work we have a prayer list that goes out to members in our Church who've opted to receive that text that goes out on Monday we have a prayer list that you can if you want things prayed for you can go on our website to uh I think it's one of the times if I had it off top of my head I'd tell you but I don't but it's somewhere in there you scan all the tabs you'll see pray and you can put in a prayer request it goes to that list we should do that.
Because prayer matters God accomplishes his will through the prayers of his people over and over and over again and don't I want us to miss that as we launch into the rest of this that they've been praying for his Deliverance they've been praying for Paul and he says I'm going to be delivered now that word delivered comes from the same Greek word uh for saved sotia so this is saved this is delivered and the question is okay from what from what are you going to be delivered is it what you were just talking about is it your imprisonment that you're going to be delivered from prison is he going to have his Tim Robbins moment.
Where he goes through the tunnel or the the what do you call those pipes that Shaw Shank and gets out into the water and looks up in the sky and he is free which if you don't know what I'm talking about I'm so sorry for you if you've never seen Shaw Shank Redemption first off how dare you like just you've missed out on something this is one of the top five movies if you have this Tim Robbins moment where he's just he's.
So excited to be is's going to be delivered is that's what's happening here so some will argue that's happening others will say no he's actually he's moved on that was so verse 17 we're on to new and better things in these next few verses what he says is is that they will turn out from my this will turn up for my Deliverance verse 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed but that with full courage.
Now as always Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by by death others will say no no he's moved on from imprisonment he's talking about eternal Deliverance he's talking about death he's talking about the fact that because he believes that Christ was crucified for his sin and he put his faith in Christ and because he put his faith in Christ God the Father looks at Paul and says that he stands righteous because of the righteousness of Christ and not his own.
Because Jesus died for him he stands confidently waiting to go into the next life waiting to be delivered into the next life where he will be with Christ for eternity so some will say no it's it's more that's what's happening here I think the language here between two ideas I think he's being a little bit vague and koi for a reason I think he's kind of going with both and when you read the rest of the passage I think you'll see that he actually means both very practically as he works through this that he does expect to at some point be released from this Roman imprisonment and also he is eager.
For what is next after this life which he picks up in verse 21 for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain if I'm to live in the flesh that means fruitful labor for me yet which I shall choose I cannot tell I'm hardpressed between the two my desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better we'll pause there verse 21 is one of my favorite passages in the Bible like it is Shaw Shank Redemption top five level at of all the passages in the Bible this this right here is it you can come back to it over and over again and the deeper you weit into it.
The more satisfying it actually is to live as Christ to die as gain now his basic argument is pretty easy to follow if you're going to live it is for Christ if I'm going going to live a life it is going to be for Christ if I'm going to get out of this R imprisonment and continue my Ministry it's going to be for Christ it's going to be fruitful labor is the language he uses In this passage which will further unpack in the verses that follow that means more churches planted that means more Sinners saved that means more Christians discipled.
If I'm going to live huge win if I'm going to die huge win because if I die I gain I gain eternity I gain an eternal life with Christ I depart this painful broken marred sinful world and I get to be with Christ and that is far better so here is why I think this is one of the most important passages in the Bible it's hard to find a more succinct summary of what the Christian life looks like like this is the headline.
For the Christian Life and when I say headline I mean like how headlines used to be it used to be that you got a paper and that paper was like a physical paper and it smelted really good and you would look and you'd see headlines and the headline was a few words that summarized the whole article you could read the headline you get a general gist of where it was going nowadays headlines are not that they're clickbait sometimes have nothing to do with what's in the article.
Because journalism's lost complete ethic bearings and just but it's just the actual headline like what what actually like this is it like the old school headline you see this to live as Christ to die as gain that's the Christian Life and there's a whole lot more that can be said about that when you read the rest of the Scriptures but you have that right there and you understand what it means to be a Christian that when you actually trust in the finished work of.
Jesus when when you trust in his perfect life and the righteousness that comes through that that gets accredited to our account when you trust in his death that I a sinner and I need a savior and his blood covers me you trust in his resurrection that I actually get to have a new life in Christ because death no longer has a grip on me and that he ascended to the right hand of God the Father where he rules and Reigns from and I get to serve him out of that hope.
When you understand that the rest of the Christian Life is this you put all your chips on that hope on that reality you don't H your bets it's all in on Christ and now what to live as Christ to die is gain so I want to spend some time digging into this phrase because I think this phrase is unbelievably important if you understand what the best life is to live so let take a look at the first part to live is Christ he goes on to say.
If I'm to live in the flesh that means fruitful labor for me now he's going to go on to unpack this in the next few verses and just say that this is serving your brothers and sisters in Christ this is in service of the Church but that's what it means to live as Christ means to serve Christ to live is to serve that's the Christian Life to Live is to serve I went to a college called Presbyterian College and they had a a motto in Latin was called Dum vivamus servamus which was.
While we live we serve and at one point I'm sure in the history of our college that was attached to Christian values this is no longer a Christian College not remotely close but just like Harvard back in the day was founded as a seminary this was founded as a Christian College back in the day and at some point someone made the connection that the life that you live in Christ is one of service to live is Christ if you're going to be a Christian you're going to serve that is what it means to be a Christian and not only that that is the Pinnacle of human existence you understand what the what the what the.
Most maximized human life is do you understand what the good life is the good life is one that is found in serving Christ but in a lot of different ways I think our actions and our desires reveal that we don't really celebrate that Anthem that we don't really wholly Embrace that idea and then if you're in a bit of a midlife or quarter life crisis or you're just evaluating your time and you're trying to think through what do I do with the life that I have left like Paul is.
If I get out of prison this is what I'm going to do to live is this that if we're pose the same question that says if you had more time if you had more time in this life what are you going to do what is your gut instinct say what do your actions reveal I think if we're honest might reveal a lot of things that if I get more time what I'm going to do is I'm going to maximize my time to make money that I'm going to do what I can to make money.
Because money means freedom to choose freedom to do what I want freedom for me freedom for my family it means a lot of things that I can gain in this life this life is very temporary and I need to maximize my life and the aim of my life in a way that maximizes how much money I can have in my bank account I think for others that if you had more time that you'd be really focused on I want to be able to find someone to do this life with that I want to be able to find someone that I can journey through life that I love that I want I want that person.
For others who even might be married now might be just in a marriage that you're not happy with and it's like I if I I want someone I can actually love and journey through life with to live is if I had more time I could just have this if I had more time I could have the perfect family the right amount of kids who behave the just right amount of like all the things I want them to do that they would be involved in these Sports and would be uh uh good at this aspect of school and be able to have these type of careers.
If I could just uh have more time I'll be able to establish that type of family if I had more time I would be able to establish the kind of the kind of career I want but as you're thinking ahead primary focus is what kind of career I can have and the time I can put into that and the Legacy that I can leave through that and the work that I do if I had more time I would just grow to be a person that is admired by others that people would like me and I could leave that type of Legacy.
If I had more time I could live the kind of comfortable lifestyle that I want I could ditch the car that I don't like it improved the truck that I do like I could live uh I could level up in the house that I have I could have Comforts I could have the big screen TV if I had more time I could get happy if I had more time I could get healthy I think the Instinct within us and I think the actions that we display would reveal a lot of different things that.
If we had more time it would be a focus on this but to live would be this and listen I don't I don't think that I think having a good job and a and a spouse and a sweet family and a career that you like and being liked by others and being able to afford Stakes on the weekend like I'm I think those are good things and guess what Christianity is not opposed to those things this just not a a faith that's built on aestheticism this super righteous over-the toop lifestyle that's not what this is at all.
But here's the thing those things are not the Pinnacle of what it means to be a human those AR the the that's not what it means to live the good life not for the Christian at all that's not what it means that's not that should not be the central aim of Our Lives all of those things in our lives should be in joyful submission to the central aim of our life and that life is one of serving Christ which means that the money that we make is in service to Christ that.
If you get a pay raise it's like I God has blessed me with more so that I might not use it all on myself that I might bless others I might see other people in our Church family that are in difficult situations and be able to bless them that I might be able to reformulate my budget so I can send more missionaries because ultimately my money is a means by which I get to serve Christ that if God blesses me with a spouse that means I get to be in a one flesh Union that is in service to Christ that.
If I'm currently in one I get to rethink how our marriage is centered on the Gospel so that our marriage can ultimately not serve my needs or even my spouse's needs but ultimately in service of Christ that if you choose a career or you decide to switch jobs that every one of those decisions is like how do I submit this in the service of Christ how would I be a missionary in this workplace how will choosing this uh job help me serve the kingdom better you can go on and on down the list.
If I'm going to raise a family it's going to be one that is centered on the idea and the truth that is beautiful to live is Christ which means that I'm going to spend time with my children to help them understand that is the most important thing they could possibly ever understand and believe which means that I'm going to have make decisions as a father that says maybe we don't do the travel ball team this year and maybe I'm not impressing upon them that straight AIDS is the most important thing you can do to have the career that you want that I might even stretch them past bedtime on a night at community group knowing.
Good and well when I get home at 8:30 they're going to be really tired and awful at 6:00 in the morning when I'm getting them ready and the whole next day they might be a little tyrants but it's for a purpose because ultimately I want them to understand that to live as Christ and that this is more important we make decisions all the time that should be in service to Christ and should guide ourselves our families towards the ultimate good life that whatever Comforts that whatever whatever things.
God gives us in this life is in service to the ultimate aim that is to serve Christ that we would Le we would leverage every aspect of Our Lives towards making disciples and loving Brothers and Sisters in Christ and doing just to be blunt whatever God wants you to do now sometimes when you put a big emphasis on that there's a part of us especially in our Church where it's we we preach over and over again that you're not saved by works we beat that drum all the time that you're not saved by your Works you're not saved by your Works you're not saved by your works from Grace you've been saved through faith we.
Hit that drum over and over again for a reason because we need to understand that we trust in the perfect works of Christ on our behalf and that record stands for us you don't get into the kingdom of God by doing a bunch of good so we'll hit that over and over again but not at the expense of go 2 verse uh Ephesians 2: 89 and verse 10 which says that we are his workmanship that once you're in the kingdom of.
God you're created for good works which is not for you to get into heaven it's for your neighbors and it's for the advancement of his kingdom I love how Paul puts some very similar ideas in this passage into 2 Corinthians chapter 5 when he says in verse 8 and9 yes we are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord see that similar language there i' ra I'd rather be at home with the.
Lord because that's my heavenly home it's not here it's there i' rather be at home with the Lord verse 9 so whether we are at home or away we make it our aim to please him and I want us to miss that we don't please him to get into heaven but we should make it our chief aim as Christians to say how can I please him how can I serve him how can I do this and I think the problem for us as a as Americans I think as American Christians I think we're.
So drunk off of Earthly blessings and Earthly riches and Earthly things that when the Bible confronts us on this when it comes to us and says You must live for Christ you must please him you must obey him a part of it just goes yeah I know but if I do that I'm going to miss out on some things and I just I want to just brutally murder that idea from us ever believing that is true because it's the idea that enjoying the things of this world is somehow better than what Christ has to offer us I I just want to kill that idea.
If I took my child if I took my son and I said we're going to get ice cream and not just any ice cream like we're going to the Baked Bear in Five Points which I've been on keto for a month and today is my first day off and sometime this week I'm going there because you can get ice cream and they take gooey butter cookies and they press it together into just I mean it's amazing and yeah I'm like that's where we're going we're getting that it's like that as that's the that's the best we got in Columbia we're going there and we're walking through five points and all of a sudden he sees.
A red shiny thing in the gutter and it's a one of those strawberry candies like the outside looks like a strawberry wrapper it's bright and shiny inside tastes like lip gloss you know what I'm talking about and he darts to it and he picks it up and he's like no no no dad I found it we're good I'm going to camp out here you go do whatever you want I don't have to walk that much further because I found what is going to satisfy me I would smack it out of his hand I would say you're not enjoying this no no no I don't you don't understand I want this i' smack it out of.
His hand again and have to look around and make sure that nobody's going to call the police you leave that for the kids in Five Points coming off of USC campus that's not what we're going to enjoy we're going to the Baked Bear I know we got to walk a little further son but that's where we're going because once we get there it's going to be good and it's going to be better than that filth that I'm going to stomp into the ground no that's what I do with my son and that's what God's trying to help us.
See yeah it's a little more effort to serve Christ takes a little farther to get there but it's good it's actually where goodness is found it's unbelievably good when you read Psalm 37 in Psalm 37:3 he says trust in the Lord and do good dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness he's saying trust in God and in trusting him serve him do good but faithfulness and then you get to verse four when it says delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart which people have Twisted out of context.
For their own purpose purposes and said you had Del lighten yourself in the Lord he's going to give you whatever you want it's like no no don't miss what it's sandwiched between verse three do good verse 5 commit your way to the Lord trust in him and he will act that ultimately goodness is found in Walking With Our God and doing what he commands and trusting in our savior and then obeying him that's where goodness is found not just goodness you get to delight in.
God through that and delighting in God who is the Perfection of beauty who is wonderful is good serving Christ is not drudgery it's not it's not a boring life no matter how much it gets depicted in movies or in TV the Christians live a boring life it's not service of Christ is not drudgery that is a lie you ask anyone who has followed Christ for decades they've pursued him in word and prayer regularly they have been obedient to make disciples they have entered into the baptism Waters and they have seen people testify that Christ has change them.
Because they got to be vessels of that being used to declare the Gospel to them you listen to their stories of how they helped other Christians get out of debt of how they helped walk with other brothers and sisters in discipling them you ask them if they would wish they had spent the last few decades doing something different that they would have would you would you have rather spent your time on endless amount of hobbies pursuing meaningless sex would you rather have watched a bunch more shows and bed a bunch more series would you have rather gone to a bunch of really fancy parties and gotten sosed is that what you have rather have done.
With your time if you ask them that question they're going to look at you sideways they're going to look at you like have you have you lost your mind absolutely not not because they've experienced what it means to Delight in Christ through service they know what it means to walk with their God and out of walking with their God serving others they have experienced that and that's better as we say every Sunday morning better than everything else and they believe that yet.
When I talk to people who have spent their years spent the last decade pursuing empty Pursuits chasing after worldly things I hear I'm s I'm tired I'm depressed I'm anxious I'm burned out because those things don't actually ever satisfy because that's not where true Joy is found to live as Christ is where true Joy is found service of Christ is not drudgery it is joy and when we realize that and believe that we become the Living Sacrifice that God has called us to be.
Then we tap into a greater form of joy that is better than anything this world has to offer so when he says to live as Christ of course I'm going to keep doing this what else would I rather be doing this is it and that's why he can so freely say in the next breath to die is gain death is gain because he knows if I die it's promotion to the big leagues I'm going to Eternity and that is far better and I think the problem.
For us is that so many of us are tempted to squeeze every ounce out of this life to squeeze every ounce of Earthly pleasure out of this life that we can't even see that that's better that I think that if many of us were told that you were going to die younger than you thought it would be scary and it would be sad and Paul just doesn't have that mindset he's so freed up in believing in Christ and understanding eternity and that this life is a drop in the bucket compared to the ocean of time that spent in eternity and how much better that is he's.
So grounded in that idea he says if you kill me good I'm I'm I'm going to get where I want to go faster where I'll behold the face of God where I won't have the stain of this body and its Brokenness and its pain and its suffering or I won't be in I won't be I won't struggle with sin anymore yeah I I'll take that all day long he says yet which I shall yet which I shall choose I cannot tell I'm hardpressed between the two to Live to Die My Desire is to depart and be with Christ.
For that is far better he's not suicidal y'all that's not what's happening here he just understands Eternity for what it is and he's just being honest he's like I'm heart pressed I know that I should I got more to I got more to do but man I want that CU that's better and if you've ever heard stories you've been around Christians who've walked with the Lord for years and they have a terminal illness there's a part of them that's sad because they're going to leave a wife or a husband behind and they're going to leave kids behind and that's painful.
Because death thingss and that's painful but if you press in and you ask but but are you are you excited about being with Christ and that face just turns and it's like yeah I am I'm really looking forward to that I believe our calculations are off if we think there's less reward in serving Christ and I think our calculations are off if we fear death we should live every day to serve Christ in any way that he desires and we should.
See the joy in doing that because it is wonderful and then when God calls us to be home with him we're ready for the gain that awaits us that's what Paul's articulating here now it's when you see how he's talking around this you see he's somewhat convinced I would argue he's somewhat convinced that he's still got more work to do and the history behind this is is that there's a few historical resources outside the Bible that say that he got out of this imprisonment and he ended up in Spain which is.
When you read the book of Romans where he wanted to go and take the Gospel now we don't know that for a complete fact whether he did that or whether this really was the last imprisonment I lean towards looking at this text and realizing that I think he expects to get out and then he expects he has more work to do and you get a glimpse of that mindset when you go through verse 24 and 26 which was what we close out with.
Today he says 24 but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account convinced of this I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again so I think from this that he he thinks he's getting out regardless of where you where you land on that his mindset is if I get out.
When I get out it is for your progress and joy in the faith that's what he says the way I get to live as Christ the way I get to serve Christ is for your progress and joy in the faith later in Chapter 2 he's going to talk about himself as a being poured out like a drink offering which is sacrificial language from the Old Testament that he's gets to be a sacrifice for their benefit he gets to be a sacrifice.
For their joy and progress in the faith that's what it means to serve Christ brothers and sisters that you leverage your life in service of Christ for the good of one another for the joy and progress of the people in this room to know and love and enjoy Christ we do that first by remembering Jesus in a sacrifice for us what he did on our behalf what he went to the cross for us we look at that sacrifice and out of that and realizing the mountain of debt that he paid.
For that our sin that put him there out of that we overflow into worship and we say and try to leverage Our Lives to say how can I serve others that I might help them have joy in Christ progress in their faith in Christ that's what it means to live as Christ and that that looks like the group leaders we have in our Church family that are laying on the line for their groups and when group gets hard and it gets messy and it gets tiresome you.
Look to Christ and you say thank you Jesus you serve me I'm going to serve others too and I'm going to I'm going to persevere in this and the joy that's found in the hardship of doing that is watching people taste and see that the Lord is good and watching Sinners be saved and watching marriages be restored and watching people understand what it means to truly serve Christ and to give themselves away this happens when a brother or sister sits down with someone who is hurting another brother and sister maybe.
For hours maybe for days maybe for weeks and just sits with them serving them because it's for not my own good it's for the good of others and it's for their joy and for their progress in the faith so yeah this is a a negative situation and it's got negativity within it but I press into that reality because it's worth them knowing and enjoying loving Christ this means leveraging your hospitality for others which is hard cuz I don't know if you bought groceries lately.
But like two bags is a 100 bucks and I we feel it and it's like man I I mean I we can we do hot dogs like I just you can by the way um it's like you're leveraging this I'm I'm going to I'm going to put this in my budget I'm put this in my mindset that I'm going to give up time and money for others to invite unbelievers into my house to invite their Christians into my house because it's good.
Because it's ultimately for their joy and progress and the faith Faith this means hear this this means sticking it out with people that are described as messy or even toxic man there's there's so much of an ideology going around right now that says if you got messy people in your life you got toxic people in your life you draw all this boundary and that's your circle and they can't get in the circle because if they get inside the circle that's a problem.
Because self care is Pinnacle at this moment you got to care for yourself so they can't be let in and what I'm not saying is is that you don't keep in mind that you don't give all of your energy and all of your time to messy people but you go the gospels and you show me a time when Jesus drew a boundary around himself and said these messy people can't get in and you ain't going to find it you know what he did do with messy people with hurting people he spent time with his heavenly.
Father and he got away from the crowds and he was filled up so that he could serve others well and I just want to again murder the mindset a lot of murder language sorry I want to destroy the mindset that says I can't serve others because I have to only care for myself it's the opposite of the Gospel to live is Christ whatever that is fill in the blank to live is serving Christ and leveraging our lives for others joy.
For others progress in the faith and we do it over and over again because we ultimately believe that Jesus is better over and over again and that in and through those labors and those efforts we get to see other people as he says In this passage have ample opportunities to glorify Christ ample cost to glorify Christ so brothers and sisters we leverage our lives for Mission we leverage Our Lives to loving one another well for the good of one anothers and we do it over and over and over again and we give ourselves away.
Because ultimately we get to help others experience joy and progress and in that labor even when it is hard we experience joy that is found in him because that level of joy is only found in the service of others so that means we need to be honest about how we'd answer that question to live is what that we should be honest about what we are basing Our Hope in this life on but what we think the good life is to live is what.
And if that answer isn't Christ then we say I submit this to you Jesus and I put it at your feet and you Chang my heart and you help me repent and you help me to live is for you for the good of others and for the progress in the faith until Christ calls us home again I'm at the halfway point with my oldest and I've only got a few years of really PR primary influence in her life before she leaves the home and I.
So want the next n plus years just to say an embody in her to live is Christ baby girl to live is Christ and to die is gain that's the Christian life because I want her to be able to go into the world and see money not as a God but as a tool and she's like I'm just so that one day she'll say this is just a tool and I won't be anxious about this I'm not going to be needing to.
For all this but I will live for the good of others and I will leverage my finances for the sake of others that if God does call her into a marriage one day and she has a husband that they will enter into a Godly marriage that is in service of others that she chooses a job that it's ultimately going to be how can I serve Christ in this job if she chooses to spend her time she says I'm going to serve Christ as.
God blesses her with children that one day she's going to raise them in service of Christ and enjoying him and God willing is going to live a long life and I'm going to beat her to Eternity and then one day at the end of her life a legacy of serving others she's just ready and she's ready to go home and she's ready to depart this world because what awaits her is eternal gain and I will get to be there and welcome her there and invite her and we celebrate.
And then for the years that follow I get to see person after person after person after person who enter into the kingdom of God because she leveraged her life to live is Christ and saw death as only gain that is the life I want for her that's the life I want for all my kids that's the life I want for myself and that's the life that I want for every person in this Church to live a life that is for Christ and doesn't cling to this world.
Because ultimately death is better because we gain him me pray heavenly father I pray that you might break within us a love for this world that we might not cling to anything that it has to offer but we might truly submit Our Lives to you to be in service to you because that is eternally better that's where Joy is found and my heart doesn't want to believe that it wants to cling to the things of this world may you break that within me.
So that I might embody what it means to live as Christ that our Church family that is struggling with loving the things of this world whatever that might be that you might break within them a heart for others that comes out of loving you and serving others may you help us be able to answer this question Faithfully that to live as Christ and to die as again and if there's anyone here that has not trusted in you that this is not the central aim of their life at all I pray that you'd help them.
See that this world is not worth it and they pursuing the things of this world is not worth it but they would go all in on you and they would live for you so that ultimately one day death may be gain in Jesus name amen the band's going to come up we're going to take prepare to take the Lord's Supper on the night that Jesus was betrayed he took bread and he broke it he said this is my body that was broken.
For you he took the cup of the New Covenant he said this is my blood that was shed for you that as often as you eat and drink this you Proclaim my death until I return and we are people that regularly come to the table of a meal that signifies death it signifies the death of Christ but also through faith in Christ death to ourselves which means that in the moments as you prepare to take the Lord's Supper as a Christian you get to.
Look at the things that we might say to live is what and we might fill that in and bring that before Christ and that we might repent joyfully H prly joyfully that we'd come to the table joyfully say thank you Jesus that you died for my own selfish ambition for my own selfish desires thank you Jesus that you died for this so that I might joyfully be able to spend what the this meal also points to Eternity the final meal that we enjoy with Christ forever that as a people between those two realities we get to live a a life that is.
For Christ expecting that one day death enters into game now if you're not a Christian if you never trusted completely in the finished work of Christ please don't come to the table this is not a meal for you what I want for you right now is to contemplate and to think that if you've banked your hope if you banked your life on anything outside of Christ if you're honest with yourself you're like I don't no I've never done that I've actually never believed My Hope Is that you would surrender to.
Jesus now because he's good and living a life for Christ is good and it's Joy filled and it's wonderful and ultimately it ends an eternal game but that can't happen unless you surrender in faith and I pray that you would now now so when you are ready come to the table with gluten free in that back corner over there if you want to know more about this if you want to know what it means to trust in Christ and surrender your life to him grab me grab another pastor we would happily walk you through the Gospel and what it means to believe and trust in him.
See that he is better heavenly father I pray that you would.
Rejoice in the Gospel (Philippians 1:15-18a)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Spencer I'm one of the pastors here we're continuing to walk through the book of Philippians still in chapter 1 a few more verses 15 through the first part of 18 so you go ahead and flip there be on page 570 the blue Bibles you can follow along there if you don't have a Bible at home please take that we want you to have a Bible that you can uh that you can read that you have access to and the text will also be on the screen.
If you want to follow there so we I make an assumption of the room most of us probably I would say all of us do good things from time to time you serve your neighbor do the extra mile at work like we we do good things but I think if we were honest that a lot of the times those good things are done for motives that aren't always pure we just I know maybe y'all are better than me I just see I.
See with them me like there's just there's a lot of selfish motives sometimes I mean may do a good thing but it may be for the sake of advancing your career it might be to make us feel good or maybe we just simply like praise like to do good things because we like the praise that comes with it now we realize that that's socially unacceptable right for that to be seen you know we got some teenagers in the room about the teenage years is.
When you start to figure out that like I I it's not good for people to know that I just did a good thing just to be praised right like you just you start to realize that I mean into adulthood like it just that's not a that's not a thing that works well it's not going to help you in the workplace like my kids are not good at that little kids are terrible at that they're not subtle uh they're not slick they're not Savvy my youngest what she'll do sometimes she's she's not four.
Now so she's growing a little bit out of this but my youngest she'll do like a good thing or she'll pick up her toys or whatever and then she'll come to me and she'll go and oh this is what this is about like you you wanted praise you okay good job now at some point she's going to goow around and realize that's not how you make friends and secure a job like I'm just I I challenge you to do something good at work this week and go to your boss and go and it's not going to it it doesn't go.
Well for you uh and if you do please record that I want to see their face it's just we know that's not it's not really acceptable but if we're honest there's a lot of that within us doing the right things for the wrong reasons last week we went through verses 12 through 14 in chapter 1 and we got to see that Paul's imprisonment helped Advance the Gospel it also helped embolden the Believers on the ground to share the Gospel as well and what we're going to.
See this week is that there are Christians on the ground in Rome we near where he's imprisoned that are sharing the Gospel some of them are doing it for the right reasons but some of them are doing it for the wrong reasons and we're going to take a look at that and after acknowledging that reality Paul is going to help us see he's going to reveal where we should place the most value and how that applies to our lives as Christians.
So I want to read these verses and we'll pray and we'll walk through this together verse 15 some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry but others from goodwi the latter do it out of love knowing that I am put here for the defense of the Gospel the former proclaimed Christ out of selfish ambition not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment what then only that in every way whether in pretense or in truth Christ is proclaimed and in that I Rejoice let's pray heavenly.
Father I pray that you'd help us be open to hear your word this morning we as CH Just prayed are are needy sinners in need of Grace in need of instruction we need your guidance uh and and passages like this certainly reveal what is within us I pray that you would expose that and help us see the need for Faith see the need for repentance and running to you and seeing that you are better and this would ultimately result in a life of worship that glorifies you above ourselves we ask this in.
Jesus name amen all right so as we kind of introduce the book of Philippians this letter is different than the other letters that Paul wrote so God has inspired this is speaking through his servant Paul there's there's 13 letters that God used Paul to write to to help us see his wonderful truth this letter is very different than the other ones most of the time he's dealing with a problem in that Church or or or speaking to a leader who's dealing with problems within their Church and he's helping engage some of that Philippians is just different it's a joyful love you know uh uh based letter between a Church that deeply loves Paul and a.
Church that he loves and he's just kind of telling them what's happening on the ground and what's happening on the ground here is you've got some Christians who've been emboldened by Christ and out of good motives are declaring the mystery of Christ he's imprisoned in Rome and he's connected to those Roman Christians but there are other Roman Christians that he's connected to that are doing this for bad reasons we picked that up in verse 15 some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry.
Now there are people in the Church at Rome that are preaching Christ from place of envy and rivalry now this passage has confused commentators theologians who've been interacting with this text me like it just it's it's conf it's some confusing stuff here because he uses language envy and rivalry that typically when he writes in his other letters is attributed to those who don't know Christ those who don't follow Christ like envy and Roby especially paired close together that's applied to if your life is marked by this he says you don't know Christ he does this in multiple places in Galatians chapter 5 we're familiar with many of us with with the the fruit of the.
Spirit love joy peace patience kindness goodness gentl faithness self-control right before that is the works of the Flesh and in Galatians 5 it says now the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality impurity sensuality idolatry sorcery enmity Strife jealousy fits of anger rivalries dissensions divisions Envy drunkenness orgies and things like these I warn you as I warn you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God he is saying that if your life is marked by this.
Then then you're you probably aren't a Christian you're not going to inherit the kingdom of God now the language here stands out the same word for Strife in the Greek which is the original way this is written the same word for strife and rivalries is the same word and that is paired right next to Envy so he's got these kind of close together and that helps see this is what marks someone who doesn't believe and isn't living out the Gospel he does this again in Romans 1 says they were filled with all manner of unrighteousness evil covet malice they are full of Envy murder Strife deceit maliciousness again Envy pair close to the same Greek.
Word for rivalry that is translated here here Strife this happens again and not just describing those who don't believe the Gospel but also those who are teaching a false Gospel false teachers in 1 Timothy 6 he says if anyone teaches a different Doctrine does not agree with the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that Accords with godliness he is puffed up with conceit understands nothing he has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels About Words which produce Envy to Ascension slander evil suspicions again Envy paired up with the same Greek word that's.
For rivalry that's translated here as dissension so you see kind of how he uses these words close together throughout the letters that he's written and then you get to Philippians 1 and it's just odd because he's applying it to people who preach Christ and what he doesn't do he does not destroy their credibility he he does that in other places for those that are false teachers he doesn't do that here let's work through the rest of the passage it says somebody preach Christ from envy and rivalry.
But others from goodwi the latter do it out of love knowing that I'm put here for the defense of the Gospel he said there are some in the Roman Church that are preaching the Gospel for the right reasons for a place of love but then he shifts right back to in verse 17 the former proclaimed Christ out of selfish ambition not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment so then we get a little bit of a clearer picture of what's going on there are people in the Roman Church that from a place of envy and rivalry specifically with Paul out of their own selfish ambition and their own self-interest are preaching Christ in.
A way to hurt Paul and a way to to to Really what it seems like push his influence down in that Church and lift up their own influence within this Church that's what's happening and the confusing part is how he responds in verse 18 what then only that in every way whether in pretense that's false motives or in truth Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice and when you read this against his other letters it's like wait what you take envy and rivalry very seriously and yet all of a sudden you're just what.
Then these people have hurt you personally they've Afflicted you and you're just like what then at least the Gospel is being preached at least at least Jesus is being proclaimed and I want to be like have you read your other letters man this is this is a big deal I me the same person that told Timothy to keep a close life on your keep keep keep a close watch on your life and your Doctrine like you care about how the those who proclaim the Gospel live and you care about the message like what What's Happening Here is Paul speaking out of both sides of his mouth what is he getting at that's the question that.
Kind of lingers a little bit and it's the answer to that is it's it's complicated it's a complicated answer but it's worth pressing into so when Paul says some D preach Christ it is very clear that he's talking about the Gospel he is saying they're preaching the true Gospel they're not preaching a false Gospel which means they're not false teachers and the reason you can say that very credibly is because Paul in all the places he talks about false teachers has zero patience.
For them I mean he absolutely extends zero kindness to wolves and sheep's clothing I mean he dismantles and destroys them over and over and over again I'm not going to give you three quick examples they're a lot more in the book of Galatians a Church that a letter that was written to the Church in galacia a region where he had planted churches after he left some people called the judaizers came in and tried to convert Christians back into following the Jewish law and saying you need this to be saved and he in chapter one at the gate in.
Verse 6 says I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different Gospel not that there is another one but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the Gospel of Christ but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to the preach to you a Gospel contrary to the one we preach to you let him be a cursed as we have said before.
Now I say again if anyone is preaching to you a Gospel contrary to the one you received let him be a cursed that phrase let him be a cursed very literally means let him go to hell so he just said you're pre if anyone is preaching a false Gospel let him go to hell let him be a cursed he picks up in in in second Timothy he says but avoid irreverent Babel for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness and their talk will spread like Garing here false teachers he says their teachings are like an infection that are rotting out the body and will kill the body and he says among the them.
Are himas and philetus which he just called them out by name he doesn't play with false teaching and false teachers he says who have swore from the truth saying that the resurrection is already happened they are upsetting the faith of some and I'll give you one more again there's more but I'll just give you one Titus one says for there are many who are insubordinate empty talkers and deceivers especially those of the circumcision party they must be silenced these are the these trying to convert people back to the Jewish law to be saved he says they must be silenced since they are upsetting whole families by teaching.
For shameful gain what they ought not teach he says they must be silenced their talk spreads like gain green they can go straight to hell he has very very strong language for false teachers and he has no patience for false teaching at all and then you get to Philippians and you read this passage and it's like what they're marked by Envy and rivalry what what this seems like a big shift so nowadays there's a lot of uh 90s Nostalgia a lot of 90s Nostalgia I think that's good just I'm partial.
Because that's where I grew up but I think there's not enough focus on one of the best things that came out the 90s and that is '90s country music ' 9s country music was amazing it was so good I know some of y'all don't like country it's fine we can't all have good taste but '90s country music was the jam it was so good Allan Jackson Martina McBride George Straight were just killing it and then 2000's bro country came and it was awful they murdered country music it's.
So so so bad but it's making a comeback you guys cuz when Chris Stapleton took the stage at the CMAs a few years ago I mean just bringing it back it makes me so happy so so many good artists Zack Bryant I can go on for days on that but '90s country was just so good and there was one who is at the top who is killing it more than anyone else in country music can I can I get a guess that's exactly right G Brooks was killing it y'all no only one other artist has sold more physical units of music than G Brooks that's the Beatles number two is GTH Brooks that's wild he.
Was and I mean he was killing that decade and then in 1999 I walked into Walmart and I saw a display case and this display case had it just one artist all the CDs and I walked up to it and I saw a man who had an emo haircut before emo haircuts were even a thing yet and a soul patch and I saw eight of the saddest words I've ever read in the English language G Brooks in the life of Chris gains and he just became a pop artist and and I I got that I got the CD and took it home and it was trash it was awful it's like dude you were killing.
It in country and then you became this this really really bad pop artist it didn't work out for him it worked out well for Taylor Swift but not for him it was a big shift and it was like what are you doing it's so uncharacteristic of everything that you've put out and that's what I feel like when I read Paul In this passage I'm like you are are you Chris gaining us are you just like what have you lost the thread on everything that matters that you're about.
But when you press into this you see that's not it at all because one thing is abundantly clear that has not changed at all and that is that Paul deeply deeply loves the Gospel he deeply deeply values the message of the Gospel you can't mess with the message of the Gospel that's his Anthem you cannot touch that he still believes in the message of the Gospel he still believes and preaches and cares about those who preach that Christ who looked upon us in our sinful hopeless State who came and left heaven.
For us who lived a perfect life for us obeying the Old Testament law Paul still cares about the fact that Christ went to the Cross because he loves us because of his great love for us and that his blood was poured out for us for our offenses and for our sins and for our struggles so that we might stand justified through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross that when God the Father looks upon those of us that have Place Our Hope in.
Jesus and not our own good works but put all of our hope in Christ that he would see the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ and not our own sins and that in that faith we are reborn to a living hope that we cling to until Jesus takes us home he still cares deeply about the message of the Gospel he loves it and he has no patience for a false teaching that corrupts that at all because he understands that a false Gospel leads to a false belief which ultimately leads to an eternity in hell and he takes that very seriously which.
For the record we should care about that we should absolutely not tolerate a false Gospel at all we should not tolerate wolves and sheep's clothing at all I in Paul's time it was it was people that were saying the resurrection already come it was people that were saying that you had to do good works and obey the Old Testament law to be justified and our time it's different the main false Gospel that's rampant throughout the American Church is the Prosperity Gospel it's it's just everywhere and we should absolutely take that seriously we should take seriously the false prophets and false Gospel that's preached from people like Joel ostein and Joyce Meyer and TD Jakes.
Crlo dollar each of them preaching false Gospel leads to a false belief that leads to an eternity in hell we should take that seriously you might think that's a little judgy you calling individuals out and I'd say yeah it is Paul called out himonas and phileus and Paul makes it very clear in in 1 Corinthians 5 he says are you not called to judge those inside the Church it's a direct quote are you not called to judge those inside the Church he's saying hold those accountable inside the Church those outside the Church you have no business making any bit accountability you have no business in making any judgment call on.
If anyone outside the Church no inside the Church if they claim to follow Christ absolutely you hold accountable to what they say and how they live because the message of the Gospel is of utmost importance and we catch a glimpse of God's heart through his servant Paul to help us see that false teaching is seriously we should take that very seriously and I think the problem for us is that we we don't there's so much of it it's like we we don't I think we get more upset.
When someone has a different if you have a family member or you know husband wife brother sister best friend I think we get more upset if they pick up art of the deal by Donald Trump or Obama's Memoir than we would if they took Joel olin's life your best life now book I think we' be more upset about the the political difference there I think it' be more upset if our family or friends were watching news or watching MSNBC then we would.
If they were actually watching TBN which is a horrible Channel I mean they they put some good stuff on there like Billy Graham sandwich between kod dollar and TD Jake and Joyce Meyer and all and it's just like it's awful which the iron of that channel I think it's called Trinity broadcast network and some of those cats don't even believe in Trinity it's just it we should take this seriously which means that if we have family or friends that are being immersed in this type of we we we should lovingly and winsomely compel them to turn away from that cuz this a destructive force it has ruined churches in America it has ruined churches in.
Africa and South America taking a a a false Gospel to people who barely have anything and telling them to give their money so that they can be it's we should take it seriously as serious as Paul takes in 2 Timothy chapter 4 when he says for the time is coming when people who will not endure sound teaching but have itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to truth and wander into myths.
Because we live in a time where everyone wants to hear what makes them feel good wants to he what what their ears are itching for and it will suit their own passions and it's going to lead to destruction so when he's talking about these Roman Christians they're preaching Christ they're not preaching a false Gospel here and when you understand this this and what he's doing I think there are three questions we can ask of Paul and ourselves that will help us understand and apply this better I have three questions the.
First do we love the message like Paul do we love the message like Paul so when he says 15 some of the preach Christ from envy and rivalry and it goes on to say the former Proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment I mean just understand like Paul Paul was being hurt by this like I mean if you've ever had anyone I remember the first time that I was in when I was in high school and a I found out that a friend of mine was talking smack about me behind my back and I was like I thought we were friends that hurts that had to.
Have hurt him they are afflicting him I mean the the the most comparative thing I could say what's happening with him and Roman maybe here is if we sent chck to like the Middle East to do Mission work and then he gets arrested and he's imprisoned and then I just was like all right now's the time I don't just preach half the time I preach all the time I make the rules here now I'm taking over Community groups and I'll scrub his ugly face out of the website it's just out this is my house and I just said I'm doing it this is me and y'all be like is he doing.
Okay it doesn't matter how he's doing we're moving on it's wicked it's corrupt that's what's happening he's being afflicted by people who are preaching because they they Envy his influence they're out of their own selfish ambition so it had to have hurt him certainly but Paul has an eternal view in mind he says but at least they're preaching Christ at least they're preaching the true Gospel at least they're preaching a Gospel that saves and not a false Gospel that dams so at least they're preach in Christ cuz he cares more about advancing the Gospel than being personally maligned that's clear from his writings that he doesn't like those motives he doesn't like envy and rivalry.
