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Sermons from the Chardon church of Christ
Episodes
Saturday Aug 10, 2024
Saturday Aug 10, 2024
Ephesians 2:4-8
INTRO: Good morning church. In the last few lessons we talked about the importance of understanding the cross. That understanding of the cross will affect our behavior. The Bible studies and sermons that we have are most often with an eye to what we need to do. They are application oriented. That is a good thing, but we do not as often study the cross which is the underpinning for everything else. Next we talked about the plan of God and the need for the cross. That need is our sin, our transgression of God’s law. Today I want to turn our attention to God’s love.
Please open your bibles to the book of Ephesians 2:4f – “4. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5. even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6. and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7. that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,”[NKJV]
I have always been awed by the unfathomable love of God. I recall the words of the apostle John at 1st John 3:1 where he wrote “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!...” Among the things which that wonderful statement declares, is the expression of John’s awe of the amazing love God has for us.
Has mankind always lived in such a way that this love is deserved? No, certainly not. Indeed generation after generation of human history has evidenced the fact that mankind is ungrateful and rebellious. God has loved the unlovable! In loving the unlovable, Jesus went to the cross. We can not think of the love of God without thinking of the manifestation of that love on the cross, in its effect and purpose. Oh yes, “behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us”. So that we, you and I, should be called the children of God. What I would like us to do this morning is to think in view of mankind’s historic rebellion and ungratefulness, about the desire and the love of God.
I. THE HISTORY...
A. Let’s begin in the garden of Eden
1. It was there you recall that God told the man “… Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
2. How clear was God’s instruction to the man! Yet soon we see Eve and Adam eating of that tree and sin enters the human experience. We might wonder, is this to be the end of humankind? For indeed, the nature of God’s law, the nature of absolute justice, might well have justified God saying “it’s enough”. God’s love and God’s desire did not bring human history to an end.
3. There were, it is true, consequences of sin. There were things that had to be done because of the violation of the law and mankind has to bare these consequences. Yet it was not the end because that was not God’s desire, not God’s wish. Because of God’s love He permitted human history to continue.
4. Last time when we looked at 1st Peter 1:20 Peter says about Jesus, “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” God knew that humanity would sin. And He made a plan for our redemption and set it in motion.
5. In Genesis 3:15 – In what has been described as the first announcement in biblical history of the coming of a savior, we see evidence of the love and the desire of God. To Satan God says “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” I understand that we say “that is a bit obscure” and how could Adam and Eve have understood that God was speaking of a time way in the future of a savior? I suspect they did not understand that. You and I have this wonderful opportunity of looking back historically and of realizing what God was telling Satan, obscure as it might seem, certainly he knew what it was all about. It speaks of the love and the desire of God in the future tense.
B. What about in the days of Noah.
1. Genesis 6:5-7 – “5. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7. So the Lord said, now listen to this, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.''” There was nothing in this period of history that would have commended humankind.
2. The Bible says that every intent of the thoughts of man were only evil continually. “Here we see the total corruption of humanity. Furthermore, there were no men anywhere (with the exception noted in Genesis 6:8) who varied from this pattern; and there was no occasion when any man left off the mental pursuit of wickedness! It would be difficult to devise a sentence that would any more effectively portray the corruption of humanity than does Genesis 6:5”. (Coffman)
3. Certainly it seemed that this would be the end for humanity – If I read this correctly, God considered putting it to an end. God announced the summary punishment and destruction of all on the face of the earth; but before announcing what was to happen. He indicated Noah was an exception, through whom a new beginning for mankind would come.
4. Genesis 6:8 – “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Here was one man in what was otherwise a cesspool of humanity. One man! One righteous man. God sees this one righteous man and God’s desire and love was to preserve him and his family. God could have done something different. He could have gathered Noah to Himself and then destroyed the earth, but He did not. You see the love and desire of God is for mankind. (cf. 1st Peter 3:20 – “who formerly were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.”)
C. Let’s look at the days of Abraham.
1. Genesis 12:1-3 – Here are the words around which scripture revolves as far as history is concerned. “1. Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. 2. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.''” I wonder, did Abraham comprehend all that was said here? In my human thinking I would doubt that he did. He may have understood about the great nation. What about those words “in you all families of the earth shall be blessed”?
2. Whether or not Abraham comprehended the vastness of the meaning of those words, you and I know in retrospect, that those words represent one of God’s great promises, and are evidence of God’s great desire and love for humanity.
3. Galatians 3:8 – Here the apostle Paul sites that very passage to tell us that this is the declaration of the gospel to Abraham. “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed.''” This was a proclamation of the good news, the Gospel, to Abraham! The good news of God’s love and God’s desire to be reconciled to humankind. The reconciliation that would take place in the form of the possibilities presented by the cross of Jesus Christ.
4. God had a plan. He has always had a plan. God’s patience has been tried and tested over and over again in the period between Genesis chapter 3 and now. Even in the testing of His patience, He has a plan!
D. Then in the days of David.
1. 2nd Samuel 7:12-16 – Here is God speaking to David through the prophet Nathan. “12. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. 15. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” As I read these words I find no mention of the savior or messiah or redemption or reconciliation. Yet, in these words, I’m thinking now of the history of God’s relationship with mankind, against the backdrop of mankind’s ungratefulness and rebellion,… what I see in these words are facts that are going to relate so deliberately to mankind’s future history. Of whom does God speak?
a. “I will set up your seed after you” We know that Solomon was not “set up” after David, but during David’s reign, and the authority of David was the key factor in the enthronement of Solomon.
b. “I will be his father, and he shall be my son”. Not even an angel of heaven deserved such a line as this, much less Solomon. The inspired author of Hebrews makes that fact absolutely indisputable. “To what angel did God ever say,”… “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son?” (Hebrews 1:5).
c. I need to mention, the words cited in Luke 1:32-33 the annunciation to Mary about the birth of Jesus. “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” So this was a prophecy.
2. The point is:
a. God’s mercy is not going to depart from the offspring of David.
b. And that David’s “throne shall be established for ever”.
3. That brings me to the great point here. God’s still has a plan and that plan is moving forward.
4. God still has love and desire and a plan for mankind. This will not be deterred or overturned. The plan involves David and his seed, and a throne and a kingdom.
E. That brings us to the days of Isaiah
1. Isaiah 9:6-7 – Here we read of this king and this kingdom. “ For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
2. Hundreds of years have passed from 2nd Samuel chapter 7 to Isaiah chapter 9. Hundreds of years of wickedness, and rebellion and idolatry and forsaking God have occurred.
3. Yet, here is Isaiah speaking of a coming King and kingdom in terms and descriptions which are filled with hope ... and evidence of God’s plan.
4. It is true that a lot of things have transpired. Notice however the words “the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” - the plan goes on.
5. God’s love will not be turned aside. God’s plan will not be short circuited. God’s plan involves the coming King and the kingdom.
F. Finally in the last of the books of the prophets, in the days of Malachi.
1. Remember that many, many years have passed from Isaiah to Malachi.
2. In Malachi 4:2 – “But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.” God still speaks of One Who will come to bless humanity.
3. If sin is the malady (and it is), this One will come with “healing” as Malachi says here, in His wings. The remedy for sin will be found in Christ. All of the ungratefulness, the rebellion, the sin that man has done, has not swayed God from His purpose, His plan. The Sun of righteousness will arise the prophet says. Jesus is coming.
4. From Eden to Malachi the theme has been the desire and love of God.
II. WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN?
A. God could have just said so many times “enough is enough”.
1. The nature of law and absolute justice certainly indicate that.
2. But into that place comes the love and mercy of which Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:4 – “… God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,”
3. Oh yes, sin has temporal consequences which cannot be “waived”, that is true ... but one of the consequences of sin, the eternal separation from God is not necessary because of the cross of Jesus Christ. When I say is not necessary, what I mean by that is each of us can make a choice.
B. God’s desire is for reconciliation.
1. Yes, there will come an end to all things. Peter writes about it in – 2nd Peter 3:10 – “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”
2. We have no idea when it will come - but come it will. To all the people that are saying “these are the signs of the end of time” “these are the signs which herald the coming of the Lord”, the nicest thing I can say is that they are terribly mistaken. They have not read their bibles correctly and carefully. Yes, there will come an end. According to Matthew 24:26f Jesus explains “But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
3. Because there will come an end, it is our pleasure and our privilege to proclaim the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can speak of the love of God and the mercy of God, of the grace and forgiveness of God, because though there is an end coming, in the intervening period still it is God’s desire for reconciliation.
C. God’s love is filled with grace, mercy and forgiveness
1. I cannot review God’s history with man without being sobered and awed by the amazing love and mercy that God has shown to us. It is everywhere found in the scriptures.
2. As I review that history I come to the conclusion that all of this is pointing ahead to Jesus Christ, that One, that King, that Messiah, that Savior, of whom God spoke through His prophets for hundreds of years. – I mentioned to you earlier of the announcement in Luke and how the words of the prophets are fulfilled. Read with me now. Luke 1:31-33 - “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
3. Who can forget the words of John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”— or “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)? The wonderful, matchless love of God, evidenced in the cross.
D. Still, there must be a response from each of us to God’s grace, mercy and love. It requires that each individual make a decision about their relationship with God.
1. “Universal salvation” is not the way it is ... or, will be! God is not going to save without regard to a persons choices in their life.
2. The response may be called “obedient faith” (see Acts 6:7 - “And the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.”) Faith requires obedience.
3. In Acts 18:8 we find a great illustration of this obedient faith. “Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.” There folks, is obedient faith.
CLOSE: Clearly, folks, God desires that we be reconciled to Him. He loves you; He cares about you; He does not want you to be separated from Him for eternity. His love, however, allows you to make the choice. You still must chose. What do you want? Where do you want to spend eternity?
I would this morning, urge in the most loving way, and most concerned way that you make the decision today to respond in faith and obedience to what God teaches in His word, and receive this reconciliation which is His desire to give. If you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, if you will repent of your sins, if you will confess the name of Jesus, and be buried with Christ in baptism; your sins will be forgiven, you will be admitted into the body of Christ, and added to the church of our Lord. You will be a child of God. And you will be able to say “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon me that I should be called a child of God.”
God has blessed us with many things; the ability to choose is one of them. He has also blessed us with the ability to learn, given us His word and this wonderful universe to learn from. In addition He has given us in this ability to choose, the ability to change our minds as we learn. We see this all the time as we study the natural world and learn more. Perhaps as a Christian you have grown in knowledge and found a correction is needed to return to the path of reconciliation.
If you need to come in obedience this morning I would pray that you do so while we stand and sing.
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Adopted from Sermon by: Cecil A. Hutson
Sunday Aug 04, 2024
Sunday Aug 04, 2024
Romans 5:12
INTRO: Good morning church. Last week we talked about the importance of understanding the cross. The scandal of the cross is central to everything considered Christian. How we think about the cross will affect our behavior. If we want to be the right kind of person and do the right things, then we need to understand the Cross. We said when our thinking is based on the Cross; we are going to start living right.
In 1st Corinthians 1:18 the apostle Paul said about the preaching of the cross, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Inspired writers of the New Testament did not forget the cross and the crucifixion of Jesus. Central to what they wrote was the cross and its effects on humanity.
Admittedly, though, over the years, our preaching has gone in numerous directions and may often have become very application-oriented. That is not all bad, but I wonder if possibly in the preaching of application, we have neglected the preaching of the cross. Is it possible that the underpinning has been forgotten to the extent that our application preaching is very subjective?
What I'd like to do for the next few lessons, the Lord willing, is to preach the cross of Christ because it truly is the underpinning of everything else we might say. It all begins with the cross, the crucifixion, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
A Sunday school teacher asked her class, “Does anyone know what we mean by sins of omission?” A little girl raised her hand and said, “Aren’t those the sins we should have committed, but didn’t?” This morning, as we begin this series, what I need to do is to talk a little bit about the problem of sin, because it was sin that sent Jesus to the cross. It is sin which is the reason for the cross.
I. A BRIEF HISTORY REVIEW ABOUT SIN. Let's start by briefly reviewing the history of sin.
A. We will start with a definition. How does scripture describe sin?
1. In 1st John 3:4, there is a very brief but simple definition. John says, “…sin is the transgression of the law.”[KJV]
2. Sin is a violation of the law or commandment of God. It's that simple. In the New Testament, this word sin comes from an original word, which means “failing to hit the mark”, (Strong G266). Think of this in terms of archery for a moment. When you go out to the archery range, there is a target, and there is a place within the target which would be perfection, the perfect shot. We call it the bull’s-eye. The archer raises their bow, draws back the bow string and lets fly the arrow. If they miss the mark, the bull’s eye, the word for that miss is the word from which our word sin comes. Sin is the violation of the law of God. Sin is missing the mark of perfection.
B. Sin enters human experience with Adam and Eve
1. In the Book of Genesis 2:16-17, God gives instruction. He says, “… Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”[NKJV] There is the instruction of God.
2. Then in Genesis 3:6 we read this: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” There is the violation, the transgression. There is the sin. The commandment of God had been violated.
C. Sin in Cain’s murder of his brother. Starting at Genesis 4:7f “If you do well, (God is speaking to Cain) will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”[ESV] SIN is the violation of the law of God and God tells Cain he must rule over it. What happens? “Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.”… I’ll pause there.
1. We need to note what is written next carefully. “So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. "When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.'' And Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment…”[NKJV]
2. When does punishment come? When there has been a violation of the law. We see that in Genesis 3. Punishment comes with sin. “My punishment” Cain says, “is greater than I can bear!”
D. This question may occur to us. We know from Genesis 2:17, what God had instructed concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but what about Abel and Cain and instruction concerning the sanctity of human life? Where is that instruction?
1. Obviously, from what scripture tells us, we do not see specific instruction concerning this matter, but where there is sin there must be a violation of the law of God. It is proper then to assume that Cain knew he should not have taken his brother's life because of God's law concerning the matter. Yet he took his brother's life, and in doing so committed sin.
2. I'd also like us to look at Romans 5:12f. Something is said here that is very helpful as we think of these ancient times and the matter of sin. “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned." Look at verse 13, "For until the law (talking about the law of Moses) sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
a. If you'll notice in verse 13 the apostle Paul, by inspiration of the Spirit, writes that sin was in the world before the giving of the Law of Moses. If sin was in the world before the giving of the Law of Moses, there had to have been law existing in the world.
b. That law has not been revealed to us in the Book of Genesis, but it was nevertheless revealed to those people who were subject to it. When they violated the law, they sinned. It's that simple. Sin is the transgression of the law. If there is sin, there's got to be law, and there was law.