Probably was praying for the repentance but he rejoiced that they were preaching a true Gospel and that Sinners were being saved so it's what those Rivals and what they were doing in that Church was it Wicked yes are these rivals operating out of as they're operating out of selfish ambition are they in danger if they keep following that track if it's all about themselves and all about themselves all about themselves are they in danger of becoming likeus and phileus and becoming false teachers that's certainly possible.
But is it it's clear from these writings here it's clear from what's Happening Here that their motivations though flawed their their motivations though sinful are not the same as someone who would preach that Jesus isn't really God which started in the first century but also continues in the veins of jehovas witness in Mormonism now and it's certainly not the same as someone who would preach a Prosperity Gospel saying that you come come down here and we'll pray over you give some money and we'll pray over you plant the seed of faith and we'll pray over you those aren't even in the same ballpark.
See yeah they're flawed but they're not preaching a false Gospel and there's a lot of nuance here that separates that out I think there are a misguided leaders that are hurting Paul and they've lost sight of what this is all about and I think it is possible that we don't get to see how this ends that some of those those teachers ended up straying away from the faith but they're not there yet and therefore Paul is still going to celebrate that they are preaching Christ and he's not going to treat him like a wolf I love what John Piper says about this he says Paul is more agitated.
When the Gospel itself is defective than he is when the people who preach the true Gospel are defective and I think that's a very good sum summarization of what this is now that doesn't mean we shouldn't care about leaders that doesn't mean we shouldn't care about character we announced a few weeks ago that Isaac who's been in the Elder and training process here for four years that we're going to install him as an elder after four years is a reason why we took that long we were evaluating his character we still should 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 care about the character of those who Proclaim name the Gospel we should care about that like.
If any of you move to another city and you try to find a Church I've helped different people who've left here and gone to different places I usually get on n Marks Church finder or Gospel coal uh Church finder and help them find a few churches but I tell them like you should care about their teaching so get on there read their doctrinal statements listen to a few sermons hear what they are teaching because that matters but if they show up and all of a sudden like the pastor is really into himself and like he's wearing $500 sneakers and it's just like you can tell like he's just trying to build his brand and you.
Get on social media and like it's just a lot of cringe posts about I mean you know what I'm talking about it's just like if if you see that it's like okay you should care about that you should care if there's just blatant self-interest in how they do their Ministry but you also should pray for pastors like that when you encounter them you should and you should be thankful at least they're preaching a true Gospel there's a quote that's attributed to Martin Luther that's.
God uses crooked sticks to make straight lines and it's like yeah yeah there's some crooked sticks including myself that God uses to preach Christ and we should celebrate that so when you encounter churches and pastors and authors and Ministry leaders that seem to be so self-interested should pray for them and pray for their repentance because that's a miserable existence making an idol out of yourself and your ministry is tiring and exhausting there's a quote from a Moravian Bishop Zen and dorf he said preach the Gospel die and be forgotten and it's like yeah that's it that's it preach the Gospel die two generations you everyone will forget you praise.
God because the message message outlasts the messenger even a broken one we should love the message of the Gospel we should love the message of Christ second question do we love the message more than ourselves do we love the message of the Gospel more than our own selves or to put it a different way what about our own selfish ambition what about our own Envy what about our own rivalry because what happens is that we're really quick to identify it's easy to.
See you know a slick preacher with $500 sneakers on Instagram doing all kinds of things and be like oh yeah that dude's about himself but we skipped a step because what Jesus teaches in Matthew 7 is take the plank out of your own eye so that you can see the speck in your brother's eye and we just skip that stuff and that passage gets misunderstood for lots of reasons on one side it's like oh God says you should never judge anyone and Tupac like just made that a big Anthem Only.
God can judge me and it's like no that's not what Jesus is teaching at all there he's saying take the plank out first so you can see the spec there's accountability built into that passage but the other side of it is is that we just don't like to do that we don't like to take the plank out that's hard work inspecting it's suspecting your own sin first is difficult work it's a whole lot easier just to look at everyone else so do we love the message more than ourselves are we willing to do the tough work of saying.
First okay where are my selfish Ambitions where am I envious where where am I uh creating rivalries with others and where do I need to repent of that in my own life first so I can clearly love the message over my own self so we should do that that's something I have to die to myself regularly because I I just my flesh I I want admiration and Glory I want that and I I regularly pray before I preach I say God not.
For my glory but for your own because I know deep down within me I want that Glory but we got to do that Soul work of looking within and seeing what's happening within us so that we can actually repent so what planks do we need to pull out in order to practice this well do you celebrate with others when they do well or are you quietly jealous of how their how it's going for them can you really celebrate what those you should be joyful about or are you just secretly.
So jealous that you're not getting what they've got how about this on the community group level when other community groups are just crushing it seemingly from our perspective another community group it's just it seems like it's just going so well are you happy for them are we imately envious of what's happening there which group leaders like that's a real thing right actually let me put group leaders to side for a moment let me talk to group members okay and I can say this.
Because I'm a group member now my wife and I we LED groups for 10 years and now we're just we're group members leading a group is hard leading a community group is hard it is you can talk to them you ask them hey is it hard and they'll say yes it is it's made harder when we're not being good group members when we show up once a month when the list goes out for meals and it's like I'll bring cups it's like you want to try a salad they make those in kits.
Now you just open it up you TI the bowl you just that's it like it's it's real easy it it's made more difficult when we stir up drama it made more difficult when we're complaining it's made more difficult when we say I want this to change and this change to serve my needs it's made more difficult when it's like I you got to revolve around my schedule it's made more difficult when we're not good group members so let's change let's love our group leaders y'all should bless them take them out to eat ask them how you could be a better group member all right group leaders.
If you get into a comparison game where you're just envious of other other situations that's a terrible drug and it just has no bottom cuz you'll just grow bitter and then you'll just hate groups all together you know not that I've ever experienced that ever in 10 years leading groups do you have a created rivalry in your head with another person person maybe it's at work maybe it's someone in our own Church another person and your family another person in your friend group do you have a rivalry that's like it's just in your head or maybe it's not even in your head maybe it's just like understood it's like Taylor and Kim Kardashian like they.
Just you just know it's just I think that was them right right front row yes okay it's just understood there's a rivalry between you and this other person person I sin I sin and it should be repented of and Reconciliation should happen is your work your ministry your life is it all about self and your selfish Ambitions are you making much of yourself or are we seeking to make much of Christ to his glory and not our own We Must Love The Gospel and the message of the go Gospel more than our own selves.
And when we do that we make the proclamation of Christ and him crucified the most Central aim of our lives but in order to stay on track with that aim there are things there are planks that must be REM removed there sin that must be repented of to make the Gospel primary third question do you rejoice in the message going forward do you rejoice in the message of Christ and him crucified going forward do we so deeply love this message like Paul we.
So deeply love it that we would care about that Gospel going forward and we just celebrate when it's preached there's a few different ways where we just that we fall short in this area I'm going to talk to a super Niche group of people in our Church I'm talking like probably less than five so I'm going to give this space like for a minute but if you're the kind of person that loves Theology and you also love being on YouTube and you love what's called discernment Ministries on YouTube be careful there are whole YouTube channels devoted to help you discern and heresy hunt and figure out who's the bad ones and some of those cats.
They spend they get a little too gleeful about taking shots at others and I just I I didn't throw up those names earlier I didn't throw out TD Jake and Klo dollar and Joel oin and Joyce Meyer flippantly I followed the ministry for years I had to reorient myself again this week with some of the really terrible things they say right but you better be real careful when you start throwing out names and lobing bombs that people that actually might be brothers they might be Sisters in Christ.
Because you're maligning a a Believer which first John has some pretty sharp words for you on so just caution they may listen they they may you you would never go to their Church and you would never quote them and they're just they make you cringe and like I'm tell there's a lot of goofy American Christian pastors out there a lot of great ones too a lot of great ones but a lot of goofy ones that you would never get behind but are they preaching Christ are they still preaching the Gospel.
Then you should celebrate that we should celebrate the proclamation of Christ we should Rejoice regard L of maybe our differences in opinions or even even differences in a little bit in character theological differences I whether it pretense or in truth Christ is proclaimed in that we should Rejoice I don't care if you're Anglican or if you're Baptist if you're egalitarian or you're complimentary or you know what those words are and care I don't like I just I don't I don't in the grand scheme of things I I do care like lowkey level care.
But like a grand scheme of things I don't care if you're preaching Christ then go for for it just keep doing it don't let up I want to celebrate you preaching Christ not be so just judgy on the smallest of things like I even got the point like years ago I I would see Street Street Preachers and I even confronted Street Preachers back in the day how dare you do you not know how many people you're dissuading of following Christ.
Listen there are some bad Street Preachers out there Al some crazy Street Preachers out there who are wacko but there are some Street Preachers that listen that's not my style I I'm not I'm not going on the streets with the soap box it's not my game but some of them are genuine Brothers and Sisters in Christ who were just proclaiming the Gospel and sure we don't have a street preaching Ministry but I've got to the point where I'm like you know what.
Look in the mirror bro they've shared the Gospel with more people in the last five minutes than you have in the last five months so like just calm down and if they they're preaching Christ then like it's not my style but like I'm going to pray I want to pray for that dude I want to pray for them that the Gospel would actually sink into the hearts of those who don't believe we should Rejoice with people who are proclaiming the Gospel we should check our own s to.
See if we're actually sharing the Gospel or if we just think we can friend people into the kingdom and never use words which doesn't work totally fine with friending people but you got to share words at some point and I feel that within my own self we should rejoice when those who proclaim the Gospel and that means that we should be willing to acknowledge in the times where we're not doing that we need to if listen if we're not willing to get in the fight and share the Gospel with a friend with a neighbor with a coworker it's either.
Because we don't love this Gospel nearly enough or we love ourselves in our comfort way too much we should rejoice when the Gospel is preached and we should embody the part of the Roman Church that made Paul just joyful and he said out of love knowing that I am put here for the defense of the Gospel that should be us that that the latter do I love knowing that I am put here for the defense of the Gospel may we be a people that embodied that.
But out of love for the message in Christ and of love for those who do not have ears to hear and a love for our Brothers and Sisters in Christ who will be emboldened to share the Gospel if we do it we should out of love preach Christ and then rejoice when those and rejoice in those who do let me pray heavenly father I pray that you would help us love your message so deeply that we would repent of the own sin our lives that keeps us from being Messengers and Heralds that bring you glory I pray that you would use us in spite of our sin in spite of my own folies.
God I pray that you would help us celebrate at the proclamation of your wonderful Gospel and the Eternal change that can happen because of it I pray for brothers and sisters that that may Proclaim Christ for selfish motives that you would lead them and and me into regular repentance upholding you as more glorious than our ourselves so that out of love we would stand on the Gospel and Proclaim it regularly to your glory and not our own in Jesus name amen man's going to come up and we're just going to close out in worship and singing Take a couple minutes to reflect we don't just like to hear the word.
But we like to be doers of the word but in doing the word and practicing this we must stare Within and see the sin that's within us must be repented of but that's not even possible if we don't actually believe the Gospel in the first place so first you got to love Christ and you got to love the good news of the Gospel you got to admit your own need for a savior and see that God loves us so much that he did come to rescue us and to put all of our chips on that and to make all of our Hope on that and from that belief we get to.
Look at the sin within us repent of it and then be those who proclaim the Gospel and rejoice in those who do.
The Gospel Through Suffering (Philippians 1:12-14)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Abounding in Love (Philippians 1:9-11)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
My name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here if you will grab your Bible and go to Philippians uh chapter 1 we're working our way through the book of Philippians if you don't own a Bible grab one of the blue ones in the seat in front of you in that little rack and it's on page 570 this is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Philippi while he was in prison and so he's writing this letter to instruct the Church they have just sent a gift to help care.
For him because while in prison he's in house arrest where he would have been chained in Rome to a guard um but while you're under house arrest you have to provide for your own means you have to cover your own food and everything so he's at the mercy of those outside to tend to him and the Church at Philippi sent a gift 800 miles to him so that he might have his needs met and he's writing this letter back in thanks and appreciation and um talking to them about what it is to follow.
Jesus and what they should look like as a Church how do you go about making decisions there there are some things in life you didn't get to pick you didn't get to pick your parents you didn't get to pick where you were born you didn't get to pick uh some of your genetics I mean there's no you didn't get to pick any of your genetics sorry made it sound like you could pick some you don't get to pick any of them uh there's some things that you don't have any choice over there are things that happened to you in life that you had uh you just have to deal with that you didn't get to.
Choose but then there are a lot of things in life that you pick that you choose whether you're going to give energy to you're going to give attention to you're going to give effort towards that you're going to do this or not do that you're going to to pursue this or not pursue that and how do you go about making those decisions because we're going to see this morning In this passage that we're looking at verses 9- 11 in chapter 1 that Paul's talking about a prayer that he has.
For them and one of the things that we're going to see is that how we love and how we think affects what we choose which affects the trajectory of our lives so how we love and how we think affects what we choose the choices that we make the things that we bring in or reject and that affects the trajectory of our lives and Paul is writing to Christians which is very important for us as we understand this that this letter is written to Christians those who have trusted in.
Jesus and who have had him uh atone for their sins who have accepted his sacrifice on their behalf and he's talking about what it looks like as they follow Jesus and what his prayer for them as they follow Jesus and so this doesn't apply in general to all people but it applies specifically to this Church that he's saying as y'all are following Jesus this what I'm praying for you so let's read the passage together we'll pray briefly together and then we'll walk through it bit by bit.
So we're looking at chapter 1: 9-1 and it is my prayer that your your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God father as we study this passage this morning this is our prayer for our Church family that we by your grace and by the work of your spirit would abound more and more in love with all knowledge and discernment.
So that we may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God help us to understand this and to get to walk in it by your grace in Jesus name amen all right so he says and it is my prayer that's the first thing we're looking at is this is a prayer and he's bringing them in on this is a prayer.
Now I would ask do you pray for people and if you do what do you pray for people and this is a good one so maybe start including this as a a thing that you would pray for yourself you would pray for others uh there are several prayers found in Paul's letters they're helpful for you to go you know I want to pray for my Church family I want to pray for my community group I even want to pray for myself as I follow the.
Lord what should I pray for and there are some that are in Scriptures this is a good one write it down h mark where it is and use this to help guide some of your prayers but he says this is what I'm praying for you on he says that your love may abound more and more we got to talk about that word your for a second so in English the word you can mean singular or plural so you you this is this is unclear at times someone's looked at you and a group of people and said all right you can come and you do that just me all these people also all of the.
And if they turn around and walk off you'll look at each other like did they make eye contact was there a point do they mean and and so in all the places in the country we've basically we've just fix this we have things like 's and you guys and yans and you guys all of which are dumb and so we say y'all we've got the best one and if you're angry you say all y'all and then you tell them what all y'all can do you know the this word you're here in Greek they don't have this problem they have plural youu and and singular you and this is the y'all version of you in Greek.
So that's y'all's it is my prayer that that y'all's love may abound more and more or some of y'all say y'all's for some reason y'all's love would more and more but that's who he's talking to he's talking to the Church and so I want you to hear this not as just a singular you which it does include you but he's writing to y'all he's writing to I don't know if you've ever been on a team and somebody was given the pregame speech or whatever and they said I want you to fight I want you to overcome you understood they meant you.
But they meant all y'all and so that's what he's talking about this is to the Church this is to us together to them together the Church of Philippi and they would have understood that when they read it so it's that y'all's love may abound more and more that's the first thing he says is that your love may abound more and more now he's not going to say love for what he just means love that that it would be not just love directed at this certain thing.
But it would be that you would be loving people that you would abound in love that you would have a source of love that would grow and grow his prayer would be that y'all were loving people I think sometimes the American version of praying that prays for abounding we want to abound in what abundance stuff yeah when we pray for abundance we mean you know more and people like more of what it all of it the good stuff and I think in Life As Americans most of us have probably had more of a taste of abounding in abundance we more often have overeaten overindulged partaken in things that were I mean we we live in.
A historically globally y'all we live like kings I read sometimes about King Solomon and it talks about that the Queen of Sheba came and visited him and it said at no other time in in Israel was there ever that amount of spices and I'm like I can I mean there's an international aisle at the food Lon I can go hit that up I think if I could go back in time and just hand King Solomon a MoonPie he'd be like you're a world-renowned chef I'd be like.
Well I mean let me you don't had even met Debbie she got all kind of stuff like the amount that we get to participate in all of this abundance and that's what we so often are craving and wanting and praying for but y'all have you abounded in love have you ever had a season of life where you were surrounded by love where you dwelt in love where you in a household of love when you were in relationships filled with love when you were in a Church filled with love and that that is way better than this.
So let's quit praying for this and start praying that we might abound in love that that might be what this is like and I just want to say Church family I think that we've tasted this as a Church family I don't think we're an unloving group but the hope is that we would grow and grow and grow and that five years from now you'd be more loving than you are today that the trajectory of the Christian Life is that we would grow in sweetness and kindness and patience and graciousness towards one another.
So let's read about love for just a second so we might understand exactly what is he talking about what does he mean when he says love well Paul defines love gives us a lot of tangible handles on it in 1 Corinthians 13 I know it's hard for us to read this passage without first hearing Canon and D but this isn't just about romantic love while it applies to that it's much more broad it's written WR to the Church and so this is what he says love is patient and kind is that one of the beautiful things about people who are loving does they have space.
For you you ever noticed that you need something you need help you show up at the doorstep and they have space it's one of the things that love does it creates room for people it's patient and kind love does not envy or boasts you ever seen somebody get something good and the first thing you think about is yourself I wish I had that rather than being able to just Rejoice with them that they have a thing that they got a thing it's not envious it it Delights with everything that other people get it joins in.
And then it doesn't boast on the other side when they have something good for yourself you're not bragging about it you just appreciate it but you open handedly hold it it's not arrogant or rude it does not insist on its own way love is not irritable and resentful I I love that because irritable and resentful are like the front end and the back end of anger irritable is easily angered resentful is angered for a long time holding on to it.
When it comes to your relationships with your Church family are you trying to abound in love or do you show up to hang out with your community group irritable ready for these people to get on your nerv again you ever show up on Sunday just walk around and be like watch watch how they going to act ain't nobody going to talk to me you're not talking to anybody and you're making a face like you don't want people to talk to you.
Because you're judging all of them but you're waiting to prove it you've shown up irritable you're ready for them to offend you or do you ever the other side of that where it's you hold on to something you rehearse in your mind things that have happened to you a long time ago oh what if we abounded in love what if if we weren't irritable or resentful wouldn't that be nice and I'm talking about you not the person you're thinking about I wish they weren't irritable no that's not what I'm talking about I'm talking about you growing in this sounded like resentment honestly.
When you said it it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth love bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things Love Never Ends specifically verse 8 that's the beginning of it it goes on to say that there are other things that basically don't carry into eternity but loved uses but y'all if you have a Church family that Bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things and we can get through all things.
So he's saying to the Philippian Church H I pray that y'all be a people who abound in love love is the foundation but it's also the furniture the walls the roof it's everything love is what we're supposed to dwell in and abound in that we would grow in that that we'd be blessed in that that we'd be the type of people who overflow in love so he says my prayer that your love may abound more and more so he's told us basically the quantity of love that there would be it would be abound in it there' be more and more.
But he's going to give a qualifier he's going to give quality of that type of the type of love that we're about to have he says with knowledge and all discernment so what kind of love we would have would be an informed love it's knowledge discernment means judging rightly so an informed and choosy love a picky Love A Love That rightly chooses what's good and not good that this is the type of love that the Church is meant to be marked with abundant love that's patient and kind endures Bears isn't resentful isn't angry.
But that doesn't Rejoice with wrongo doing but rejoices with the truth a love that's filled with knowledge and discernment the the difference between knowledge and discernment first of all one of the things he's saying to them is that they would know their Bibles they'd know the the teaching of the New Testament they'd know the teaching the letters that he's writing they'd know the teaching of the Apostles and for us that means that we would know our Bibles that's the knowledge we're meant to have not just general knowledge.
But that we would have specific biblical knowledge that we would know what is true and good and right from the Scriptures that we would be Bible people so that we would grow in knowledge but then we would use that knowledge practically for helpful decision making that we would judge what is right and wrong and good and bad the the distinction between uh knowledge and discernment is shown to us in like a ton of our television sh so Sherlock Holmes he has knowledge.
But the whole point of the show is that like put knowledge together and then he's the one who's able to decipher how that knowledge applies in a helpful way and the really good ones are when you already had all the pieces of evidence and then they explained at the end you're like a but that's a ton of our shows that's Sherlock Holmes that's house house is just Sherlock Holmes but he's a doctor Monk Is Just Sherlock Holmes but he has OCD Psych is just Sherlock hes.
But he thinks everything's a joke and Bones she's Sherlock Holmes but a lady and a doctor with OCD who thinks nothing is a joke so these are these are our TV shows where they they build up knowledge but then discernment is the ability to use it in a helpful way to make a right choice and that's the type of love we're supposed to have as a Church and just so you know as soon as knowledge and discernment are added we we leave our culture behind cuz America us culture we could stand at an inauguration and say we pray that your love would abound more and more.
And then just close the Bible and everybody in our culture would go yes it's exactly what we want but as soon as you say a choosy Discerning love that knows right from wrong it's like oo no because what we celebrate culturally is approval love I'm just on your team that real love culturally this is what we celebrate is for me to say I just want you to be happy and I'm not evaluating what makes you happy I'm just saying I want you to be happy I'm just on your team whatever you say is good.
For you is good for you whatever you want that's I'm I'm on your team I'm not ever going to tell you that you're wrong about anything I'm just going to tell you I'm on your team like I thoroughly enjoyed the movie wreck at Ralph and then the second movie came out and the little girl girl in the movie was like I'm going to leave my video game and go live on the internet and Ralph says that's a bad idea and I thought what a hero.
Because if a little girl tells you she's going to go live on the internet you should say no that's a bad idea the internet is is not don't do that but the the movie was that he's the bad guy he turns into a big monster at the end because he didn't just celebrate what she wanted and he has to learn to just let her have what she wants that's the that's the story that's at least how I took the story and you might have taken it differently.
But I'm still mad about it because culturally the hero is the person who says I just want you to be happy and anybody who would step in and say I don't think that's good for you is actually not right but we also overreact to this as Christians and we have knowledge and discernment without love which is just we know what's right and they're wrong well they're wrong they're idiots they're they're wrong about this there's tons of YouTube channels videos that you can watch where someone just I would say sometimes very rightfully walking through the Bible and saying this is right this isn't right this is wrong.
But they do it gleefully like they're happy and angry that that all of this it's weird it's this weird mix of angry and happy of like I'm mad at them but I'm also so happy that it tastes so good to be right and for us to to operate the way we're supposed to we're supposed to be abounding in love and a love that has knowledge and discernment so that we know our Bibles and we choose well and it's quite possible that you lean in one of those directions that it's easier.
For you to just be gracious and kind and welcoming and patient really hard for you to look at someone and say I think if you choose that it'll be bad for you but discernment is wonderful because there are are things that are bad for you and if you have no radar for that if you have no ability to to know what is good and right and wrong and choose well it harms you I have I have a son who uh was born with food allergies we were walk we were carrying him around I always feel bad about this we were we were with him somewhere he was a little baby and somebody looked at us.
And said what's going on with his skin and we were like I don't know he's itchy and they were like he looks like he's allergic to milk we were like you think and they were like yeah guess what he was allergic to milk we were harming him he was also allergic to oats which we started adding to his milk I guess to try to absolutely destroy this child but we also found out he was allergic to eggs and milk he eggs milk and um wheat which means you can't have anything that tastes good there's no no cake no can candy no cookie no I mean like it just he cut out all kinds of stuff.
There were many a night where he ate green beans while the rest of his family ate pizza because we're not going to not eat pizza cuz you can't it's tough man it's going to be your whole life just I don't know eat your beans let's go but he's had to learn to have a discernment for what he takes in he's got to be able to approve he's got to be able to choose whether or not it's good or bad for him he's got to be able to do that all the time even as a four five six-year-old and he's thankfully outgrown some things.
But here's what's happened to him he's begun to do what this what Paul says is supposed to happen here because Paul's about to tell us what matters why this matters why it matters that we would abound in love with all knowledge and discernment with knowledge and all discernment verse 10 so that when you're reading your Bible those phrases are very important so so that if then any of those kind of things help you understand how the flow of thought works so that.
So the reason that we're abounding in love with all with discernment with knowledge and all discernment is so that you may approve what is excellent and so that we'd pick the good stuff in life we choose what was right we choose what would bring life and joy and Delight what's funny now is that when we when him and his brother are having to eat like regular healthy meals his brother would be like I don't like this and he's younger so he always be yeah me neither.
And then he'll start eating and go it's actually okay because he's so used to eating just butter beans and green beans and white rice you can just feed him healthy stuff and he just tears it up I know some of you are like white rice isn't healthy well you should see how we the other meals we eat white rice is great it's basically a vegetable but he takes in what is good for him and that's what he's saying is that we would learn how to approve approve what is excellent how to approve what is healthy that we would learn what is right and wrong and good.
And then we would choose it now that's a prayer that you would learn how to love what was excellent look Step One is knowing what is excellent step two is being able to discern well to choose what is excellent and many of us are there a lot I mean as a pastor sometimes we talk to people and they'll say I know the Bible says I just don't want to do that yeah I know what it says I don't want that we plead with them and by God's grace some of them as the spirit Works in them still choose what is good and some of you that's where you are you're like I know what's right.
And so I'm choosing it I don't like it yet I like Jesus I love him I wish this weren't true but I'm going to choose it because it's what's excellent it's what he tells me will be good for me it's what he tells me will bring joy even though doesn't feel like that but the hope the prayer would be eventually we wouldn't just approve what is excellent but we would also love what is excellent we would Delight in what was good and that we would Delight in Christ as we Delight in what is good and that we would grow to have a discernment radar and choose what is good.
Because how do you choose right now what you want so often we do we base it off of what we think and what we feel which is what he's talking about that you'd have knowledge and discernment that's the thinking part and that we would abound in love that's the feeling part but the hope is that we would do all of that in Christ it would be Christ empowered love Christ empowered knowledge and discernment so that we would choose what is excellent.
But so often we're just you know how many decisions you're making all the time big ones little ones sometimes you make big intentional ones sometimes you make little ones over and over and over and over and over again that make a really big decision for you so it's never a big decision it's just a repeated little decision but it makes a massively big decision for you we do this all the time based off of what we think and what we feel and what he's saying is his prayer is that would be.
God empowered Spirit empowered Bible aligned that Jesus would be at work in it that they would abound in love but it would be a knowledge and Discerning love so they might choose what is excellent so this why does that matter he says and so so this is the next part so he's saying that you would abound in love with knowledge and all discernment so that you might approve what is excellent and so so if we're doing that if we're abounding in love with knowledge and discernment and approving what is excellent.
If the Church is doing that if Philippi is doing that if we're doing that here's what happens next and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ often when the Bible refers to pure and blameless in Paul's writing he means eternally theologically accomplished by Jesus on your behalf here he means practically in life because he's talking about the choices that they're making that they would approve what is excellent and so as they continue to do that their life would have a tenor of being pure and blameless and there are other places where he uses blameless kind of in that way and even this word blameless is translated a Greek word that usually the.
Word blameless in your text is is not this Greek word this Greek word kind of means un undamaged so he's saying that we would abound in love with knowledge and all discernment so that we might approve what is blame us so that we could drive the course of life without running into the wall y' that's what we want if you belong to Jesus that's what you want that's sounds wonderful that we might abound in love that we might make good decisions and that we'd be walking through life.
Well for the day of Christ and the day of Christ we looked at last week is the day that he judges the world it's the day when everyone presents thems to Christ and Christ displays the Church in glory and Christ judges those who rebelled against him it's the day and he's saying that we would make it to that day undamaged now in verse six which we looked at last week he says I'm sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of.
Jesus Christ we celebrated that Jesus if he's at work in you on that day he makes you whole and complete and this is talking about now his work that's for the day of Christ meaning that he's at work in our lives practically as we go so that it's both that at that that day he makes us whole and complete through his work but also through his work he's working in us now I heard a comedian one time say I'm sick of following my dreams I just want to find out where they're going and meet up with them later and sometimes I feel like that's the way we feel about us growing as a Christian really.
Tired of the process super looking forward to the awesome version of me later and I'm just going to wait till he shows up but that's not how it works it's a daily thing where he works in us to grow Us in patience and kindness you actually have to grow to be less irritable as love is at working you to abound being irritable sometimes is kind of fun way more fun than feeling irritable and controlling that resentfulness sometimes is like a security blanket there is I'm secretly mad at them take that I don't know why we think that feels good.
But it does there's something to it and it's like no we're actually supposed to be repenting of these things we supposed to be growing in love and this is going to happen us over time as we walk in Church family and as we carry this out and it's going to be something he does in us over time as he develops us and works in us and if you're paying attention this prayer is for their entire life here's my he says here's my prayer.
For you you'd bound in love more and more with all knowledge and discernment so that you might approve what is blameless he's now talking about the decisions they're making and what they're choosing what they're putting in their life and what they're doing so that on the day you meet Jesus that's their whole life on the day you stand before him and he judges the world this this a lifelong process and a lifelong prayer and a lifelong hope and a lifelong work that he does in us I want you to.
See what happens next next because this is a lifelong work that he does in US it says this in verse filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God now if you're not a Christian and you're not familiar with the Scriptures that logic feels broken feels like his argument just broke down and what he just said doesn't make any sense because the way that sentence should work if we're following this logic is we following this progression is it should say filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through what good decision making that discernment we just talked about choosing what is what is excellent like it.
Should say something like that it would have to do with how you picked the things that were in your life and then it would say to the praise and glory of you or your discernment or your good decision-making you'd get to the end and you wouldn't have wrecked your life and people would say how'd you not wreck your life and you'd say cuz I'm smart I have this thing called discernment ever heard of it maybe you've seen the show House he had it whatever you it would be you at the end that people would celebrate and clap.
For and be excited for it would be the glory and praise of you that would be the logic of this statement but if you're a Christian you see this and you immediately go yes exactly that's exactly how this works we're filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus because he's the one who's at work in us to do this there's nothing good in myself but it's Christ at work in me to accomplish these things that Jesus is the one who's accomplished this.
And then ultimately will stand with any amount of righteousness we have both uh theologically eternally and also practically in life and we'll say all glory be to God who's this good who's at work in me in this way Praise Jesus that he did this and praise God God that his glory is manifested through fruitfulness in life and y'all that's the hope that's that's wonderful that's what we want that's why Paul's said I'm praying this for you he's actually he's praying that.
Jesus is going to do what Jesus does and y'all we should pray that when you're facing sin and Temptation you should say hey I pray that you'll break me over this you'll lead me to repentance you'll do what you do you'll grow this in me that you'll help me walk away from this that you'll put in me your spirit so that I might walk with you that you'll do what you do to help walk in me to keep me from running this off the road and yesterday I got to my day was filled up we went to um a a funeral visitation and we went to my uh granddad's 95th birthday party and can't help.
But consider the impact in those situations the impact that our lives have on other lives the Practical real impact of living a life and making decisions and choosing to be this way or that way to pour your energy into this or that and how that affects people and this is the hope that at the end of all of it Jesus says a a good tree will bear good fruit and a bad tree will bear bad fruit and when when we become Christians he changes us from from The Roots up from the inside out.
So that Christians should bear good fruit but as we do it the hope is that it's this we're filled with fruitfulness that was brought through Jesus to the glory of God so that's the hope is that at your 95th birthday party or your funeral service it'd be packed out with people who'd say they did this they love me in this situation they didn't have to you don't know how secretly generous they were you don't know the time that they they talked me off a ledge that they got me to make a wise decision they kept our marriage together that they fought.
For this that people would come and gather and they'd say oh and then they'd all go Praise Jesus for a life like that oh may God be glorified with a life like that and that one day the whole Church will be gathered in front of the Lord and He unveils Us in righteousness that's not our own filled with righteousness that's not our own and it's it's this display of all that has happened in our lives and all the things that we fought.
For worked for and labored over and repented of and worked in and all this would be to praise the glory of God as he's worked in sinners like us to bring about being filled with the fruit of righteousness there's not a there's not a Bear tree in the place but we're filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God that's our hope that's the prayer that we would be people who would abound in love more and more with knowledge and all discernment.
So that we might approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ Jesus filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Christ Jesus to the glory and praise of God let's pray Lord we ask for the work of your spirit that we would abound in love you'd help us to repent of all the places that we're impatient unkind irritable resentful all the places where we've rejoiced with wrongdoing or failed to Rejoice with the truth we pray.
Lord that you would be at work in us that we might be a loving people that our Church might be a loving place and Lord we pray that we would be filled with love that is anchored in your word so that we might fight for what is true and good and right in a gracious and kind and patient way that we would tell each other you're wrong here but we would do it because we love each other so deeply that we cannot watch someone walk off into sin and pain and hurt and choose something that is not excellent.
Because we so love them we ask Lord that you would help us to approve what is excellent forgive us for all the times that we have approved of something that isn't Lord keep us pure and blameless to the work of your spirit in US fill us with the fruit of righteousness and may your name be praised may this be a place and our community groups be places where when someone comes around who doesn't know you that they hang out for a.
While and they don't come to the conclusion what nice people but they come to the conclusion how good is Jesus that people would see our lives and walk in our lives that we would love and serve and care and that eventually someone would just go oh praise God that he's at work we love you Lord in Jesus name amen the band's going to come back up and we're going to sing and I would encourage you to take a moment to consider how you make decisions whether or not you need to grow in love whether not you need to grow in discernment whether or not it's like I need to start reading my Bible.
Because I I feel loving and I feel like I'm gracious and patient but I just don't know what's right I don't know how to choose some of you you know what's right but you need to grow in your patience and your kindness towards others but we need to ask the Lord for a moment just take a moment and say Lord help us here some of you know people you've been irritable or resentful towards you need to go talk to them to work some of these things out as we grow to be a place where we Bear all things believe all things hope all things things and endure all things together to the glory of.
God and then we'll sing.
Carried to Completion (Philippians 1:3-8)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Well good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here if you have a Bible grab it go to Philippians chapter 1 we are working our way through the book of Philippians if you don't have a Bible there should be a blue one tucked under the seat in front of you uh if you're sitting on the front row I guess you should have brought a Bible because it's hidden but um if you grab that blue Bible it'll be on page 570.
If you don't own a Bible we'd love for you to take that Bible home with you that'd be our gift to you we'd love for you to own a Bible we are working our way through the book of Philippians together and Paul is writing from prison to a Church that has been supporting him and we're going to work through this I um I get to coach flag football I've coached flag football for the past couple years now and uh there's a spring league and a fall league and I've been coaching flag.
Because that's the age my sons are and that's kind of the without having to track travel that's the age of football they're in and uh it's a lot of fun coaching flag football is is a lot of fun I I like football I like coaching one of the things I've noticed and I've been surprised by is that the first practice goes really well I always expect the first practice to be difficult because we've never done any of this with these with these children they're learning it all.
But it's like they show up zoned in ready to go and the first practice usually goes well and in the first couple of weeks their knowledge football because with a lot of flag football I've had practices where at the end of it I say who's played football before like flag football before and they all just and I'll say who who hasn't sorry and they all rais their hand and I'll be like okay my whole team it's like all right this is a football like we've got to start at the very Basics.
But they learn a ton of stuff in the first couple of weeks like their amount of knowledge is just it's an explosion of football knowledge in the first couple of weeks because when they show up they don't know anything and I realize this you're you're you're trying to instruct them but you're speaking a different language you're looking at the kids going you got to get up you got to get on the line you got to get on the line and they will.
Look for a line well there is no line it's an imaginary line attached to the football we had a kid one time we put him in the back we said this is your spot you're you're running back you're about four yards off the thing he said okay he lined up we ran the play we gained like five yards we lined the ball back up everybody get your spot get your spot he runs he's like 12 yards off the ball and I was like hey man your spot's right here and he goes no it's not I marked it and we're like oh no that's going to move it's going to move you have to mark it.
In relation to the ball he had he had dug a little hole in the ground it was pretty smart but it was like it's not going to work um so it's a thing where they they grow and then all of a sudden after a while they kind of know what we're doing they they show up to practice they know kind of the drills we're going to run they know the words we're going to use and now it's work it's practice we're going to do the same stuff we've been doing we're just going to try to get better at it the amount of effort that it took to learn and to grow on the.
First practice was very little the amount of effort it takes on the 12th practice the 15th practice you're actually now working on a specific thing that you're not good at that's why we keep talking to you about it you're having to grow in this area and one of the things that I've noticed about that is that that's similar in some ways to what it looks like to follow Jesus at times we have these explosions of growth when you first become a Christian it's like everything is new everything.
If you're taking it all in if you're new to Christianity Today even as we sang read parts of the Bible you might have only understood like every third word you were like what what's that word mean what's that word mean what what are we talking about here why we all think about blood a lot what's that about like we're just there's a whole lot of things where it's like you're new to it and you're learning you're growing and then at some point you kind of know the stuff.
But now it's time to practice it and so we have seasons where we feel like we're growing then we have seasons where it's like this just feels like a lot and then there are times where we thought we were doing pretty well and then we fall into sin or we have relational difficulty and it's just like I just don't even know there are times as you're following Jesus you really oh God just I don't know if I'm going to make it I don't know.
If I'm going to get to the end of this I don't know if I'll still be standing when all this is over I just don't know and so I want you to take a moment if you're a Christian you've placed your faith in Jesus to just consider where are you right now just in your own heart and before the Lord just are you are you zealous for the Lord is this a season of growth for you you wake up excited to read your Bible and to study and to love your community group.
When when you're hosting and getting your house ready for your group to come or you're on your way over there are you whistling and happy and just praying for the Lord to minister through you to these people and to be a blessing or did you have to give yourself a pep talk to get in the car you're like I'm not sick but I feel kind of sick and someone near me coughed today and I might have CAU that and I'd hate to give it to my group how can I word this text.
So it's not a lie but they don't ask a lot of questions like is that what you had to do you had to talk yourself out of that you had to go get in the car you had to go like where where are you right now in your Zeal for the Lord where are you right now in your desire to grow and to minister and to serve because what we're going to see that Paul says in chapter 1 to the Church in Philippi is wildly encouraging as we try to follow.
Jesus day in and day out for the rest of our lives which if you're a Christian that's what you're going to do you're going to follow Jesus every day for the rest of your life and this is very encouraging so look at chapter uh chapter 1 verse three is where we start we read this last week just trying to get our head in the right space I thank my God in all my remembrance of you so this is Paul writing to the Church in Philippi whove blessed him with a gift as he's been in prison they're helping take care of him always in every prayer of mine.
For you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now verse 6 and I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ that's the verse we're going to spend our time this morning considering that I'm sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
But we're going to read verses seven and eight and follow the logic in them because it ties back to verse six and then we'll spend our time on verse six it is right for me to feel this way about you okay what he says in verse S and 8 is weird and has always been very confusing to me and I think I actually now have an understanding of it so I'm very excited to share this with you but it's going to take a.
Second to just start to articulate what he's talking about here what he says is it is right for me to feel this way about you well what way does he feel about him he feels that he's sure that he who began a good work in them is going to carry it to completion okay I want him to say it is right for me to feel this way about you because of what Jesus is like and we're going to see that that actually is baked into how that works is it's based off of who.