E. What about the people in the days of Noah?
1. As we read Genesis 6:5-6 - we discover God's assessment of the situation in these words. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” How can there be wickedness and evil if there is no law? Answer—there was law. Thus, God could assess these people were being wicked and evil. “And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”
2. Peter refers to these people as “the ungodly” in 2nd Peter 2:5. How can you be ungodly if there is no law which you must observe and within which you must walk? The answer is you can't be, but if there is law, you can violate it and become ungodly. These people in the days of Noah were ungodly. The sin of these people almost resulted in the end of human life on the earth.
F. Question - did not God know that men would sin?
1. I want to tell you that I do not understand the all-knowingness of God. I frankly admit to you that I'm just not that smart.
2. What we're will find though, is that God did foreknow that mankind ultimately would sin. Let’s continue.
a. God has given us this thing called freewill. Freewill means I can choose and that very thing with which human beings are endowed, led to sin at the beginning. God has given His law for our benefit. Moses would say to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 11:26-28, “I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today,” Here is a positive indication of the freedom of the human will. If the Israelites were not free agents, they could not be punished for disobedience, nor could they, in any sense of the word, be rewarded for obedience.
b. We talk about instinct. When baby sea turtles hatch on the beach they instinctively and quickly head to the ocean to escape the predators on land. Their mothers did not teach them to do that. It is programmed into them. Programming a specific action is very efficient.
c. In contrast to programmed actions, is freewill. When we tell our children what to do they may do something else entirely. The child can understand our instructions but still refuse to follow them. The reason is the child finds other things they want to do more appealing.
II. SIN CONTINUED TO BE A PLAGUE FOR HUMANITY
A. In the book of Isaiah 59:1-2 we find verses familiar to many of us. Isaiah writes, “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities (or your sins, if you choose) have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” - This is the assessment of God through Isaiah, and it is not unique to Isaiah's time.
1. These two verses may well be a commentary on human history to that point and yes, beyond. Sin from the very beginning of its introduction into humanity, has continued to be a problem. It's been the curse of humanity.
2. In these two verses, something else is seen, and this is so important, the effect of sin on the man-God relationship. Sin inevitably is going to separate you from God. It isn't something God chose to happen. He didn't want you to sin. Sin is going to separate you from God because in His Holiness, He cannot abide in the presence of sin. Sin has to be dealt with in one way or another. That's the whole purpose of the cross. God is dealing with the problem of human sin.
B. In Romans 3:23 the apostle Paul wrote, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” This is the judgment of God upon all of responsible age
1. At some point in your life, at some point in each person's life, sin will enter as a matter of the individual's choosing.
2. If there is no law, there would be no sin ... but there is law. There are people who today preach the idea that there is no law; instead they say we are under total and complete grace, and that the grace of God is going to overlook all of our foolishness and our unrighteousness. Those people who preach that message have forgotten how to read. They have not read their Bibles. Or if they've read them, they have not understood. They found something else more appealing. There is law—God's law, and ignorance of the law does not excuse.
3. When you violate that law, you sin. Sin is going to come into your life by your own choosing. Death passes to all people because all have sinned.
C. Then in Ephesians 2:1-3, as if what we've already said wasn't enough, the apostle Paul talks about the effects of sin. “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
1. You see, physical death passed to humanity because we were deprived of the tree of life. Genesis Chapter 3.
2. But spiritual death comes to each person because of their own sin. Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned”. Each and every person is dead to God, spiritually dead, at some point in their physical life, and that is because of sin. Spiritual death, unresolved, will lead to eternal death.
3. We're by nature the children of wrath. What is the effect of sin? It'll kill you. We die spiritually when sin comes in our lives. That is, we become dead to God. That's why the cross was so important. That's what the cross is all about, to take care of this problem that happens when sin enters our lives.
4. Jesus died on the cross to make life possible for eternity. He died on the cross so that we wouldn't have to continue to be dead in sin and thus spend eternity in hell because we've died spiritually.
III. SIN IS STILL YOUR PROBLEM AND MINE
A. In 1st John 1:8-9 where John is writing to Christians he says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1. Again, this is written to Christian people like us, not to people who are out of Christ. These are people who have enjoyed the blessing of forgiveness through the cross of Christ—Christian people.
2. It's written to Christian people who recognize that sin can continue to be a problem for them. People making every effort to walk as they should.
3. Now let’s look at 1st John 1:6-7, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” We can not have fellowship with God when we are walking in darkness. As you know, "walk" in this passage, as frequently in the New Testament, is an idiom for the totality of human conduct.
4. The grammar, the language in verse 7, indicates that cleansing by the blood of Jesus comes as one is walking in the light. Walking in the light shows up our sins and frailties, revealing the need for constant cleansing.
a. This cleansing, however, is not necessarily automatic. It is based upon confession, penitence, and renewal. 1st John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This might be paraphrased, “If we confess our sins to God with a firm resolution to forsake them…” It is difficult for a person to admit blame and guilt, society is hardly capable of any such admission. The trend today is to deny sin exists. Drunkards have merely contracted an unfortunate disease. Adulterers and philanderers are schizophrenic. Thieves, murderers, outlaws, etc. are not criminals, but anti-social. Sinful behavior is not Sin, but the natural response to one’s heredity, environment, deprivation or other things beyond the sinner’s control. This way of thinking is called "self-deception."
b. Then in 1st John 1:10 – “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” To go to the length of denying past sin and present guilt, is not only self deception but to give the lie to God himself. God gave His only begotten Son upon the cross that man might be saved from sin, a salvation that was impossible for any man apart from God’s redeeming act. John’s language here is not too strong. Those who deny their need of redemption from sin, through the pretense of not ever having sinned, are the most guilty and contemptible. To say that we have not sinned is not just to tell a deliberate lie, or to be self-deceived, but actually to accuse God of lying, to make Him a liar.
B. The question then occurs to me, how seriously do we take sin?
1. Are we casual about it? Are we even, some of us, flippant about the fact of sin in our lives, our Christian lives?
2. Do we choose to do wrong things without even a second thought of the consequences?
3. Do we not realize that if we do not deal with our sin problem, that we are setting ourselves up for an eternal calamity?
4. I have a strong suspicion that folks don't like to think about sin. They don't see their unrighteous actions as sinful and can cause them to lose their soul.
C. A preacher wrote that he had preached a sermon about the subject of sin. He said one of his dear friends came to his office on Monday morning and these were her exact words, “I don't like for you to preach about sin.” She went on to explain it's an unpleasant subject saying, “I don't want to hear about it.”
1. This person, in her honesty, confronted him with the idea—I don't like to hear about sin. Perhaps she verbalized in those words thoughts that have been on many of our minds.
2. I just don't want to talk about sin, I don't want to hear about sin.
3. Truly though we haven't talked enough about sin. We haven't talked enough about the effects of sin. We haven't talked enough about how sin can condemn a soul to hell for eternity.
4. People might say; “I'm not so sinful”. What about that expression? … Sin is sin. It's a violation of the law of God, and it will condemn your soul to hell if you do not deal with the problem.
IV. BEFORE TIME BEGAN, GOD LAID PLANS. God did something wonderful. He established a plan by which we could be forgiven for our sins. We can be redeemed from the curse of sin.
A. In 1st Peter 1:20 Peter is talking about Jesus and says, “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” A perfect atoning sacrifice was planned before time began!
1. We can now answer the question… God did know that humanity would sin.
2. And with that foreknowledge, He made His plan for our redemption and set it in motion. The entire journey of the Bible, from the first chapter in Genesis, through the last chapter of Revelation, is all about this plan. Peter says, first in prospect, and now in reality, God set His plan in motion.
B. Speaking of Revelation lets take a look at Revelation 13:8 where the beast is being described – “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.”[para] It is these last words that I want you to notice. Slain from the creation of the world. This is talking about Jesus, the lamb we've read about in 1st Peter 1:20. Jesus Christ, slain from the creation of the world.
1. Wait a minute. I thought Jesus died on the cross about 30 to 32 AD, right in there somewhere. He did, in fact.
2. What we see here is the wonderful plan of God, the knowledge of God, the desire of God. Understand that God's plan, which He formulated, and set in motion, was so immutable that even in the time of Genesis 1, it could be said the Lamb has been slain. God’s plan was so unalterable as to be “accomplished” before it was actually accomplished.
3. That's just the way it is with God. It could be said of Jesus, He was slain from the foundation of the world. Of course, ultimately, Jesus died on the cross, just outside the walls of Jerusalem, in a place called Golgotha.
4. The plan of God was set in motion. The Lamb was prepared, and it was as if the Lamb had already been slain, but His blood was shed at Calvary for our sins. God’s plan involved the cross, the crucifixion - Acts 2:23. It is no wonder the writers of the NT emphasized the cross
CONCLUSION: In God's grace, He has provided both the means and the instruction that we need to know how we can be reconciled to Him. We can overcome our sin problem.
As Christians, we resolve the problem of sin in our lives by confessing and repenting of our sins, and striving to live obedient lives every day.
There are people who have become Christians and know better, yet choose to live their lives in a way that is rebellious to God. Rather then living in obedience they find other things more appealing. We are not the judge. We can see what God's word says about that though. Matthew 7:21-23 where Jesus says, “"Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. "Many will say to Me in that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'”
Remember how John defined sin saying, “…sin is the transgression of the law.” Jesus tells us that those who practice lawlessness are going to be lost for eternity.
Those folks who have not yet become Christians need to know that God's grace has provided in the gospel message the means and the instruction to deal with sin.
God waits for your obedient faith in the waters of baptism. Scripture tells us we need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of sins. The wonderful news is that all of those sins we've committed to that point in time, God remembers them no more. They're gone. They're gone because of the Cross.
Christians who have sinned presumptuously, not caring that their life is not as it should be, I urge you to do something about that. Confess your sins and ask God's forgiveness. God is faithful to forgive those with a repentant heart.
If you need the prayers of brothers and sisters on your behalf, all you have to do is come to the front here and say, I'd like you to pray with me and for me. There’s no time like the present because the present is the only time we are assured of.
I urge those in need to come while we stand, while we sing the invitation song.
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Adopted from Sermon by: Cecil A. Hutson
Saturday Jul 27, 2024
Saturday Jul 27, 2024
Philippians 2:1-11
INTRO: Good Morning Church. This morning we will take a look in Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi and in particular the first eleven verses of chapter 2. This is one of the great texts in the New Testament, sometimes called “The Christ hymn”. It spells out in such beauty who Jesus is and what He did.
Philippians 2:1-11 – “1. Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,
2. fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”[ NKJV]
Paul begins chapter 2 with a plea. It’s a poetic plea, punctuated with four uses of the word “if”: “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion...” Paul knows they have these things, so he really means “since.” “Since you have all of these things...” He continues in verse 2, “Make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.”
Back in the days of the military draft there was a young private, who had been in the army only a few weeks; He was going through basic training. Everyone noticed his behavior was rather odd—rather strange. Whenever he had a free moment, he would just walk around aimlessly on the base, picking up scraps of paper. He picked up an old Skittles wrapper, looked at it and said, “This isn’t it”. He found an old newspaper, and picked it up, looked at it, and said, “This isn’t it”. Other soldiers became concerned and assumed he must not be right in the head. This certainly was not normal behavior. His sergeant took him to the doctor, the doctor sent him to the base physiatrist. The psychiatrist thought he was becoming unstable. After the staff received the psychiatrist’s and doctor’s reports they decided to discharge him from service on medical grounds. As he was walking out the camp gates holding his discharge papers, he smiled and said, “This is it”…
The point of the story is: who gets to decide what normal thinking is? Consider those people who don’t think in the main stream, those people who don’t go along with what everybody else is thinking; maybe they’re the people that are more normal. Do we ever consider that those people, who consistently seem to go against the grain of the culture and think totally different, are the ones who have their heads on straight?
Now the Bible does not often complement the way men think. The problem with man’s thinking is that our minds are heavily influenced by the world. The Bible says in Romans 1:28 – “Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind.”[para] You might say our thinking in this world is very messed up.
Of course it is. People have depraved minds, so why should we expect them to have their heads on straight? Listen; if we’re going to be pleasing to God, we need to learn a new way to think. We’ve got to think differently. What we’ve got to do is let the cross of Jesus, cross our minds. That’s what I want to talk about this morning—about how we need to think.
Starting with this very important principle: what we believe… affects how we believe. The Bible says so. Look in Proverbs 23:7 - “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he...” Decide what kind of person you want to be and then learn how to think to be that kind of person. Romans 8:5 – “those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”
I. This is one important reason why we teach Christian doctrine. I am fully aware some people say, “That doctrine is so boring and they wished the preacher would preach something more practical.” Actually there is nothing more practical then sound doctrine. Teaching explains to us what everything is, how everything works and how it is connected. The Bible tells us, “Only when you’ve got your thinking right, are you going to make the right choices that will help you live right.”
A. That’s why all through the New Testament you find the little word “Therefore”. Whenever a church has a problem, Paul never writes about the problem first. What he always does first is start with doctrine and then after he’s got their thinking right, he says, “Therefore, in light of what is true and how you ought to think, this is how you live.” The Bible says in Colossians 3:2 – “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”
B. Is that easy for us? Well, not at the beginning, not until we have matured a little as Christians. The world’s view of life is a powerful force. The next time someone says to you, “That’s not how everybody else thinks, or that’s not how everybody does things.” You tell them, “That’s irrelevant, because the world does not tell us how to think; we get our thinking from another source. Our minds have been renewed by what the Bible says.”
C. Where does that begin? Let me give you the principle that is the primary influence on our ethics. It is our understanding of the cross. The scandal of the cross was central to everything that Paul considered Christian. How we think about the cross will affect our behavior. In other words, do you want to be the right kind of person? Do you want to do the right things? Then you need the cross to cross your mind because when you’re thinking is based on the cross, you’re going to start living right.
D. The reason people have problems in church is simply, “because they are not thinking right about the cross.” For example: Many churches struggle with division because people follow the teachings of men. People will divide over issues that are absolutely ridiculous. Paul says in 1st Corinthians 1:13 – “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” The reason there are so many fractures, is because they haven’t figured out, they do not understand, the cross.