Jesus is but that's not what he says he says it's right for me to feel the way about you because I hold you in my heart for you are all partakers with me of Grace both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel so at first this sounds weird because you need to be in Christ not in Paul and when they go face Jesus at the end of time they don't get to go I'm in Paul's heart.
Let me in that's not how it works so it's weird for him to base is certainty off of that but there's a word in here that makes a very big difference what he says is it's right for me to feel this way about you because I hold you in my heart verse six is true for all Christians and we'll see that in a second what he's saying is I'm confident you actually belong to Christ I'm confident that you Church in Philippi are really Christians I'm saying this to you specifically and I'm confident.
For you specifically so what we're going to see is it's true for all Christians because of Jesus but Paul's certain it's true for them because of how he feels about them so he's taking an objective reality and adding this subjective layer that makes him more certain and here's why he says this because you're all partakers with me of Grace both in my imprisonment and the defense of the confirmation of the Gospel meaning you've joined me in what I'm having to face right.
Now imprisonment in my imprisonment and my defending of the Gospel and declaring the Gospel to those who I've been prisoned who've imprisoned me for God is my witness how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus not the affection of Paul he says Jesus is at work in me to love you in such a supernatural way that I'm confident that you belong to him and so I don't mind saying about you specifically not about Christians in general but you specifically this is what's true and maybe some of us have experienced that in the Church where we love one another in a way that's like no this is.
Jesus at working me to love you like this this is a Jesus at work in us for us to have this kind of relationship and I'm confident that he's at work in you because of how he's empowering this love in me and if you haven't prayer would be that we would grow in our love for one another but that's what he's ba he's basing it off of so we're going to go back to verse six so he says his confidence in them specifically is based off of how he loves them.
But we're going to look at verse six which is true for all Christians and we're going to spend our time just breaking this sentence down because it is a wonderful sentence and it says something that the Bible says all over the place this is not like this is one place where it says this it says this idea all over the place we're going to walk through it so he says this I am sure of this it's so first thing he's certain this is a reality this is true it's a certainty there are some things where Paul says I hope even in this letter he says I hope to do this or he says I'm not.
Quite sure what's going to happen but he says I'm sure of this I'm certain this is solid this is true this is real what's he sure of that he who began a good work in you okay so we need to know who he is what's the he who began a good work so who's that that's God or more specifically Christ so if you're a Christian that's true for you that he began a good work in you he began it you know you ever try to get in a situation where you're trying to uh figure out what's going on between kids and they'll yell he started it.
Well we get to gloriously declare he started it he he began this he's the one who did the work if your relationship to Jesus is you know one day I decided I was going to get it together the reason I'm a Christian and the reason I'm a part of a Church is because I decided you know what I got to get my act together I'm going to start doing this right I'm going to become one of the good ones you don't belong to.
Jesus because it's not about you starting it it's about him starting it he he does this work he rescues and redeems let me show you this is uh John this is Jesus speaking in John chapter 6 he says no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the land last day now you might in that moment feel like I'm I'm following Jesus I'm choosing to do this and that you that's part of it.
But it's also because he's allowing you and he's calling you and he's pulling you forward that's what Ephesians 2 says Ephesians 2 this is a longer section I've chopped it up a little bit it's still the same idea I haven't cut out anything that changes the meaning but it says this and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked but God being rich in Mercy because of the love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by Grace you have been saved.
So if you belong to Jesus you were dead rebellious in your sin and because he loved you and because he's wonderful by Grace he brought you to life we sang a song about that this morning I once was dead in sin alone and hopeless then we sing we've been made alive that's Jesus's work in us to begin this work that he starts it it says you've been saved by grace by Grace you have been saved Grace is unearned favor undeserved Merit somebody taught me a a little um we use the.
First letters poem a crostic is that what it's called a crostic is that what it's called did somebody say that to me thank you yes I'm very smart I knew it was a acrostic I was just seeing if y'all did um God's riches at Christ's expense that's what Grace is you get God's riches because Christ paid for it you didn't earn it it's been given to you it's granted to you so you've been saved by grace and you're like is that really what that means.
Well he verse eight for by Grace you have been saved through faith this is not your own doing it is the gift of God not a result of works so that no one may boast if you brag about a gift you brag about the person who gave it not about you like if if I'm wearing a new shirt and you say that's a nice shirt I say thanks I I don't mean to brag but I did do Christmas this year You' be like what do you mean i' be like you know I guess it's kind of like a trophy cuz I went you know was at Christmas and my mom gave it to me it's.
Like I think they just your mom's nice I don't even know what you're talking about it'd be weird that's what he's saying nobody boasts nobody stands before the Lord and says look at how wonderful I am in any sort of way that points on us it's that he began this work okay that's great news that he who began the work in you that he's the one who started it and then he says this so I'm sure of this let's go back to verse six that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of.
Jesus Christ will bring it to completion what is it what's he bringing to completion the good work that he started Jesus finishes what he starts oh y That's So Good your Christian walk goes from Jesus to Jesus you're there but he's the one at work to accomplish it he starts it he finishes it so much better than what this could say it'd be theologically inter inaccurate but what if Paul had written I know you're going to make it to the end.
Because y'all are great I know you're going to make it to the end because you don't mess stuff up we're in uh just finished the college football playoff and the national championship and this Pros playoffs I was watching a basketball game yesterday we just been enjoying a lot of sports at my house I have a a six-year-old who wakes up in the morning other kids want to watch cartoons he says there a football game on it's like dude it's 6: a.m.
But we recorded one so you can watch that watch a lot of sports but there's these moments at the end of games when it's close the ball's got to go into somebody's hands some somebody's got to run the ball somebody's got to throw the ball somebody's got to catch it somebody's got to take that final shot we got 5 seconds left we're going to try to get in this guy's hands he's going to take the shot now it's encouraging when someone says you're taking the shot we believe in you it's like yeah.
Okay but also that's a lot of pressure you ever had someone look at you and go I know you won't mess this up I know you won't mess this up because you don't mess stuff up and you're like do what someone say I know you'll handle this right cuz I just I know how you handle things it's like do you cuz I'm I mess up stuff like all the time I hurt people all the time I I do things poorly all the like that one of the main things I do actually it's not that.
Jesus gave you a clean slate handed it to you said all your past sins are forgiven then leaned in real close and said don't mess up see at the end no he he began the good work he's going to complete it Jesus finishes what he starts that's wonderful if you belong to Jesus if he began a good work in you he's going to finish what he started when he says he'll never leave you or forsake you he means it he's going to bring it to completion and here's another thing that we need to.
See in this this sentence he began a good work in you in you I think so often we just think about it being for us it is something he did for us that he died for us and he did he did die for us but his work that he's doing is in you we're going to talk more about this next week but that means you're going to be there the whole time it's not just something that's in impersonal and that's happening out there it's something that he's doing at work in you that he he's changing you that he's redeeming you that he's working in you that you're going to grow and you're going to develop.
So it's going to feel like repentance it's going to feel like effort it's going to feel like uh confession it's going to feel like service it's going to feel like ministering and caring for others and he's going to be doing this at work in you the whole time I love what John Piper said about this he said it's not an inoculation he gave you when you were 6 years old an inoculation is where they give you a little bit of something.
So your body will develop your own immunity to it like Polio I have never once worried about Polio I was inoculated to it I did get Chickenpox what they now have an inoculation for and I learned that there's a whole group of people right up underneath me who didn't get chicken box but I got chicken boox I'm a little salty about it but it's fine it's nice that we you know my dad got Ms I didn't have to get that so I mean it's nice that that we have inoculation.
But he says this that's not how this works it's not like Jesus brings you in one time says all right get out of here you don't have to worry about this anymore you don't have to think about this anymore he says no it's not an inoculation it's dialysis dialysis is when your kidneys fail and you have to go in four to six times a week for 3 to four hours and have them cycle your blood and filter it for you and he says it's in you and it's beautifully wonderfully Personal.
Jesus is doing this work in you do you know that you growing as you follow Jesus is not something you're doing on your own or that he's impersonally doing he's the one at work in all of it to grow you to develop you to change you he's there he set it up it's dialysis and he's the one doing it he set it up to where he's never not the one working on you so it's not just something that's going to happen in you over time.
And then he'll see you at the end and see how it turns out it's something that's going to happen in you overtime daily all the time and he's doing it do you see how close he is how much he cares when you struggling to grow to repent to confess to work do you see how near he is in all of that and because it's going to be in you and because it's going to be completed I want you to know to the glory of Christ he's going to do it.
So right now if you're in a Zone where you just think I just don't know if I'm going to make it the question isn't am I strong enough the question is do I really belong to Jesus because if you do you're going to make it but also if you're thinking maybe I'll just choose this sin maybe this will be one I just don't repent of if you belong to Jesus Jesus says the kingdom of God is like leaven that's put into a lump and it works its way through the whole lump I know that in my personal life there's been every once in a.
While where I'm like Jesus you can have all that stuff over there but this right here I know kind of what the Bible says about it but I that's why I don't want to talk to you about it this one's still mine and Jesus is like you know I'm going to finish what I start right and and to his glory and for our Grace and for our good he doesn't Lo he doesn't lose those he claims that territory my suggestion would be surrender knowing that he's good.
Because he's going to finish what he started there's a CS Lewis quote where he says in his book the problem of pain he says we are pauses not metaphorically but in very truth so we are and this is true a Divine work of art something that God is making and therefore something with which he will not be satisfied until it has a certain character that he's at work in you on you and he's not going to stop till he's made you perfect which is wonderful.
So he began the work he's going to complete the work it's going to be done in Us by him as he works uh in US by his love and his goodness to change us to grow us to develop us and then it says this bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ let's take a second what's the day of Jesus Christ well Isaiah 13 the Old Testament will refer to it as the day of the Lord quite often Isaiah 13:6 says whail.
For the day of the Lord is near as destruction from the almighty it will come so the day of the Lord is a day of Destruction from the almighty Ezekiel 33 says for the day is near the day of the Lord is near it will be a day of clouds a time of Doom for the Nations Jesus talking about Luke 17 says the day of the Lord is his it belongs to him he refers himself as the son of man but he says.
For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other so will the son of man be in his day the day of the Lord is Jesus's day of Judgment of Reckoning when the world is stripped bare brought down to its foundations in second Thessalonians says this verse uh chapter 1 verses 6 and 7 since indeed God God considers it just to repay with Affliction those who afflict you talking to the Church and Grant relief to you who are afflicted as.
Well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels so the day of the Lord is the day of judgment but it's very different experientially for those who belong to Jesus and those who don't when Jesus calls everyone to account and we're all going to pay for our sin what Paul says is on that day if you belong to Jesus you won't have any sin to pay for you'll be perfect so you might be picturing in your head that one day.
Jesus is going to judge everybody and in that moment you're going to feel shame and guilt and fear and doubt you're going to want to shrink back you're going to want to hide and press yourself up against the wall and just hope that you make it out not if you belong to Jesus that'll be the day that the Church is unveiled in its Perfection that'll be the day that we are displayed in all the Glorious Wonder as a completed Masterpiece accomplished by.
Jesus do you understand that if on that day Jesus is like I'm here to judge the world and look at this ragtag bunch of scamp weirdo dirty punks all right you're in Father this is my Church kind of gross that would besmer his glory that's not what he's going to present he's going to unveil the Church in Beauty and glory and completed Perfection that on the day that he judges the world do you understand that the Church will walk forward not shrink back.
But be made perfectly whole perfectly perfect without a spot or blemish or wrinkle or any such thing holy and blameless and above reproach presented F and blameless above reproach before him that we've been washed by his work and there will be no spot wrinkle blemish or any such thing so if you have in your mind that you're going to make it in like Indiana Jones just as the door drops and barely get your hat and then push yourself up against the wall as the one little creature that snuck into the Church that's dirty and gross not.
If you belong to Jesus because he's going to make you glorious to the praise of his glory if you stare at a masterpiece it proclaims the work of the master he's not going to be done with you till he's perfected you and on that day you'll be perfect if Jesus has begun a good work in you he's going to complete it and there's going to be a day when we stand glorious whole restored new perfected to the praise of the glory of Christ who gets to display his glory in how he's redeemed Sinners and made us whole some of us understand rightly that we're sinners in need of Grace.
But we somehow fail to realize you've received Grace I'm a sinner in need of Grace yes and by Grace you have been saved you needed it you have it pick your head up yeah there are times to get before the Lord and say have mercy on me a sinner and then stand up and say thank you Jesus that you have mercy on a sinner I'm going to be whole in that day we're not limping in we're not a straggling mess we're being made complete in us he will have done his work and before him will be presented glorious and wonderful he's presenting us to himself to the.
Father and all of our Glory which represents his glory that's why in Thessalonians it says 2 Thessalonians if you go further in verse 10 it says to be glorified in his Saints I think we would always want a word that as by his Saints but he's going to be glorified in his Saints as he displays how good he is you know the best hospital around here is the one that takes the sickest people and lets them walk back out that's the best one.
Now if they were like we're able to pack the most sick people in here it's like okay okay do they leave nah it's like I'm going to go to a different hospital we'll take the sickest people you fix them Nah if there was a hospital that said only well people you need to be kind of already okay our emergency room is more like an inconvenience room that wouldn't be a glorious Hospital the most glorious Hospital in our area is the one that takes the sickest people and lets them walk back out to the glory of the hospital that's what.
Jesus does on an eternal scale in you if you belong to him he takes all that's twisted and sick and broken messed up deceased disgusting and he renews it restores it until it is glorious and it proclaims and shines to the glory of to the glory of Christ in his work and to the glory of the father so that when someone sees us in that day they will go oh isn't Jesus wonderful I think sometimes specifically people who don't know Jesus will.
See a passage like this and will say well if that's true if he starts the work and he finishes the work and he's going to perfect you then you know take a nap don't worry about it he's just going to do it wouldn't that just make you want to quit wouldn't that just make you want want to stop not if you really know Jesus this is the sort of thing that makes you go Jesus I trust that you actually are going to fix this in me I trust that you actually are going to work in this I trust that you are here right.
Now performing Dialysis in my soul on all the things that I want to fight you over and I want to read my Bible and I want to pray and I want to study and I want to go be around my group because I want you to be at work in me and I want to be presented complete and whole in that day to the glory of your name this grants us courage as we seek to follow him if Jesus has not begun the work in you ask him to ask him to save you ask him to redeem you.
But if he has oh on that day we will be made perfect because Jesus finishes with he starts let's pray Lord we come in here functionally and practically as those who follow you we come in functionally and practically in different places but Lord we come in theologically in the same place that you have us that you hold us that you keep us that you protect us that you lead us that you work in us that you will never leave us or forsake us that you will get us to the finished line that you will present us holy and blameless and above reproach before yourself to your own Glory that you will bring us made new.
And whole and righteous and perfect without spot or blemish or wrinkle or any such thing and so Lord while we may be more or less tired with more or less relational difficulty with more or less enjoyment and delight and Zeal at this moment we do not have more or less of you and more or less of your promises and more or less of a certainty of the end result of those who belong to you so we ask by your spirit that there would be courage to cling to your promises and to hold to the hope.
Lord we thank you that you finish what you start in Jesus name amen the band's going to come back up we're going to take communion together as.
Introduction to Philippians
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
I've had my mic on all morning and turned it off before I came up so if you thought the singing sounded extra good um I have the distinct pleasure this morning of uh catching everybody up who who has not already been caught up on how our give projects finished up this past uh Christmas so in December we um take time to focus our attention on generosity um in the middle of when we can get whipped into a consumer frenzy we try to take some time to to give some money away as a Church and this past year we did something a little different we picked three different give projects and we announced them over time.
The first one was Shop with a cop and we raised $2,000 for that to help KCPD yeah excited to get to do that the second one was uh for Providence home to redo their flooring in a men's home they have in downtown Columbia and we raised $10,000 for that in a week and we're able to to do that and the third one which was a little more open-ended was our uh work we got to do with Oliver Gospel Mission we contacted Oliver Gospel Mission and we asked them uh what can we do how can we partner with you is there anything that you need and they said we need a new roof and we said.
Well how does half a roof sound uh because we don't think we'll be able to you know be able to do all of that but we'd love to be able to Kickstart that we'd love to be able to get that started if you went around to other donors and said hey somebody's helping us get a roof and so they thought it was going to be about $43,000 and that's well beyond anything We've Ever Raised Even in our whole give project we'd already given away 12.
And so we just said hey let's try to see what we can do to get this started for them they uh contacted us and let us know that someone came walking in off the street which doesn't usually happen and just says walked in and said I'd like to make a donation people come in off the street all the time that happens at Oliver Gospel Mission people don't walk in off the street and say I'd like to make a donation and uh got to talking with them and they that person uh puts roofs on buildings and they said hey interesting uh and they started talking to them and that person works with an organization that will.
Um offer a cheaper uh prices on materials and they'll offer cheaper prices on labor and so they were actually able to get a bid for a nicer material for less money and so they got a bid for nicer material for $33,000 instead of $43,000 so less $10,000 less and uh nicer material that was going to have a longer warranty on it at that same time our Church was raising money and uh had been doing pretty well and then at our Christmas Eve Gathering raised another $177,000 and we raised $39,000.
For all ofer Gospel Mission so they're going to get to do a whole roof and we got to participate in that which means that over Christmas our Church was able to give away $51,000 praise the Lord and so let's just take a second I just want to pray as we consider that let's pray and then we'll study the Bible together this morning Lord you are so generous and you provide all things and Lord we're thankful that we got to participate in you blessing that we got to participate in seeing how you provide and how you work and how you orchestrate and how you take care of your people.
And so Lord we're thankful for your generosity to us in Christ we're thankful for your generosity to us Us in every blessing we've ever received in every day that we've ever eaten and lived and breathed and we're thankful that we got to participate in just a taste of your generosity and we ask Lord that by your grace our Church will get to continue to do that in Jesus name amen so happy New Year do you make New Year's resolutions is that a thing is that a thing you do every year I my assumption is.
If you're the type of person who makes New Year's resolutions you're also the type of person who doesn't mind raising your hand so raise your hand if you make New Year's resolutions this is the thing you do yeah we got a handful of people okay anybody doesn't make New Year resolutions but did this year like you're like I'm in this year I'm going to do it yeah all right anybody usually makes uh New Year's resolutions and we're just like I'm done I'm not doing it this year I'm out all right cool that actually is almost the amount of people that make them that's interesting we got we're falling off here the um here we're going.
To look this morning and we're going to start the book of Philippians so if you'll turn to Philippians chapter 1 we're going to work our way through the book of Philippians at the beginning of this year and there's something as we start this book and we look at it today we're going to see a characteristic of Paul an aspect of who he is and how he lives that I think if you could have this become part of your life a characteristic of yours an aspect of who you are and how you live you would be blessed by it your year would be better whether you make New Year's resolutions or not that you would.
If you could take on this characteristic of Paul it would be good for you and if you could get to the end of 2024 and that be a reality for you if you can get to the end of 202 if that could be how the rest of your life looked you would be blessed and so as we study this this morning we're going to try to understand this characteristic of Paul and how it's actually accessible to us in Christ and how we can live this way and have this and I want to tell you what it is as soon as I introduce Philippians.
So I'll tell you what that characteristic is in just a second but look at chapter 1 verse one Paul and Timothy Servants of Christ Jesus okay so this this is a letter and at the beginning of their letters they put who it's from so we put that at the end so you know it's a real surprise you get to the very end you don't know who this Letter's from and then you finally see who wrote it but they don't do that they tell you right at the beginning who it's from.
Okay Paul and Timothy Servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ so it's to all the saints in Christ Jesus now Saints just means all those who belong to Jesus all Christians there's not a special class of Christians that are Saints it's all Christians have been made Holy by Jesus and so it's all of them.
Then it says and to the uh overseers and deacons and those are two offices in the Church overseers or elders and then deacons and Deacon just means the word servant but it's a a specific set aside office and so he says to the whole Church and then to the overseers and deacons and this is the Church at Philippi so let's get to know the city of Philippi for just a second so that we can a little bit understand uh what the city's like.
And then why Paul's writing this letter to them and what his relationship to the Philippians is and so this is a map that I got from the internet and that's why Antioch is on there even though we're not going to talk about it Jerusalem Philippi Rome so Jerusalem is where the Gospel starts that's where Jesus uh where Pentecost happens where Jesus has been crucified where his Church is praying where the Gospel spreads and then it works its way around and we're in the city of Philippi.
Now now Philippi was originally called kennedies and it was uh a part of the thian people live there and then Philip of Macedon conquered it and he renamed it and can you guess who he named it after he named it after himself yeah so if I was a more violent man there might be more places in South Carolina named Chester but there's just the one so he renames it Phillippi and Philippi is strategically located so it's Inland from a bigger Port City it is next to a big plane where there's uh fertile crop growth opportunities it is at the base of and on top of an acropolis which just means Hill it's the Greek term.
For Hill so that's why the Acropolis is in Athens but all of their cities were on Acropolis which is a strategic position to be able to defend the city so the top part is on the top of the Acropolis and the bottom of Philippi is at the base of it and so uh it was conquered by first it was thians then the Greeks move in and then the Greeks are conquered by the Romans and Philippi becomes a Roman city and then they build the ignatian way that runs all the way across the top of uh from this area over here that's galatia all the way across Macedon right there.
And so it's this large road that runs across here and so there's this large fertile area an acropolis and a mountain that had gold people liked Philippi and they F about it a good bit it's also the place where Octavian and Mark Anthony right in that same big plane defeat Brutus and cassus that the the Brutus and cassus that killed Julius Caesar at two brute and all that o Octavian and Mark Anthony kill them defeat their army right there next to Philippi.
And then it was shocking to everybody Mark Anthony and Octavian start not liking each other as soon as the other guys are out of the way and they battle and then Octavian wins and he becomes Augustus Caesar and he relocates a whole bunch of retired Roman soldiers to Philippi to accomplish two things one get them out of Rome that has too many people and two make Philippi very very thankful and gracious to him so that's the Augustus Caesar that you read about at Christmas that s a decree that all the world would be taxed that's that guy.
And so that all happens so the city of Philippi large city well off filled with Greek people and Roman people and very loyal to Rome and the Gospel begins to spread from Jerusalem Paul becomes a Christian begins to travel around he's trying to go to a couple of different places and the Holy Spirit's not letting him and then he has a dream and this is all in Acts 16 he has a dream of a Macedonian man saying come so he wakes up says Silas we're going to Macedonia which is where Philippi is and it says they went to Philippi.
Because it was one of the leading cities probably traveled right along the ignatian way as they're going to proclaim the Gospel they go to Philippi they show up to Philippi it was normal for Paul to go to a synagogue on the Sabbath and proclaimed the Gospel but it doesn't seem like there was a synagogue or he couldn't find one and it says that he went to the river where he assumed there was a place of prayer he goes to the river there are some ladies there praying one of those ladies Nam is Lydia he shares the Gospel with Lydia Lydia is a seller of purple goods and has her own household she's a well-off lady.
She becomes a Christian and then she says to them where are y'all staying and they tell her and she says no you're staying with me and they're like no we're fine and she's like that wasn't a question and that's basically how it reads it says she she impressed upon them uh that they're going to stay with with her so they go stay with her while they're in the city of Philippi to continue sharing the Gospel this again acts 16 so they're sharing the Gospel.
While they're sharing the Gospel in Philippi there is a slave girl who begins to follow them around it says that she is demon oppressed and she begins to follow Paul and Silas and yell loudly walking behind them these men serve the most high God and preach to you the way of Salvation it's interesting probably helpful she does this for 3 days straight and then it says Paul becoming greatly annoyed sends the the demon out of her he turns around and rebukes the demon and sets her free from demonic oppression I find it very interesting that his reasoning was annoyance.
But it was a blessing to this girl but her uh she was a slave her Masters are not happy because they used her to do fortune telling and now they've affected a a business they were running a side hustle and so they go complain to the authorities Paul and Silas are taken just a complaint taken arrested stripped beaten and then it says they were put in stocks and their ankles their feet were put in stocks in the in the prison so this is all in Philippi they're in Philippi having been beaten in the center part of this this jail and they are singing and praying and it says the whole jail was listening to them.
I don't know if they sang well if it was just odd that anybody would be singing and being happy some more amount of joyfulness I don't know what they were seeing I don't know how lamenting this was what was going on but it says that they're praising God and then there's an earthquake and all the doors open all the chains fall off all the stocks break that around the ankles and everything which is just so you know earthquakes shake things they don't usually pop every chain in a room you know.
But this one's special because the Lord s it and so everybody's suddenly free the Jailer wakes up looks sees that all the doors are open and thinks oh oh no worst thing that could possibly happen if you run a jail and then all the doors are open you're going to get fired probably but in his case he's pretty sure he's going to get executed so he goes to kill himself Paul yells don't do that we're all still here he comes in and and is like what what on Earth.
So he takes them out cleans their wounds they share the Gospel with him him and his whole household become Believers so you've got Lydia who's well off her whole household has become Believers you've got this Jailer who's Lydia's probably most likely Greek this Jailer most likely Roman he's he's a Roman Centurion or a Roman Jailer and he's his whole household becomes Believers and then you've got the slave girl who we don't know if she became a Believer or not she did.
If she listened to herself she said these are Servants of the most high God and they're telling you the way of Salvation And then she was set free from demonic activity so it's possible she did but the text doesn't tell us that's the beginning of this Philippian Church well-off Greek working class bluecollar Roman potentially a slave girl we know that the the Church spread amongst uh people who were in slavery like and so if you've ever thought your community group was awkward it's possible they had a hard time figuring out things to talk about other than how good.
Jesus was and the the people come to Paul in jail the Jailer comes they they basically say y'all can let Paul and Silas free now I think I always read this text and I think that I would have said thanks Paul says no no no no um we're Roman citizens we didn't have a trial they stripped us and beat us we're not leaving quietly tell them to come down here and talk to us we'd like to know why they treated Roman citizens like this and they freak out.
Because they should not treat Roman citizens like that they show up they tell them they're sorry for the beating yesterday walk them to the edge of town and say will you please leave Paul goes to the Church encourages them and then leaves we see in the book of Acts that he does come back a couple of times it's not Philippi is not mentioned but uh they go through the Macedonian churches and so it would be highly unlikely that they would go through the Macedonian churches and circle through and encourage everybody and not not go to Philippi.
So they go back through about twice to re encourage this Church now move ahead from acts 16 about 10 years Paul got arrested in Jerusalem they they found out there was a plot to kill him so they moved him to cesaria which which is up towards Antioch and then he appeals to Caesar and they move him to Rome Paul's in Rome in prison when he writes this letter and the way this works is if you got arrested in Rome you would quickly have some sort of a trial usually usually would happen fairly quickly depending on what it was they would often beat you and release you make you pay a fine release you they could.
Put you in a debtor's prison where you worked off a debt there were underground prisons for people who weren't Roman citizens or who people were people who were going to be executed quickly Paul's not put there if you're a Roman citizen but you're not well off you were put in house arrest but you were chained to a guard that seems to be the situation that Paul's in he's under house arrest chained at all times to a Roman guard um that's why he refers to his chains multiple times in his letters.
Remember my chains he says I write this chain as a criminal we don't think he was being uh dramatic we think he had chains um but we know he was under house arrest and when you're under house arrest you have to supply your own needs they don't feed you they don't take care of you so you're on the the mercy of your friends and family to take care of you and so he was chained to a uh just so you know.
If you're a well-off Roman you could be under house arrest and not be chained up but Paul fits in the not well-off Roman situation the Philippians find out Paul's in in jail in Rome he's under house arrest and they decide to send him a gift 800 miles away this Church says no this is Paul this is Paul that helped us get started this is Paul that we love this is Paul that's our missionary that helped us plant us and has gone on we've helped sin and they've partnered with him throughout and they.
So they send apodus to take a gift to them apodus almost dies trying to do this but he gets the gift to him Paul now receiving this gift to help provide for his needs while he's in house arrest writes this letter and sends it back with aitis it probably took aitis he would have taken the ignatian way we don't know if he walked rode a horse paid for somebody to take him on a cart but it probably took him and then he could go up and around or he could go across the water.
And then up which is probably what he did but it probably took him six weeks to six months depending on how he traveled to to to deliver this then he would have stayed with Paul a little bit and was sent back that's the letter that Paul's writing back to the Philippians in thanks for their partnership look at verse three I thank my God in all my remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy.
Because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now now something interesting shows up right here in this text and that's what I want to point out to us today as we begin trying to wrap our head around the message of Philippians and and the tone of Philippians arguably things aren't going great for Paul he's been under arrest for quite a while now from Jerusalem to cesaria and over to Rome and if you'll read in Acts his trip to Rome wasn't a nice one there was shipwrecks and problems he got they he got Shipwrecked he survives that they build a fire to dry off a snake comes out and bites him that's.
A bad day y'all like it just is a continual just everything's kind of going poorly and he's in jail now and in prison now in house arrest in Rome and he's having to he needs people to supply his own needs like he's he's in trouble and he writes this letter and do y'all see the word joy in verse four says always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy that's the first time it shows up in Philippians.
But it's not the last time it shows up in Philippians people refer to this as the joy epistle the The Joy letter that's what epistle is so if you ever hear of someone called refer to the Pauline Epistles they just mean the letters written by Paul but this is the joy one he's joyful y this whole letter the tone of it Paul's posture his heart in this letter is joyful hopeful and confident joyful hopeful and confident now I imagine whether you make New Year's resolutions or you don't and since we raised our hands earlier most of you don't.
But I imagine that if you could know that at the end of 2024 the way your year would have been described was joyful hopeful and confident you'd be like yeah sign me up sounds great if you could know that your life played out and on your on your Epitaph on your Tombstone was a couple of dates a little Dash and it said joyful hopeful confident okay that sounds good because I'm not sure that's how you would describe 2023 maybe it is by Lord's Grace may maybe it is maybe that's how you would describe this past year maybe you'd use words like anxious sad maybe just things like tired bored fine y'all Paul's Paul's in prison.
So so this tone of life for him is not based off of his circumstances but so often ours is when someone asks how are you doing I can answer that question but I report on it like I'm reporting the weather I can just tell you what it's like but it's just based off of what's going on are things good or are things bad like I'm somehow just I'm I'm a victim to it I'm just participant in it I just see it.
But I I don't have any control over it there's it's based off of my circumstances it's what's going on around me and if you'll think about a lot of the goals that we set in life whether you make them every year or you just have them going on in your head but a lot of the things that you're striving for looking forward to chasing after are circumstantial things things that you can gain or lose things that can be good and if you don't have them can be bad and much of your life has been after circumstantial things it's been a a relationship or a job or a house a physical trait it's been something you.
Could own that therefore could be broken or stolen like it's circumstantial but Paul evidently is a part of something tapping into something existing in a situation where it's not circumstantial because if it were circumstantial this letter would read differently but let me show you how this reads I want to show you joyful hopeful confident we're going to go through all of this whole book together uh over time but I'm going to show you some highlights today look at verse six which we'll spend time on next week I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of.
Jesus Christ if you're looking at asking what does Paul have that helps him exist in a non- circumstantial way where there's joy and hope and confidence in the middle of difficulty well here's the first answer Jesus he says I'm sure of this he who began a good work in you I'm I'm certain of who Jesus is I know who I believe in I know what he's like I know how good he is I'm trusting in Jesus and if you're surprised to hear that it's.
Jesus we're glad that you're here at mil City Church but that's what we talk about it's Jesus that's who we talk about and how good he is and how wonderful he is because that's what the Bible talks about that's what Paul's talking about that he has Jesus we're going to see he has something else as well but he's got Jesus vers uh chapter 1 verse 20 it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed but that with full courage.
So we already saw he's sure now he's got hope and courage full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by death for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain so if some of you were thinking well maybe he's hopeful because it looks like it's going to go in his favor he just says I'm fully courageous fully hopeful that whether I live or die because he's facing execution as a real possibility that Christ will be glorified.
So it's not that he's hoping his circumstances will get better it's that he has something beyond that chapter 2:10 he says so that at the name of Jesus he's talking about Jesus and who he is and what he's like he says every knee should bow in heaven and on Earth under the Earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father that Paul's eyes are on Jesus that's what he says in chapter 3:20 our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior the.
Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious Body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself Paul's in prison and he says oh my eyes are on Jesus and my eyes are on that day when every knee bows and every tongue confesses my eyes are on that day when this lowly chained up body is transformed that I have hope Beyond these four walls that I have hope Beyond these circumstances because I have Christ and everything's in him that's that's good that's a wonderful place to be chapter 4.
Verse 4 he says rejoice in the lord always again I will say rejoice Rejoice means to show joy to participate in to experience joy we don't use the word Rejoice much it's not like like what you probably didn't use it yesterday you weren't like my team won we must Rejoice probably didn't happen and for Colts fans it definitely didn't he says to show joy to experience joy and here he says why let your reasonabl be known to everyone the Lord is at hand here's why there's joy here's why there's rejoicing.
Jesus he's imminent he's King he rules He reigns he'll return all of our joy is bound up in him the Lord is at hand he ends of the book and my God Will Supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus Paul's in prison but goodness doesn't he sound happier than us to hear the way he speaks the where his heart is where his head is where his Joy is and the way we walk around.
See he doesn't just have Jesus he does and I think Paul might would I don't like the way I said that because I think Paul might would argue with me when it boils all down he does he just has Jesus but because he just has Jesus he has something else that I want us to see he's got purpose he's got a why Beyond his circumstances there's a a man named Victor Frankl who was a Jewish man who lived in Austria uh was born in 19 teens 1920s.
And so was just coming of age uh getting out of school getting married when the Nazis began to take over Austria and as a Jewish man his his world was getting tightened in on him where he was allowed to work what he was allowed to do was tightening and tightening and I want to read this quote about his life it says this in 1942 just nine months after his marriage Frankle and his family were sent to Terin zad concentration camp his.
Father died there of starvation and pneumonia in 1944 Frankl and the surviving members of his family were transported to aitz where his mother and brother were murdered in the gas Chambers his wife Tilly died later of typhus in Bergen bellson Frankl spent three years in four concentration camps he was rescued he was released and he wrote a book called man search for meaning because he was a a doctor and a psychiatrist and he said that when he was in the concentration camps that there was it did things to people that there were three primary things that it did there were some people who kind of just turned into animals they went into survival mode they.
Became brutal and harsh and did whatever they had to do to make their life and existence there better he said some people with all hope and all joy and everything taken away from them just gave up all their Circumstances had gotten so so bad they just they just quit and they died before they died and he says there was a third type of person that remained human continued being able to show compassion continued to be able to exist in this sort of framework and he said he noticed that about those they were able to.
See something beyond the Concentration Camp they had something further out to hold on to there was something Beyond the Horizon for them and so in trying to discuss this he puts it this way he says those who have a why to live can bear with almost any how another way he puts it is in some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning Paul has Jesus but the reason he's in prison is for the sake of the advancement of the Gospel which is.
So that other people might have Jesus some of us need to get a better why in 2024 need to get a better meaning in 2024 because so much of what we're aiming for is circumstantial so much of what we've planned out for this year and what we're hoping for in this year that we could get or lose or gain or lose but at the end of it if you get it does it matter in two years does it matter matter in 10 does it matter in 5050 does it matter a 100 million years later.
When we're in eternity proclaiming the glory of Christ see Paul says this in verse 3 45 he says this I thank my God and all my remembrance of you always and every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now he said you've joined me in the Gospel you've joined me in the proclamation of the Gospel you've joined me is going to later say in my imprisonment and my defense of the Gospel that y'all have participated in something that lasts and matters some of you should be full-time foreign missionaries and some of you should participate in a Church plant some.
Of you should go into preaching Ministry pastoral Ministry but there's a whole lot of people in our Church that are lyas and Ethiopian and jailers and Philippian jailers we're going to work but my goodness what if this year instead of losing 10 pounds you pray daily for three co-workers what if that was on your list what if this year instead of running a half marathon you invited every person on your street to eat dinner at your house and you labored that there might be more tongues and mouths proclaiming the glory of Christ in eternity what.
If we participated in the Gospel and so that at the end of all of this at the end of our Lives when anything ran into us to cause US problems or to mess us up when our circumstances changed it actually didn't matter because we were eternally focused on the Glorious King and his goodness and rescue and hope in the Gospel and so our circumstances are just our circumstances but our mission stays our mission and so suffering isn't wasted because it has a meaning and honestly suffering can't take it away from us difficulty can't take it away from us.
Because the hope of the Gospel remains and the glory of Christ remains I'd love for you to lose 10 pounds and run a half marathon put the sticker on the back of your car we're proud of you that takes work it takes Focus but Paul says it's good but when you die it's over your abs don't go to heaven but there are people around you who might and they might not up and there's a hope of a Gospel that's worth it.
So by God's grace and as we study Philippians may we tap in to partnership with Paul in the Gospel for the glory of Christ in all of eternity let's pray oh Lord we're thankful because of Jesus our circumstances won't win our sin won't win the enemy won't win because you have gloriously redeemed a people for yourself and Lord we ask that we would lift our eyes and that we would await a savior from heaven and that our life would look like that's where we're at that that's where our hope is that that's where our courage is that that's where our joy is and may we be a people who participate in the Gospel praying.
Laboring for our neighbors and our co-workers and our friends hosting and welcoming and sharing and declaring for the sake of the glory of your name among all the nations Lord may you call people right now to quit their job pack their bags and go to another Nation Lord may you call people right now to begin to commit to participating in a Church plant in an area that needs one and Lord may you call people right now and bring to mind those people that they already work with that they already live near and may they participate fully in the Gospel and partner just as the Philippians did with Paul and by your grace may we get.
To do this in Jesus name amen band's going to come back up we're going to sing I would encourage you to take a moment and to consider where your energy going where your efforts going what your meaning is what your why is and begin to ask the Lord to help you see how you might partner in the advancement of the Gospel who you might begin to pray for who you might begin to labor for what you might begin to take on what you might begin to get rid of.
So that you have more room to the praise of his glorious name.
|giv| Week 4: He Is Coming
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here if you will grab a Bible and go to Malachi chapter 3 we are uh finishing up our Series in the Book of Malachi today we're finishing up our give Series this is the last Sunday morning this year that we'll meet together next week we will meet uh in the evening for a Christmas Eve service at 5:30 um so this we're wrapping up a whole lot of things today um and as we come to the end of Malachi we are going to have our attention directed to the end of all things you.
See in the Christmas season we celebrate as Christians uh the season of Advent which is the appearing or the arrival of God in humanity that he incarnated that he took on flesh to join us and to redeem us and to rescue us and we celebrate that during during this time of year we uh remember that on Christmas Day and I I do want to point out that the Bible does not say what day of the year Jesus was born so I've heard people before say you know I found out that that uh Christmas isn't even.
When Jesus was born so I quit believing the Bible and it's like well the Bible never said that it just is a traditional thing this time of year that we focus our attention on and remember that as a thing that the Church does but we don't know exactly when he was born but this is when we focus on the Incarnation that Jesus has come to rescue his people and that his life and death and Resurrection redeem us from our sin and that's known as uh the coming of Christ or the.
First coming and then there's the second coming when he returns to judge the world and rescue his Church and the prophet Malachi is going to turn our gaze to that this morning and so if you will let's pray and then we'll uh begin to read together Lord we ask for your help we ask for ears to hear mental Clarity Supernatural focus on something that is eternally urgent we ask this in Jesus name amen if you'll look at Malachi chapter 3 we're going to read the section we studied last week together.
Because it uh is setting up what Malachi is going to say this morning he's going to be responding to what he's to this um accusation that the people have been made been making and so we're going to look at this he says your words have been hard against me says the Lord but you say how have we spoken against you verse 14 you have said it is vain to serve God vain meaning it's a waste it's it's dumb has has no uh result what is the profit of our keeping his charge or his walking and mourning before the.
Lord of hosts and now we call the Arrogant blessed evildoers not only Prosper but they put God to the test and they escape that's the accusation that what we're going to see in a moment he's responding to he's actually going to use that phrasing the arrogant and the evildoer verse 16 it says then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another the Lord paid attention and heard them and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the.
Lord and esteemed his name there's this teaching in the Scriptures that God keeps a record and that there will be books opened on the last day and there will be a distinction made between those who belong to him and those who don't that's what it's referring to here that God recorded those who feared him verse 17 they this is God speaking they shall be mine says the Lord of hosts in the day when I make up my treasured possession and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.
Then once once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked between one who serves God and one who does not serve him there's going to be a distinction made and he says there going to be a distinction between the righteous and the wicked between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him now this distinction that is made we're going to see in just a moment is as distinct as any two groups can ever be the gap between these two groups is infinitely eternally massive there's a fixed Gulf between the two that cannot be bridged this distinction that's going to separate all of human history and all.
Of humanity it's going to cut right through just as Jesus Christ uh splits up our Reckoning of time that we have before Christ and the year of Our Lord Lord when Jesus comes just as he does that he's actually going to do that with all of human history that there's going to be a dividing line between those who serve the Lord and those who don't between the righteous and the wicked when um my wife and I had our first son we were in the hospital and we had had our son.
For like in our care for like an hour and I have never like help a baby cared for a baby tended to a baby ever and then I just had hours to do that with like I held my niece one time and I was like neat take it back I I actually had had people before be like here hold my baby and I just said no which is fun to watch a mom be like but it's like why are you handing your baby off anyway you keep the baby it's yours don't make me hold it.
If I drop it like this is you know I just you just you keep it so I'd had this baby for like an hour he was smaller than like a peeee size football I did not know what to do with him I'm holding him and he like gurgles kind of spits up into his own mouth and begins to choke so I'm holding a 1-hour old baby and he's choking I say to my wife he's choking call the nurse she's in a hospital bed she has a button that will call a nurse she presses the button.
Now I don't remember what word for word what she said so I'm going to paraphrase and she's not here she's in Kid City so what I'm going to paraphrase is wildly accurate she presses the button yes that's how nurses respond whatever this is the nurse I don't know she said my wife says um yes if uh if you have time if it's not a bother um when you get a chance I said not when you get like I'm like this is already taken way too long you need two words baby choking like that's it that's all we needed.
When you get a chance and I don't know if it's that she couldn't see his face or she was still on some like pregnancy drugs or if she just can't jump the hurdle of being like a polite Southerner I don't know any and all of those things but I do distinctly remember the nurse being surprised when she finally got the piece of information because nothing in the conversation had led up to the the urgency that was needed at the end of it our baby's choking she was like oh yes they hustled down there flipped him over did a thing that I learned how to do later which is help them you don't hold them backwards.
If they're choking you flip them over I was just staring at him like I don't know dude flipped him over got him okay handed him back to me and I was like okay I took note of how to do that when a situation is tense when a situation is life or death when a situation is urgent you want Clarity you want urgency you want action you want to focus up and when the Bible speaks about the end of all things when we step into eternity what happens to our Everlasting Soul we ought to want Clarity this is something that you ought to want to know definitively the answer to what.
God says about this subject because there are moments in your life where you wish I wish I could have a second chance I wish I could go back and redo that I did not handle that well I feel like I had a window to have Act Ed properly or spoken properly I wish I had a chance to go back and fix that and there is not a single moment in your life that has the amount of urgency and intensity and longlasting nature other than the decision that you will make about what happens to your soul.
For all of eternity and there will be many on that day who wish they could go back for another chance to have heard this process this thought about this responded to this and there will be no other chance and so we ought to take Serious iously what the prophet of God says next as God speaks through him he says this 4 verse 1 for behold the day is coming burning like an oven when all the arrogant and all evildoers so he's using their words from earlier will be stubble bits of dry wood and grass that will be burned up the day that is coming shall set them Ablaze says the.
Lord of hosts so that it will leave them neither root nor Branch so the Bible teaches that there is a day coming a day of judgment that is burning like an oven when evildoers and arrogant will not Escape they will be left with nothing neither root nor Branch they're gone that this day of judgment will uh capture all of them he says that the arrogant and the evildoers they taunt God and they escape he says no there's a day coming when they will not Escape.
Now if you're not familiar with Christianity or if you were talking to someone who's not familiar with Christianity and not familiar with the Bible and didn't care anything about this and you told them that there's a day coming when God will judge evildoers I think the general response would be good fine even if they don't believe what you believe when you say that it's like that's fine if there is a God he should do that the reason our general response to that would be.
Well good is because I don't include myself in the category of evildoer sounds like someone Batman fights and I just think if Batman lived in Columbia he would leave me alone like I just I just don't think that I'm an evildoer and so I think in general people think I'd love for God to judge evil if there is a God that's one of the things he should do honestly I'd like to give him some tips because he's got some things that I want him to judge like that's in general our attitude there.
Now if you're a little more thoughtful you might ask the follow-up question of how does he Define that category which is a good question for you to ask that is a good follow-up question to try to understand how does the Bible define evildoer but as we look at this this morning I want us to focus in on this other category because I think it's very helpful for us to understand what's actually happening on that day and that day is a real day that is coming.
When all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble who are The Arrogant in God's Reckoning you see there are those who are doing evil they're maliciously rebelling against God the truth is the New Testament says that we're all pretty much in that category but the Arrogant are those who believe that they don't need God they don't need to submit to him that's fine if he's real cool he can judge the evil but the idea that I need him that I'm supposed to surrender that I'm supposed to ask.
For forgiveness that I'm supposed to live my life in light of him and what he has for me and what he wants from me the idea of the Arrogant are those who have rejected God some intentionally you'll hear people make arguments like well if there is a God and there is a day of judgment then I've got some questions for him on that day yeah that's arrogant I saw something online recently that said well God May judge you but don't worry his sin and outnumber yours and a bunch of people had posted underneath there what a great quote I'm writing that down that's wonderful how true that's that's arrogant.
But there's also an arrogance that just treats God is unimportant as you as self-sufficient as you as the Pinnacle of all creation that there is no God and that humanity and our reasoning and our thoughts are the top of everything and that we're to decide for ourselves what is right and wrong and good and bad that's arrogant and like someone in our justice system who chooses to represent themselves in court while knowing nothing about how the court works it's going to go very poorly that all the arrogant and all the evildoers will be destroyed on that day that there is a Day of Reckoning verse two says.
But for you who fear my name all right so this was not written primarily as a warning to those who don't fear the lord it was written to the people of God who do fear the lord as an encouragement but I want to point something out this idea this line that comes through between fearing the Lord and not fearing the Lord it calls for humility so do you want to know someone else who's included in the Arrogant the Pharisee the the religious person who says I'm one of the good ones I.
God owes me I've served I've worked I've read I've studied I've been there I've done the stuff I gave during the gift project I'm one of the good ones I serve in Kid City twice last month if anybody's in heaven it's me that somehow God owes you that somehow you've earned it that somehow you have the credentials or the resume that's arrogance so it's not just those who've rejected God but it's also going to be some people who've been very very good.
But in a way that declares that God owes them because they're one of the good religious people rather than someone who submitted and surrendered and asked for Mercy that's what fear looks like here we would go to the Lord and say I need Mercy I need rescue I need help if you don't do this work if Jesus didn't come and and be righteous in my place and die in my place then I don't have any hope I'm surrendering I need help I need forgiveness it's all on you that's this picture.
So Church family if that's you if you've trusted in the Lord and surrendered to him not working on your religious resume to present to him so that he owes you and not sitting here and saying I don't really need God that's good for other people but I don't need that but if you've genuinely said I trust Christ to pay for my sin to rescue me to atone for my to welcome me and he's my only hope then this is actually spoken by the prophet to you.
Because it says but for you who fear my name the son of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings you shall go out leaping like Calves from the stall and you shall tread down the wicked for they will be ashes under the soes of your feet on the day when I act says the Lord of hosts but for you who fear my name verse two the son of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings that day that comes burn burning like an oven.
For the wicked for those who belong to Christ healing Dawns the sunlight that crests The Horizon on that day does not Scorch or dry out or burn but there is restoration and healing the reason that happens the reason that the sun Su n of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings is because the Sun s o n of righteousness has already risen with healing for those who would trust in him that those who place faith in Jesus ultimately when he returns this he's bringing forth the full consummation of what he has accomplished.
For us by faith by grace through faith through his work on the cross that he's accomplished for us and so it's a day of healing everything that is physically wrong with you everything that is mentally and emotionally broken for those who are in Christ is fixed battles with depression anxiety fear doubt years of laboring in physical and mental pain working to submit to the Lord and follow him and try to overcome what's been done to us by sinful Wicked people what's been caused by our own shortcomings and failures and rebellions and what's just burned into our flesh through the Brokenness of sin there's a day.
When the Sun rises and that's gone there's a day when the king returns and everything is set right there's a day coming that will inaugurate is endless days for those who've trusted in Christ to be restored and welcomed and healed brought into a land where there is no sorrow or sadness or tears I love this next verse oh no the next part of this same verse you shall go out leaping like Calves from the stall who just got excited have you ever seen Cals leap it is the goofiest looking thing they're not designed.
For it cows aren't supposed to do a lot of jumping this is why we don't do like cow racing we do bull riding but that's how cowes jump if you've ever watched bull riding where they jump feet first then the feet have to come back down and their back feet come up like they don't quite ever really fully get off the ground it's hard for for them to do but Cales and cows you can Google this will jump when they are excited goofy.
But they'll jump when they're excited if you've kept them all pinned up for a while and you let them all out back in the grass they will one by one come out I watched the video of this these cows coming out one by one and they'd walk out into the grass and then they would jump and then the next one would walk out in the grass and then it would jump and they all just were so excited you know that humans do this to that we jump.
When we're excited we're all used to it but you know we do that I I I love football there are certain things that happen in football that will automatically make me shoot up out of my chair I can't help it I will I will just jump as soon as certain things happen I will already be I'll be out I'll be up if you watch people in their excitement there are times we get so excited adult human beings get so excited that we just take off running running have you seen this like they win a thing and they just run through the field their arms out like they're an airplane or something y'all what this is.
Saying is that the day that Christ Returns the Church loses it and we're jumping and we're running and we're singing and we're clapping and we're shouting and the celebrations we've seen on Earth the best buzzer beater we've ever seen the best showcase we've ever seen on the is right the best person who's ever been released from 40 Years of prison has nothing on what that day looks like when the Church has Christ shine on us in glory and we all start shouting and singing and running and leaping.
Because the day has come when everything is restored and our Kings come back and there is Joy Untold praise the Lord that day is coming because Christ came to rescue a people for himself and if we trust in him he will one day return and everything will be restored and it is a day of joy and rejoicing for those who belong to him and you verse three shall tread down the wicked for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day.
When I act says the Lord of hosts as the Church runs and Liv leaps and jumps they tread down the wicked caught up in Joy caught up in the in raptured Grace and Glory of Christ rescued and redeemed it's a Day of Victory so often the way the world seems to work is that the meek are trampled those who are seeking to do what is right and good are are underfoot that the wicked and the powerful and the the violent rise.
Jesus says the meek will inherit the earth and Malachi says there's a Day of Victory coming when those who have trusted in the Lord surrendered to him walked in fear of the Lord humbly before him tread down the wicked in their Joy there's a song we used to sing in the Church I I grew up in and it would say it was um when we all get to heaven and it would say when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus Will Sing and Shout the Victory and that's what this is the distinction on that day could not be clearer there could not be a wider gap between being Ash and being enraptured in the light Charles Spurgeon was a pastor in England and he said when it comes to talking about judgment and Eternity in heaven and hell that we need clarity that dressing it up in fancy words doesn't help he said if he saw a house on fire and he looked and said I believe the operation of combustion is proceeding Yonder that wouldn't help he said.
But if you pointed and said fire that would help as clearly as I can say it without Christ without trust trusting in Him to pay for your sin you will pay for your sin and on that day you'll long for this one to make a different decision but Church family on that day our best day on Earth be a distant memory of Brokenness because of how good and glorious everything is to come this was written as an encouragement to those who were to belong to the.
Lord look at verse four he says remember the law of my servant Moses the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel remember means not just to think about them but to keep them here here's his encouragement they said that it's working out for the the wicked it's working out for the evil it's working out for the Arrogant they get away with it they enjoy life everything's going well for them but it's not going well for us and he says there's going to be a day.
When all of that is eternally reversed then he says so hold on so Church family hold on Walk In Hope and obedience as you follow Jesus because I know that there's somebody in here right now who's thinking I wish I could just give up Christ and pursue this other thing because I'd be so much happier everybody else I know is living this pursuing this they have this they don't worry about these things and they're happy they're fine they're free and I feel.
So much like I'm having to fight my flesh daily I'm having to fight against who I really am yeah because who we really are so often is an absolute Rebellion against the Lord that we do at times have to fight tooth and nail against our our sin but what Malachi says What God Says through Malachi is it will be worth it don't lose heart don't lose hope Don't Let Go verse five behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the.
Lord come so this is God speaking through Malachi I will send Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes Elijah was a prophet who had already existed prophesied spoken on behalf of God to the people of Israel he was taken up by Angels into heaven you can read about him in first and second Kings Malachi saying that he's not going to be the last prophet but Elijah is going to come one's going to come that's going to take up the same role and speak with authority from.
God now there's 400 years between Malachi and when this happens but this prophecy has already come true that before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes that Elijah will come well Elijah has already come it says this is what he's going to do he will turn the heart hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction so Elijah's role when he comes.
When this Prophet comes what he's going to do is he's going to call for a turning he's going to call for a repentance he's going to call for a restoration and this picture of hearts of fathers to children and children to fathers is that one of the most destructive things that happens in sin is that one of the relationships that's meant to be the sweetest actually meant to give a picture of what God is like and how his people are supposed to be towards him as a.
Father to children and if we're honest that relationship is one of the most Twisted broken and personally hurtful relationships that we can point to all around us either children rebelling against good Fathers or fathers that should have been being good Fathers wickedly harming their children and there's this picture of a restoration that's going to happen a turning that's going to happen when this Prophet comes he says lest mean or else lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction meaning there's going to be an opportunity.
For repentance an opportunity for turning otherwise everyone's destroyed so who is this Prophet Elijah it's a good question I'm glad you asked Matthew 11 Jesus answers that question he says this truly I say to you among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist yet the one who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force.
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John meaning the whole Old Testament rolls up to John and if you are willing to accept he is Elijah who is to come so he's fulfilled that prophecy and he's the one who was promised to come before the great and terrible day of the Lord and it's happened all the law and Prophets speak until John it rolls up to John and John is a changing some sort of something is going to happen.
Now so look at Matthew chapter 3 Let's see what John prophesied which if you're in the Book of Malachi just go like two pages you're right there Matthew 3 is right next right next door verse 11 this is John he says I baptize you with water for repentance so John came asking for a turning for a repentance for people to turn from their sin but then he says this but he who is coming after me is mightier than I whose sandals I am not worthy to carry he's talking about.
Jesus he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire his winnowing Fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn meaning that the one who is to come is not just a prophet like Elijah not just a prophet like John the Baptist not just a prophet like Malachi but he's the one who owns the barn and owns the wheat and owns the threshing floor he's the king and that's Jesus his winnowing Fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn.
But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire if you believed that the idea of a day of judgment was just an Old Testament idea and that Jesus somehow undid that no Jesus is the one who does that he's the one who ultimately brings the separation and our hope is in him and him alone the distinction made on that day is do you belong to Jesus or not and there is no third category Jesus says there are sheep and there are goats there are good fish and bad fish there is wheat and chaff or wheat and weeds it's always two categories.
But the wonderful news is that Jesus came he came to rescue us he came to pay our debt he came to make us righteous through his work and it's not about what we do we're not to join the Arrogant in in declaring our good works so that God will clap for us and give us a gold star we're to join the Cavs who run free because of how good Jesus is so Church family let's celebrate today that there is a day coming and let's hold on with hope and let's tell as many people as we possibly can how good he is.
And if you have not humbled yourself before the Lord do that today ask him to forgive you to rescue you and to keep you do not Harden your heart and turn from him and fight against it do not stand boldfaced and arrogant in the midst of your sin saying I'm fine without him but surrender and ask for mercy and receive it and join all of those who've been rescued by Jesus in celebration for all of eternity let's pray oh Lord thank you that you forgive Sinners or else it would be a decree of utter destruction thank you that you came to rescue and to redeem and that we get to celebrate a hope that we.
Have secured in Christ not accomplished by us and Lord I ask for the work of your spirit to draw people to yourself that you might be glorified and that they might repent of sin they might ask for forgiveness they might ask for hope they might ask for Mercy they might ask for Grace they might ask for life because all of those things are granted freely to the glory of Christ through His Marvelous work and your wonderful love and eternal goodness to those who will ask ask.
So may we humble ourselves and ask and Lord may all of us who long for the day of joy and Delight in your glorious Kingdom when you rise in righteousness and bring about healing Lord may we hold on in the midst of trial and difficulty and may we look to the Horizon for the sun to rise we love you Lord may we celebrate well today in Jesus name amen
|giv| Week 3: Faithless Complaints & the Faithful
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Spencer and I am one of the pastors here so we are in the final two weeks of walking through the Book of Malachi and we're also in our final weeks of our give Series so every year if you're new here we do a give Series where we pause to remember uh really the gift of Jesus and what it means to be in relationship with him uh we get so caught up in this season and really the materialism that gets attached to Christmas and every year we take a moment to reset.
Remember who this is about and what he causes to is being people that do not worship gifts or don't worship money or don't worship anything other than Christ and esteem him as as wonderful and great and we do that through a give project which you'll hear more about um as we close out today but uh we're going to continue to walk through the Book of Malachi and we are in chapter 3: 13-8 so you can follow along there you can also follow along your blue Bible uh that's all around you the page should be on the screen 4 608.
If I can read correctly from a distance but you can follow along as we walk through the text together uh we are in the Christmas season and uh that means that there are a lot of things that are happening one of them is uh Hallmark movies so yeah some of you excited uh 90minut easy digestible plots that are effortless right Netflix has gotten in the game like there you know there a story for you you know the the woman who is in the city and has the high powerered career.
But she goes to the countryside for Christmas and meets the guy and all of a sudden she has to choose between a career and the Man in the countryside and every time she chooses the countryside and the wonderful life you know what I'm talking about there's these revolving plots that happen that we're all so very used to there's one that happens quite a bit as well and it's the story of a of a dad who really is all in on his career he's traveling all the time he's working really hard.
But he's not present at home and at Christmas time he believes that he can buy his children's affection by buying them all the Christmas gifts in the world like this plot shows up in you know 90-minute movies it shows up all over the place it happens in real life as well and everyone who understands that story universally responds the same way Dad he doesn't want the gifts he wants you he he doesn't want the Christmas that you can provide he wants you he wants to go out back and throw the ball he wants to have time with you.
If you would just refocus and reenter your life in in a way that would see that your children are valuable and the little time that you have with them like we know that story and all of us are on the same page and saying dude slow down the gifts don't matter it's what you it's you are what matters and yet we don't apply that same logic to God God the Father we just don't we don't see that actually having a relationship with.
God the father and being with him is actually good that's where goodness is found it's not in the gifts that he can provide it's not in the life that he can provide it's not in the things that we want in this world it's actually found in him and we don't apply that same logic we so deeply understand when we're watching a movie to who our God is and we get so wrapped up especially in a season like this in what God can do.
For for us and defining that as goodness now we're not alone the Jewish people as we're going to see today we're also in the same boat confusing what is the goodness of God how is that displayed and really believing that that's bound up in the things that he can do for his people so we're going to see that we're going to see how that applies to us as we walk through another dispute that God has with his people in the Book of Malachi let we pray and we'll walk through this together heavenly.
Father I I pray pray that you would help us be present this morning that we might remember who you are that we might even some of us discover who you are that we might see you as wonderful and good and worthy of our worship not because of what you can do for us but because who you are and God I pray that you'd help us be present this morning to hear that and that we would not just be hearers of the word.
But we would be doers of the word we walk this out in faith and in Repentance and in worship and delighting in who you are in Jesus name amen all right so starting off in verse 13 your words have been hard against me says the Lord but you say how have we spoken against you you have said it is vain to serve God what is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts.
Now we call the Arrogant blessed evildoers not only Prosper but they put God to the test and they escape so if you've been walking with us in the Book of Malachi one of the things that you have seen over and over again in these disputes because each one of these sections of Malachi is a dispute that God has with his people and you see this God says this is what you've done here's the accusation here's what you've said here's what you've done people are like no not us how have we done this and that's what's Happening Here your words have been hard against me and they say.
Well how how have we spoken against you we wouldn't know never he said no You' have spoken hardly another version will say harshly another version uh will say arrogantly it's all capturing the same idea you have spoken arrogantly harshly hard words against the Lord and in verse 14 we see this harshness and really what's happening in this charge says what prophet is there in keeping his charge his charge the NIV I'm going to put the NIV which is another version of this up there.
Because I want us to see what's happening here it says you have said it is feudal to serve God what do we gain by carrying out his requirements so this is a little bit different than what we've read before where they're complaining or lamenting before God they're talking amongst themselves this we his language what God is describing is conversations that are happening amongst the people of God so what's happening is the people are complaining against the Lord together which is what happens you know people who are disgruntled seem to find each other.
If you've ever worked a job if you've ever been in an office or worked in a shop or wherever like the most disgruntled people just find each other and they complain about their boss they complain about their work they complain about fill in the blank and that's what's happened with the people of God is they they've some people have been finding each other to complain together against God so what are they complaining about what the content of their beef with God it starts in.
Verse 14 it says you have said it is vain to serve God what is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts so they're saying what is the point in worshiping God what profit is there what gain is there in worshiping God it's not going well for us what's the point of worshiping God this language of mourning is is is the type of lament worship they would bring before God what's the point in worshiping.
God it's not it's not giving us any gain that we can really see that we can really feel that we can really grasp and we saw a little bit of this earlier when the uh earlier with the dispute with the people of God when they were bringing their sacrifices before the Lord they were bringing uh bad sacrifices disobeying the law bringing blind animals and all types of animals that should not have been sacrificed going through the motions of worship and now they're just complaining about going through the motions of worship what is the point what is the profit what is the gain in worshiping.
God and it becomes a really self-centered self-interested approach to the Lord that God has not done me any good so what's the point in even serving him what's the point even going to the temple and offering worships what's the what's the point of even going to the synagogue and hearing the rabbi preach like what is the point what is the prophet and they continue this complaint in verse 15 it says and now we call the Arrogant blessed evildoers not only Prosper.
But they put God to the test and they escape so this is similar to what we've read earlier in Malachi they are mad that those who are not of the people of God that don't worship God are prospering so the Persians still roll over them at this point in history and they're mad about that when they come back to the promised land the their sworn enemies are taking have taken over parts of the promised land and they're mad about that and those people that don't worship.
God they seem to be doing well and we aren't are you going to show up for us oh God cuz we're not prospering and they are and they're not being punished and they're comparing themselves to the people that are around them which as I told my daughter last night is a miserable existence it's a miserable existence to compare yourselves to others in childhood it's miserable but it's also Miserable as as an adult consistently compare yourself to others one of the things that we're having to deal with with our oldest she's in the.
Third grade and and this has started to happen but she's got friends in her class that have phones and that's going to continue to happen and she's already kind of wondered wait a second why don't I have a phone and those conversations are going to continue to ramp up and they're going to be more and more like hey why don't I have a phone my friends have a phone why don't I have a phone and the comparisons are going to continue in that direction and one of the things is going to be difficult.
For her that we're going to have to have conversations with over and over again is to say listen I'm not their parents I'm yours you belong to me and we have made a decision that it's going to be a while before you get a phone especially a smartphone because we have basically a decade long case study on what that does to young girls so no we're you're not going to have a smartphone for a very long time and what she's going to inevitably what going to happen in her soul.
Because she's a human is is that's not good you're you're denying goodness and and what she doesn't see is no we aren't we're actually giving you goodness by not giving you this device that could warp you no but we do this it's so innate to who we are to compare ourselves to others to say oh no like I what are you holding back from me oh Lord that the others have that is good now that complaint needs some context for when that's being said in history I mean that that matters.
For any statement that's made in history I can make the statement right now that Germany is dominating influence in Europe I mean they are a dominating influence in Europe and they are because they're the most powerful economy in the EU if I said that in 1940 that's different that's a whole different ball game so context based on generational difference differences and time matters so when is this statement when is this complaint that they are saying being said and why does that matter.
So the complaint they're making against God here is a few Generations after the book of Ezra and the book of Nehemiah Malachi is one of the is the final book of the Old Testament and it's believed that happens just a few Generations right after the events of Ezra and Nehemiah and if you read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah what you will see when the people return from exile to the promised land is that there's this renewed fervor in love for.
God there's this renewed worship for God as they're rebuilding the temple and as they're rebuilding the walls and as they're uh reading the the law and rediscovering the Covenant there's this renewed fervor for God and with that renewed fervor for God is this expectation that things are going to get better and then it kind of doesn't by their standards they don't still Ru over their land things aren't seeming to be all that much better and we we we saw even last week uh that they aren't one of the things that chat B us through last week and the last uh dispute that.
God has with this people is that they're not actually giving to uh giving their tithes to the lord they're holding back from the Lord and part of that when you can of look into the context is that they probably don't have as much it's easy to to to give a tenth when you are prosperous a little bit harder when you are not so things aren't going well as they expected and the their enemies are ruling over parts of their land they just things aren't going like they want it to be and they're saying.
Well what's the profit of following God what's the point in worshiping God because it's just not getting better now I think that context is important for us and the Western American Church because I believe that we have similar complaints because what happens with us is that many of us will place our faith in Jesus get baptized or maybe we'll go through a season of rediscovery of God and loving his word and passionate maybe you get married you're like I want to actually take Faith seriously as a family or you start to have a kid you start to go I want to take.
God ser seriously we have these Mountaintop experiences where we're starting to have a fervor and a love for God and what happens is is that we believe the false narrative that if I'm just following God and I'm doing what I'm supposed to then things are just going to get better and then life hits you in the face repeatedly over and over again death loss betrayal debt joblessness the works and what happens when you get hit over and over again as you start to question is.
God good it is he because I'm just I'm getting destroyed left and right and I I is he good now the reason I think that question seeps in very easily I think there's there's a few different threads for that I think part of that is is that the American Prosperity Gospel is so rampant in Western American Church and we like to think of that as just the you know the C dollars of the world who are buying Jets those are the worst versions of it.
But it's way more than that it's this consistent message that shows up of be you got you follow God you'll be healthy you'll be be good you'll be fine your life will be good profit gain it's all over Instagram It's All Over YouTube it's all over just it's it it fuses its way to where the goodness of God ultimately is what he can do for you if he plac your faith in Jesus watch him work won't won't he won't he work I mean just over and over and over and over again it seeps its way in all different places I think that's part of the problem I think I think also part of the problem.
Is is that we just have this understanding that goodness is found in the things goodness is found in the substance material substance there's this material idea of just goodness is these things and therefore if God is good he must display his goodness with these things if he just gives me these things then he ultimately is good I think also we just very basically we lack a very biblical Theology of suffering the the the New Testament you cannot read the New Testament without understanding that there is a baseline theolog theological like you you are going to suffer and ultimately that is.
For your good that if you are called in Christ as a Christian you will suffer and it's actually seen as something that is good for us I mean James 1 says count it all joy count it all joy my brothers when you meet Trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing now it says can Joy my brothers when you meet trials.
When really important word meaning you are going to meet trials you are going to suffer and he's trying to help them count it as a joy because ultimately that suffering is going to produce steadfastness and as Roman says it'll have its full effect it be like I mean just it's just just I think we lack this and we're surrounded by so many bad ideas and bad philosophies of the day bad theology bad preaching dumb Instagram dumb Tik Tok I mean just we're surrounded by.
So many ridiculous detached from the Bible ideas and I love what Eugene Peterson once said he said all the water and all the oceans cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside that all the water and all the oceans cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside so yes we are certainly surrounded by so many bad ideas so many bad philosophies so many bad theology so many bad streams but the reality is is that we're we still have the ability to believe what is true we have his word we have the Holy Spirit that don't have to get inside the boat that don't have to get in we are responsible ultimately.
For discernment and filtering out all of that so we might actually believe what is true and some of that means you've got to realize that you might have some metaphorical people that are around that are complaining and giving you bad ideas Bad Company as First Corinthians says ruins good morals so I don't know what that is for you if that's seeping into your soul you might need to Source where that is and who that's coming from maybe it's people that you follow maybe it's things that you have heard maybe it's fill in the blank.
But there's a group of people in the promised land that are just complaining and they're complaining against God because they believe what is not true the goodness is found in what God can do for us in this life mostly materially but that's not the only people in the Promised Land when you get to verse 16 you see that then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another so there still are people who fear the lord who love him who realize that goodness is found in him that Delight in him.
For who he is and not for what he can do in prospering this life now there's still people that love God and that worship him and that fear Him and they're speaking together and this is what God says and some of this is in the time of Malachi and some of this is we're going to see is forward looking the Lord paid attention and heard them and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name they shall be mine says the.
Lord of hosts in the day when I make make up my treasure possession I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked between one who serves God and one who does not serve him so we get this picture of people who in the midst of their suffering are fearing God and I want to take a look at some of that forward-looking language that is.
For the people of God who persevere in faith so that first part it says the Lord paid attention and heard them and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name those who fear the lord are his they belong to him so much so that their name is written in a book of remembrance which is something that we see from the Old Testament into the new right we're walking through the book of Exodus in the last year we saw that Moses.
When he's pleading on behalf of the people he says in Exodus 32 but now if you will will forgive their sin but if not please blot me out of your book that you have written there's this idea of that those who remain faithful they're written and recorded in some book of remembrance The Book of Revelation completes this theme at the end of the story in Revelation uh chapter 3 it says the one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments and I will never blot his name out of the book of life I will confess his name before my.
Father and before his angels Revelation says and if anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life he was thrown into the Lake of Fire there's this idea throughout the Scriptures that that those who are faithful those who trust God those who persevere they're written in a a book of remembrance a book of life there's a recording that is taken of them now for their time that makes a lot more visual sense for them because they were very used to it at the time Kings kept a record.
So Kings at the time both Jewish and non-jewish Kings they kept a record of who did what in the Kingdom that was good who did what in the Kingdom that was bad they kept a record of all of this so it's very picturesque for them that the God of the universe the king over all things keeps a record and keeps an account of who is faithful so he says God I I will remember I have a book of remembrance and you'll be written in.
And then I want to to see what he has to say about those in the book of remembrance verse 17 they shall be mine says the Lord of hosts in the day when I make up my treasured possession and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked between one who serves God and one who does not serve him so God says couple of things he says those who fear me those who are in this book of remembrance they are my treasured possession dude where his treasured possession that.
God holds his people dear to him he Treasures them he keeps them safe like if I if this week in our office is next door if Chad philli started a fire because I don't even know what he's doing back there sometimes if he started a fire and the building was going to burn down and I had to get some stuff out of my office I'd choose the most treasured possessions and it it would be very quick CU on my bookshelf there's a pocket Bible it's an old kjb pocket Bible it was my grandparents pocket Bible and that's a treasure possession I'd grab that and above that is I have a I have a signed copy.
Of one of wle Berry's limited edition poetry books which for very limited amount of people that's a big deal but it's it's one of the best authors of the last century he I got him to sign it a book fair I'd grab that I might even grab there's at the end of the bookshelf there's a picture it's of chett but it's of Chad looking at himself so like one day um one day I was at his office and he had this uh he was looking at his computer.
But his computer has two screens and one of them just had a screen saver which was a his profile picture on our website and he's looking at it so I snapped the picture because it looks like he's fawning over himself and I sent it to him it was a big kind of inside joke and then all of a sudden he like before he went on sabatical like printed it off and put it in a frame just you know cuz we listen we make jokes about each other all the time from the pulpit cuz we're fun we like to have fun.
But we are close we're good friends and he knew he's going to be gone for eight week so he put that picture up there for me to remember him and it's just like it's a good inside joke it stays up there so I probably wouldn't keep that I if I'm grabbing things maybe if I have the time but definitely the other two objects I'm grabbing those and the reason why I'm grabbing those objects it's because they're dear to me they're treasured and I want to keep them safe.
God he says I'm you're you're mine you're my treasured possession just think about that if you're in Christ God Treasures you he Treasures you and he will ultimately keep you near to him I love that language which that we a treasure possession and he goes on and he says and I will spare them like a man spares his son who serves him and this is the language of a father who loves his son father who loves his son and I mean not just giving trying to buy his affection at Christmas.
But just absolutely loves his boy and if you're a parent you get this you understand what it means to love your children and that you want to spare them suffering you want to spare them like that that's like I right now we're so I I read a book called coddling of the American mind years ago and I'm very convinced by the arguments in it not they're not Christians but very convinced the arguments in it one of the things they're critiquing is helicopter parenting.
So we're trying to grow in our family to not be the helicopter parents so my oldest is in the third grade and we're trying to allow her to have more free play in our neighborhood where we can't see her but that's very hard because I've seen a lot of dat line and it's just hard where for Christmas don't don't tell her but we're getting her a a a Garmin smart watch that allows her to message us send out a SOS signal.
If she's in trouble but has GPS tracking so I feel a little more comfortable less helicopter sending her out in the neighborhood to play with kids where I can't see her because it's good for her ultimately to have this free play that is going to be good for her to make her a better adult now the reason why that's hard for me and my wife is because we don't want her to get hurt we want to spare her that like we don't want our children to be hurt we want our children to be.
Okay and that's something that's so distinct to parents we love our children and God says I I'm going spare them like a man spares his son who serves him like I I'm going to like like like a God who loves his child that doesn't want his child to suffer that's how I see there people who fear me who love me and in the days ahead you will be my you're my treasured possession and I will spare you and when that happens everyone will.
See the distinction between those who trust in Christ and fear Him and the wicked who reject him and ultimately complain about him because they've misunderstood the goodness of God now that question lingers of okay well when that's prophesying this when when is that going to happen in this side of the Cross we know exactly when that was going to happen so I passages like Romans 8 which makes M Malachi 3:17 come to life Romans 8 says he who did not spare his son.
But gave him up for us all how will he not also with him gracious ly give us all things and the good news of the Gospel is that God loves his people so much that he did not spare his only begotten son that he had his son crushed on a cross to absorb the wrath for our sin that we deserve so that we might be spared so that we might become his treasure possession and so the Judgment might might not fall upon us.
But it might fall upon Christ so Malachi is pointing forward to that day when Jesus is not spared but those who trust in him are and as Romans says As Romans says how will he not graciously give us all things that if we're spared this judgment and more than that we're graciously given all things what are the all things and it's not Material in this life it's Christ in life with him so as Malachi and the complaint is what is the profit of keeping his charge what's the profit what's the gain what do I get you get everything you get everything that ultimately matters you gain him in life with him forever you get the.
Fruit of his righteousness credited to our account you get to behold his face and etern you gain everything that ultimately matters so what is it worth what's the profits worth everything as Paul so succinctly puts in Philippians 3 when he argues indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and for him the loss was reputation the loss was he suffered greatly physically he suffered in hunger he suffered in he suffered shipwrecks he suffered everything as I count everything as a loss.
Because the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish so all the things that you might cling to in this world and say that's good he says no it's garbage it's rubbish no where am I in order that I might gain Christ and be found him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness from.
God that depends on faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings becoming like him in death and the Very things in this life that we're so tempted to believe that are ultimately good it's nothing it's fleeting it doesn't last it's not worth putting your hope in it the difference between those that do not know God and those who do is not bound up in the things that they have in this life it's bound up in who they ultimately worship and we have Christ and he's worth everything he's worth all the loss that you might suffer in this world he's worthy of it and he's better as.
We say every week he's better than everything else so that means that we we have to stop measuring the goodness of God and the things that we can get here and now and then all the different ways that we struggle with God because we are frustrated because of what he does not give us it means that we have to submit that in Repentance before the Lord and also believe that he is good regardless of anything that's added in this life now as we do give we get to do that every year as a reminder.
Because every year around this time we talk about this we talk about how there are things that Vive for our attention and our affection there's so many things that you can buy now on Amazon there's so many things you can level up to in life the next house the next truck the next whatever it is that you desire and when we don't get it we get frustrated we get discontent and maybe it's not even maybe it's not even a big truck maybe it's just the simple things like I don't want to be in pain anymore more I want relationally things to go.
Well for me I want my marriage to go well for me I want friendships to go well for me I want my job to go well for me there's so many things that we put value in in this life and when those are taken from us is when we start to shake our Fist and at least at give every year we get to address one of the big ones which is materialism it is money it is the things that we want to worship and lay our lives down.
For so we close out we're going to worship and then Isaac is going to come up here he's explain the next phase of our give project we're excited about and we're going to get an opportunity to actually in the coming weeks display that at least we don't love the things of this world so much so that we might give up a chunk of change a bit of our budget maybe bit of our regular giving so that we might submit our finances to the.
Lord and not love the things of this world that we so if we're honest deeply love but even more than that the hope would be is that we would not be like those who complained amongst the people of God who questioned God's goodness because he did not deliver in the ways that they wanted him to but we just be like the boy who gets his dad and just says I want him I don't want the things you can give me I just want want you and we'd be a people that whatever it is in this life that that we put value in we just put it away and say no I got you.
And if I got you I'm good let me pray heavenly father I pray that you'd help us submit to what is difficult teaching you help me submit to what is difficult teaching from your word there's so many things my heart strives to love above you but you're more beautiful you're more wonderful you're more satisfying and I pray that we believe that I pray that we' live like that's true that if there's anyone here that hasn't actually fully done that for the.
First time ever they haven't actually believed that you're ultimately better they would actually believe that they would have faith that you would give them Faith to believe that you are better the goodness is found in you and for the rest of us who are sinners trying to rid our elves of seeking the pleasures of this life may you help us in Repentance and in worship submit these things to you that we might see you as good in Jesus name amen.
|giv| Week 3 Project
|giv| Week 2: Robbing the Lord
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|giv| Week 2 Project
|giv| Week 1: Refiner and the Unjust
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|giv| Week 1 Project
Malachi Week 4: Marital Fidelity
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Transcript
My name is Spencer I'm one of the pastors here I hope you all had a good weekend especially the women who are on women's retreat I hope that was a blessing to you yeah some of you had a little more fun than others and I just want to let you know that my children are good at cleaning up toilet paper so we're going to be in Malachi 2: 10 through 16 this morning you can go ahead and turn there it's on page 467 our blue Bibles uh the text will be on the screen as.
Well as we walk this together as we're continue to walk through these different disputes that God has with his people through his Prophet Malachi I think Americans and Southerners are fairly okay with unsolicited advice and opinions uh for the most part like I think it like if I'm in the line at cookout somebody comes to me and says hey did you know that you can like upgrade your drink to a milkshake for a dollar more I welcome that I say B blessed and highly favored this is amazing that.
For $8 you can get a milkshake a cheeseburger and french fries and chicken quesadilla and sure the long-term Outlook isn't great but the short-term benefit is wonderful I appreciate anyone who's willing to give me such good news on opinions like that I think there's a lot of different areas that if someone were to speak into your life you'd welcome that and you'd be thankful that they pointed out something that was so helpful I do think it has its limits though there's a few different areas that.