II. Let’s consider some problems people have. How about the problem of purity? Why is it that some of us struggle with lust? It’s because we haven’t understood the cross. We were bought with a price, we are not our own. “Therefore”, Paul says in 1st Corinthians 6:20 - “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” “Honor God with your body”.
A. How about racism? Those who practice it do not understand the cross. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:15-16 – “… so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.” We can’t be a racist and understand the cross of Jesus. We can’t have it that way. No one who is a Christian can be a racist.
B. What about bitterness? How many people do we know that have problems with their brothers and sisters in the Lord? How many are having struggles forgiving somebody? Ephesians 4:32 says; “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.” Over and over again when someone brings up something about a problem or behavior Paul is going to say, “Let’s get our thinking back to the cross.”
C. Look at marriage. Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” We as Christians must never forget that central event. It sustains us and nourishes us. We must constantly allow the shadow of the cross to renew our minds and reshape our thinking.
III. When Paul was in prison in Rome he received word that the church in Philippi was having some struggles over unity.
A. Two of the women there were at odds and it was affecting the whole congregation. What’s the first thing Paul does? Does he talk about the problem first? No! He talks about the cross. That’s what he does in Philippians 2. He tells them and us; “1. Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2. fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,”
B. Notice he said, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,”, “Your mind should be like that of Christ’”. In other words, “If we’re going to fix the problem, we have got to get our minds right.” Paul continues in Philippians 2:6-11 – “6. who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7. but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
C. Our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in His very nature God, took on the nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Then being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
D. Paul is saying, “Listen Christians, when tension arises, let the cross of Jesus cross your mind.” Or put it this way, “The cross of Christ controls how we think and act towards each other.” Paul wrote this for a very practical reason. He’s telling us, “Jesus is the supreme example of unselfishness. Jesus is the ultimate model when it comes to dealing with other people”.
E. I wonder why sometimes we can’t see that. One reason may be that we do not understand the cross; another is that the world shouts a different message; and still another… may be pride. There is nothing that keeps people apart like pride. Once we have made a position for ourselves where we think we are right… we forget about the cross and lose site of what it means.
IV. Perhaps another reason we have tensions and fights, whether it’s at church or at a job or at home is because we are by nature “clutchers”. When a baby is first born, you will see them working their hands as if they want to grab something. One word a child will learn quickly is the word “Mine”. A reason we fuss, a reason we fight, is we have a little bit and were going to hold on to it. We’re not going to give up our place, our position. We’re not going to give up our privilege. We’re not going to give up our “rights”, were going to look out for No1… What we get is a world full of competition and strife.
A. What if we tried a Jesus’ kind of thinking? Instead of clutching, what if we let go? Instead of looking out for “me”, what if we looked out for one another? Ohhh there is a concept, isn’t it? What if we tried to think about the cross, when it came to dealing with people?
B. The Bible says in Philippians 2:6, “He did not think that being equal to God, was something to be used for his own benefit.”[para] In other words, He looked out for the interest of others even when they were not looking out for his.
C. Verse 7 is saying, “Of his own free will, he gave up all he had.” That’s a radical way to think, isn’t it? Here is the One who had everything, who had every right to have everything. The One who had done no wrong, and He is looking out for a world full of people, full of envy and hate, those who had a right to nothing. Instead of clutching, He let go—to serve.
D. What if we tried to think like that? What if we thought like Jesus thought? The problem is, we come together, we read verses from the Bible about the cross, and we sing about the cross, some people put crosses on their necks; some put crosses on their church buildings. But then—we walk out the door, leave the building and we go home. We don’t think about the cross again for six days. Someone once said, “All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, all hell is terribly afraid of it, while men are the only beings, who… more or less,… ignore its meaning”.
V. The apostle Paul tells us, “Those scared hands of Jesus have determined once for all, for us, who we listen to, what we think about, how we live.” We’ve got to let the cross, cross our minds.
A. It’s not easy, and I think God knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Do you know what He said? God said, “To help you out, here’s what I want you to do, Every 7 days, every first day of the week, get together, just to remember the cross, just to keep the cross of Jesus on your mind. Break some bread, drink some fruit of the vine together, and when you do… think about the cross”. We do that don’t we?
B. Remember this too. We are not supposed to come to the Lords table, if we have got problems with one another. God says, “It’s an affront to Him if we do that.” Because we can’t come to the Supper, if we won’t let the cross be on our mind. When Paul wrote these beautiful verses about Christ in Philippians 2, he was trying to change the behavior of the lives of Christians. This is not addressed to those who are not Christians. If any of us sitting here are at odds with brothers or sisters—are we being Christ like? Are we being Christians?
VI. I know that are those who do not understand why we let Jesus control our lives the way we do. Why do we? Why do we give Him the attention that we give Him? Why do we want the cross to cross our minds? Why do we want to think like Jesus thought and try to live like He lived? These verses tell us something about Jesus that I want to be clear about, and one day, hopefully, we will tell it to more people. Whether you name the Name of Jesus or not, I don’t want anyone to stand before God someday and say, “I never understood what Jesus did.”
A. We as people have a problem. That’s why our world needs Jesus. God made a perfect world. He put Adam in it and asked him to take care of it. Very quickly things got messed up.
B. Perhaps some remember those vinyl albums before CDs came along. Not the ones we called 45s but the 78s. I remember when I was a kid I got a drill and drilled a little hole in one of the records, just about a half inch off center and put it on the record player. It would go around and round. It played, but it would make noise that didn’t sound right because it was off center. That’s what’s happened to the world. We have gotten off center; we have left the correct center. The world sort of works but not the way it should. The center is supposed to be God. We were made in the image of God to look up to Him and worship Him.
C. We know what Adam did. He listened to a lie which came from Satan, and he decided he would try to clutch or grasp at being God. Satan came along and said, “…you will be like God…” What did Eve and Adam do? They said, “I’ll be like God, I’ll be my own God.” They passed that attitude down to us today. That’s what people have been trying to do. They’ve all been trying to be their own God… and the world has the wrong center.
VII. I don’t know how many of us know this but sometimes Jesus is referred to as the 2nd Adam in the Bible. Turn with me to 1st Corinthians 15:45-49 – “45. And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being.'' The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.”
A. The Bible says Jesus did 2 things. “He emptied himself and humbled himself.”
B. First of all He emptied himself, so that He could be a servant. Verse 7 says, “He made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”
C. Then who was Jesus when He walked the earth? Was He God? Was He man? Who was He? He was both. He was God & man. When the Bible says, “that he emptied himself”, it doesn’t mean He became less than God here on earth, it means He became more in a sense. He was God, but now He was also a man. He didn’t get rid of deity, He emptied deity into humanity. He could never stop being God, God’s His nature. So how do we think about what He did?
D. He relinquished His glory; He concealed it in human flesh. Every now and then we get a glimpse of it. If you remember, one time He was up on a mountain, with 3 disciples and He was transfigured. They saw His glory. Paul saw it on the road to Damascus. John in Revelation 1 in his vision got a glimpse of His glory. Someday we’re going to see the bright, brilliant glory of Jesus, too. When He was on earth as a man, He concealed that glory.
E. Why was that done? So that we can approach him. So that He can come near to us and serve us and meet our needs. So He could heal the sick and wash feet and tell about God’s plan. He humbled himself, or emptied himself in order to serve. That’s not the only reason though He needed flesh.