If someone's looking over your shoulder and says hey this you go no uh uh mind your business like that's just I think there's a few different areas two in particular are money and romance right so if someone wants to speak into how you spend your money typical God American response is I made that money I'll I'll spend it how well please mind your business like if someone wants to come and speak into your marriage address speaking of your relationship you're like ah no I'm good you You' you've stepped over the line like I think that's kind of two general areas I think that we're not.
Okay with I mean if I'm honest like if someone want to helpfully come alongside me look at our budget and say I've looked at your budget and I have have a few suggestions on how you can cut costs here here and here that my gut instinct would be thank you for your opinion which is my stock way it's like my phrase for saying I'm I'm good with what you have said so some of you have heard me say that to you.
Now you know going forward if I say thank you for your opinion it's I'm good like I'm I'm moving on from this right I just think there's something in us that just doesn't want those two areas to be touched and Malachi says oh yeah well how about I talk about both of them uh intensely for a couple of chapters and that's what we're we're waiting into now is in the next few weeks uh we're going to look at God speaking into the marriages of the people and also the money and the finances of the people and he's coming.
For both of them so this week specifically in this third dispute we're going to see God speaking to the marriages of the people and there's a part of us that's going to want to say mind your business but Malachi is going to say do you belong to God okay then no I'm going to speak into this and I'm going to speak into the relationships amongst the people of God so we're going to see how God addresses the people and their marriages.
And then as the Church how we get to look at this and see how it applies to us today so let me pray for us then we'll walk through this together Heavenly Father we thank you for being able to come and worship you and sing praises to you offer up prayers of Thanksgiving to you and also that we get to receive your word God I pray that you'd help us receive it for it is a difficult word just as it was.
For the people of God thousands of years ago may you help us receive it and walk this out in faith and in Repentance and in worship and delighting in you ultimately because you were worthy of it we ask this in Jesus name amen all right so Chad finished up the second dispute last week where God is uh correcting the priesthood the priesthood at the time was uh conducting a charade they were they were simply going through the motions of worship it wasn't real true heart worship wasn't offering the sacrifices they were supposed to.
But they were facilitating this system and God calls out the priest priesthood for their failures and then he shifts into this third dispute picking up here in verse 10 have we not all one father has not one God created us why then are we faithless to one another profaning the Covenant of our fathers now other versions will say why do we deal treacherously or why do we betray one another that at the beginning of this dispute he is dealing with some of the the faithlessness that's happening to one another that he establishes very early on in Malachi that he is the.
Father of this nation he's the father of the Jewish people that means that they are the family of God and they should treat one another as family but they're not doing this like they are supposed to there's faithlessness happening towards one another and then he shifts this into two specific areas starting in verse 11 Judah has been faithless an Abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord which he loves and has married the daughter of a foreign.
God may the Lord cut off from the tent of Jacob and any descendant of the man who does this who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts and the first area he's going to address is the intermarriages that have happened amongst the people of God they have married the daughters of foreign Gods now there are Skeptics that will lch on to this and see see your God is against interracial marriage your God is an ethnocentric God and that's completely misreading the text this has nothing to do with Jewish people marrying Persians this has everything to do with marrying someone who does not worship the one true.
God that is embedded into the Old Testament law this teaching that says you shall marry someone who also loves the Lord with all their heart with all their soul with all my you should absolutely enter into marriage only with those who have the same Faith this is in Deuteronomy 7 it's in multiple places but we're going to just see one in Deuteronomy 7 it says you shall inter you shall not intermar with them giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters.
For your sons for they would turn away your sons from following me to serve other gods then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and he will destroy you quickly so it's this teaching of do not marry foreigners who worship foreign gods don't do this the people are far too weak in their faith they're far too weak to marry someone who doesn't share the same God I mean they this in Deuteronomy when they received that law that's just after.
God did this miraculous wonderful work bringing them out of Egypt that we got to walk through in Exodus last year and he brings them out and they immediately they're not even amongst the people of the the surrounding Nations it's just them and their God in the wilderness they worship a golden calf he says do not settle the land of Mary forn wives because you were far too weak to do this now the reason they would have wanted to do this and the reason why this was common at the time was.
If you're going to settle into a new area if you're going to be with people who are not of your own it was advantageous for you to marry off your daughters your Sons because that helped establish trade that helped establish treaties that helped establish covenants with other people so that you could live in peace with another and so that everyone could Prosper so there was a financial advantage there was a Prosperity advantage to actually marrying someone who worships a foreign God.
But it came at the cost of their own faith and the reason we know this is because of the whole rest of the Old Testament like the whole rest of the Old Testament is the people of God inter are Maring with the foreign people and worshiping their gods and setting up asholes and and making sacrifices to ba and giving child sacrifices sacrificing their own children to the God Malik all these surrounding Gods from around the surrounding Nations they get pulled into that worship I mean Nehemiah.
When he's addressing this which is really just before the the prophet of Malachi Nehemiah when he's addressing this uses Solomon as the prime example he says in Nehemiah 13 He says did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women among many nations there was no King like him and he was beloved by his God and God made him King over all Israel nevertheless foreign women made even him to sin and he says Solomon who was the wisest King we ever had Solomon who was a great king the the downfall of Solomon and ultimately the splitting apart of the Kingdom of Israel in Judah came down to the fact that he chose to.
Establish relationships with foreign countries foreign peoples by bringing in their daughters and marrying those wives and ultimately he worships their gods and he says if Solomon has fallen into this what shot do y'all have what are we thinking what are we doing here who you want to marry is not your free choice does not matter if you love them does not matter if you think it's going to gain you some financial advantage it's going to establish some treaty with a different people the most important aspect of who you marry is who they worship that is the most important aspect of marriage who they worship.
Because marriage is not just a two-party Covenant it's not just a two-party agreement it is a three-party covenant it is man wife and God and that's clear throughout the Scriptures God is the centerpiece of marriage and the reason why is because marriage ultimately is a picture it's ultimately a smaller picture the bigger picture which is God's love for his people the marriage reflects that bigger reality God's love for his people Ephesians 5 so beautifully teaches that when it begins with husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up.
For her that ultimately marriage is this picture of God's sacrificial love that God loves his people so much that he gave up his son to be crushed for his people that sacrificial love of God for his people gets to be reflected in marriage it is bigger than than ourselves and that is why from the Old Testament into the New Testament the teaching is the same when you get to First cor or second Corinthians 6 Paul teaches the same thing from the Old Testament in.
Verse 14 and following he sayso not be unequally yolked with unbelievers for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness or what Fellowship has light with Darkness what Accord has Christ with bellal that's another name for Satan what portion does a Believer share with an unbeliever what agreement has the temple of God with Idols we are the Temple of the Living God and he says don't be unequally Yol don't marry someone who is not a Believer don't marry someone who does not love Christ like you do and he has pretty Sharp Images here what partnership is righteousness with lawlessness fellowship with uh light with light versus Darkness Christ versus the evil one you're sons of.
God and if you're not in Christ the Bible says you're Sons and Daughters of Disobedience what what are we you don't have a share with them they don't love God they worship idols and this teaching gets pulled into the New Testament because the Covenant of marriage is not just man and wife it is man and wife and our covenant God now for us maybe you're single and you you desire to be married and maybe you've made a list of things that you value in a spouse maybe you're like I you know I want him to be financially secure and to have a good 10year plan or I want him to brush his teeth I I.
Want her to laugh at my jokes and her laugh not be annoying like I just I I don't know whatever that is for your list like I don't maybe you got a list of things where it's like I I want this and I want that I want this I want that I'm not going to compromise on this or that or this or that but let me tell you something if Jesus is not at the top of that list if at the top of your list isn't do do they love Christ and not just say they are a Christian.
But love him and display him with the fruit of the spirit that they they are committed to the people of God in the local Church that they he that he is uh or she is uh immersed in his word and loves him if that's not at the top of the list of whom you are going to marry then I'll just be honest you're doing it wrong that do they love Christ that is the most pinnical question so much so that if you have that as the question every anything else on the list is he tall enough is she is she fing the blank that those pale in comparison to Christ.
And so much so that that some of those other things become less important because it's not that this man loves Jesus and this woman loves Christ I don't care if he's not 6'2 he's worth that so have that as a category so deeply in your mind as you're thinking through this because what will inevitably happen is you'll start to justify who you want to marry you'll start to make compromises you'll say yeah he says he's a Christian and I mean you he got burned by the Church he's Church her from a few years ago.
But like you know he does want to read his Bible and you he kind of part goes hard in the weekend but like I don't know like I can probably win him over a little bit I can probably win her sway her a little bit over you know if you if we progress into this then I we know we I'll start reading the Bible with them we'll pray together like when we get married like I'll I'll get them involved in our community group it'll be fine we'll work we'll work it out.
And while God in his grace does sometime use spouses to lead their other spouse to Christ that does happen I would also say that that is very much a cautionary tale because it also goes arise so often and there's so many ways that if you choose to marry someone that does not love Christ where your values are ultimately going to be petted against theirs in ways that you didn't see coming I mean very practically when you go to raise children one day.
When you go to raise children one day and you want to raise them in the faith and you want to take them and bring them here on Sundays you want to uh let them be involved in kids City and in student Ministries it's going to be very hard if you've married someone who says Nah I think I'm going to take him hunting this Sunday I think that's more important is our father son experience so I'm going to take him hunting this Sunday it's going to be very hard.
When you're trying to uh teach the Gospel to your children and and help them know who Christ is and he or she is undermining that at every turn and I got a buddy whose whose wife left him and clean I mean just cleaned his clock and the divorce and took the kids and she recanted the faith and she absolutely done everything to seow doubt in in her in in her in those kids' Minds with not just him but with Christ and he gets them once every two weekends and he does everything he can to display Christ to them.
But that's a reality you need to Grapple with before you choose spouse do they love Christ deeply if not then you're going to be in a difficult situation now if that is your situation the Bible does give us a word on this gives us a helpful uh Scripture from 1 Peter 3 it says likewise wives be subject to your own husband so that even if some do not obey the word they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives.
When they see your respectful and pure conduct so we do have some some wonderful wisdom here for what happens if you're in a marriage where someone doesn't believe the Gospel and I'll be honest this is this is even more difficult for women because we teach that that that men are supposed to lead in marriage therefore she's supposed to follow him in submission in marriage and if he doesn't value Christ that gets r really tricky it's very difficult but we have a word here that says you wi the moed by the conduct meaning that you make.
Jesus look good in the way that you live and the way that you love your husband the way that you show respect and the way that you that we have a word here that says you get to display Christ and I think this is also down the line applicable to husbands as well that if you are married to someone who's not a believer that you get to display Jesus make Jesus look good by how you love your wife and when you do this there will be opportunities.
For you you to declare who Christ is but that's difficult and the reality is is that if you are single you should not sign up for that and if you are married you should absolutely take the words of First Peter and run with it as a as a life Anthem I'm going to display Christ in my marriage to my children I'm going to display Christ in my marriage to my spouse I'm going to pray unceasingly for my spouse I'm going to I'm going to love them.
And when times are hard and we have different values and he doesn't want this she doesn't want this I'm going to surround myself with Christian Community my group is going to be praying for me my group's going to be praying for my spouse but I'm going to stay in this because of the second big thing that Malachi addresses and that is that divorce is actually not an option and that is the second part of this the second part of this dispute with the marriages of the people and that is divorce picking up in.
Verse 13 and the second thing you do you cover the Lord's altar with tears with weeping and graning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand so there this is a lament from the people like we're offering worship we're doing the we we doing the things we're bringing it to you you're not finding favor upon us oh God and they end up asking why verse 14 but you say why does he not why has.
God not shown favor on us in our worship why is God not uh shining upon us why the Persians still rule over us what is happening why oh Lord and it says but because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth to whom you have been faithless though she is your companion and your wife by Covenant did he not make them one with a portion of the spirit and their Union and what was the one God seeking Godly Offspring.
So guard yourselves in your spirit and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth for the man who does not love his wife but divorces her says the Lord the God of Israel covers His Garment with violence says the Lord of hosts so guard yourselves in your spirit and do not be faithless all right that's a difficult text for various reasons that we're going to get to in a moment and it's vague at parts to kind of figure out what he's doing here let's start with the clearest implications from this text and what he's saying in.
Verse 14 he says because the Lord was witnessed between you and the wife of your youth to whom you've been faithless though she is your companion Your Wife by Covenant and what he just said was was a condemnation of the divorces that have happened amongst the people of God that you have been faithless to the wife of your youth you have divorced the wife of your youth that is what he's calling out here and then verse 15 it says did he not make them one with a portion of the spirit in their Union and he brings up that truth we just walked through it's a three-party covenant that my spirit was there.
When you join together I'm with you and you're breaking this apart this is Genesis 2 language the two became one flesh and God is with them in that Holy Union and you're breaking it apart that's not supposed to be and he goes on he says and what was the one God seeking Godly Offspring so guard yourselves in your spirit and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth he says in this one flesh Union you're supposed to stay together you're supposed to have a Godly Offspring a Godly Legacy of faith that carries on from generation to generation to generation and this bless one flesh Union and here is where this gets.
Pretty difficult verse for the man who does not love his wife but divorces her says the Lord the God of Israel covers His Garment with violence says the Lord of hosts so guard yourselves in your spirit and do not be faithless all right there's a lot going on here I want to be frank with you this is one of the most debated verses in the entire Bible okay so we got back up a little bit and understand how we get here.
So the Bible is translated mostly Greek and Hebrew a little bit Aramaic all right that's the original languages It Was Written in and they those Scriptures were recorded down and manuscripts the original manuscripts are lost to time however there's a very rich tradition of scribes copying down these Scriptures for thousands of years and it's guys there are more copies of the Bible around the world more manuscripts around the world than any other ancient document it's not even remotely close there's a rich tradition and what's crazy what's Wild is is that over 99% of all the different scripts and Scriptures that we have across the world from written in different centuries copy down and copy down.
And copy down over 99% of that when you line all of those words up they match every single I mean you I have a a community in Alexandria an ass syat Community here that wrote and recorded Scriptures for years and for years and for years when you line them up they line up like 99% just wonderfully dot for do Mark for Mark that's it's amazing the Holy Spirit has guided this for so long so wonderfully so reliably but every now.
Then every now and then you get two different texts and they say something different just a little bit so much so that's like actually they use this word here but this community used this word here but when you line them up together it's actually the exact same thing so we know that that's exactly what this means and there's a group of people that are huge Bible nerds called textual critics that devote their lives to these languages to make sure that we're understanding this is what the original text said we're able to trust our Bible.
So well but every now and then in the rarest of circumstances you're going to see two different textual Traditions that line up and you're going to go oh okay what's being said here is two different things and there's a whole like Rich tradition of how to figure out what was the original meaning what was the original thing saying and verse 16 is one of the RAR circumstances where it's like oh boy this is actually something where there's two different meanings here and I want to walk through them the.
First here is what we read in the ESV the ESV says for the man who does not love his wife but divorces her says the Lord the God of Israel covers her garment with violence says the Lord so what's being taught there and what's being displayed there is that when a man divorces his wife he shows a great Act of hatred towards his wife he shows a great lack of love a great hatred towards his wife and ultimately covers the Garment of violence and that's the euphemism.
For cruelty dishonoring her so that's one way to read this text then there's another way to read this text and I want to read a few different versions that capture this different idea starting with the nesb for I hate divorce says the Lord the God of Israel and him who covers His Garment with violence well that's different God hates divorce and he hates the man that that hatred is extended towards the man who covers his wife with a garment of violence who who ultimately dishonors her like this the ne captures that as.
Well I hate divorce says the Lord God of Israel and the one who is guilty of violence says the Lord who rules over all the NLT which is a which is a solid paraphrase of the Bible says for I hate divorce says the Lord the God of Israel and then it shifts a little bit it says to divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty so it moves a little bit away from God's hatred towards divorce to the man who does it to God's haes divorce and this act is a Act of hatred towards his wife.
Now God hating divorce and the man involved in it and this being an act of hatred towards her spouse are actually two different meanings and the rarest of circumstances in the Scriptures you got to figure out okay well which one because those are different and I'm not going to shock you here I'm not a textual critic scholar I know some of yall were thinking that like this guy he's just so wise no I'm nowh like that that is so far above my pay rate like I even.
If I tried really hard like I I was in classes with some of those guys in seminary and I was like I'm I'm I ain't doing that like I've got no business in being in classes with these guys so we're not we we're not skilled enough to look at this and go I you you know I based on the original language A or B okay and what happens is sometimes in these rare circumstances in the Bible what we'll do is okay.
Well I need to pick one and I want to go in my gut and I don't like the idea that God hates divorce and hates the one who's divorced so I'm I I don't I don't know about that I I'd rather go with the other option this is an act of hatred so what do you do in situations like this I think you first look at the context of the passage and kind of see what's clearly being taught and then you back away from the text and you take the text against the whole teaching of the Scriptures and you realize that actually I think both of those have truth to them I think.
If you look at the whole of the Scriptures I think you're going to see God does hate divorce and also it is an act of Cruelty towards the one who's involved so let's look at context directly and then we'll kind of back out a little more so one thing that's very clear from directly from Malachi divorce was not a part of the original plan for marriage there's a reason God used uses Genesis language here did he not make them one with a portion of the spirit and their Union in.
Verse 15 there's a reason that shows up this was not a part of the original design oh Jewish people you're doing this and you're not you're not you're not in line with how God originally designed this to be this beautiful Covenant is meant to last a lifetime it's meant to reflect something bigger than yourselves so so marriage is meant to be it it divorce is not a part of the original plan the second that's very clear from this context divorce and their context harmed women it harmed women.
Now some commentators will push this and they say well what's actually happening here is that the people of God when they settled back into the promised land they weren't like you know the elites they weren't part of the social you know they didn't have all the money and Prestige and what the some of these men were doing some of these Jewish men were divorcing their Jewish wives so they could marry Persian wives of Greater status to advance and I think that's a fine way to.
Look at this I don't know if you could really say that with certainty that that's exactly what happened here but what is clear is that divorce harmed women you can see that historically you can see it in the Scriptures it it it made them it it took them like back then it's not like that not not a lot of women could survive on their own without a husband that just that just was the reality so that harmed their ability to provide.
For themselves if they were widowed and and they divorc that stigmatized them stigmatized them greatly so they might not get remarried that that also meant that if they didn't have sons they didn't have social security because that was your Social Security back then if you didn't have sons you didn't have a way to provide for yourself so divorce harmed women it was indeed an act of Cruelty towards your wife and there was a lot of you see this being pulled all the way into the time.
When Jesus comes along of woman being divorced just for you know because she burnt the food I mean just some some heinous things that were happening happening so I think in the direct context you can see that very clearly but when you zoom out and you look at this in the context of the rest of the Scriptures I think it becomes pretty clear that God actually he does not like divorce this is not a part of his original plan and when.
Jesus is being challenged on this in Matthew 19 this is what he says so clearly he says verse 6 so they are no longer two but one flesh what what therefore God has joined together let not man separate and he's pretty plain with this let let no man separate this don't tear what has been brought together the marriage is meant to be a lifelong Covenant that God's ultimate desire is for that marriage to continue now I know when I say all of that some of you who know your Bible are like wait a.
Second though I I think the New Testament gives us like like two different two different uh reasons for a Biblical divorce and that is correct we've taught on this in the past this is not the first time we've taught on the subject matter and we've gone more into detail on our in our Matthew 19 sermon on this about some of these allowances there's the porn clause in Matthew 19 which is dealing with gross sexual immorality and then you've got in uh 1 Corinthians 7 abandonment by an unbelieving spouse these are two that we we've taught on in the past.
But I don't want to spend time in that because we've done this before and I'd point you to those sermons because m Malachi isn't nuancing here Malachi is speaking very plainly here he is arguing against divorce and the harm that it causes and that is a faithless act now I understand I understand that teaching that a is deeply unpopular in our culture and B is not done at a vacuum meaning it's not done in a neutral environment we don't have like we have pre-loaded experiences and opinions like I I get that I I I know it's deeply unpopular and the reason it's deeply unpopular is.
Because marriage in this culture is so much about happiness it's it is about your personal uh happiness and joy and that and that is the air that we breathe it's in all the the media that we consume it's in the stories that we live in that marriage is about personal happiness and when marriage fails to make you personally happy then get out move on you don't want to live a whole life that's not happy move on to something that brings you more happiness and that's the very air that we breathe in the context of the marriage that we understand in our culture.
Therefore preaching this right here makes that deeply unpopular and I also know it's not done in a vacuum if you're like me some of you are children of divorce and I mean my parents got divorced when I was four and two Christmases is pretty sweet but outside of that it kind of stinks it's pretty painful it's hard there's a lot of just of suffering that comes along with that for the years that follow and the years that follow into adulthood right and I'm also know that that some of you have walked through divorce and the pain of divorce and I understand how difficult this is and we don't approach this neutrally at all.
And while it is very difficult Malachi is not nuancing and I think it's for a reason it's to feel the force that really shows up in verse 16 for the man who does not love his wife but divorces her says the Lord the God of Israel covers her with a garment of violence says the Lord so hear this guard yourselves in your spirit and do not be faithless we want our soul our spirit to be so United with Christ that he guards us from this Folly that he guards us from this path that he defends us that he keeps us guards us I mean we we want to embody what Ephesians 5 teaches to be.
A people that understands that God's his God's place in marriage in the first place but what that means is is that we have to trust God over our own cultural instincts over what we want we have to actually trust God and that is hard to guard ourselves in your spirit and to not be faithless requires trusting God's word when we don't want to because here's the reality if you get all of your romantic desires if you get to marry the man or the woman that you want to marry even though they don't love Christ.
And if you get to end the marriage that you don't want to be in if you get those things ultimately you will get what you want but you will engage in something that is faithless towards Christ and you miss the point all together and the plea from the Scriptures here is don't don't trade your faith in for a fiance don't trade your freedom in your faith in for some for a freedom that that ultimately will not satisfy don't do it It ultimately displays a level of unbelief where we just don't trust God's word I don't care what God's word says I don't care what the Bible says you don't know my situation you don't know.
How hard this is ultimately is a step of Faith to trust God and persevere in a marriage that is difficult ultimately for our good it is difficult to walk in singl and finally find someone who likes you and and and makes you feel good and then to have to look and see they don't belong to Christ and make that decision I can't be with this person it takes a faith to trust God that ultimately his word is better than our own desires and that's difficult it's very difficult I mean you ask pastors I I'm right.
Now I'm taking classes and I'm reading all these pastors who are in these counseling books and it's just like it's clear the most difficult situation that a pastor is probably ever going to face one of the most consistently difficult situations is going to be marriage and divorce hands down this is extremely difficult but we can trust him and we can believe that he is good and that what he holds out in front of us though we don't want it ultimately is good and we can as that text ends as this dispute ends guard ourselves and our spirit and not be faithless I want to end with going to 2 Thessalonians 3 and I want to.
Read this and I want to pray this over our Church because this passage has some some some connections and language to this difficult dispute that I think is helpful to receive I'm going to read this first and then we'll pray I'm going to pray this over Us 2 Thessalonians 3 3-5 it says but the Lord is faithful God is faithful y'all he's faithful towards us even when we are faithless he will establish you and guard you against the evil one that our.
God does he would defend us from the evil one who would love to Snuff out the flame of faith in our lives he will guard us verse four and we have a we have confidence in the Lord about you that you are doing and will do the things that we command that God has a confidence that ultimately we will walk in obedience even when it is difficult verse 5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ may.
God direct our hearts towards his deep Abiding Love and the steadfastness of Christ so bow our heads and I want to pray this over us as we close out heavenly father with such a difficult teaching I pray that you'd help us have Open Hearts to receive this may we love you so deeply because you are faithful God you are faithful you are faithful despite of our desires in spite of our desires you are faithful may you establish us oh Lord may you guard us against the evil one who would love.
For us to end up in marriages that we should not be in who would love for us to choose our own instincts over trusting you may we do your will and keep your Commandments by trusting you with both our singleness but also with marriages that are the source of so much pain or may those who have been through divorce even divorce for unbiblical reasons may you direct our hearts to your love and to your steadfastness that we might even though we have failed even though we have suffered even though we've walked through some of those difficult moments of Our Lives.
When we persevere in faith even when in the past we may have acted faithlessly may we be a people who allow you into the most sensitive areas of our lives so that we may be faithful in all things and may you guard Us by the power of your spirit working in us that we might be faithful amen B's going to come up and we're going to take the Lord's Supper no doubt this sermon touches on some of the sorest regions of our souls and our stories and I just want you to.
Remember that our God is good he is worthy of our trust and our faith and in faith even when we have sinned even when we have misstep even when we have Str strayed from the path even when we've not obeyed God's word in faith Jesus gives the invitation come to the table that if you belong to Christ the table is open for you you don't have to come forth in shame but you can to come forth in the grace that covers you and the shame that was born on Christ on the cross.
Then the night that he was betrayed he took bread and he broke it and said this is my body that was broken for you and he took the blood he took the the the the cup which is the cup of the New Covenant he said this is my blood that was shed for you that is often you eat and drink this you Proclaim my death until I return so we get to come to the table no matter what your story is no matter where you are.
If if you believe and you belong to Christ you get to come to the table and Praise Jesus that even when we're faithless no matter what we're walking through even though when we're Sinners and we no matter what we're walking through that God's love is sufficient and his grace is enough so you get to come to the table and you get to take of this remember our savior whatever you're walking through through out of that Grace and that mercy and that kindness that.
Jesus shows us we get to ask Lord the difficult questions we get to ask him Lord what do you want for me what is faithfulness what is obedience and then we get to walk that together out as the Church if you're not a Christian we don't want you to take part in the Lord's Supper we want you to take part in Christ because he's worthy of it and trusting him is ultimately better than anything this world has to offer so when you are ready come to the table there's free in that back corner.
Malachi Week 3: Profaned Priesthood
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here uh excited to to get to study the word of the Lord this morning with y'all if you'll turn to Malachi chapter 2 we're working our way through the Book of Malachi and we are going to go verse by verse to this book and try to understand the message of this prophet and where we are in the the time of the life of the people of Israel is that they have returned from Exile they've returned from captivity uh in Babylon and they have rebuilt the temple and they have rebuilt the wall and they are under Persian Rule and the general feel of the people.
Of Israel at this time when you're studying this time period And when you're studying the prophets that are speaking to them is if you've ever been if you grew up in a town or been around a town lived in an area where they're used to be industry but there isn't anymore there used to be a textile Mill they used to build cars they used to have a coal mine but they don't anymore that's in general how Israel feels at this point they're people here and they're existing.
But that's kind of all they're doing it doesn't seem like there's a lot of life it doesn't seem like there's a lot of hope it doesn't seem like there's a lot of Joy they've returned but they're still under rule of the Persians they've rebuilt the temple but it's not like the temple they had they have a wall they have a city but it's not like the city they had in general the whole thing just feels like they're sleepwalking through existence and that's where we are and that's where Malachi takes up his prophetic message and he's the last prophet in the Old Testament to speak before we're going to.
See John the Baptist and Jesus several hundred years later and so he's correcting and speaking on behalf of God he has six disputes the first one is that God loves them but they don't feel it and they don't act like it and they don't seem to know it but he's correcting them that he loves them but they're not behaving correctly and then he starts correcting the priests and so we're picking up with that in Chapter 2 with the back half of his correction of the priests and what we're going to.
Look at this morning is we're going to take this we're going to understand it in its context we're going to try to understand what he's actually saying to the priest here but then we're going to try to see how we might apply this correction of the priesthood to us and we're going to see that when you translate the the idea of a priesthood into the New Testament it comes out in a few different ways and so we're going to take some time this morning to talk specifically to pastors and Church leadership.
So I'll be preaching to myself some this morning and boy am I going to give myself some amens I tell you and then I'll get real convicted no but preach to to pastors this morning and then to the Church in general because the Christian Church is a priesthood and then we're going to talk about Christ who is the great high priest and so we're going to walk through those three things after we try to understand understand it in its context.
If you will pray with me as we begin this morning God we're thankful for your word we're thankful for the spirit that indwells us that helps us to understand your word and leads us in obedience we ask that your Holy Spirit would move and work and convict and encourag this morning and that you would help us to understand rightly what this teaches so that we might live in fear and awe of you and that Christ might be glorified in Jesus name amen all right Malachi 2.
Verse 1 and now o priests this command is for you so he's about to give a command and we know who it's to it's to the the priest now this priesthood which is also going to be referred to as Levi in this chapter is the levitical priest it's a whole tribe of Israel that was blessed with the priesthood when they uh divvied up the land the Levites did not get a portion of the land they did not get an inheritance all the other tribes got an inheritance.
But Levi was scattered in little places all over and then they were given the care of the temple they were the ones who would stand as priests in service to the Lord and on behalf of the people and they would rotate so you would live wherever you lived kind of in one of the other tribes and then you would rotate to Temple service we see this in Luke with John the bapti his dad he rotates in and does his Temple service.
And then he goes back to where he lived and so that's how this would work and so we're talking to the priest or the Levites as he's going to call them later that's who he's correcting and what they're doing now is they had a temple they were performing their daily sacrifices and their Ministry but they were doing it halfheartedly it says this is the command if you will not listen if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name says the.
Lord of hosts then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings indeed I have already cursed them because you do not lay it to heart so the command it's kind of buried in the middle there is take it to heart to give honor to my name that's what the priests were supposed to be doing it was supposed to be genuine true love worship and honor to the Lord and it was supposed they were to take it to heart and they were to be the.
First ones they were the ones who didn't get an allotment their their inheritance was the Lord that's what it actually says he says I'm their inheritance that the blessing was him that they would have him that they would love him that they would know him that was Chief among it God's blessing was on the whole of Israel but he has this special portion for the Levites to get to minister to him and be in the temple they're the only ones who caner enter certain places they're the ones that get to serve him in this unique way they get to part participate and take part in some of the sacrifices and they were to be the.
First ones to honor the Lord have you ever gone with somebody to their mama's house or Grandmama's house it's like a group of friends and y'all are about to go in or you're dating them you're about to go in and they just stop and say okay hold up when we go in here you going to take your shoes off you going to take your hat off you going to say yes ma'am she's going to offer you food you're going to eat it you going to tell her it tastes good and the best is.
When they start telling you things you're not allowed to bring up like just fun like it's you're always just like I have questions they're like don't talk about LeBron James and he's just like why I want to now like what do why why can't I bring him up like they just pick things or they might tell you like a whole political party you're just not allowed to mention inside this house like just don't bring it up but the reason is that's their grandmother and they're taking the.
First step in honoring and if you don't want to they don't care you're going to or you're not going to be welcome in this house that's how it works they're they primary you ought to but if you're not going to they're going to make sure you do that's the way the Levites were supposed to be with the Lord we read last week where people are bringing lame sacrifices the the their legs don't work they're bringing uh goats that don't that aren't worth anything they're bringing blind sacrifices or ones that have SC abs and problems that they couldn't sell anywhere.
And when they're bringing them up there they should have brought a good one but when they got to the door the Levites should have said what don't get this out of here how dare you profane the name of the Lord with that they should be the ones who are taking it to heart to honor the Lord but they aren't and so he says if you won't I will curse your blessings and indeed I've already cursed them because you do not lay it to heart.
Now that cursing of Their Blessings is a broad we should understand that in a broad way because they're blessed to be the people to be the Levites to be the priests and there were certain blessings that came along with that that they got to participate in the sacrifices that they got to uh take in the tithes that they were provided for by the people of Israel and so he's saying in general the blessings over Israel are going to fall apart the blessings to your tribe are going to fall apart and one of the things that the Levites did was they pronounced blessings.
So that when you came and and there was a sacrifice then they would bless you they would speak on behalf of the Lord to send you out in in a blessing and he's saying I'm doing all of that your blessings are cursed it's going to work backwards now and then he says in verse three behold I will rebuke your Offspring rebuke is a sharp correction I will rebuke your Offspring and spread dung on your faces the dung of your offerings and you shall be taken away with it.
Now just to us that sounds just rough that's you don't want you don't want the Lord to say that to you and whenever you're in an issue and you're not doing well and the rebuke goes beyond you to your children like you want to get an argument amped up just bring people's kids involved like I mean he's going to rebuke the whole line of the Levites but when he says I'm going to put dung on your faces he's talking about a specific thing it says the dung of your offerings and you shall be taken away with it this is actually worse than it hits our ears.
But the Levites would have understood exactly what he was talking about when they had a sacrifice the dung as well as certain parts of the innards and the overall carcass there were parts that they kept and ate there were parts that they applied to the sacrifice and then there was a whole bunch of it that was called awful o f f a l awful and it was carried outside and burned and he says that's where you're going you're not going to be allowed in the temple you're not going to be the chosen people who get to be here you're going to be toted outside and burned you're going to be toted outside and cast out.
You're going to be part of the awful that's what I'm about to do with the tribe of Levi and for those who practice this Temple sacrifice daily to be told you're becoming a part of awful you're carried out that that hit them way harder than it just reads to us this is a significant rebuke he's saying I'm getting rid of the tribe of Levi I'm going to you're not going to get to participate in this way and this but then there.
Then he says something else that we have to try to figure out what he means because it it drastically changes how we're supposed to understand what he's saying to them when he says I'm going to cast you out in this way verse four he says I'm doing this so shall you know that I have sent this command to you that my Covenant with Levi May May stand says the Lord of hosts okay that my Covenant with Levi May stand he says I'm going to do this.
So that I can keep my Covenant well now it's really important for us to know two things what is the Covenant to Levi and is it a conditional Covenant or an unconditional Covenant is there an if there like if your parents said I'm going to take you to the zoo and then you were acting up and they said hold on I got to keep my promise to you it's like yeah but the promise was I'm going to take you to the zoo.
But if your parents said I'm going to take you to the zoo if you get your stuff done that's a conditional you see the difference between conditional and unconditional the question is is God going to keep this promise no matter what is he promising that I'm going to overcome your sin and make this good or is he saying I'm going to hold to my end of the bargain and cast you out because you failed it's important for us to know how is he keeping this Covenant we also need to know what is the Covenant to Levi what is the Covenant to the priesthood.
So look at verse 5 my Covenant with him was one of life and peace I gave them to him so it was a blessing the promise he made to him was of life and peace I gave them to him it was a covenant of fear and he feared me he stood in awe of my name so God's giving life and peace and the people of Levi are to fear God to respect him it's to where the way that like parents and children are supposed to work where there's life and peace and appropriate fear and respect like you should fear your parents you shouldn't.
Look under your bed for them at night like that kind of fear like they're going to get you but you should have respect and honor it should have been like that that's what he's saying that was the way the Covenant worked and we've got to go back to the uh further back in the Old Testament try to understand what is he referencing because there are certain covenants like the Mosaic Covenant it's very clear and it's a conditional Covenant if you do these things you'll be blessed.
If you don't you won't then there's covenants to to Abraham which is a blessing that he's going to carry out there's a covenant to David that he's going to carry out no matter what he's just going to do that so we've got to look and try to say what's he talking about there's a few places where it's hinted at and one place it gives us a little more clarity so Exodus 32:29 we just read this as we studied through Exodus this is.
When the golden calf happens he comes down they're having debaucherous party and Moses says who's with me and the Levites are part of his tribe they say we're with you and then he says get your sword and go kill people who have run away from the Lord and then he looks at him afterwards and he says today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord each one at the cost of his son and of his brother so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day this seems to be the.
First place where the Levites are being set apart for something specific then again a similar situation happens in numbers 25 and we're going to see a man named Phineas who the people were running from the Lord it says that he's jealous with the jealousy of the Lord which is he turns them back to them and he does this violently both of these situations are coming out of violence as people are running from the Lord but it says this November numbers 25 10-13 and the.
Lord said to Moses Phineas the son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy because they're supposed to love and worship and they were running after other things verse 12 therefore say behold I give to him my Covenant of peace and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the Covenant of a Perpetual priesthood.
Because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel and then we see this idea of this Covenant mentioned in Jeremiah 33 he says this thus says the Lord if you can break my Covenant with the day and my Covenant with the night so that day and night will not come at their appointed time then also my Covenant with David my servant may be broken so that he shall not have a son to Reign on his throne and my Covenant with the levitical priests my ministers all right Pop Quiz day and night still working all right that's what he anchors it to day and night get messed up.
Because we change the time yeah that's on us though day and night are still doing their thing just cuz your kids are waking up at 5:00 a I'm mad all right just you know they they don't anyway so what he says is it's an unconditional promise that he's going to work out in the people of Levi so when he says I'm going to cast you out that my Covenant May stand we should all say what how does that work I don't.
Okay and we're going to get to see later how he accomplishes that but that's what he's saying is that this you're going to pay but I'm going to keep my Covenant you're going to you've corrupted this you've messed this up but I'm going to keep it all right as he keeps going he's going to talk about what they should have been like and what they were like as priests and then he's going to talk about how they mess it up verse six true instruction was in his mouth.
So he already said it was a covenant of fear he feared me he stood in awe of my name meaning that they trusted the Lord they were following the Lord and then he says true instruction was in his mouth he's talking about not just Levi the person he's talking about the priests he's made this promise to these people so he's saying it like it's a singular person but he's talking about the whole tribe no wrong was found on his lips he walked with me in peace and uprightness he turned many from iniquity this is what the priesthood was supposed to.
Look like for the lips of a priest should guard knowledge and people should seek instruction from his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of host but you have turned aside from the way you have caused many to stumble by your instruction you have corrupted the Covenant of Levi says the Lord of hosts and so I make you despised and abased before all the people in as much as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.
So what he says to the Levites say you were supposed to trust me love me fear me stand in all of me you were supposed to guard knowledge give instruction tell the truth function impartially you were supposed to be someone who speaks on behalf of the Lord and you've corrupted all of that and so now instead of being elevated you'll be debased and despised and that's what he's saying to the people who are currently in the time of Malachi serving as priests and running the temple without without fear of the.
Lord and without care now as we try to understand this passage and we try to pull it forward to kind of where we are we're going to take three ways to look at it there are some things from the priesthood that apply to those who are pastors teachers in the Church those who serve as Elders that that apply in that way there are some things that apply to the Church in general and there are some things that apply only to Christ we pastors.
Now do not stand in between we don't mediate between you and God that's not how it works that's how it worked then that they had to go to a priest to get but that's not how it works but there are some things that he mentions In this passage like teaching instruction that do apply as we try to understand what does it mean to be a pastor and what does that look like so our Church has four pastors myself Raz Bradley Matt Freeman Spencer KY we are all Elders as the official elder or overseers official New Testament term we just use Pastor it's one of the things you're supposed to do.
But it's never used as a title in the Bible but we have four pastors or four elders and we're all Pastor Elder we're the same thing so we don't have like a chief in charge pastor and other pastors we're just four pastors or Elders we have one Elder in training his name is Isaac Hill which means that we are working in a process to install him as an elder and we have seven men not including Isaac who's also going through Pastor development we have seven men who are in Pastor development which is we have men in our Church who said I'm interested feel like I may be called to be a pastor and we said.
Well we want to help you figure that out so they're in a thing called Pastor development we're trying to walk them through that and since it's a list of seven I wrote them all down so that I wouldn't just randomly forget one of them I know all of these people and could give you all their names but it would take me longer than it needs to Jeremy Powell Ryan Krebs Brett richer Chris Rocky Brian Petri George Garcia and Mike Goble are all in our pastor development process.
So as I speak on this part right now most of it applies directly to them but some of you will not be at this Church forever some of you will and bless your heart but you're going to serve you're going to belong here you're going to labor with us and you need to know what your pastors ought to look like in a little while we're going to say in front of our Church family uh in a little while Spencer said that was unclear and it would mean like could mean 10 minutes from.
Now uh in the next year or so we're going to say we're planning to install Isaac and if anybody has any reason why he shouldn't be installed you need to come talk to us we're going to give you time to do that but you need to understand what we're installing him to and what what he's called to and you need to know what to hold your pastors accountable to some of you are going to move you're going to get another job you're going to go to another school and you're going to have to go find another Church and bless your heart you need to know what pastors are supposed to.
Look like what that's supposed to to be so that's one of the reasons we're talking through this but we also need to try to understand this in connection to what this passage is saying so verse 5 my Covenant with him was one of life and peace I gave them to him it was a covenant of fear and he feared me he stood in awe of my name stepping into leadership in the Church should begin with fear and awe and that is usually by God's blessing and goodness where it starts you love the.
Lord you fear Him you respect the Lord you trust him you're in awe of the fact that he would redeem a sinner like you that's where it's supposed to start if you are trying to question whether or not you should be a pastor and you're trying to figure it out and it's not starting here and I'm not sure you should be a pastor if you're anchored in something other than how glorious our God is and how wonderful he is and how he redeems Sinners and is.
So good that's where it begins and he's going to this pairs well with what he says later if you look down it's not going to be on the screen but it's in your Bible if you have it I'll read it he says you've turned aside from the way you've caused many to stumble you've corrupted the Covenant he says you're showing partiality you see you're either going to passor from a position of fearing the Lord or you're going to Pastor from a position of fearing people there's a way to Pastor where it's not about him it's about you there's a way to Pastor where it's about fame or being loved or being appreciated being liked there's.
A way to Pastor where it's about y'all if I meet a per I'm a pastor if I meet someone and they say they're a pastor my immediate thought is you're either a really solid person or one of the worst people ever but that's usually I mean you can be a pastor because it's an easy Inside Job you can be a pastor because nobody really keeps up with your time I can walk out of the office and say I'm going to go work on sermon stuff and I could do whatever the heck I wanted to nobody's GPS tracking me.
But you ought to fear God because I'm GNA have to stand before him later that's terrible all of our pastors we're trying to hold each other we're trying to serve this Church but there's a way to Pastor where you love the Lord and you love the Church and you serve the Lord and you serve the Church and there's a way to Pastor where you're serving yourself and it's about you and the Lord have mercy on that day when you stand before him.
So this is where it begins and it ought to stay there but unfortunately too often it gets twisted and turns into something else and we've seen it we usually see it in high-profile cases where it's about money or it's about fame or it's about something else but it can happen at any level and it can happen in small ways even in someone who's doing fairly good things for a local Church it can happen in your heart there's a way to preach where it's really just about the way people respond rather than being faithful to the.
Lord and the Bible he keeps going verse six true instruction was in his mouth so we're going to walk through this section look at this true instruction was in his mouth and no wrong was found on his lips it means that good pastoring good Church leadership means you know your Bible you study your Bible you love your Bible that's the way to have true instruction and no wrong come from your lips is that you're not just talking about what you think or feel.
But you're talking about what the Bible says so you want your pastors to know their Bible you want your pastors to submit to their Bible and Pastors in our Church family we need to know and love our Bibles it's unacceptable for us not to says he walked with me in peace and uprightness Character Matters immensely for leading and shepherding in the Church it matters immensely that in in the New Testament it's going to show up 1 Timothy 3 Titus 1 Peter's going to talk about it in 1 Peter 5.
But some of the things that qualify for you for being a pastor doesn't list things like be smart which is good it doesn't list things like like you have to be the most talented the best that it says that you have to be have character and the truth is a lot of the pastors that we've seen that flame out are ones that their ability outpace their character and that's dangerous this is one of the reasons why we take installing someone into eldership in our Church.
So slowly because character doesn't show up in a resume it doesn't show up in an interview it doesn't show up when someone preaches Isaac preached recently and people told me they said he did a really good job and I think he did but one of the reasons why we didn't just several years ago say hop up there and preach and we'll see if you can be a pastor because that's like way down the list of things that really matter your Character Matters immensely Your Love of the.
Lord matters immensely your knowledge of Scripture matters that you would be someone who turns away from sin personally and takes very seriously that at the end of all this you want Jesus more than you want anything else there have been some pastors and Church leaders that we found out a whole bunch of stuff after they died there was no confession there was no repentance there was no hating of their sin we found it out later which means that they traded Jesus.
For Ministry and that's a terrible tradeit you want people if you're going to be a pastor and you want your pastors to be people who would trade in Ministry who would repent of sin confess things would walk away from it so that they might have Jesus because if I get to the end of this and all ever had was this Church but I don't get Jesus because I hid things and I ran from from being walking in the openness and I and I chose sin rather than repentance like how I might get disqualified someday.
Lord help keep me from that but if that happens may I choose repentance and Jesus over somehow fighting to hang out and get keep doing this in a way that turns my soul away from him and they chose uprightness he says and turned many from iniquity good pastoring involves telling people they're wrong good pastoring involves pointing to the Bible and saying this is sin around the time that we were walking through our Theology of sex series and Spencer was up here and he was walking through and he was going to a passage where he says do not be deceived and he was talking through sin and sexual sin and he was calling it out.
He was confessing and bringing you in on his story and repenting there were churches all around the US that were saying about that same issue it's not really that big of a deal it's not really sin there's a high-profile Church recently that said yeah it's not ideal it's not God's favorite but it's okay and the Church is meant to stand in the Bible and say this is what it says and this is what we hold to and if you want to be a pastor.
Because you want people to like you you will at some point have to choose say what the Bible says or be liked y'all there are times where we know we know y'all we love y'all there are times where we know all right about to take these people off we know some of the things you want to hear and some of the things you don't want to hear sometimes we're pleasantly surprised a lot of times we handle it really well but we also we know what we could get up I mean we could write like a a a sermon that y'all would all just be like yeah.
But it might not line up with the Bible we can avoid things or we can say them it's one of the reasons why we teach straight through books of the Bible so that we don't have to deal with that tension of not wanting to go to places and just secretly not go to them we just work our way through the Bible and then we go you know spener our paper rock scissors who's going to have to say it we don't do that.
But we have walked in before and said did I really pick this passage I picked this one like yeah you were amped up about it I don't know all right I lost my train of thought y'all say he turned many away from iniquity verse 7 for the lips of a priest should guard knowledge and people should seek instruction from his mouth that's one of the hopes of pastoring is that you would know your Bible you'd walk in wisdom and humility and you'd be genuinely helpful you you should you should be in a place where you want to talk to your pastors and ask some questions and try to get some instruction and some wisdom.
Some help it's one of the joys of pastoring where we get to help people think through things and work through things but that should be a thing that you would look for and desire and that it should happen that they'd be people who knew their Bibles knew uh had some wisdom could help you instruct and keep people away from sin and moving forward well in life then it says this for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts that's really interesting.
When you're reading this you read the commentaries on it this is the only place that priests are ever called messengers of the Lord of hosts that's a phrase that's only ever used for prophets people that spoke thus sayith the Lord and it's saying well this is true of those who worked in the priesthood and the reason is is because they knew their Bibles and they stood in place and said this is what God would have you you do this is what.
God would have you respond this is the type of sacrifice that you should have in this moment that they stood and spoke on behalf of the Lord and that is a weighty honor it's a Divine honor that I get to stand here and open the Bible and say this is what it says it's a Divine honor but I I got to take it seriously our Church needs to take it seriously pastors take it seriously if you're ever if those men if we're able to send them out we'd love to we'd love to send them out we'd love to plant churches we'd love to install some of them in our Church family and we'd love to.
Be men that take all of this very seriously and speaking on behalf of the Lord would be a weighty thing that was not flippantly done so he says you've turned aside you've run off chased sin and there's a way to do that in pastoring and James says that not many should be teachers because they'll be held to a higher standard and by God's grace he'll protect our Church family he'll protect our pastors we'll get to send more pastors out we'll get to plant more churches and we'll be Men of Integrity who fear the.
Lord and may He help us do that but priests in the Old Testament is not a onetoone translation to Pastors in the Church because the whole Church is now the priesthood there's no mediator between you and God except for Christ and so 1 Peter 2 says this you the Church are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession that you may Proclaim that you may so we belong to him We're priesthood so that the Church that's the you there that you the Church May proclaim the Excellence of him excellencies of him who called you out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light every Sunday we finish by saying you.
Are commissioned you're empowered by the spirit to go and do that proclaim the excellencies of him who's called you out of Darkness into His Marvelous Light that you get to do what Malachi is talking about to a a world that doesn't know him you get to know your Bible you get to hate sin and you get to tell people be reconciled to God so we all should take this call seriously and sometimes we say things like well I just don't know how to do that that doesn't exempt you learn how to do it start reading your Bible start practicing yall know we we practice I I practice this trying to articulate the Gospel in different.
Situations and not just it's something you work at and so if you're struggling with that we'd love to help you but we would love for our whole Church to be proclaiming the excellencies of him who called us out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light and taking seriously the opportunity to be Messengers on behalf of the Lord so that we might see more people come to know him and he is excellent and he did call you out of Darkness so we should tell people.
And if we don't know how to tell people we should practice and tell people and if you tell somebody and you didn't do it right go back to them later and say I didn't say that right round two but we should take it seriously but y'all we need to consider Christ because he is the great high priest of our faith and he's the one who perfectly accomplishes this and upheld the Covenant so we read earlier and he said because I'm going to keep my Covenant it's basically what he's saying I'm going to uphold my Covenant.
Therefore I'm going to do this how well how does he do that what what happens here how does he uphold the Covenant in the middle of their corruption and rejection which is a very pertinent question for everybody because we have all corrupted and rejected our place before the Lord as humans and there's an offer of redemption but one of the questions is how does he do that how does he offer Redemption what does he do first of all I want you to.
See that Jesus perfectly fulfills this he walks in awe verse five he works in awe of the Lord and fear of the Lord that's what he does when he's here true instruction is in his mouth he is the truth he speaks the truth when you read the words of Jesus you're reading truth and veracity that you can build your life off of he walked in peace and uprightness that Jesus never sinned he turned many from iniquity he guards knowledge and people should seek instruction from his mouth and he is the capital T messenger of the.
Lord of hosts the one who comes to Proclaim good news to us so Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of what the priesthood was meant to be and then Hebrews tells us this for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp so Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood he's the one who becomes part of the awful and is carried out and cast out and rejected he didn't deserve to be he hadn't corrupted the Covenant.
But he took the punishment of the corrupted Covenant on himself so that he might uphold the Covenant and that's the Gospel news for us I didn't check but I don't think any of y'all are Levites but what you are are sinners who need someone to take what you deserve which is to be cast out none of us have the right to walk into the temple none of us have the right if it still existed to go into the most holy place we would be struck down we're not welcome there not only are we not welcome there.
Because we're not Levites we're not welcome there in our sin and our rejection and our rebellion of God but Jesus is the one who was cast out so that we might be brought in that's what it says that he might sanctify the people through his own blood he's the one who took the punishment we deserve so that we might be ordained Sanctified brought in and welcomed 133 verse 13 therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.
So author of Hebrews says he did that so that we could belong to him let's go join him let's go join him and if you say well it'll be weird if I if I go if I take Serious this idea that I'm going to go bring this message that I'm going to go participate it people might not like me yeah let's bear the reproach he endured it might make some of my friendships weird let's bear the reproach he endured it it might make things awkward at the office I don't know.
If I can do that I just not sure if that's the place well let's barely reproach that he endured for this is why we would do that here we have no lasting City but we seek the city that is to come we're all called to represent the Lord by God's grace some of us are going to try to say I want to give fulltime energy and effort towards that in Mission work and in the Church but we're all called to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light and all of us are going to stand before.
For the king and may we be people who live in fear and awe looking forward to that City there's a way to Pastor that's about right here and there's a way to live our lives that's about right here it's about our place in this city but this isn't our city we've got one that's coming so may we live as a group of people who look forward to that and who our lives our decisions our wallets our time and makes sense as we stand before the.
Lord on that day you're standing before people right now which means that some of the things you're doing ought not make sense to them it should only make sense when you're standing before him we don't want to live in a way that makes sense now and makes no sense there so let's go to Jesus to be covered by his blood and to be welcomed that's done by him and then let's walk with him taking what whatever reproach comes looking forward to that City let's pray.
Lord help us have mercy on us move through your spirit so that we might look forward to that City that we might walk in fear and awe and that we might Delight in the fact that you are the one who upholds the Covenant you're the one who was cast out so that we can be brought in and so may we rejoice in your name and Praise Your Name Lord I pray for myself Spencer Matt Raz help us to fear you more than we fear people help us to turn away from sin and by your grace Keep Us Faithful and cover Us in Mercy in that day we stand before you.
God may you bless this Church that we would send out more pastors and more Church planners and more missionaries that would labor for you that would run from sin and in the day when we're choosing between hiding or running to you may we not hide so that at the end of all this we have you as our inheritance and not Ministry and not praise nothing but you and may that be true for our entire Church family that at the end of all of this we get.
Jesus or it's been a waste we ask this in your name and we thank you for your blood amen.
Malachi Week 2: The Charade of False Worship
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
So we are in our second week of the Book of Malachi as we finish the year off in this uh last prophetic book in the Old Testament we're going to be in Malachi 1: 5 through 14 which you can turn there and follow along with us as we walk through the text together uh we introduced this last week and we said that Malachi is made up of six different disputations these are six different disputes that God has with his people and we're in the.
Second disputation the second dispute that God has with his people and this one specifically is a rebuke of the sacrifices that the people of God were bringing to the Temple of the sacrificial system that was being practiced at the time now in order for us to understand what's happening in this rebuke you really need to understand the positive version what was actually the ideal version of what was supposed to happen and at times in the history of Israel did happen when it was actually a beautifully worshipful system.
So I want you to to imagine a levitical priest from the tribe of Levi who God has called into by the nature of the tribe that he was in and his Calling On this man's life to be a levitical priest his father was a Le a levite levitical priest his grandfather was levitical Priest he is carrying on this Legacy of being a priest who helps the people worship at the temple and every day he wakes up up and he's joyfully praising.
God to own the calling of being a priest and as he puts on his Priestly garments he's singing Psalms and and praising God that he gets to lead the people in worship and then he puts on his Priestly garments and he Praises Yahweh he Praises God then he walks out into uh the inner part the inner parts of the temple where he's going to facilitate worship where he's lighting incense where he's ready to receive these sacrificial offerings and he's praising God saying I get to help the people of.
God worship I get to help the people of God experience what it means to have a covering for their sin that our sin can be atoned for through sacrifice and he owns that beautifully and wonderfully and then in walks a man who's from the Judean Countryside and this man is a man who has a farm and on his farm he has all types of livestock and one day he looks at his livestock and he sees he's a bull the most wonderful beautiful strongest bull that he could sell on the open market.
For a lot of money and he looks at his Hired Hands and he says that bull right there that's the one that's the best of what I've got and that is what I'm going to take to the temple tomorrow we all go to the temple family work hands all of us are going to the temple to offer this bull as a burnt offering as a sacrifice for our sins and the next day he takes that bull with his family and his and his whole uh his people and they start walking towards the temple and they're singing Psalms of a sense these are the Psalms they would sing as they ascend towards the temple.
For worship and they arrive into the temple and he takes that bull and he brings it to that levitical priest joyfully celebrating this wonderful offering the best of what he has to bring to this priest who's joyfully worshiping saying is this what you've brought for sacrifice and he says yes it's the best of what I have to offer praise God this will be a wonderful burnt sacrifice that is what it was supposed to be and at times in the history of Israel that's what it was.
But that's not what it is when Malachi is prophesying that's not what's happening at the temple so what we're going to see and the second dispute that God has with his people is we're going to take a look at some of the corruption that had really seeped its way into the sacrifices some of the Corrupt Practices that were happening at the time as we look at this and their context we ultimately will see really the root of this corrupted worship and really how that root and I argue that rot still exists even.
Today so let me pray for us and then we'll walk through this together Heavenly Father we thank you for the good news of Jesus that claims us and saves us and sets us apart to worship you and to Delight in you and to glorify you and I pray that you'd help us see the gift that it is to worship our King and I pray that you would expose by the power of the word of God by the power of your word you'd expose the thoughts and intentions of our hearts and that we would receive your word and we'd walk this out in worship and repentance and faith and delighting in you.
Because you're worthy the other we ask this in Jesus name amen all right so verses uh 2 through 5 as we walked through that last week was the first dispute that God has with his people and what we saw if you weren't here last week is that God out the gate before he spends the rest of this book rebuking the people of God that out the gate he reminds them that I love you you are my people I love you oh people of Jacob oh people of Israel I love you that his Covenant Love begins this book and it's the foundation.
For what everything he's going to say next but he needs his people to remember I love you fiercely with this wonderful Covenant Love and out of that love that he has for his people he begins to rebuke him in the second dispute verse six a son honors his father and a servant his master if then I a father where is my honor and if I'm a master where is my fear says the Lord of hosts To You O priest who despise my name.
So he's speaking in terms that were very crystal clear to the people of God that would have absolutely understood this language and really the force of what he is saying he says Israel I am your father oh people of God I'm your I'm your father you are my son you are my child where's the honor that is due to me like they they understood the fifth commandment in ways that we just don't the type of Honor that a parent is is deserved he said where is my honor as your.
Father he used the language of servant and master which is language that was really uh familiar to them as an ancient near Eastern World they built into the very fabric of their economy and all the economies was this servitude system and he says Where is My Honor where's my fear where's my obedience where is this o Israel what you have shown is that you don't fear me you don't honor me you actually despise me which is a a sharp rebuke I mean.
If we if we received a rebuke like that like if your boss called you in the office and if your rev you laid out all your work for the year and then said you know by your work what I can so clearly see is that you hate me that you despise me that's what your work shows if you if you heard that I mean that would be the start of a very scary moment it's like oh okay you've got my attention.
Now let's talk like that's a strong rebuke and he says what you have shown is that you despise my name and this is ratcheted up even more for a culture that understands honor and shame more than we do so he calls them to account and it continues in verse 6 but you say how have we despised your name so he gives their their rebuttal wait wait how how have we despised your name they're incredulous wait you're saying that we don't honor we don't fear we don't how how have we despised your name oh.
God and then God continues in verse 7 by offering polluted food upon my altar but you say how have we polluted You by saying that the Lord's table may be despised verse 8 when you offer blind animals and sacrifice is that not evil and when you offer those that are lame or sick is that not evil so he answers them you've polluted the worship you've polluted the offerings and specifically you've done this by offering blind and lame animals for sacrifice now that's rooted in the Old Testament law right.
So Leviticus or Deuteronomy 15:21 says talking about sacrifices but if it has any blemish if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God Leviticus 22:22 says animals blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or an itch or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food offering on the altar so clearly in the law and you might wonder okay it's in the law sure.
But why why is that a big deal I mean it's a blood sacrifice it's an animal what does it matter what condition it comes in because it's going to be slaughtered the reason this is important and anytime we're approaching the Bible anytime we're approaching teachings it's try to understand why those teachings are in place in the first place okay and what is clear here is that it shows the heart behind the sacrifice what they are bringing shows the heart behind their worship.
Because sacrifices are supposed to be and this is going to blow our minds sacrificial it's supposed to cost it's supposed to cost you something and and this isn't costly worship at all I want you to imagine we get closer to Christmas and there's end of your Christmas parties I want you to imagine that your your boss says you know you guys have had a stellar year it's been a great year for the company I want to reward y'all with a Christmas party like the most epic Christmas party we've ever had.
And then you show up and it's a Christmas party that has wonderful food and wonderful drink it has a great band I mean it's just a night that you are certainly going to talk about in the office for years to come this I mean he's he's he's giv out Christmas gifts and bonuses all kindes of stuff this a wonderful Christmas party and he just tells them it's because I love youall we're taking some of our our profits this year and we're blessing you this is what you've earned congratulations.
And then the next week you get your paycheck and you look at your paycheck and it's about $1,000 left and you're like wait what you go to the accountant you say Hey listen I'm I'm short $1,000 and the accountant says oh yeah that's for the party it's it's everyone came out of their paycheck this year it's for the party your joy for for that gift that was being brought to you in the party is now wrath because you've been robbed you would have just taken the, that that's what's happening here it's it's the presentation of a sacrifice and it's not a sacrifice a blind animal is not sacrificial at all it's not a gift at.
All because that blind animal could not be sold for anything on the market it's worthless I mean if you try to go and take that blind animal and sell at the marketplace the moment that Ram like just rammed its head into the wall and fell over homeboy trying to buy it just lifts it up looks at his eyes and says it's blind this is worthless you're trying to Def me this means nothing it would be a deep dishonor and the people deep down they know this you know how they know this.
Because of how God really puts this into context in the very next phrase he mentions the Persian Governors so they're still ruled at this point by the Persians he mentions really the Persian Governors that were ruling over them he says with that blind offering that you're bringing present that to your Governor will he accept you or show you favor says the Lord of hosts he says try passing off these blind sacrifices try passing off these lame animals try passing that off to one of the governors one of the rulers who you can.
See try passing that off and see if that gift gets you anywhere be like trying to bring your Christmas gift in for your boss like a good a good boss who doesn't like do a bait and switch of the party like an actually good boss you bring in your Christmas gift and it's a half eaten tray of cookies and like a you know half open drank bottle of Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joe's that's like a week and a half old that's.
Now like not even barely cooking one and it's like here's your gift you'd never do that we'd never present that to somebody who has influence in our life no chance it would be a great dishonor your boss would get that and be like what in the world is this trash and I've got my eye on you it's just we would never he's saiding you would never present this blind animal to a governor to a governing official you would never try to pass this off as a gift how low the people of.
God must have thought of him must have thought of their God that they could try to present these animals with the appearance of sacrifice with the appearance of worship when really they're keeping the best animals for themselves they're keeping the best of what they have for themselves and God the God who brought them out of captivity the the God who's forgiven them the God who loves them sees this and he rebukes it and he continues in verse 9 he says.
Now entreat the favor of God that he may be gracious to us with such a gift from your hand will he show favor to any of you says the Lord of hosts verse 10 oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors that you might not candle fire on my altar in vain I have no pleasure in you says the Lord of hosts and I will not accept an offering from your hand so he continues this rebuke this charade the appearance of godliness and bringing worship.
God just says if just one of you priests if just one of you had a Zeal for me had a Zeal for the law had a Zeal for what is good which next week we'll spend the rest of this disputation we'll spend talking more about the priesthood but right here he's just like if just one of you had Zeal for my law and for me that you would stand up and you would shut the doors of the temple and say no one else comes in here that you D the Flames of sacrifice and say nothing else gets sacrificed in this altar.
If just one of you would stand up for righteousness just one of you had a Zeal to do what is good and would shut the doors but there's none among you that are doing this none of you are standing up to end this charade this farce this Bakery and God continues verse 11 for from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the Nations and in every place incense will be offered to my name and a pure offering.
For my name will be great among the Nations says the Lord of hosts so God reminds them who they're trying to con he reminds them who they're trying to trick I am the God God who amongst all the nations All Peoples from the farthest stretches of the Eastern sky where it rises to the farthest skies in the west where it sets everywhere across the world is what he's saying I will be worshiped incense will be offered that's the picture of worship worship will be offered amongst all the nations do you know who you're trying to con do you understand who you are trying to trick I'm the.
God over all peoples and one day you're going to see me worship among all the nations and you think that you can bring this type of charade before me what a travesty here is what the people fail to see God doesn't need their sacrifices God doesn't need their worship God doesn't need the temple he didn't need any of this God is inexhaustible he will be worshiped amongst the Nations he he doesn't need this worship but they believed they could bring their worst and pass it off as their best they belied they could come to the temple with this charade and it was all going to be good.
God says you don't know who you are worshiping you don't know who you are conning here and he continues in verse 12 but you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted and its fruit that is its food may be despised but you say what a weariness this is and you snort at it says the Lord of post which what he just said was is not only are you doing a charade not only is all this fake you're bored with it you're you're bored what a weary what how weary is this he's like you're bored with this Con and you even picture that like just day in day out the priest who.
Doesn't care about his calling just doing it it's a job just puts on his Priestly garments and walks out there and says all right what you got next um you that animal looks good yep B in there drop your money off of the the offering plate like if just day in day out just bored with it and God is incensed by this you're not only is a charade you're bored with it and then it gets worse he says you bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick and this you bring as your offering shall I accept that from your hand says the.
Lord so not only are these lame and blind animals and they're bringing their worst not only it's everyone just kind of bored with this charade there are even people who are bringing sacrifices that they took by force which means that the kind of people that had a field and they saw their neighbors Ram wander into their field and they said that's a nice one I'll take that for myself that'll be the one that I offer at sacrifice uh at at the next Temple Festival.
So I don't have to get rid of any of my own what a a great deal and the ram wanders in he takes it into his fold and his neighbor comes out and says have you seen my Ram it's about Yi it's got spots on it oh there it is oh you found it so oh thank you so much and he says nope it's mine now takes it by force and then thinks that he can go and offer that as a sacrifice to.
God it's like are you kidding me do you know who you're trying to con here shall I accept that from your hand says the Lord the this is how corruption had seeped into the people of God who either did not read the Torah did not read the law or read it and did not care but just said this is what we do we're going to continue bringing these sacrifices that's what we do and God ends this first half of the disputation the.
First half of the dispute in verse 14 he said cursed be the cheat who is a male in his flock and vows it and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished for I am a great king says the Lord of hosts and my name will be feared among the Nations so God calls them cheats you have cheated me out of what is rightfully mine God owns everything everything belongs to God everything I mean we're very individualistic we're very you know capitalistic culture and I earn this no.
God gave this to you you are a steward we are stewards of what God has given us we are co- reigning with God on this Earth bringing Dominion to this Earth but that ain't yours it's God's and he and he's calling this out you've cheated God out of what he so rightfully deserves but I will get by Glory amongst the Nations and the Nations will fear me so that's the first half of this and you got to ask the question like what why why do they think they could do this what's going on in their brain.
When they're in their soul when they're actually doing this because we don't give there's not like further verses that explain exactly why they did this we can tell a little bit from the context and I think you could read into this and kind of see kind of the most plausible reasons but I think one of the big ones is is that bringing a sacrifice is costly it just is it costs money cost time cost the energy of your like it that it's costly.
So I think part of them really just love what they had and they they love this world they love Earthly treasures and being able to pass off a lame sacrifice was just easier I think it's also very possible that really they really wanted to do was to give the appearance of godliness to get the appearance of worship to we give the appearance of what it looks like to be a holy man of God a holy woman of God that they' pass this off.
Because they like the appearance without actual sacrifice without actual worship so next week what we're going to do is we're going to look at really the priests and their role in this but this picture that he ends with here in verse 14 is something we need to sit in because what happens sometimes is that we can read things like this and distance ourselves because it feels foreign to us cuz spoil alert next year between songs we're not going to bring out a ram and cut his throat like that's I know that's going to shock you.
But that's just not what we do here and there's a reason we don't do that first off be wildly weird uh second Jesus fulfilled that entire system so people wonder why why don't you why why does the Old Testament law not continue like it because is Christ Christ becomes the final sacrifice fulfilling that system like that the whole book of Hebrews helps poetically and wonderfully help helps capture this idea the reason we don't offer sacrifices is because Jesus was the final sacrifice that everything in this system this offering of unblemished rams and unblemished Bulls and unblemished uh pure offerings this is all meant to point.
For that was the main goal was a shadow of what was to come it was ultimately pointing forward to the unblemished perfect sacrifice of Christ when Christ comes fulfills this with his death on the cross and his blood is shed for the sins of the people for the rest of time we point back to the Spotless land that died in our place in Christ so that when we read this though it feels foreign because we're so far removed from it because we don't do this it feels ancient feels foreign and it's easy us to read this.
Look at the people of God and even have the mindset of how Wicked is this how broken were the people thinking they could do something like this which honestly is a little bit of a historical historical fallacy that's just what a lot of people do when they look back at history people look back at history and said I would have never done that back then I would have never I would have acted justly I'd have been a warrior for what is good and it's like probably not CU you're Sinner and your heart's Wicked and you're more influenced by the by the culture of the time just like every single human being.
For the last thousands of years so no you're not like some Star Spangled awesome example that would stand out no you're just you're just not and it's and we'll do that sometimes you just read this and just kind of separate yourself from it all and it doesn't do it reflectively we so the way that we should read this is to understand the truth of what's happening in this text and actually look at our own hearts and ask some questions of ourselves of what's happening in our hearts.
When we worship the God in what ways do We Worship the Lord that has the appearance of godliness but in actuality it profanes the name of our God like in what ways do we bear the name of Christ but our actions and the way that we live show something different in a way that God Says by the way that you are living it shows that you despise my name so the question here is how do we worship though not in the same form.
But actually has the same kind of substance and Same Heart that's the bigger question that's at play for us as we read this text now there are a few different words for worship in the New Testament a few different words in the Greek that help capture worship the the two main uses are a type of worship that is praise singing kind of prostrating yourself humbling yourself before God so the main use of worship in the New Testament is that picture this praising of.
God like the songs that we just sang okay that's the first main use of worship in the New Testament you see over and ever again is this humbling joyfully praising the Lord the second main use is service it's the type of Life Worship how we honor the Lord with our lives How We Worship the Lord with our lives and how we live our lives so praise and life and those are the two main uses of worship in the New Testament then we should.
Look at how they worship with the system ask those same questions of our own lives within those two categories and that's what I want to do for a moment I want to look at how we might have the same Folly the same error when it comes to praise worship and Life Worship so first how might we be a people that have the same sinful patterns that the Israelites did and how we praise and bring our praise and worship to God so some of us might worship boldly on a Sunday with hands hands raised singing loudly and what we're really doing is we're more worried about how people.
See us how they see us lift our hands and how they hear our voices that we know the words of this song and and and what we're doing there is we're more concerned about how we look as opposed to actually worshiping God for who he is and that makes us the center of worship this is a really big danger for those who lead in worship because one of the problems is is that when you lead in worship sometimes it can be.
So performative you can so Focus so much on on on the technical aspects and how you sound and if we're on beat and all the different technical aspects of worship it becomes performative that you lose the thread on what it's actually supposed to be helping lead the people of God in all of who Jesus is and worshiping our King for who he is I mean years ago Raz this is a quote that he loved I don't remember where it came from.
But basically the the idea that came out of it was is that if the all the electricity was taken out of the building could we still worship God like we're supposed to and it's like oh that's man so there's a performative aspect that gets in the way that we're not actually thinking and worshiping God like we're supposed to some of us go through the motions of Sunday worship sing the song and we listen to the sermon and the whole time it's happening the whole hour and 15 minutes it's happening or 90 minutes depending on who's preaching how many jokes he's got to tell and the whole time that's happening your mind is elsewhere you're thinking.
About things from the week last week you're thinking about things you got to do today you're thinking about things that are coming up and you go through this just check in the box and sing King of Kings cool pray all right sermon cool all right and then you're out and you're just going through the motions we're just going through the motions check in boxes as opposed to seeing what we have here as a gift a gift that God has given us that we get to come together with the people of.
God and worship him and Enlighten him for who he is because he's wonderful and he's worthy of it it's good for our souls to do that now way this can happen and less can happen in our Church because of how we giving but there can be a little bit of part of worship is I'm bring my offerings and I want to be seen as someone who gives I want to be seen as a giver which the offering plate could make that a bigger temptation.
But we've robbed you of that so you got to do it at these boxes in a way that would be more performative which doesn't happen as much but it's the heart behind it is I I want to be seen as someone who's generous who's seen as someone who brings their offerings before the Lord and it's not about actually sacrificially giving God joyfully this is what we're bringing to you but it's it's about being seen there's a lot of different ways this can play out the heart behind it is all there it's a charade it it it's checking the boxes it's being seen it's not actually worshiping like we're supposed to that.
Second category of Life Worship this honor and worship that we're supposed to have we're supposed to give to God in every aspect of Our Lives that's a bigger one that many of us fall into and it's especially hard because we're in the South and Southern Christianity is just I mean the overwhelming majority of people in the South will claim to be a Christian like people from the north move down here and they're like there are churches everywhere do you not see this this isn't normal and it's not there like more churches per capita in the South than almost anywhere in the world and what happens is is that Christianity is just who we are it's.
What we're supposed to do and what happens is is that anyone claims to be a Christian in the South and what happens if if there is any bit of regularity in Sunday worship that Sunday becomes the Pinnacle of what it means to be a Christian that this is it this is the height of it but it doesn't actually show up in the other aspects of life doesn't show up in the regular repentance and walking this out in community doesn't show up and reading the Scriptures and being convicted doesn't sing up in the prayers and humbling ourselves before the.
Lord and it's this life that says I'm a Christian but the rest of life doesn't back it up at all now the way this happens in the South profaning the name of the Lord claiming the name of the Lord and acting very different it shows up in business practices shows up in using the name of God to gain Social Capital with others or business Capital with others that's why when I see a Jesus fish on a bumper on a a business card I get a little nervous oh boy you know I I used to.
So many of you know this I did Real Estate uh by vocationally I was a pastor and a real estate agent for years and now I'm just full-time here I still have my license but uh for years my license at the same place is at a brokerage um and my brokerage I love like I just I love them it's a Rowdy group of people it's kind of known to be a Rowdy group of people they just they're they're good at what they do.
But they have fun and it's a Rowdy crew and I for years would go to the office and they knew I was a pastor and you know just some jokes that kind of come with that that they're fun but they really I think they appreciated me I'm not a moralist I don't tell people how to live I tell them who to live for I tell them about Jesus but I'm not going to tell them how to live so you can live your life do whatever you want and I and I operated in there.
For years and one of the things that I found incredibly frustrating is that there was uh another brokerage that really built their name off Christ they they kind of built their branding off of Jesus and what was wildly frustrating was they also had a reputation from some of their agents doing some shady stuff and I heard our guys talk about that brokerage and make fun of them oh yeah they're Jesus he real Christian over there and they did some of the most unethical things in the market and it just drove me nuts.
Because I had a bunch of Rowdy group of people but they did things ethically and right and as a Christian I'm there and I'm trying to represent Christ and I got agents across town just doing stupid foolish wicked things infuriates me that mess happens all over the place people that bear the name of Christ that use the name of Christ to advance their career or their their their their resume in a Christian culture and its wickedness and it profanes the name of.
God you must despise the name of God to practice like that so it can happen the way way that we live our lives in the business world how we work it can happen in the offerings that we bring to the Church so the money that we bring to the Church if it's if it's given off of stuff that's stolen from other people stolen from the government and what's owed to the government stolen from from any anyone or anything and we bring that and say.
God here's your gifts here's your offerings that aspect of our life has not been Sanctified it's not Jesus is working it show that's not worship that's a charade it's not breaking your heart to do what is actually good honestly with this category it's just it's anything that claims the name of Christ anything that simply that that simply has the appearance of godliness has the has Jesus slapped on top of it but actually is not backed up at all or maybe it's you're the kind of person that that has the mindset of I'm just I'm doing good.
So I can get into heaven and I'm just getting Kingdom credits through just claiming to be a Christian and doing the things and whatever but it actually isn't backed up by a life where the heart has been so sh so changed and captured by Christ that though we walk sometimes in sin and make mistakes that we're walking that out in Repentance and worshiping and delighting in him if it's not that then you're just going to the motion and you're checking boxes and it doesn't honor.
God there two main aspects of worship but it's praising here in a Sunday or the lives that we live it really shows our hearts that we're not all that much different than the Israelites whether it's we're doing it to be seen as holy I'm checking boxes so I can be seen as one of the good ones or if it's just the idea of of well it's just what we do we're seveners and we're Christians therefore we just we do the things.
When it's actually not a vibrant faith that costs a vibrant Faith where Jesus said says take up your cross and follow me to deny yourself and follow me that the moment that Christianity becomes you having to be someone who's repenting of sin or being obedient to his mission or being sacrificial with your life towards others or the moment There's an actual cost like I don't know about that that's a little overly religiously that's just a little bit too much for me it's just what we do and that's the heart.
But how we approach this and the reality is is our approach to God what what what what's really revealed in how we actually approach life is that sometimes the way that we the way that we that we live our lives earnestly for things that we can see for Governors that oversee us for for for employers that oversee us for the people that actually can bring the the change we can see in our lives that will do more earnestly for those worldly things than we will.
For God and it reveals what's happening in our hearts and it reveals that any of the practices that we bring here in a Sunday or in groups or whatever is more of a charade brothers and sisters Ecclesiastes is correct there is nothing new Under the Sun we we we repurpose and we repackage the same old practices the same old things we're just like the Israelites and there was a prophet that was raised up to help them see the error of their ways that Malachi is trying to help them.
See don't do this don't do this here don't don't don't engage in these practices and we have a better Prophet a better priest and our great high priest in Christ and a better King in Jesus who came and shed his blood for us and offer sacrifice blood to cover our sins and his perfect righteousness to stand for us and it invites us into that kind of faith we put all of our hope in Christ and then calls us into a worship that Romans 12:1 teaches I appeal you there appeal to you.
Therefore Brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as the Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship though he place all of our hope in the finished work of Christ he changes us and then sets us apart to present Our Lives as a Living Sacrifice to God that we might lay down our lives to follow him and to worship him and to Delight in him and it would show up in all the different aspects of how we sing and how we live and what we do.
But I'll finish back with verse 14 when the Lord says cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock and vows it yet sacrifice to the Lord what is blemished for I am a great king says the Lord of hosts and my name will be feared among the Nations just remember God doesn't need this he do need this he's going to be worshiped amongst the Nations he's going to be glorified every knee is going to bow to him he doesn't need this this.
And if this ever becomes a charade if this ever if we ever the Church that preaches a Gospel and doesn't live if weever a Church that says all the right things but that doesn't actually back it up with our lives if all this just becomes checking boxes and just performative then man let's close the doors let's lock it up I'll go back to selling real estate I mean just we'll lock the doors we'll sell this building off that educational Wing you can make condos out of that thing this could be a nice little bar in and and and music venue I mean let's close up the doors and say move on.
Because God doesn't need a half-hearted people that are just going through the motions he wants a people who laid down their lives because we love him so deeply and we realize eternally what that he's worth it and we be a people that backed that up with our lives not as perfect people because we're going to make mistakes but where we see our sin we're confronted by the good news of the Gospel and we trust in him as our only hope and and we walk this out worshiping him and honoring him.
But if that ain't it we'll close the doors and move on but there are four Elders here that are never going to let that happen first their own lives and then as we lead forward we want to be a people who don't treat this as a charade but take the Lord seriously and the good news is God loves us enough to reveal this to us God loves us enough to be able to reveal what's happening in our hearts Stay With Me loves us enough to reveal what's happening in our hearts.
So that we can go to our community groups this week and confess sin and confess where we're falling short confess where we've treated this like a charade that we can be a people that actually are changed by Jesus and become better worshippers come better people who Delight in him but also there might be some of you where all this has ever been is going through the motions and all this has ever been is checking boxes and I want you to see.
See so clearly this morning God loves you enough to confront you and to call you into an actual real sacrificial faith in him don't treat this like a charade don't treat this as checkin boxes he's actually worth it and he's good and when you truly discover who our God is and you lay your life down for him you'll see that everything that comes after that is wonderful and is delightful and is worth it let me pray heavenly father I pray that you would help convict us of sin I pray that you'd help us.
Remember the good news of the Gospel that saves us so that we can be a people that actually worship you we can be a people that actually lay down our lives for you because it's good because we gain more of you because you died on a cross for our sins and you have a Heavenly home that await says and that's worth it it's worthy of Our Lives May we be a people that worship you not half-heartedly but truthfully in Jesus name amen man's going to come up and as we prepare to worship take a few moments to just breathe and pray.