VIII. Mark 10:45 says, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” As deity there was no flesh to nail to the cross. No blood to shed. Jesus of Nazareth was born to die. He came to subject Himself to the absolute humiliation of a criminal’s death.
A. Why? Because it was the only way you and I could be saved. It’s the only way. The Bible says in Philippians 2:8 – “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Let’s pause there a moment and think about that verse. It says, “God humbled himself”.
B. How does one humble God? I can understand how to humble people. I can humble a little child because I’m more grown up than they are. Perhaps I can humble a homeless person because I’m more affluent. Maybe I can even humble an uneducated man because I’ve been educated.
C. Who is big or rich or strong enough or smart enough to humble God? The only way God is ever humbled is if He humbles himself. The Bible says, “He humbled himself and he became obedient to death”. Just think about that. Nobody here is going to become obedient to death because death is part of our nature already.
D. Death for you and me is a necessity. We’re going to die whether we want to or not. Jesus didn’t have too. Jesus obeyed when He died. He chose it. Why? Because it was the only way, you and I, have a chance. We were down here covered up in our sins believing the lie that if we just did enough good deeds, we would get to heaven. We thought we were going to work off the debt and we could work our way up to heaven, not understanding that our righteousness is but filthy rags to God.
E. The only chance we have to be saved is if we are covered up with a righteousness that was sinless. That’s not me and that’s not you. Jesus Christ came and lived a sinless life and then took the penalty that our sins deserved. He was willing to transfer His righteousness to cover us. Then when God looks at us, He sees sinlessness. 2nd Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
IX. 2nd Corinthians 8:9 tells us, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”
A. We need to be very aware and very clear about this. Jesus of Nazareth was God in the flesh. He did this so that His flesh could be nailed to the cross. He did it so the penalty our sins deserve could be taken away, and the righteousness that we never could have, He could give. That’s what Jesus did.
B. What did God do? The Bible says in Philippians 2:9 – “God also has highly exalted Him”. That word “exalt” means to lift up. In the gospel of John, Jesus says, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” Think of it this way, men lifted up Jesus on a cross, and then God lifted Him up out of a grave, and gave Him a place above everyone and above everything.
C. Then in Ephesians 1:20-21 – we read; “20. which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21. far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” God has put Christ over all rulers, authorities, powers and kings, not only in this world, but also in the next. Do we understand what that means?
D. Jesus Christ is above our boss at work. Jesus Christ is above our addiction. He is above our disease. He is above our marriage. He’s above our family, above our leaders, and above our nation. There is not a person or a thing on this earth that has got a claim on us that supersedes the claim of Jesus Christ. He is above it all. That’s one of the reasons why we come here every Sunday and give Him praise. There is only One who deserves our worship. There’s only One who deserves our praise. There’s only One in the highest place, and it’s the God Paul talks about in the Bible.
CONCLUSION:
In Hebrews 2:8 – “In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him, yet at the present we do not see everything subject to him.” Wait… what does that say? That’s true, isn’t it? What we see are a bunch of people playing that record off center. What we see are people not making Jesus highest in their lives. What we see is a world that still seems pretty messed up. We see a world that does not want to give Jesus the place we are saying He deserves.
You and I know: The day is coming when every knee is going to bow, every tongue is going to confess, what we’re saying here right now. God not only gave Him a place that nobody else could claim. God gave him a Name that everybody is going to name—a Name that is above every name.
What is that Name? That name is Lord. Philippi was a Roman colony, and back then you might be tested for loyalty to Caesar. I have been told that if you lived there, a soldier might walk up to you one day and demand you say, “Caesar is Lord.”
Do you know what those early Christians would do? Those early Christians would say Caesar is king, or say Caesar is ruler. But they would not say Caesar is Lord. Some of these Christians would die before they would call anybody else “Lord.”
The day is coming, when every being in heaven and every demon in hell and everyone in between is going to say what that little congregation said every first day of the week when they worshiped. “Jesus Christ is Lord”. Everybody in this room is going to confess it. Everybody outside of this room is going to confess it. The only issue is when.
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Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If you never have done that, today would be a good day to come forward and make that great confession, Jesus Christ is Lord. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.
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Adopted from Sermon by: Mike Glover
Wednesday Jul 24, 2024
Tuesday Jul 16, 2024
Tuesday Jul 16, 2024
Mark 2:1–12
A taxi driver and a preacher go to heaven. Upon arrival the taxi drive gets a HUGE heavenly mansion.
When the preacher saw this he thought, "surely if the taxi driver gets a huge mansion, I will get something even more grand!"
But, when it was his turn to receive his reward, the preacher was given a studio apartment.
The preacher was very surprised and asked, "why does the taxi drive get such a grand mansion, whereas I just get this studio apartment?"
“That’s simple to answer… when you preached, people fell asleep...
But when the taxi driver dove, people prayed."
As we follow Jesus through the Gospel According to Mark we come to one of my favorite miracles in the life of Jesus. It’s the story where four men tear up a roof and lower their paralyzed friend until he’s hanging in front of Jesus. These four friends created a skylight in a house so that they could get their friend to Jesus.
But this same skylight allowed Jesus to see these four men. And this unintentional skylight also filled the house with light. Part of our job as followers of Jesus is to build skylights to bring light to dark places. In this message I would like to challenge you to apply for a job working in the Faith Skylight Company.
I’m actually going to have you fill out a job application. If you have ever had a job interview or filled out an employment application, you know it can be a nerve-racking experience. You can go online and find some humorous statements people made during job interviews.
Here are a few of my favorites:
1. “I was fired from my last job because they were forcing me to take anger management classes.”
2. “Can we speed this up? I’ve got to be somewhere else.”
3. “It’s best for your other employees if I don’t work with people.”
4. “I’d prefer to work for a company that is very lax on tardiness.”
5. Provide an emergency contact number: the applicant put “911”
I seriously doubt any of those applicants got the job. But in our text this morning We read about four tactical friends who started what could be called the first Faith Skylight Company two thousand years ago.
Mark 2:1–12, “1 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.
2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.
3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.
4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So, when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
6 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,
7 “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?
9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’?
10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” —He said to the paralytic,
11 “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
I have so many questions.
I wondered what the homeowner said when he saw his ceiling start crumbling; dirt and dust starts falling on Jesus and on everyone in the room.
If I had been the homeowner I probably would have said, “Hey, who’s going to pay for this damage?”
As the four guys keep creating an unintentional skylight, I can’t imagine Jesus could keep talking, there was too much distraction. But because He knows all things, He realized what was happening. Perhaps He said something like, “We interrupt this sermon to bring you a paralyzed man.
Please direct your attention to what’s left of the ceiling.”
I wonder if the paralyzed man felt any fear from this ordeal of being lowered by ropes to hang in front of Jesus. So, what did you do today? “Oh, I was just literally hanging around Jesus for a while.”
But I think the main focus of this miracle should be on those four unnamed friends who brought their paralyzed buddy to Jesus.
In verse 5 it says, “When Jesus saw THEIR faith...”
He saw the faith of those four friends. You may think that faith is invisible, but according to Jesus, faith can be seen. Can Jesus see our faith? Do we have an invisible faith or a visible faith? These four guys formed the Faith Skylight Company.