Remember who this God is remember who he is and that he's worthy he will be worshiped amongst the Nations every KNE is going to conf is going to Bow every tongue is going to confess that he is Lord that is who our God is he's worthy of it so prepare your hearts to respond in worship but if you don't know him the invitation is there for you to actually know him and to surrender him and for this not to be something that you check off.
But to be a means of delighting in him because he's worthy of it.
Malachi Week 1: God’s Special Love
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning. I know what you're thinking. Not one more week of theology of sex plus man. One week more. No, we are going to finish out the year in the book of Malachi.
My name is Spencer and I'm one of the pastors here and we're going to be that's in page 467, your blue Bibles. If you don't have a Bible at home, you can take that. We want you have a Bible that you can uh read at home. But we're going to be in the book of Malachi for the rest of the year. It is the final book of the Old Testament.
Uh, and it's often referred to as one of the minor prophets. Um, that doesn't it's not a statement of value on the prophet itself. Um, it doesn't mean anything other than just it has fewer words. They're the major prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Isaiah. And then this is in the minor prophets.
Four chapters packs a punch. And we're going to be on it to finish out the year. And we start off in verse one, chapter 1. The oracle, that's prophecy. The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
Now, [clears throat] like many of the prophets, it starts off with which prophet is speaking. This is Malachi. We don't really know much about Malachi. It's only mentioned one other time in the Bible. Some will try to argue that this actually isn't a prophet.
And Malachi just means my messenger. But most realize, no, this actually is a prophet. We just don't know much about him. Now we know that the book of Malachi is quoted throughout the New Testament. In the book of Luke, Jesus quotes Malachi.
We know Paul quotes Malachi. But what we can understand about the context of this prophet really comes from the writings itself. And when we look at kind of the writings and some of the language that's used in the book of Malachi, we can kind of tell where it shows up. Um, but it it shows up around the period after Ezra and Nehemiah. Some of the language is very very similar to those books which means that if it's coming after Ezra and Nehemiah it makes it the last prophetic words the last authoritative words of the old testament in the old testament period.
So this is the last uh words about 500 to 450ish BC there the last words before Jesus comes. So, it's an important prophet, especially as we head into uh the Advent and Christmas season coming up. So, in order to understand Malachi, I want to give a little context because we're jumping right into a part of the Old Testament. Might be helpful a little bit to have some history for where Malachi shows up. So, I'm going to go back a little bit before Malachi.
Um, hundreds of years before, really at the height of the kingdom of Israel, uh, David was king. Everything was going fairly well. Solomon was king. things were prosperous and well because of some of the sin that Solomon engaged in. God says, "I'm going to tear your kingdom in two." And after, it's not going to happen to you, but it's going to happen with your son.
And that's what happens that uh the kingdom splits and you have the northern kingdom, which is the 10 northern tribes minus Judah and Benjamin. And then you have the southern kingdom, which is Judah and Benjamin, the kingdom of Judah. So you have these two kingdoms. And the northern kingdom, Israel, quickly starts to reject the Lord. They start to engage in abominable practices like sacrificing their children to foreign idols, like setting up Asherapoles that they start engaging all types of corrupt practices and God brings judgment upon the northern kingdom for this.
Eventually the Assyrians come in and they basically decimate the very identity of the northern kingdom. I mean they they destroy it. There are some people that can trace their lineage back to these 10 northern tribes but they get mixed in with the surrounding nations and the northern kingdom is no more. Then you have the kingdom, the southern kingdom of Judah. It makes it a little bit longer.
It takes a little bit longer for some of these abominable practices to really infiltrate the kingdom of Judah. But eventually they engage in some of the very same things. And then God brings judgment upon the kingdom of Judah. The Babylonian Empire comes in, destroys, lays siege to Jerusalem, and takes the majority of the people back to Babylon, which is what Jeremiah was prophesying about, that they were going to spend 70 years in captivity. So, they spend 70 years not in their land amongst the people of Babylon.
And then finally, there's this anticipation, this excitement that they're finally going to get to go back. That's what Ezra and Nehemiah, when you read those books in the Old Testament, are describing when they start to resettle the homeland. You can read the book of Ezra and see how they're rebuilding the temple and the excitement that comes into them rebuilding the temple. You can read the book of Nehemiah and see that they're building the city walls. There's this excitement, anticipation for this period that it's going to be great.
But what happens in this period is lots of other sins. They have to address the fact that they intermarried with uh foreigners which was against the Old Testament law that when they're rebelling the temple they don't actually take the uh practices of temple sacrifice seriously and this becomes a problem and they start cutting corners that when you look at all the different aspects of the law that they're supposed to uphold one by one start to many of them start to fall by the wayside. But it's kind of antilimactic because there was this big hope that finally we've made it through judgment. Now we're back home and things are going to be better. There's going to be a new era where the Messiah comes in and he's going to make everything better.
It's going to be an exciting period of time. But they kind of fall into uh not some of the same practices that happened before. like they're not setting up astropoles and sacrificing their children to foreign idols, but they're basically just kind of going through the motions. They're kind of half-heartedly worshiping the Lord, just kind of getting by and disregarding and not taking seriously some parts of the law. You see that in the book of Ezra and Nehemiah.
And then it shows up here in Malachi because Malachi, God through his prophet is going to be addressing this uh this kind of faithless o uh half-hearted obedience amongst the people. And he's going to do it through six different disputations, six different disputes that God makes with his people. And that's what we're going to be seeing over the next couple of months are these six different disputes that God has with the people. And as we walk through the book of Malachi, what we're going to see is that there are a lot of parallels between what the people of God are engaging in and some of the half-hearted worship that is happening amongst the people of God and really our context as Christians in the south in America where there are churches all over the place down here that there's some similarities between us and the way that we kind of practice a cultural faith and the way that they were practicing their cultural faith.
We'll see next week that uh Malachi goes after them begrudgedly bringing offerings and not taking offerings seriously and their worship. And we'll see some parallels but between them and us and some of the ways that we don't take our worship seriously. We're going to see in a couple of weeks how God calls out the priesthood that he takes the priesthood to the woodshed for some of the ways that they are not taking uh the law seriously. And there's a lot of parallels between how uh Malachi, how the God is dressing the people in the priesthood and how the American pastor could be addressed today and some of the corrupt practices and some of the things that aren't taken seriously today.
You're going we're going to see in the coming weeks some uh uh God addresses the fact that uh the people had not taken their marital covenant seriously. That there are uh people that are not taking their marital covenant seriously. There's some bigger things that are happening there. But there some parallels even between us and the uh uh the American Church in that time period about how we don't take our marital covenant seriously. We're going to see some parallels between the fact that God was addressing some of the corrupt uh business practices, some of the neglect for the poor when it comes to money amongst the people of God.
And there are a lot of parallels even to our time and some of the ways that Christians conduct business today and a way that when you see a a business card that has the Jesus fish on it, you kind of hope and pray that they actually back that up and sometimes they don't. We're going to see the ways that we neglect the poor and some of the parallels between us. We're going to see how God addresses uh their lack of sacrificial giving that they were called to give tithes, which is a tenth of their income to the Lord and they were neglecting this. And in one of the disputes, God is addressing this. And we're also going to see how we also don't engage in that sacrificial sacrificial giving that God calls us to.
There are a lot of parallels between what God is addressing in the book of Malachi and how God could address us as well. And that's what we're going to see in the coming months as we walk through this. Now, it's a prophet. It's corrective in a lot of ways, and it's going to be heavy at times, and the people are going to be uh rebuked for a host of different things. before before God starts to correct some of the ways that they are half-heartedly worshiping the Lord, some of the half-hearted disobedience and obedience that's happening.
Before he does that, he has a simple message out the gate to his people. And it's this. I love you. I love you. He loves his people.
He wants them to understand his love, his covenant love for his people before he begins to rebuke the different things that need correction amongst the people of God. And that's what we're going to see today. We're going to see the wonderful covenant love that God has for his people, especially when circumstances may show us something different. that God's covenant love is real and it is wonderful no matter our circumstances. That's what we're going to see.
So, let me pray for us and then we'll walk through this first few verses together. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would help us have a posture to receive your word. That as we walk through this book over the next two months, that you would mold us and shape us and conform us into your image. But that comes through first believing the Gospel. We can't be a people that change without understanding your wonderful love and how you came for us first.
So help us believe that and help us receive your word and walk it out in faith and in obedience and repentance and in delighting in worshiping you. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. All right.
So verse one says, "The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi." Now, Israel at this point, just to for context, as we're going to be in the book of Malachi, we're not talking about northern southern kingdom anymore. This is from this point forward, Israel is all the people of God. So to Israel by Malachi, verse two, I have loved you, says the Lord. I have loved you. Now, we're going to see how that love is anchored in God's covenant love for his people in a moment some of the language that surrounds this.
But before he goes on to rebuke his people for their faithlessness, they need to hear this. They need to absorb this. I love you. And in verse six, as we're going to see next week, he uses the language of father and son.
This is the type of love that God has for his people. like a father and his children. He loves them and they need to absorb this and believe this. I mean, if you're a parent, you you understand this, right?
Like we as parents are called to discipline our children. I love I love my children and and I and I want them to be disciplined and I discipline them because I love them and also because I love you because if I did not discipline them, you would not like them. They would be unlikable. So, it's not just for the good of them, it's for the good of society, right?
We we're called to discipline. But when I discipline my children, like I I want them to know I love you so much. Like I I love you fiercely. I'm for you. I love you.
And they need this. They need to understand us out the gate. I have loved you, says the Lord. But you say, "How have you loved us?" So God says, "I loved you." But they seem to be questioning that love. I love you, but they're saying, "How?" How many of us have felt this?
How many of us have wondered that same kind of well, how I mean, sometimes you go through you're in the throws of suffering and you're just getting like pounded. It's just one thing after the next after the next after the next. Maybe a Christian in the most the kindest like not uh cliche way possible. They really genuinely just look at you and say God loves you. Don't forget that that God loves you.
And you might think really he's got a funny way of showing it because my like it's not good right now. My situation is bleak. My situation is like my life is miserable. He loves me. I just how well I I think many of us if we're honest feel this on some level at some point in our lives.
Maybe you feel this so deeply right now in this season like I just I can't see that. I can't feel that. I can't like I just hard for me to wrap my mind around how God could love me right now. And the people are here, the people that God is prophesying to in this period of time are feeling that. How does God love me?
And God wants to make it clear. I love you. And he couches this language in covenantal love language. That's what we see in verses 2-4. He says, "I have loved you, says the Lord.
But you say, how have you loved us?" God answers. It's not Esau, Jacob's brother, declares the Lord. Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. I've laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to the jackals of the desert. If Edom says, "We are shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins." The Lord of Hosts says, "They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called the wicked country and the people with whom the Lord is angry forever." So, if you're not familiar with that language, it's kind of jarring.
So, God's proving his covenant love by saying, "I love you, Jacob. I love you, descendants of Jacob." You know how you know this? I hated Esau. It's like what?
That's if you're not familiar with the story, if you're not familiar with the language here, it's like God has a beef with Esau. Okay, what's happening here? Context. Context. Context.
Context. That's your approach to the Scriptures in all the places. Context matters, right? That's for all of language, you guys. If I said dropping crumbs, I use that phrase, dropping crumbs.
Some of you might think children just getting crumbs everywhere cuz that's what they do. Or you might think, "Oh, Hansel and Gretle, I remember that story." Or you might be younger and think, "Oh, you're rich and you're dropping crumbs cuz you got money to spend." And that's you just you're dishing out, you buying things, you're dropping crumbs, which is what some of the young kids say. All right? Context matters. Who are they talking to?
The language that they're using, all of that matters when you approach the Scriptures. So when he says this, you got to clue in and say, "Wait, wait. What do you mean hatred?" Context matters. Hatred certainly could mean per personal animosity. That he could have personal hatred for Esau.
Okay, that's a possibility. I mean, you can't read the Psalms without seeing that God has some personal animosity towards the wicked, towards those who tread upon the poor, towards those who are violent towards others. That certainly is a possibility. But when you read this, you see this is actually covenantal language. This is a language of covenant love, acceptance of Jacob and covenant rejection of Esau.
That's what's happening here. And if you know the story of Jacob and Esau, the story basically is the the the promise to bless the nations came through Abraham. Abraham passes that down to Isaac. Isaac eventually passes that down to his one of his two sons and Esau's the older and if you read kind of the more likable one and then there's Jacob the younger and you would think Esau is going to maintain the blessing. Esau is going to maintain the it's going to go through him and that's what happened a lot with amongst the people.
The blessing goes to the older son. But God chooses by his sovereign choice, Jacob. And he gives covenantal acceptance and love towards Jacob. He rejects Esau. That's what's happening here.
That's what Paul when he quotes this passage in Malachi later on the book of Romans. That's what Paul is tapping into when he is trying to help the people of God understand it's by God's sovereign choice to whom he shows mercy and favor to. So this is covenantal language reminding them I chose you. I chose your descendants. I chose Jacob, Israel.
I chose y'all and I love you. I love you. I've rejected Esau and his descendants who are called the They have been rejected. I love you. Now, that's important for them to hear because right now that is somewhat hard for them to believe because the people of God have come back from exile.
They're coming back to the promised land. They're coming back with the hope to resettle their lands, their heritage. When they get back, the the descendants of Esau, have taken over vineyards. They've taken over parts of their land and they've gotten back and they're like, "You love us?
Our sworn enemy has taken parts of the land. Our sworn enemy is is all over our area. They're not in the kingdom of Edom anymore. They're now extended all the way here." So, they're doubting this covenant love.
[snorts] Now certainly certainly the people of God would have understood why this happened in their absence. Certainly they would have understood that because of what they did because their forefathers rejected God and and and committed all types of abominable practices and idol worship they rejected God. They earned judgment. I mean the prophet Jeremiah is making that clear over and over again. In Jeremiah chapter 9, it says, "Which was prophesied by Jeremiah, I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a layer of jackals, and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant." That before this judgment comes from Babylon, Jeremiah is telling him, "This is what's going to happen." And he's making the point because you have rejected your God, you're going to become a a desolate land, a heap of ruins, a layer of jackals.
They knew that. They remember the prophet Jeremiah. So they understand that judgment is that this is this is why they're in the state that they're in. But the hope is it's like wait but but you still love us and we come back and still the land is not completely ours. So while they may understand this necessary judgment, it is hard for them to understand the the covenant love that God has for them because the land is not completely theirs.
And all they can see is their present circumstances. All they can see is what's right in front of them. And God is trying to lift up their eyes, trying to pick up their head a little bit, try to help them see what's about to happen. That's what God does with his people. He just gently, he lifts your head and says, "Look what I'm about to do.
Look at what I'm about to show you." And that's what's happening here when he says, "I have laid waste his hill country." I want you to hear the similarities between the what the prophet Jeremiah said of the temporary judgment upon his people and what he's about to with the same language apply permanent judgment to the He says, "I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert." Same language. If Edom says, "We are shattered, but we rebuild the ruins." So beatum says, "Oh, we're down for the count for now, but we're going to get back up off the mat." The Lord of Hosts says, "They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called wi the wicked country and the people with whom the Lord is angry forever." So this temporary judgment that happened to the people of God is going to permanently happen to the And that makes sense because what's about to happen to the is a group of uh nomadic people called the Nabotans are about to come in and they're about to completely uproot the They're about to come and completely take over the land of Edom and all the are going to shrink back and then eventually they're not going to have their own land and eventually they're not going to be their own people anymore. The reason you don't hear about the past Malachi and the New Testament is because they don't exist anymore. So God's judgment is about to come upon the and God is helping his own people see this. He's helping them see this is what's about to happen.
I have favor upon you. I love you, but all they can see right now is what's right in front of them. All they can see is their present circumstances and how things are right now. But God's trying to help them see, no, no, you need to understand what's about to happen. And that's how this first disputation, this first dispute ends in verse five.
Your own eyes shall see this and you shall say, great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel. So the people have questioned the goodness and the love and the favor of God. And God is lifting their eyes up and saying, "You're going to see this." Now, the way that's going to be immediately answered is what I just talked about. The fact that the are going to shrink back. They're going to take retake some of their vineyards, and the are eventually going to fall by the wayside.
And the God's power beyond the border of Israel and the land of Edom is going to be shown. So, they're about to see that. That's the immediate context. But like all the prophets of the Old Testament, that's not all that's happening. There's some immediate things that are being addressed, but also God is pointing forward to something bigger.
This is bigger than just Edom falling. This is bigger than God's power just happening there. The reality is is that one day God is going to send the Messiah and God is going to extend the work beyond the borders of Israel. And that prophecy from the Old Testament resounds into the New Testament. And that happens when Christ comes.
That when Jesus ultimately comes, God is going to work past the border. That his power is going to be made great beyond the border of Israel. And that's going to happen through Jesus going to the cross and his blood being poured out on behalf of his people and also the nations. That's going to happen when he rises from the grave and defeats the power of death by his resurrection. That's going to happen when the offer of salvation is made not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles and to the nations.
This prophecy is going to be ultimately fulfilled when the people of God are called ultimately to a home that is past the border of Israel, but to an eternal home with God. That's where all of this is going. So, we as Christians get to read this and understand what's happening at the very beginning of this, what God's covenant love actually is because we got to see that embodied and fulfilled in Christ. And yet, many of us, if we're honest, [snorts] still can't really wrap our minds around that. Like, we still can't like we just we still can't fully realize that.
We can't fully see that clearly. And that shows up in how our lives reflect that belief, which we're going to see throughout the rest of the book of Malachi. That many of us are just going through the motions of faith and not actually displaying the type of obedience that believes the promises of God that believes God's redemptive work. That's what we're going to see throughout the rest of the book of Malachi. But for right here and what he's addressing, part of the problem for us is we just can't see past our uncircumstances.
We just can't see past what's right in front of us. Like we just we hear that God loves you. Don't you know God loves you? We just we we can't see it. It's just like I just [snorts] then why is everything so bad?
Like why is life so daggum hard? Like why is why are things so difficult? If God loves me, then what then why is what what's wrong with this picture? If we're honest, we feel that like just so deeply. We we feel that.
And if you're like, "No, I've never felt that. I'm I just I don't believe you. Like I just we all at some point like we we question the love of God." It's it's it's this side of the fall just a reality that plagues us that we just can't really believe when God says he loves us, that he really actually loves us. But he does. And we're we're stuck in the middle right now.
When we do the Lord's supper, we talk about how uh we're uh between the cross, the events of what Jesus did, his life, death, and resurrection that we celebrate when we come to the table. That this is what he has done for us. And we remember the the work of Christ by taking the Lord's supper. Remember what he did for us. But that also points forward to the day that he returns when he comes and he makes all things new and the kingdom is consummated.
meaning that heaven comes down to earth and he remakes everything and we live with God and we dwell and gaze upon his beauty for an eternity. That both of those are God's redemptive covenantal love. But we're stuck here between the two of them. And as we're here, life is just sometimes pounding us, throwing haymakers at our soul over and over and over again. And we just can't pick our heads up to see either of those clearly.
Like sometimes it just feels like we're on a ship in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of a storm that just won't end. And every day we go out, it's the same pounding waves and the same wind and the same gray skies. There's no break in the horizon and the lightning's crashing and we got no control over this. We're just a deck hand on a ship and we're just mopping, doing our job, or we're moving cargo around and we got no control. And every day we walk out and we see the same mess, the same situation.
And maybe the captain's telling us, "Yep, I'm telling you, the storm's going to break. Yep, there's we're going to make it through this, but we can't see that." We go out every day, every day, every day, every day. Same thing. And it just like, what is this?
Is it ever going to break? That's what life feels like sometimes. That's what our circumstances feel like sometimes. Whether it's your financial situation, whether it's your familial situation, whether it's fill in the blank, you just over and over and over again, it just [snorts] doesn't feel like it's going to end. But the reality is is that while it may be hard to believe sometimes because of our circumstances that God's covenant love is real, it is.
And faith is picking our heads up and realizing something beyond our own circumstances. It's picking our head up and realizing God did love me. The evidence of God's perfect love is Christ. that he did not leave us in the storm, but that he came from heaven to redeem us. God does love us.
But you you have to remember the work of the cross. You have to look back at that and realize that happened. Our God loves us so much that he did come for us. That he did die for us. That he did rise for us to offer us life and fulfillment and joy that is found in him and not in our circumstances.
That we have to look at that and believe that did happen. I'm going to bank my life on that reality while we also look forward and realize yes there will be a day when he does come back and there will be a day where the pains of this life and the sufferings of this life and the trials of this life are temporary and that is eternal. I believe that is going to happen. Faith is lifting our eyes and seeing both of those with open eyes. That's what we're called to as Christians.
And while that is hard, that is faith. It is trusting in what we cannot see sometimes. It's trusting that we what we cannot see that we could not see that. But I believe with all of my life, yes, Jesus loves me so much that he gave his life up for me. And I believe yes, Jesus is going to make all of this new.
This life is temporary. It is like a vapor. It is here for a moment and that is gone. And that what awaits me is ultimately better. But that takes lifting our eyes up beyond our circumstances and trusting in the covenant love of God.
So as we walk through Malachi the next couple of months, he's going to beat us up a little bit. Just being honest, it's it's going to get in our grill a little bit, but that's because God loves us. And while we might have a propensity to read the rest of this book and go, I'm going to take worship seriously. I'm going to start giving more. I'm going to fill in the blank in all the ways he's going to correct us.
That means nothing if we don't build it upon the covenant love of Christ and the faith that informs that obedience in the first place. So brothers and sisters, I don't know where you are in your life right now. I don't know what you're facing right now. I don't know what your circumstances are right now, but the invitation is to lift up your head and to see the work of the cross and the final work of Christ and to believe in something bigger than your own circumstances.
The band's going to come up and we're going to take the Lord's supper and you're going to have an opportunity to do that right now. That as we come to the table, we remember the work of Christ. And I want you to do that like I as you come as you're sitting in your seat before you come to the table. I want you to picture Jesus immense love for you. I don't know what your circumstances are.
I don't know what you're facing. I I don't know what life has for you right now, but I want you to see that he loved you so much that 2,000 years ago, he gave up his life for you. For you. And I want you to joyfully come to the table remembering that whatever you're facing right now, it's temporary.
It's temporary circumstances. That what awaits us is better. And as a people and the tension between those two realities, we lift up our eyes. We place our hope in that covenant love and faithfulness and not what's right in front of us. If you are not a Christian, if you've never surrendered to the covenant love of God, if maybe for you life has just been a mix of of works and and Sunday coming and being a part of a group, I maybe I don't know what your story is, but if you haven't actually put all of your hope in the covenant love of God and what he has done for us, please do not come to this table.
That would be a meaningless work. Don't come to the table. Come to Christ. Believe. Put your faith in the covenant love of God and what he has done for you.
And then come and talk to us and we'll walk you through what it means to follow Christ. What it means to place your faith in Jesus. And then you'll be ready to come to the table. But when you are ready, Christians, come. There's gluten-free in that back corner over there.
Let me pray for us as we prepare to take the Lord's supper. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the good news of the Gospel of your covenant love and faithfulness towards us. I pray that we would place our hope in you and not the circumstances, not the things that you can do in this life, but what you have done for us and what you will do for us because that is better than anything this life has to offer. It's better than health. It's better than riches.
It's better than anything this world has to offer. God, I pray that you would help us place our hope in you. And for some people, that's going to be placing their hope and your covenant love and what you've done for us for the first time. And I pray that you would bend their hearts towards you in faith. And I pray that for all of us who are sinners in need of a savior that we joyfully come to the table as men and women between the cross and the new heavens and earth.
We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
Theology of Sex+ Week 7: Christian Societal Ethics
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Theology of Sex+ Week 6: Transgenderism
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here uh grab a Bible if you will and go to Genesis chapter 1 we're going to be there we've been there for several weeks um as we have tried to wrap our head around uh the way God has designed us and uh what that means for us as we seek to follow him today we're going to talk about transgenderism um and this is something I believe that it's worth us taking some time to consider um the concept of transgenderism and the way that we've approached it culturally has changed rapidly uh in 2014 was one of the.
First times there was a Time Magazine cover 2014 so that's that's 10 years ago nine years ago that said that that was the new area that we needed to grow as a culture was in accepting transgenderism so there was a transgender uh person on the the cover of the Time magazine that said this is the new the new area where we're going to grow culturally this is the next thing that we need to grow in acceptance and and it was that that magazine cover was saying hey this is the future not not this is where we are.
Now but this is the next thing that's coming for us and that was in 2014 so we've rapidly changed how we've thought about this and approached this and so as our culture has shifted on it and as you've heard more about it seen more about it participated more in understanding what's going on around it we think it's helpful for us to take some time to just say what does the Bible tell us uh about this so transgenderism uh if you were to.
Look in a dictionary um English dictionary for most of English History and you were to look up the words gender and sex uh there would be a definition that was the same which is gender or sex dealing with Biology whether whether or not you are male or female but the the new way of thinking about this if you look it up now if you go to dictionary.com and you look it up is that sex deals with your biology your hormones your physical body whether you are male or female and that gender is separate from them that gender has to deal with your internal impression and your external expression of masculinity or femininity.
So that your gender can be different from your biological sex this is what's being taught this is the way that gender is to be understood now and so that someone can be uh their gender can be feminine or masculine and that can be connected or not connected to whether or not they were born male or female on transe equality.org it says it this way transgender is a broad term that can be used to describe people whose gender identity so that's internal impression or external Al expression is different from the gender they were thought to be.
When they were born meaning that they looked at their biology they looked at their physical traits and said this is a boy or this is a girl um painted the room blue and then were wrong that's what this is they grew up and it was that's not what they were their gender is something different than what they were thought to be and that's the way this is being taught and understood culturally now now there's a lot of different definitions this is changing all the time different people have different opinions on how this is.
But this is a a fair General representation that sex and gender are separate and that your gender can be different than your biology and that's what we're talking about this morning is how ought we to think about that is that okay what does the Bible have to say about that how should we inter in in in engage in that and then next week we're going to spend a good bit of time basically asking how do we as Christians live in a culture that disagrees with us on some things what does it.
Look like for you to be a Christian and follow Jesus and be faithful where a lot of people around you disagree with what you think so that's what we're going to do today we'll be in Genesis 1:26 I'm going to pray for us I would invite you to pray with me Lord we ask for wisdom we ask for Grace um none of us I don't think come into this neutrally I believe that we have opinions I don't think anybody just learned the concept of transgenderism just.
Now as I tried to explain it I think we have opinions I think we have interactions with this I think we have uh what our news stations or favorite YouTube people have told us to think and so Lord I just pray that you would help us to see what your word says on this to be kind and gracious and humble towards one another but to hold firmly to what you tell us is true we ask for your help and the empowerment of your spirit this morning in.
Jesus name amen I want to begin by telling us a story that is beautiful and sad Genesis CH 1 we're going to look in Genesis 1 and 2 it says this then God said so this is in the process of him creating everything he says let us make man that's Humanity in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the Earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
So God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him male and female he created them so we spent some time here God made man and woman in His image we are created in the image of God that you were specifically gendered you were given of biological sex on purpose you were male or female and designed that way intentionally by God that's God's original and design and it says this and God blessed them so this gendered Humanity male and female is blessed.
God said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth and subdue it have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth and God said behold I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the Earth and every tree with seed in its fruit you shall have them for food and to every beast of the earth and every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth everything that has the breath of life I have given every green plant.
For food and it was so and God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good so God designed Humanity he designed our bodies he encased us embodies we are meant to be embodied we have a gender and that is built into how we image God uh one of the terms for this is tellos or tellos that we have a purpose that there's an end in mind in our design that there's purpose built into it we are not just set free to be whatever.
But we actually have God had purpose built into how he built us as CS Lewis puts it uh who is a um a writer and theologian philosopher uh in the 1900s he says this Christianity is almost the only one of the great religions which thoroughly approves of the body which believes that matter is good that God himself once took on a human body and that some kind of body is going to be given to us even in heaven and is going to be an essential part of our happiness we believe that your body is good that you were given it on purpose and that we are not going to one day die and Float off.
Into ethereal wispiness where we're free from our horrible Earth carcass we believe that we will be given new bodies and live on a new Heaven and a new Earth that we will en engage in this same sort of thing it'll be a renew Eternal Body it'll be a glorious one but we are embodied and that that is good and blessed so Christopher Yuan who is now a um Bible Professor but he was once a um practicing homosexual who was selling drugs got kicked out of dentist school.
For selling drugs which I didn't know much about dentist school but apparently they frown on you selling drugs I you can tell I don't know much about it cuz I'm calling it dentist school um but he says this in his book holy sexuality and the Gospel so he became a Christian and changed his lifestyle and he says this we know that we are created in God's image thus rejecting our inherent Essence and replacing it simply with what we feel or do is in reality an attempted coup d'a against our creator we don't need to find our identity our identity is given us by.
God so we believe that we're embodied and there's a purpose there there's intentionality there but it um gets sad I said the story was beautiful and sad well let's move to the to the last part of the beautiful part and then into the sad part so Genesis chapter 2: 24 God brings the man and woman together and it says therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh and the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
So one of the things that we said when we looked at this earlier was that they were perfectly comfortable in their bodies and perfectly comfortable in their gender and perfectly comfortable with the other person's body and their gender that they were naked and not ashamed that everything was fine they weren't concerned about their bodies they felt at home chapter 3 now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made and we find out later in the Scriptures that this isn't just any serpent this is actually Satan the Ultimate Enemy of.
God and man so the serpent he said to the woman did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden so God had planted a garden and he had planted the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life In The Garden but in the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil he said y'all can't eat from this one and so so the serpent comes along and he says God says y'all can't eat from any of these trees and the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden.
But God said You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die which the text doesn't tell us that God said that you can't touch it or you'll die just not to eat of it but the enemy has come along and he's begun to ask is God really trustworthy isn't he withholding good from you can we really believe what he says but the serpent said to the woman this is verse four you will not surely die.
For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil you won't die you'll be like him you'll get to decide what's right and what's wrong you'll be the one who can be the Arbiter of truth and reality so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate.
Then the eyes of both of were opened and they knew they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin cloths and they heard the sound of the Lord God Walking In The Garden in the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God Among the Trees of the garden but the Lord God Called To The Man and said to him where are you and he said I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid.
Because I was naked and I hid myself and he said who told you that you were naked have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat they were perfectly at home in their bodies they were perfectly free God had designed it to where they would just be free and enjoy and delight and rest and work but all in Freedom and all in comfort in who they were and how they were designed and When sin enters the world that's gone they suddenly know they're naked and feel great shame and even after they had covered themselves they still hide and say we were naked did you catch that that they sew fig leaves.
To cover themselves up but when God shows up they still hide and say we're naked cuz that it's it didn't work it doesn't fix the problem there's a couple of things in this passage that have traveled through time and exist in your heart that have that are just innately born into us now one is the lie that the serpent tells is God really trustworthy and shouldn't I be the one to decide what's right and wrong oh if that's not in your heart this idea that ah I mean is he really right about that you ever just reading your Bible and you go nah that can't be right I think I know know what ought to.
Be right here you ever do that like that's in us this idea that shouldn't I be the one who picks what who is he to say the other thing is this this feeling very not at home in our bodies very uncomfortable and exposed there's a reason why there's like a human wide nightmare that you're going about your day and then suddenly you're naked that's what happened to them you know that feeling they ate of the of the fruit and suddenly realized oh I'm I'm exposed I'm out in the I'm not.
Okay you ever you have that moment where you just feel exposed have you ever had that nightmare where Suddenly It's just like this is I was given a presentation and then I was naked and it was not okay cuz that's in US y'all we wear clothes and still feel wildly uncomfortable you know how much you fidget with how your clothes fit you like I have some collared shirts where one of the collars curls in and one of them curls up and I have no clue whether anybody else ever notices that.
But I think about it all day long you ever had like a cold SAR and you're like I just want to cancel my life for a week you see other people with a cold sord and you think I'm glad other people get cold sores you don't care that they have a cold sore really you're just like that's fine I'm not going to kiss you but that's fine but when we have stuff like that we feel it because we don't feel at home y'all this the theological concept here is called estrangement we we don't feel at home in ourselves.
And so one of the things that I think we need to wrap our heads around as Christians is that Christians ought to understand gender dysphoria and transgenderism better than anybody else the idea that you would not feel at home in your body ought to break our hearts and bring out our sympathy more than anything else that should be the first thing that it does to us we should understand oh yeah know I feel that there's things about me that I don't like there things about me that I don't feel at home in there are things about me that I wish were different there things about me that I hate there are things about me that.
I uh long for and crave that I wish I didn't there are things about me that that just never felt right I never liked I never appreciated never could enjoy it always felt like am I sure this was right I was reading someone who was talking about transgenderism and they said there their argument was why should we be beholden to our bodies it's it's like a taxi cab that we were shoved into at Birth and had no choice over and as a Christian part of me understands that feels that you didn't choose how tall you were going to be what you were going to.
Look like what your skin was going to be like how your hair Works y'all know that it seems like and this is I'm not a lady but it seems like ladies really really appreciate apprciate whatever type of hair they don't have I think that's part of the curse I think that's part of the Fall if you've ever said I wish my hair did blank it it's just built into us that we would not feel fully at home and so when someone says I was reading on Pew research and they just did they just got a bunch of people who would identify as transgender and they asked them a bunch of questions and they would all.
Say things like ever since I was little I just never really felt like I was in the right body y'all do you know how hard that would be it it's whatever you felt in all these little ways but it's so acute and so painful and so lifelong and in such a big area of life to feel like you're the wrong gender has got to be extremely difficult and if that's you then you're here this morning I'm sorry that you've felt like that your whole life and I I understand a little bit.
But I don't understand fully but you're welcome here and you're welcome to be here and and and struggle and not feel at home in yourself and you're welcome to be here and to to express that and voice that and to say I'm in the middle of trying to figure this out' we understand and we ought to one of the things that comes along with this this our human bodies designed for good built in intentionally but then Fallen is that we now have birth defects we.
Now have people who are born interx which is a small portion of the population people who are born with both sets of of reproductive organs then there's a wider portion that that will get labeled as intersex where they're born with um physically externally male or female but then there's some internal biological things that go into what would the people would now consider interex and there are some realities to that the the vast majority of are born physically externally male or female and there may be some hormonal or some biological things going on that they can have to take some medicine.
For or adjust and try to figure out how they're going to approach life very rarely is anybody born with with both sets of genitalia but even that those situations they end up usually having to figure out and have some sort of surgery and figure that out as they go forward in life and we understand that that's part of the Fall as well it doesn't mean that there is no male and there is no female it doesn't mean that we don't understand male or female there are some people who are born with the wrong number of Limbs and that's horrible.
But it doesn't mean that most humans aren't born with two arms and two legs and five fingers and five toes it's it's something that happens and can happen and even the Bible understands it happens when Jesus talks about in U marriage in Matthew 19 he refers to people who were born um he says Unix from birth and then there are unic that have been made Unix by by men so he understands that there is some sort of birth process birth defect that can go into this.
But that's part of the Fall as well and it doesn't negate either the the reality of God's intended design for male or female but it also doesn't negate how gracious and kind and welcoming the Church ought to be in understanding that as well and walking alongside people and not not stigmatizing that or making it something you can't talk about or deal with because we all understand that we're all living with some form of the effects of the fall but here's where we are culturally.
For someone who has felt like I've been born into the wrong body has felt this this gender dysphoria this particular type of estrangement culturally right now we come around them and we give them a Playbook we say well here's what you do if you feel that way they they're getting a script that says go this direction and as Christians we have to disagree with the script and it is culturally impacted I want to show you the things that go along in this cultural approach that have gotten us here it's like a all the building blocks that that made it to where this is how we respond.
Now so I want to show you this list we're going to talk through these fairly quickly the fall of Christendom relativism radical individualism Triumph of the therapeutic the sexual Revolution and new gnosticism and I know you're are like I'm so excited for this list and just so you know when we were walking through and making sure the slides were working Josh babone who was up here earlier already called all those as band names he's claimed them so you can't start a band named any of those he's already he already called dips all right the fall of Christendom we've existed in the West in in a judeo Christian ethic.
For hundreds of years and we have rejected that now as the ruling thought process for the West that we are no longer all under a general judeo-Christian ethic which meant that we had a baseline philosophy and a baseline Theos ology for how we were going to live life and we would say we've removed that but the thing is when you remove it you don't just remove it you replace it and the problem with replacing it from our standpoint as Christians who believe our Bibles is that we think we enter into what Paul's talking about in Colossians 2.
So I want to read this to you he says this see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human TR tradtion according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ okay we want to know what Jesus tells us we want to follow what Jesus tells us we want to be uh led by Christ and then everything else fits into one of these other categories philosophy it's just them thinking through this is how the world ought to work empty deceit meaning they're intentionally trying to deceive twist things around human tradition ACC according to the elemental spirits of the world meaning that the enemy at.
Work in some of these kind of things and so we we aren't fans of the fall of Christendom in general we want to be genuinely Christian in the way we approach things and follow Christ that's where he says this for in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily and you have been filled in him who is the head of all Rule and Authority so we think Jesus is over everything and we're to follow him but that's gone culturally so we get The Replacements relativism relativism is the concept that there is no objective right or wrong you get to decide nobody can really tell you what's right or wrong nobody can really come in.
Tell you how you ought to live it's up to you you do you boo that General thought process whatever you want to do you do as long as you're not hurting anybody as long as you're not bothering anybody as long as you're not oppressing anybody nobody can really come in and tell you you're right or wrong whatever you want to do is fine that's relativism and y'all we we all kind of yeah okay like you just you've been trained in this it's like yeah that that's kind of true like the uh one of the Justice Anthony Kennedy.
And when he was writing one of the majority opinions this is one of our Supreme Court Justice he says this at the heart of Liberty is the right to Define one owns concept of existence of meaning of the universe and of the mystery of human life that's at the heart of Liberty you get to decide meaning purpose existence the mystery of human life all up to you which just if you think about that first of all the in the garden version of us that wants to eat from the tree goes yeah I get to pick the purpose and meaning of existence.
But if we'll just pause for a second you're going to have a hard time picking what to eat for lunch existence and the meaning of purpose in life is way above your pay grade but that's at the heart of relativism and he says it's at the heart of Liberty that that's true Freedom that you get to decide the next thing is radical individualism that we've just been sold on this we bought into this this is the idea that you are the only one you can really trust you are the only one who really knows.
For you you're the only one who really decides every Disney movie every Disney song just watch a preview for a Disney movie and they'll be like and then I suddenly thought have I even considered what I want and we're like yeah I think about you but that radical individualism is that you're the only one who can really decide for you and no one else can really so it's relativism but it's boiled down to ultimately you are the last Arbiter of all things.
Then we have what Carl Truman calls the Triumph of the therapeutic so it used to be 100 years ago 60 years ago you would um you would have to if you went to see somebody and they were trying to help you work through life they were trying to help you change you to exist in the world they were trying to to make you capable of existing out there you you were being bent and molded to reality but when Carl Truman's looking at this and he's tracing this out through history he says we've actually flipped this and what we've started doing is trying to change your circumstances to fit to you.
So we're going to get rid of toxic people we're going to get rid of toxic environments we're going to get rid of any Professor that says things you don't want to hear we're going to get rid of anybody who would come around you and say things that you don't want to hear you get to perfectly mold your environment and this is up to and includ including our physical bodies are now going to be brought in in line with you which goes along with the next two the sexual Revolution which is just our overemphasis on sexual enjoyment and cutting out all of the GU guard rails and guidelines that used to be around sex and Christians.