I think God wants everyone of us to be employed in this company. I’m going to ask you to apply for a position. But first you probably need to know what your job description will be if you work for the Faith Skylight Company.
Here it is: Creating skylights so people can meet Jesus. Real carpenters build real skylights so the light of the sun can brighten dark places in a home. When you work for the Faith Skylight Company you create openings so the light of the SON can brighten dark places in someone’s heart.
If you’re interested in applying for a position, here’s the job application.
Check each box that applies to you.
1. I CARE ABOUT PEOPLE WHO ARE HURTING
The story begins with this statement, “Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic.” These four men had a friend or a relative who was suffering.
He was paralyzed, and there was no way he could get to Jesus on his own.
These friends had heard Jesus was in Capernaum and they were convinced Jesus could help their friend. They had an unshakable faith in Him.
These four friends believed if they could somehow get their friend to Jesus that Jesus could make a difference in his life. We’re surrounded by hurting people; the question is do you care enough to bring them to Jesus? We have a lot of information that we share, but people don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.
There were probably hundreds of sick and weak people in Galilee, but these four men concentrated on just one. That’s good advice for us. Would you ask God to lead you to just one hurting person who needs Jesus?
We should care for people’s spiritual condition. We should care about how our friends are doing spiritually. My best friends are the ones that care about my relationship with God, those that check to see how I am doing spiritually, those that encourage me to be a better person.
That is the type of friend I want to be and want to have. A friend’s greatest desire should be for spiritual well being. If you want to be a good friend, check in on your friend’s spiritual condition. Hold them accountable to living a godly life. There are hurting people living in spiritual darkness. In order to work for the Faith Skylight Company you’ve got to care enough for them that you’ll do everything you can to let the light of Jesus fill their darkness.
2. I’M WILLING TO WORK WITH A TEAM.
The Bible says this paralyzed man was “...carried by four of them.”
They teamed up for their friend. They did as a team what none of them could have done individually. Can you imagine one of the friends trying to carry the paralyzed man? Two or three might have been able to do it. But because the cot he was lying on had four corners, a team of four people made sense.
We can learn a lot about the importance of team work simply by observing flocks of geese. Winging their way to a warmer climate, they often cover thousands of miles before reaching their destination. Have you ever studied why they fly as they do? It is fascinating to read what has been discovered about their flight pattern as well as their in-flight habits. Four come to mind.
1. Those in front rotate their leadership. When one lead goose gets tired, it changes places with one in the wing of the V-formation and another flies point.
2. By flying as they do, the members of the flock create an upward air current for one another. Each flap of the wings literally creates uplift for the bird immediately following. One author states that by flying in a V-formation, the whole flock gets 71 percent greater flying range than if each goose flew on its own.
3. When one goose gets sick or wounded, two fall out of formation with it and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with the struggler until it's able to fly again.
4. The geese in the rear of the formation are the ones who do the honking.
I suppose it's their way of announcing that they're following and that all is well. For sure, the repeated honks encourage those in front to stay at it.
As I think about all this, one lesson stands out above all others: it is the natural instinct of geese to work together. Whether it's rotating, flapping, helping, or simply honking, the flock is in it together... which enables them to accomplish what they set out to do.
You and some friends who know the Lord should team up with the goal of helping another friend who doesn’t know the Lord. You might never be able to help that person all alone, but if you enlist some people to help you, a team can accomplish much more than an individual. If you want to work for the Faith Skylight Company, you must we willing to work with a team.
3. I SEE OBSTACLES AS OPPORTUNITIES
The Bible says this team of friends faced several obstacles. “They could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd.”
The first obstacle was the crowd. I’ve seen the ruins of Capernaum many times. The lanes between the houses are so narrow there was barely enough room for two people to pass. The house was full and the narrow lanes were filled with people wanting to catch the words of Jesus inside the house.
Then there was the obstacle of the house itself. The houses were built with black basalt stone and then covered with plaster. There was only one door, and there were only a few small windows cut at the top of the walls under the ceiling.
There was no back door or window to use to bring in the stretcher. The roof of the house was another obstacle. On top of the stone walls, wooden timbers were used as ceiling joists. A mixture of palm leaves, mud, and clay were mixed into a thick mortar and placed in layers between the timbers.
When each layer dried another layer was added until there was a thick, waterproof roof. Then more palm leaves were placed on top of the roof.
These roofs were thick and hard as a rock.
But these four friends didn’t let obstacles stop them. They saw these obstacles as opportunities. They kept on moving toward Jesus. How do you react when you’re confronted with obstacles? Obstacles are often simply opportunities for faith. If you want to work for the Faith Skylight Company, you’ve got to see obstacles as opportunities.
4. I LOOK FOR CREATIVE WAYS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS.
There were obstacles, but these men of faith found a way to overcome the obstacles. The Bible says, “They made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.”
We’re always going to face problems. But people of faith should always be looking for creative ways to solve problems. I heard about a businessman from NYC who was going to take a month-long trip to London.
He went to his local Manhattan bank and asked to borrow $1,000 for the trip. He even drove in his new Cadillac as collateral. He was a good customer, so they gave him his money. When he returned he paid back the full $1,000 plus $12 interest.
The banker asked him, “So, I’m curious. You’ve got plenty of money; I wonder why you wanted to borrow $1,000 for this trip?” The businessman replied, “Where else could I park my new Cadillac in a safe place for a month in Manhattan for $12?” He was thinking creatively.
So, think about your friend or friends who need Jesus. What are some creative ways you can team up with others to expose that person to the light and life of Jesus Christ. If you want to work for the Faith Skylight Company you will need to come up with creative ways to solve problems.
5. I DON’T QUIT EVEN WHEN CRITICIZED.
What would you do if someone started digging a hole in your roof? You’d probably call the cops. What would you do if you saw someone digging a hole in your neighbor’s roof? You’d call the cops.
I think it’s reasonable to think that the homeowner or neighbor of this house probably yelled up for the men to stop destroying that roof. But they didn’t stop. They kept on digging.
Jesus didn’t tell them to stop. Why? Because Jesus knows people matter more than buildings. Jesus knew there were two miracles that were going to happen as a result of that skylight.
First, Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven.” That’s the greatest miracle in the world. That’s what Jesus wants to say to each of you today. “Your sins are forgiven.” But even Jesus was criticized. The religious leaders were thinking, “Who does He think He is? Only God can forgive sins!” They were right. Only God can forgive sins. Jesus knew what they were thinking, just like He knows what we’re thinking right now.
He said, “So, what’s a bigger miracle? Forgiveness or healing? You all expected me to heal him. Well, just so you will know that the Son of Man has power to forgive sin, go ahead, friend, grab your bed and walk out of here.”
And that’s what the man did. I can imagine Jesus looking up at these four workers in the Faith Skylight Company, and He smiled at them as they were high-fiving and hugging each other.
Do you have friends or family members who need Jesus? Don’t give up on them. Even if you are criticized don’t stop enlarging that skylight. Just keep letting them see the light of Jesus. When Jesus sees your faith, He’ll smile, too.
CONCLUSION
Of all these characters in this story, which one do you see most like yourself? You may relate to the paralyzed man. You may not be physically paralyzed, but you are bound by sin and you need to have Jesus forgive you.