Aren't anti-sex we believe it's actually more important and more powerful than our culture does that's why we think it needs guard rails it's why we think it needs to be handled appropriately it's not because we think it's bad it's because we actually think it's better than our culture thinks it is more powerful not essential to life essential to the existence of humans for sure um but not essential essential to everybody's individual life you can live a perfect meaningful human life without ever participating in any sort of sexual activity.
But the sexual Revolution the general idea that your body is is a playground the only question is how would you like to play and then the new gnosticism which is connected a lot to the Triumph of the therapeutic and the radical individualism but gnosticism is the idea that your body is in general lower than the spiritual reality and we wouldn't culturally refer to it as spiritual reality as much as we would refer to it as reason our thinking self is more important and better than our physical self uh one author put it this way he said a person's self-awareness is different than and more important than their physical bodies that's this new idea of narcism.
So you can change your physical body to be in line with the way you think because your physical body is less than it doesn't actually give you any indication of anything you can change what you think so there's a Melinda selmies who was a practicing former lesbian who's repented and Fallen the Lord and she wrote this Bute all the pageantry of free sex and self-love there is a fundamental belief that the body doesn't mean anything that it is insignificant in a literal sense signifying nothing you can do anything that you like with it you can give it away to anyone.
For any reason it's just a sort of wet machine a tool that you can use in exchange for whatever purpose suits your fancy that's some vivid imagery but that's the general idea you have a body use it enjoy it change it the real you is on the inside the real you is your reasoning thinking self and that's new gnosticism and gnosticism is an ancient heresy so just so y'all know this is the problem Christians ought to understand understand the tension and the pain and the hurt and the Brokenness in transgenderism we ought to understand gender dysphoria in a very real sense that makes us very empathetic and caring and and gentle.
But the ideology is completely contrary to Christianity yall we disagree with this whole list of the things that come together that give you the script for how you ought to respond if you feel gender dysphoria they're going to come along and say well if you feel that that's internal to you so whatever you feel is right and you're the only one who can really decide and no one should come from outside and tell you that you are wrong that would be oppressive that would be harmful that would be bad.
For your psychology we ought to think well and Care well for your approach to the world and we ought to change your environment and if you if you want to pursue any sexual desires those are good and to be pursued never to be curtailed unless you want to but y'all we're Christians so we want to follow Christ we believe that he's the authority so it's not relative there's a actual reality that we can run up against radical individualism is bad for us we are individuals that need to be to repent and follow.
Jesus there's some amount of understanding that a unique person who who can follow Jesus that God designed on purpose is good but not you're in charge and you're the only one who knows what's right the Triumph of the therapeutic y'all we're Christians we think we should change that's repentance that's discipleship when you say things like well this is just what I'm like the Bible sometimes goes well stop it what you're like is bad quit talking to people like that quit acting like that it's bad.
For you repent so when people just you can't just go I was born this way I'm Italian so I yell or whatever it's like what stop we believe in Repentance and we believe that's good for us that we can change we believe the sexual revolution has been a negative thing for our culture that it has taught us poorly and gnosticism we've hated it ever since it showed up we don't like the new version or the old version We believe that you the physical body is important and good and that God's going to redeem both soul and body.
So here's the problem all of that leads to destruction and so the script that you're given if you feel gender hish Foria is bad 1 Peter 2 he says beloved I urge you as soers and Exiles he's talking to the Church saying we don't fully belong here we'll talk more about this next week but I urge you to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul in considering gnosticism and this idea that you're really separate from your body that the real you is on the inside and has nothing to do with the outer you the physical body Christopher West wrote this and I thought it was a helpful quote he.
Says Satan's fundamental goal is always to split Body and Soul why well there's a fancy theological word for the separation of body and soul perhaps you've heard of it death and we believe that that is where this thought process leads to to death to destruction it's what James 1:14-15 says but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death this is the Baseline Christian position that all of us have desires that will produce death in us and all of us need to repent all of us need.
Jesus to redeem us to work in us to forgive us so here's the problem whenever we isolate one and say you don't have to repent of that one pursue that one engage in that one we can't go along with it the message to someone in gendered dysphoria is actually the same message to all Christians There's Hope in Jesus there's repentance in Jesus and y'all this is a terrible place to be so as Christians we've got to be kind and gracious and understanding and welcoming and friendly and hospitable.
But we also can't say go for it because we don't think it'll lead to Joy they've they've done studies in 2008 they did another big one in 2015 they did another big one in 2022 the results of the 20221 aren't out but all of your statistics of negative statistics are increased by by being transgender I found that transgender people are four more four times more likely to live in extreme poverty have doubled the rate of unemployment double the rate of homelessness um 41% and this was both in 2008 and 2015.
So the the jump on acceptance changed from 2008 to 2015 it's continued to change I'm interested to see what happens in 2022 study study 41% of survey respondents both in 20 2008 and 2015 reported at least one suicide attempt 41% that's the people who weren't successful the amount of Despair and death wrapped up in this is horrific and we ought to be kind and gracious and welcoming and hospitable and we ought to plead don't follow the path that's laid out for you culturally the argument made is that the reason it's.
So high is that they're stigmatized they're hated they're treated poorly their whole life is awful and look we ought to understand some of that you ever had a bad haircut I'm not trying to be trivial but if you had a bad haircut and you felt it the whole day you walked around you ever been in the place where you were the only person of your race you never really think that much about your race and suddenly that's all you can think about.
For that day y'all if you are in the middle of transitioning I think they feel it I think they feel it when they're not trying to differently portray how they physically appear I think they feel it when they are I think that it's on them all the time and so yeah there's certainly some social stigma and some things that go along with it that make it extremely difficult but they did a long longterm study in Sweden Sweden way ahead of us in acceptance and celebration of this from 1973 to 2003 what they did was they followed people who had gender affirming surgeries.
So people who had actually made the transition which I just have to say somewhere we don't think you can actually do we think you can physically change your body but you have not actually changed your gender you've been given a gender you've been designed by God and we think you can physically alter your body but it doesn't actually change you from a man to a woman but they had gender affirming surgeries and then they followed them for for 30 years and they compared them to the regular population and they controlled.
For things like poverty level gender at Birth what age group that sort of thing they needed psychiatric care at five times the rate of the normal population the suicide rate was three times the normal population no I'm sorry death from suicide was 20 times the rate of the normal population impatient psychiatric care was three times the rate the suicide attempts was five times the rate and the conclusion they have is this this is straight from the conclusion of the study persons with transsexualism after sex reassignment have considerably higher risks.
For Mort mortality suicidal behavior and psychiatric morbidity than the general population our findings suggest that sex reassignment although alleviating gender dysphoria may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism and should imp Inspire improved psychiatric and somatic care after sex reassignment for this patient group meaning that for those who are actually in a place where they change their they have gender affirming surgery and then live in a place that celebrates it it still doesn't fix the problem and as Christians we go yeah.
Because pursuing it can't fix it because that's what we're told is it pursuing any of our desires in that direction won't fix it it might alleviate some of the symptoms it might alleviate some things but it's not going to actually fix the root level problem Paul McHugh who is the the head over the this department in John's Hopkins and they used to do they were one of the leading ones to do these surgeries and then they stopped it under him and they've recently restarted it.
But he says that it's it should be treated more the way we treat someone with anorexia we should say that the way you're thinking is not in line with the way your body actually is and we would do best to help bring you in line with reality because you do have a physical reality and so as Christians 1 Corinthians 13 says this love does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth so we can't celebrate we can't Rejoice we can't go along with saying this is a fine way to go.
Because it would be unloving so we have to be loving we have to be gracious we have to be gentle we have to be kind we have to be hospitable we also can't just say that's fine pursue what you want because we believe it would lead to death so I have a better option when Matthew 12 is talking about Jesus it says this a bruised Reed he will not break and a smoldering Wick he will not quench that's a prophecy about him from Isaiah and it's quoted in in Matthew a bruised Reed he will not break and a smoldering Wick he will not quench a candle that's just barely hanging on barely blowing smoke.
Jesus doesn't come and snuff that out he's gentle he's gracious Andrew T Walker in his book on transgenderism quotes this from Matthew 12 and then he says this the visual imagery Jesus uses is important to remember and beautiful to see Jesus will not let fragile people crumble and collapse under the weight of their struggles Jesus wants to take those who feel they are close to flickering out and return them to brightness and joy Jesus is tend tender and gentle towards those who think they cannot go any further Church family some of us need to repent.
Because when it comes to transgenderism or homosexuality or anything in the lgbtq plus Zone we've looked like anything but Jesus because we haven't been gentle you can't say we haven't snuffed out smoldering Wicks we've made it seem as if this is one of the most hostile places for someone who needs it the most that we're welcome here in our sin but you aren't we're welcome here in our frustration and our confusion and our our estrangement but you aren't Lord help us help us.
When we stand before the king and he's been so kind and so gracious to us in our sin and we've acted as if there's somehow line between us and them may God have mercy on us for that and I'm so grateful that he's not going to Snuff us out if we come to him in Repentance and ask for Mercy but may we be gracious and kind and hospitable and welcoming people to someone who so badly needs to hear the Gospel and what our culture is telling them to do leads to death y'all it doesn't help it it doesn't fix it we can't celebrate it we've got to love our hope is not in the rejection.
Of our bodies but the Redemption of our bodies Romans 8 this where we'll finish we'll look at this together for just a moment Paul says I consider that the sufferings of this present time and that's all of us are not worth comparing with the glory Glory that is to be revealed to us so that we're to look at everybody and say you're going to suffer but there's glory and there's hope this direction for creation Waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of.
God for the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of children of God yeah we're all creation is subjected to futility and a bondage to corruption it's falling apart it's decaying and we're all longing whether we know it or not for this Redemption for we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in Pains of child birth until.
Now and not only the creation but we ourselves who have the first fruit of the spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as Sons the Redemption of our bodies our hope is not in the rejection of our bodies Our Hope is not here our hope is found in the Redemption of our bodies that is going to be worked in Christ on that day where we receive forgiveness and renewal and so we wait patiently but we ought to wait as people who understand the groaning we ought to wait as people who understand the pain and the discomfort and the estrangement and the Brokenness we ought to be the kindest most welcome most hospitable.
People and listen in our culture in disagreeing we're going to be told that we're hateful and so we've got to hold the line on loving enough and holding on to what is true but in a way that silences critique because of how much grace and kindness and gentleness there is for in this hope we were saved now hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he seen disas but if we hope for what we do not see we wait.
For it with patience we believe that our God put on a body that he intended us for have to have a body that he's going to give us new bodies and that he's going to renew all of that in Grace and we wait with patience some of us need to change our position because we've been echoing what our culture says and we're wrong and we shouldn't do it because it leads to death but some of us need to change our posture.
Because we've been saying true things with not a hint of Grace and not a hint of kindness and we don't look at all like Jesus let's pray Lord we ask for we ask for Mercy where we've been wrong where we've supported what will ultimately lead to destruction where we've agreed with our culture on some things that are damaging and lead to death Lord we ask for Mercy where we've not modeled well the way you treated people who needed Grace where we've acted as.
If somehow we've merited or earned something or we're some of the good ones because we think this way or vote this way or act this way or we don't have that desire how dare us Lord forgive us have mercy on us and may we be a people who love like you love so that we hate sin but our arms are wide open to anyone who's coming to you and Lord our culture is confused on this and they're leading a lot to destruction more more and more children and teenagers are headed in this direction.
God have mercy on us have mercy on our nation give us wisdom help us to love help us to plead on behalf of our country so that you might keep people far from destruction and may they see clearly the grace that's found in you in Jesus name amen Church family we're going to sing we're going to praise the Lord if you need to take a moment to repent if you need to take a moment to ask the Lord for help.
For grace and for Mercy do that if this is something you struggle with and you want to talk about it and understand that we're just trying to understand and we're trying to walk in it the same way we walk in all these other things which is that we believe Jesus is better that our passions are at war with us to destroy our souls we'd love to talk with you let's sing.
Theology of Sex+ Week 5: Homosexuality Part 2
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Theology of Sex+ Week 4: Homosexuality Part 1
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
My name is Spencer I'm one of the pastors here we are in week four of our Theology of sex plus series and this uh week and next week we're taking a look at the topic of homosexuality so and approaching this and trying to teach on this it feels like a little bit of a game of operation if you remember the kids game you've got the tweezers and you got the guy that's got all the body parts you got to get in there and get his rib out without touching the sides.
If you touch the Sid it buzzes and as a kid I was terrible at that game I would make a terrible surgeon and you just at any given point you move left right front center if you move around too far you're going to actually hit something and it's going to buzz and that's kind of what this feels like because there's a few different things that play into this that make this difficult to teach on the the first is is what Chad was walking us through last week that uh sexuality has become identity and that this is uh been uh has risen to the place of idolatry.
So much so that we worship this in the place of God and if anyone uh speaks about something that's at the core of your being at the core of your identity that's considered harmful or destructive and that makes that difficult to talk about what's also difficult here is that many of us have family members friends co-workers neighbors people we love that identifies as lgbtq plus and many of them are wonderful kind loving hardworking people so it's not a neutral subject that we talk about another thing makes this difficult is that there's whole denominations in the west that have shifted on truth in this area that have failed to speak the truth I came out of.
The United Methodist Church that's where I became a Christian and that denomination has shifted so has the ELCA Luther Church so has the Episcopalian Church so has the pcusa Church and that also makes this difficult what also makes this difficult is that there are a lot of people who claim to be Christians but there all are actual genuine Jesus-loving Christians who have spoken harshly about this so we don't approach this subject neutrally and it feels like wherever you move in this you're going to hit the edges and you're going to hit the buzzer.
So because all of that is true we want to take two weeks to be able to walk through this together in this first sermon we're just going to ask the question what does the Bible say about this what does the Bible have to say about the subject matter of homosexuality and we're going to dive deep into the text a lot of this is going to be super laborious it's going to be in deep into the text to see what does the Bible have to say about this especially.
Because in the west there's been a shift amongst some denominations that have tried to reinterpret the Bible to say something that I would argue it doesn't say and I want to take those arguments seriously and look at what the Bible has to say about this next week will be far more practical be far more applicational but I want us to look deeply into the text this week and I want to end with showing why I believe that our Church can be a a wonderful and safe place to be able to figure this out be able to discuss this to be able to work through any type of sexual identity and Brokenness.
So let me pray and then we'll walk through this together Heavenly Father we thank you for the good word that we have for the Scriptures for your kindness and for the work of the Holy Spirit no doubt there's lots of things swirling in our souls this morning as we approach your word may you help us be present may you help us listen may we respond as you desire in Jesus name amen all right so we've been in Genesis 1 and 2 pretty much every week and this week is no different we won't be in it very long.
But Genesis 1 and 2 kind of establish what is the biblical idea for gender and for sex and then on Genesis 2 24-25 it says therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh and the man and his wife are both naked and were not ashamed so we've looked at this multip weeks but it's important to read that out the gate because that is the establishment of biblical romantic love and romantic sex one man one woman and the confines of marriage and the rest of the Bible upholds this picture from Genesis to Revelation throughout the Old Testament.
Jesus in multiple places in Mark 10 and Matthew 19 highlights this as the biblical reality for marriage romantic love and sexual Union so that's the first picture we get out of the gate in the Scriptures and then when you flip a few pages you'll inevitably get to Genesis 19 and that is going to be the first mentioning of homosexuality in the Bible so in Genesis 19 God has determined to bring judgment upon two cities Sodom and Gomorrah he sends two angels to really inspect the City to.
See if it's worth redeeming and not worth judgment he gets there Abraham's nephew lot is there lot takes him into his house really quickly because he knows what this city is like and these two foreigners he doesn't want them to be harmed so he takes them to his house and at nightfall the men of the city surround the house and you pick up in verse four it says but before they laid down the men of the city the men of Sodom both young and old all the people to the last man surrounded the house and they called to lot where are the men who came to you tonight bring them out to us that we.
May know them now that know them is a Biblical euphemism throughout the Bible for sex that we may know them sexually this happens the angels strike the men with blindness tell lot and his family get out of the city now we're going to destroy it they leave and the city is destroyed and these Infamous cities Sodom and Gomorrah become really the prime examples of both wickedness and judgment throughout the Bible you can't read the rest of the Bible and not see that it happens in Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Lamentations Amos Zephaniah.
Jesus in multiple places mentions Sodom and Gomorrah bringing that type of judgment to mind that these cities are synonimous with sin and judgment so the question is why are these cities known for sin and judgment and we get a few biblical reasons I'll point the first one Ezekiel 16 49 it says behold this was the guilt of your sister Sodom she and her daughters had Pride excess of food and prosperous ease but did not Aid the poor and needy and what we.
See there is that like most depraved cities and most depraved cultures there was excess the pride of life enjoying the riches getting fat and not caring for the poor and maybe even building your wealth off of the poor which is wickedness I mean you cannot read the prophets you cannot read the gospels without seeing that the God despises that type of disregard for the poor and the needy now in an attempt to legitimize same-sex relationships some have attempted to say that that's all was wrong with Sodom and Gomorrah that Genesis 19 and the picture of judgment there is only.
For this that social justice is the only reason that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed now it's certainly clear from the text that Injustice was a major part of their depravity and that is true but what's been understood for thousands thousand of years from Jews into Christianity what has been understood for thousands of years is that these cities were not only destroyed for the prideful greedy life that they lived but also for the promiscuity and specifically the homosexuality that was prevalent that these cities were known.
For that's clear when you read the text that's clear outside of the text there are extra biblical resources extra biblical historical documents in second temple Judaism so the period of time between when the last Scriptures were written around 500 BC to the time when Jesus came you can look at second temple Judaism and see some of the writings that describe this as as a universally understood truth that Jews understood one of those is The Testament of naftali it says do not become like Sodom which departed from the order of Nature and the Order of nature there is the design.
For sex with men and women they departed from that referencing the Judgment that fell upon them in the Testament of Benjamin another extra biblical historical document it says from the words of Enoch the righteous I tell you that you will be sexually promiscuous like the promiscuity of the sodomites and will perish again in the book of jubile it says and in this month the Lord carried out the judgments of Sodom and Gomorrah and go say they were terrible and very sinful and have defiled themselves and committed fornication and uncleanness over the earth.
Now we don't look at those sources as authoritative like the Scriptures they don't have an authority but what they helped describe was it was universally understood that these cities were known for that type of sexual promiscuity I mean you get to the some of the Contemporary writers of the Bible so some of contemporaries alongside the Bible Josephus a Jewish historian and Pho a philosopher you can even go into their writings and see that at the time of Jesus it was universally understood that this was a part of sodom's downfall.
Now that's important because what also happens with Genesis 19 is people seek to reinterpret this and say that what was really happening with what we read is not the type of consensual loving same-sex relationships we have now that what was actually being articulated was rape and that's the real problem and while that that seems to be the logical conclusion of what was going to happen if those angels did not step in those cities were known for this it was universally understood at the time and that's important to articulate and that's helpful to understand especially.
When the book of Jude at the end of the Bible comes along and references Sodom and gomorah in the same way that a lot of other writings do in the book of Jude near the end of the Bible in verse 7 it says just as Sodom and Gomorrah in the surrounding cities which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of Eternal fire so Jude is doing what some of those other resources outside the Bible are doing judee's made argument in the book of JW we were in this book about a year ago his main argument is against false teachers and the Judgment of heretical false.
Teachers that had come into the Church but in his writing against false teachers he uses something that was obvious to Jews for centuries and was also OB obious to the Christians who were receiving this letter and he mentions just like Sodom and Gomorrah which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire and what he's getting at there is that there is a natural design for sex that we see very clearly in Genesis 1 and 2 and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah rejected that.
For an unnatural desire and it ended up in their judgment and he categorizes that with sexual immorality and that's also very important because sexual immorality is really a broad term in the Scriptures it's kind of a a bucket for all types of sexual sin and sexual Brokenness and it's important to understand that because a lot of times what you'll hear and rebuttal to some of this is that Skeptics will say but Jesus never spoke about homosexuality he never talked about this once why do you talk about it and what's important to understand is that.
Jesus Jesus did speak about sexual immorality in multiple places which absolutely biblically and theologically includes homosexuality and the reason why Jesus doesn't explicitly name homosexuality has to do with his ministry context Jesus ministered the majority of his time in Galilee and Galilee was not a region that was known for homosexuality at all historically now the reason why it shows up more as impos letters is because Paul is writing to GRE Roman cities all over Asia Minor and Rome and those cities were known.
For homosexuality but it wouldn't make sense for Jesus to address something that wasn't in his immediate Ministry context but he does address sexual immorality and that absolutely includes homosexuality so Jude is making a bigger point about judgment but he references something that was obvious obvious to the Christians at the time and that is the pursuing same-sex attraction is sin and next week we'll get more into this there's a difference between same-sex attractions samesex desires and pursuing those one is in the Temptation Arena the other one is pursuing rebellious sin.
But we'll get into more of that next week the Church needed to understand this but also the people of Israel needed to understand the morality of this which is what is clear when you get to the Book of Leviticus in chapter 18 and chapter 20 and there are two verses in 1822 and 2013 that show this to be prohibited in verse 22 of 18 it says you shall not lie with a male as with a woman it is an Abomination an Abomination is just a it's a it's a aggressive word.
For God despises this sin he finds it attestable to him it's often applied to idolatry it's often applied to corrupt money practices and greed but it's also applied to homosexuality in the Book of Leviticus and then in verse 13 chap 20 it says if a man Man Lies with a male as with a woman both of them have committed an Abomination now the language here is intentional if you read all Leviticus 18 and all of Leviticus 20 and you read those chapters you're going to.
See man the word man show up over and over and over again but in these two verses another word shows up male and that's the Hebrew word zakar and when that word shows up it draws the reader's mind back to Genesis 1 because that's creation distinction language male and female showing this goes against the very design for sex now a common objection to even using the Book of Leviticus Leviticus 18 Leviticus 20 to show that this prohibits pursuing same-sex relations Is that the New Testament clearly teaches we don't follow the law.
So a popular rebuttal that I've heard over and over again is okay well if you think that's true then why are you wearing a shirt with two types of fabric in it and why do you eat pork you're a hypocrite read your Bible now I've always actually found that rort pretty clever if I was not a Christian I would probably use it because it ends an argument pretty quickly because I'll be honest a lot of Christians don't know their Bibles like they should.
But you got to do something with that that's that's a fair critique they are correct we don't look to the Book of Leviticus for our understanding we don't follow the law that's we didn't do this like we don't do this like the Jews do so why even mention it when clearly as you walk through ex we walk through Exodus of the last year we said over and over again we live in the New Covenant of Christ we're not under the law it's helpful to mention these two verses.
For three reasons first it clearly shows the Jewish people believe this was sin it's unmistakable even even Scholars that that seek to legitimize samesex relationship ship will say no it's very clear that in Judaism they understood this to be sinful second the text is talking about consensual homosexual sex this is not rape this is not power and balance this is talking about consensual homosexual relations third the Hebrew word used in these passages in Leviticus 1820 becomes Central to interpreting two passages in the New Testament and we're we're going to go there.
Now 1 Corinthians 6 1 Timothy 1 now these like other writings of Paul other parts of the Scripture it's a it's got a big list of sins and the middle of this is homosexuality so First Corinthians 6 or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolators nor adulterers nor men who practice homosexuality nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor reelers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of.
God then in 1 Timothy again now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully understand this the law is not laid down for the just but for the Lawless and disobedient for the ungodly and sinners for the Unholy and profane for those who strike their fathers and mothers for murderers the sexually immoral men who practice homosexuality enslavers liars perjurers and whatever else is contrary to sound Doctrine so in 1 Corinthians 6 homosexuality is translated from two Greek words Maloy and our syoy time.
So two Greek words in 1 Timothy 1 it just uses our syoy time now this is why this is really important I know we're in the weeds you guys but this is it's really important to understand this when you're trying to understand Greek and Hebrew and how it's used you have to look at the immediate context of the bi the Bible book that it's written in the context of its use in other books of the Bible and then you look outside the Bible at other Greek and Hebrew historical documents.
See how that word is being used and when you do a Greek word study on our Senai what you will see is there's not one single use outside the Bible you cannot find one Greek historical document that uses this word nowhere which begs the question okay then what does it mean when you break it apart you have arson and qu it literally means betters of men but more importantly when you look at Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20 and you look at what's called the septu which is the Greek translation of the original Hebrew.
If you look at that you're going to see that in Leviticus and the Greek translation when it talks about homosexuality the word for it is arenos and cotin which means Paul made up a word that's what he did he took the language of Leviticus brought it into 1 Corinthians and Timothy put it together our syy time and anyone who is familiar with the Old Testament who was receiving those letters would have immediately understood what he was doing that he was bringing in the morality of the Holy that part of the Holiness code in The Book of Leviticus to show this is something that should not be practiced.
Listen even even the scholars that believe that homosexuality is is legitimate form of love and sex they're going to agree on that point and say yeah you can't get around it it's very clear that's what Paul is doing and some of them will go on to say but we know better now and they appeal to an authority of our own authority not the authority of the Scriptures but it's almost universally understood that's exactly what Paul's doing now that brings us to what I think is the most definitive text in the Bible on homosexuality and that is the Book of Romans chapter 1 we were here last week and we're going to be here again starting.
In verse 24 it says therefore God gave them up in the lust of their heart to impurity to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves because they exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever amen so we looked at this last week that we as Humanity exchange the truth about God for a lie that we worship created things we worship idols and the place of God and when we reject.
God for created things God says continue in your rebellion and it gives us in and we pursue that all the way to an exchange of the natural design of sex for the unnatural use of sex and homosexuality and that's clear starting at verse 26 for this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions for their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to Nature see that that when you follow idolatry and are given into to your sexual Pursuits it will ultimate result in this women exchanging the natural design of sex.
For unnatural contrary to Nature sex verse 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another men committing Shameless acts with men and receiving themselves the due penalty for their error now the the reason why this text is so important especially in this current context is because one of the most popular arguments that tries to legitimize homosexuality from the Bible is an argument that says that what's really happening in the New Testament what's really happening in the New Testament is not a condemnation of the committed and loving same-sex relationships that we.
See nowadays what's being condemned is pasty and pasty which is very prevalent and the Roman Empire men sleeping with teenage boys it's all over the GRE or Roman Empire it was a common practice and what's argued is is that what's really being condemned is that type of abuse but not the loving committed same sex relationships we have now and that argument is indefensible in light of Romans 1 first off it's indefensible for other reasons that I won't get into but Romans 1 is clear.
Because there is not one history historical example of pasty being practiced by women you cannot find it in the Roman Empire older women did not sleep with teenage girls that did not happen so that's not what's being condemned here at all it's a broad condemnation of homosexuality not a specific condemnation of a type of homosexuality so it's clear from the Old Testament to the New Testament the teaching is consistent that homosexuality is against the very design for sex which is man woman in the confines of marriage biblically there are no same-sex relationships that honor.
God and there's not one example of a samesex relationship in the Bible That's seen as honorable now if you want to argue that there is no God if you if you want to be an atheist and argue that that there is no God and that there's no purpose there's no such thing as meaning that this is all the result of cosmic chance and we're all creating what we want in front of us and nothing really matters so yeah homosexuality should be fair game it happens in nature right like what.
If you if you want to make that argument that because there's no purpose and no meaning and there's no God I think you can be intellectually consistent and do that I would want to argue with you about some other things this will be one of the last things I want to talk about I want to walk you through theological argument to help you see that it's mathematically impossible to believe that this is all the result of cosmic chance but you can be intellectually consistent and be an atheist and argue.
For this but you cannot argue that there is a Christian God that condones homosexuality it is impossible you cannot do it it is intellectually inconsistent to do so and that's very important to establish I know it took a lot to get here but I that's very important to establish out the gate so that we can understand and engage with some of the different arguments that are made in our culture the Bible does not condone this so that's a lot and I I hear the critique of those who don't follow Christ.
For those don't I I I hear the critique when they say that what you're saying is too much to tell someone that they would have to abstain from their desires to pursue chasti to not give in to what feels normal and right to them that's wrong like I've heard the arguments sexual desire is too strong and to tell someone that they can't engage in this is harmful I had a psychology professor in college who called out all the Christians in the room and he called all the Christians in the room and he just he said y'all don't get it sexual drive is too strong of a psychological drive to tell someone that they can't pursue.
This is wrong I've heard that argument that if you understood if you understood what they were going through if you understood the experience if you understood this and how hard it is you wouldn't tell someone not to pursue this said you certainly wouldn't speak so harshly about them that critique has weighed heavily upon me for years and that critique has weighed heavily upon me the last couple of months and that's when God started to lead me to tell you a bit of my own story I became a Christian.
When I was 17 years old and about a year after following Christ I came to grips with the reality that I didn't just struggle with sinful heterosexual lust but that I also struggle with sinful same-sex attraction and at 18 years old as a new Christian I didn't know what to do with that I I didn't know what to to do with this reality that I could no longer deny now when I say that I struggle with same seex attraction that a lot of people have theories on about how all this comes about some will say.
Well they must have been the result of abuse growing up or this must have been uh you must have had an overbearing mother which is not true or that maybe you you were born this way I'll get into more of the Nuance of that next week but I can speak very practically from my own experience where I think this began cuz it's not something I knew when I was seven it began and it kind of formed through years of Internet pornography.
So I came of age probably at the worst time to come of age so when I was uh in the fourth grade we got our first computer in the house when I was in the fifth grade we got dialup internet when I was in the sixth grade we got broadband internet it happened so quickly and if you're around my age I'm 35 if you're around my age 30 to 40 years old and you're a guy you probably have the exact same story story I've hardly met any guy that doesn't have this story.
But at 10 years old I started to look at pornography until I was 18 years old when God freed me from it and in that time period something just shifted in my sinful nature and in high school I started to notice this this creeping desire and I was confused this was in the mid early 2000s and I didn't know to I mean back then South in South Carolina no one was talking about LGBT stuff that wasn't even a phrase that was thrown around in this area and I was confused I didn't know what to do with this that I had this heterosexual Temptations and I like girls.
But also had the same sex attraction attraction that was lingering and I didn't know what to do with that then I became a Christian and I started to understand what the Bible says on this and I started to understand sin and I was like okay by the time I was about a freshman in college I was like I can't deny this anymore this is a reality but I'm never going to talk about it at that point I felt called to Ministry felt called to be a pastor and I I was had some maybe had some unbiblical ideas of what that would mean.
If people found out about this but I'll say very clearly there's a difference between samesex attraction and pursuing it one is Temptation one is disqualifying but I didn't know what to do with it and I was scared and to be honest I've been around Christians long enough to hear some very harsh language I heard the word so many times that I was like I'm not talking to anyone about this ever and that was my goal and for the next few years I continued to just stay quiet to never say anything.
And then going into my senior year the summer before my senior year I was a part of a college Ministry and in this college Ministry I was leading discipling a room full of guys and we were I was teaching them the Bible and I taught them 1 John 1: 7 but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of his son Jesus cleanses us of all sin same thing I've taught here and I taught them that and I watched each one of them confess sin and it was beautiful and I felt like a hypocrite and I could not live under the weight.
Of that hypocrisy any longer I could not preach and not practice I couldn't do it and I said if I'm going to believe the Gospel and I'm going to believe this I'm I'm actually going to believe what I'm saying and that is when I began to finally walk in the light and I found a dear brother and I I told him it's the first person I talked to I told him and he just he said thank you so much for telling me and he gave me the Gospel and he gave me Grace he pointed me to.
Jesus and then later that summer I talked to two other guys two brothers in Christ and I listened to one of them after I done telling me this telling him this listen to one of them articulate almost the exact same story that I have and I realized I'm not alone and I continue to walk in the light I contined to walk with other Christians I saw God use this I got the disciple guys where this is exclusively was their struggle and as I started to walk with other brothers in Christ I was talking with my mentor back home Andy told him this he acted like a Christian in fact I just go on to say.
This everyone I've ever talked about this has acted like a Christian the Church is a wonderful place to figure this out I talked to Andy and Andy said hey man I I'm proud of you but you're getting serious with Anna and you're going to have to tell her before you get engaged and I was like what I don't like that but I I listen to his counsel and obeyed it and I it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do in.
First semester towards the end of senior year I sat Anna down and I looked at her and for 20 minutes through tears stumbling all over my words I just said I I've begged God to take this and he hasn't and that might be the case for the rest of my life I may struggle with samex attaction for the rest of my life and if you marry me you need to know that and they had been preparing me for this and and talking like.
Listen she might need some time she might need a couple of weeks that's fine it's a lot to absorb and she was patient she let me finish and when I got done she looked at me and she said I love you and I want to marry you this does not keep me from wanting to marry you and we'll have to talk about it but I love you and I'm man and I put a ring on it two weeks later find you someone whom you can bear your soul to who doesn't Flinch who acts like a Christian that's and that's that's.
For romantic love that's also for Christian friendship that where you can bear your soul and they don't Flinch for a moment that's what Christian supposed to do and over the years I've continued to walk in the light never publicly moved to Louisville went to Seminary was part of a Church up there walked with other Christians there had accountability had pastors who knew about this came back down here same thing here with our pastors people I've been in community group with people I've been recovery groups with have continued to walk in the light and the Church is a wonderful place to do that.
But when people say if you only knew what it was like I do I do know what it's like I know what it's like to beg God to take it away to plead with God to take it away Theus that is the that that was the Genesis that was the beginning of why I wrote I Trust You Lord that came right out that first verse comes directly out of this when I wrote I feel the stain of darkness and my sin a headd in voice recounting all my shame I know what it's like to feel that shame I know what it's like to have the enemy come in and Whisper things recounting it I've confessed.
His work and Glory the power of His name but the path of life seems like it has no end I've confessed the Gospel I pray in the name of Jesus take it and he said no and the path to Eternity just feels so long I know what that's like you know who else knew what you know who else knew what that was like if Apostle Paul Paul for different reasons understood this he knew what it was like to beg God to beg.
Jesus to take something away when you get to 2 Corinthians CH 12 there's a thorn and the flesh we don't know what that thorn is for Paul we don't know if it's something physical or it's something spiritual if it's sin we don't know what it is but it's afflicting him and in 2 Corinthians 12 he says so to keep me from being conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations a thorn was given me in the flesh a messenger of Satan to harass me to keep me from being from becoming conceited three times I pleaded with the.
Lord about this that it should leave me he pleads I know what that's like I know it's like to plead and ask God Jesus this is sin will you take it will you take it will you take it and Paul is pleading with the Lord he's pleading with Christ and this is what Jesus says that in verse 9 but he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness I've pleaded with Jesus you know what he said my grace is enough my grace is sufficient and my power is made perfect in your weakness and Paul responds.
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ May rest upon me and that's why I'm doing this today this isn't walking in the light I've done that for over a decade but a couple of months ago I was in a doctoral class and I just started to God started to just press into this and what he was saying was it's time it's time for my power to make perfect in your weakness and I was like I I went home and told Anna she's like.
But we prayed for weeks and realized this is exactly what God wants to do that it is time we had fears wrapped in all of this some of them completely irrational some of them more based in reality some of our biggest fears was our kids this is not something they need to know about and we certainly didn't want anyone saying anything harsh or ugly or we didn't want any other kids in the Church to might go up and say something to them we'll have the conversations one day.
When they're ready but we were obedient to the Lord we just said it's time and I think it's time for a few reasons the first is that some of you struggle with same sex sex attraction and you aren't walking in the light some of you struggle with same-sex desires and and you're living in darkness and you're not alone you're not alone some of you are struggling with this maybe you're looking at pornography maybe you're even thinking about engaging in same-sex relationships and I want to tell you that my door is open my door is open to talk you're not alone and there are other Christians in our Church that struggle with this and a few.
Of them have given me their names and taken a brave step so that you can go and talk to them too but Katie Freeman my sister Jordan Sarat my brother also know what it's like to struggle with same seex attraction and choose Jesus is better you're not alone and we're ready for you we're ready to talk to cry but you got to take a leap of faith and you got to step into the light the second reason is that there are people in this city that are pursuing same-sex desires and it is never going to satisfy them it's never going to satisfy them I don't know what's going to happen with the sermon it's going.
To go online I have no idea about a month ago brother of mine said just you need to stop worrying about this and I made a decision right then and there that I was going to stop worrying about it I don't know what's going to happen let me tell you something we're in Casey I don't know if you noticed that Casey is becoming a more gay friendly part of town you can go up and down the Avenues you can see pride flags.
And if this Church gets to be a hospital for the broken which is what Jesus wants his Church to be if it gets to be a hospital for those who are working through sexual Brokenness and they want to come in here and figure this out together Praise Jesus that's what our Church should be and that's what our Church is doesn't matter what you struggle with this Church is a safe place to be able to figure this out together to be able to expose sin and experience the goodness of his grace and his mercy and his kindness and forgiveness this Church is a wonderful place to be to figure that out together no matter what you.
Are struggling with but if you are struggling with same seex attraction I want you to hear something very clearly the most important truth I can say to you today is that if you belong to Jesus your same seex attraction does not define you if you belong to Jesus your same seex attraction does not define you your sin does not define you your savior does I left out a very important part of 1 Corinthians 6 for a reason so let me finish it.
So you can hear this in verse 9 it says or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolators nor adulterers nor men who practice homosexuality nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor revelers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God verse 11 and such were some of you such were some of you such were some of us that if you belong to Christ you are defined by him that is not who you are that is who you were and he goes on to say.
But you were washed you were Sanctified you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God that when you come to Christ you bring your sin and your Brokenness and even your disordered desires and you lay them before the cross and he washes Us by the renewal of his blood that he puts the Holy Spirit in our lives and sanctifies US putting the old person to death and renewing us every day he justifies us which means that.
When God the Father looks upon me he doesn't see my disordered desires he sees the perfect righteousness spotlessness perfect record of Christ that's the truth of the Gospel and if you are a Christian you're not defined by your sin you defined by your savior and if you don't know Christ you can be you can be defined by the goodness of the Gospel and you don't have to be defined by your sin but that means you've got to come to him in faith and you got to submit all of your desires before him I'll close with this Rosaria Butterfield who I think is one of the biggest gifts to the Church in this Arena she was.
A professor at Syracuse she taught feminist queer Theory and she was a lesbian and she met Jesus and left that lifestyle behind you'll hear more about her next week but she says Temptation patterns linger but they do not rule your life anymore and they do not define you Temptation patterns are Outsiders to your true nature in Christ they don't co- with Christ even as they remain I've asked God and I'll continue to ask God to take it and for the rest of my life his answer may be no that my grace is sufficient and my power is made perfect in your weakness.
But that's not my true nature Christ is and though they linger Christ remains and that truth will continue into eternity so brothers and sisters some of you need to take a leap of faith maybe that's talking to me maybe that's talking to someone else in your group some of you need to take a leap and experience the goodness of fellowship and freedom that's found in the Gospel and some of you need to believe in Jesus and need to see that our savior is better than anything this world has to offer and that includes disordered desires we pray Heavenly.
Father we thank you for the good news of the Gospel that saves us that saved me that sets us apart to worship and Delight in you I'm thankful that your grace is sufficient your power is made perfect in our weaknesses we will boast all the more in our weaknesses because that is where your wonderful Gospel is made beautiful so Heavenly Father there are undoubtedly people in this room that are scared there are undoubtedly people in this room that are afraid to talk may you lift that fear and give them Faith to step forward in Freedom and in faith and in trusting you and I pray.
If there's anyone here that is not convinced I pray there's anyone here that does not believe what the Scriptures has to say on this God I pray that you would soften their heart towards truth even when it is difficult Lord help us we love you in Jesus name amen.