Jesus is in the house today. If you will come to Him Believing that He is the Son of God, Repenting of your sins And, being BURIED with Him in BAPTISM… He will say to you the same thing He said, to that paralyzed man, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
For others of you who are Christians already, you see yourself like the four friends. You want to work for the Faith Skylight Company. You want to open ways for your friends to meet Jesus.
But there were other people in this story. They were the one who were crowding in the house, even the religious leaders. In other words there were two kinds of people there. Some were ON the way to Jesus and some were IN the way of Jesus. The Boss is offering you the job today. Will you come to work for the Faith Skylight Company? The pay isn’t very much, but the retirement benefits are out of this world!
The lesson is yours as we stand and sing the song of invitation.
Monday Jul 08, 2024
Monday Jul 08, 2024
Psalm 100
INTRO: Good morning church! Please turn in your Bibles to the Book of Psalms and let’s read Psalm 100 together. I will be using the NKJV.
Psalm 100 –
“1. Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
2. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.
3. Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.”[NKJV].
We don't know who the inspired writer was, and we don't know when this particular Psalm was recorded, but it's very beautiful. The Bible teaches that whatever things were written before, are written for our learning, therefore we need to pay attention to the Book of Psalms because they are a part of the Old Testament. Jesus referred to the things written about Him in the law, and the prophets, and in the Psalms.
During His ministry, the Lord revealed His requirements for true worship. You will recall that in John 4, our Lord was having a conversation with a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. One of the subjects they talked about was worship.
In connection with worship, our Lord said John 4:23-24 – “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Here our Lord reveals some fundamental requirements concerning worship.
First, He said that true worshippers worship the Father. We need to always remember that our worship is directed to God in heaven. Next, He said that true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth. To worship in spirit means to worship with the proper attitude and disposition. To worship in truth means to worship according to God's will as it is revealed in the New Testament.
Worship is directed to the Father, and worship to please God must be in spirit and in truth. The Lord taught that worshiping in spirit and worshiping in truth are equally important. We must not exalt one over the other. Jesus said that they're both essential.
Today, what I would like for us to do is examine two important guidelines from Psalm 100 that will help us worship in spirit. We will look at “in spirit” because it might be a bit harder for us to grasp then “in truth”. In doing so we're not in any way indicating that worshiping in spirit is more important than worshiping in truth, they're both equally important.
From time to time we find we can use reminders of principles that will help us to not only worship in truth, but also to worship in spirit. It's just a matter of being a human being, I guess. When we do the same things over and over again, if we're not careful, they can become commonplace, and we must not allow that to happen in worship.
Each time we come together in worship we participate in the same activities. We need to use some discipline to make sure that we always worship in spirit, that is, with the proper attitude and disposition.
The reason why that's such an important matter is because of what can happen. In the last book of the Old Testament, the Book of Malachi, Malachi wrote about the coming of Elijah. Malachi closed by calling upon the Lord's people to look forward to this event. Jesus said during His ministry, that the prophecy of Elijah’s coming was fulfilled by John the Baptist.
There is a story from a time when many of us were a lot younger about a young couple inviting their preacher for Sunday dinner. While they were in the kitchen preparing the meal, the preacher asked their son what they were having. "Goat," the little boy replied.
"Goat?" replied the preacher, "Are you sure about that?"
"Yes," said the youngster. "I heard Dad say to Mom, 'We might as well have the old goat for dinner today as any other day.
Malachi closed his writing with a message of hope to his people, but he primarily dealt with some of the sins of which they were guilty. One thing that Malachi dealt with was the spirit that some of the Jewish people had begun to manifest in worship. Malachi 1:13 – “You also say, `Oh, what a weariness!' and you sneer at it,'' says the Lord of hosts. "And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?'' says the Lord.” When people spoke of worship as “a weariness”, were they worshiping in spirit? Certainly not.
They had allowed worship to become “weariness” to them. That in turn affected what they were doing. Some of them were taking blind, lame, and sick animals and offering them to God. Malachi, speaking on behalf of God, said, Offer that animal to your governor — see if he'll be pleased with it. They wouldn't dare do something like that, yet they had no problem presenting that type of animal to God Almighty.
The Book of Malachi shows that a failure to worship in spirit will lead to other failures in worship. They didn't put forth the effort to make sure that they maintained the proper spirit as they were worshiping God.
I. In Verses1-3 "PRAISE" is Emphasized:
A. Let's consider two very important guidelines that will help us to worship in spirit. When we look at the first three statements of Psalm 100 we will notice that praise is emphasized. It plays a role in worship to maintain our desire to worship in spirit.
1. Psalm 100:1 – “Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!” That sounds like praise to me, doesn't it to you?
2. Then is says, “Serve the Lord with gladness…” That's maintaining a proper spirit while worshiping God. I can't help but think about what David wrote in Psalm 122:1 – “I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the Lord.''”
3. Next we read, “… Come before His presence with singing.” All of those statements are emphasizing the importance of praise.
B. It's interesting that when we examine the Book of Psalms, we find that others of them begin in the same way.
1. Psalm 95:1 – “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.” Notice how joy is emphasized. That has to do with maintaining the proper spirit.
2. Psalm 96:1-3 – “1. Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. 2. Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. 3. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.”
3. Psalm 98:1 – “Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! For He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory." The Psalms include appeals made to God's people to offer praise to God, - to sing, to make a joyful noise, and to do so with the proper spirit.
C. The Bible teaches us to emphasize praise, but it goes further than that. The Bible teaches us why God deserves our praise. Psalm 100:3 says simply, “Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” I think that's a very good reason to offer praise to God. He deserves our praise because He IS God.
1. Psalm 95 also talks about this. Psalm 95:3-5 – “3. For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods. 4. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. 5. The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land.” The Lord, He is God, not just a god with a little g, but He is God with a capital G. God deserves our praise because of who He is.
2. There's another reason revealed to us in Psalm 100:3 concerning why God deserves our praise. “…It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves…” To go along with that, let's look at Psalm 95:6 which reads, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” These passages help us understand exactly what is involved in worship. The Hebrew word for worship here, (שָׁחָה), (shâchâh), means; bow, bow down, obeisance, reverence. (Strong’s H7812). Worship means to show reverence to, to bow down before.
3. Let's read it again. “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” This is showing reverence is to be paid to God. God deserves our praise. First, because of who He is, He is God. Then also notice that we haven't made ourselves. God has made us.
4. There's a third statement made in Psalm 100:3, another reason why God deserves our praise. “…We are His people and the sheep of His pasture…” Notice the point that the writer is making when he writes, “We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.” Since we are His, we belong to Him, we are in His pasture. That is, He cares for us as the shepherd cares for the sheep. We have access to wonderful blessings.
D. When the writer of Psalm 100 mentioned the fact that we are the sheep of His pasture, it leads us to think about the 23rd Psalm, doesn’t it? I strongly suspect that of all the psalms the 23rd Psalm is known by all who are listening this morning. This is the favorite Psalm of many people and it is one we should spend some time thinking about often, as we go through our lives.
1. David began this Psalm by saying, “The Lord is my shepherd”. That's a key statement. David recognized the Lord as his shepherd. Remember the writer of Psalm 100:3 said, we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. That's a reason why God deserves our praise.
2. Having said that, let's consider some blessings that David mentioned in the 23rd Psalm which are associated with knowing the Lord as our shepherd.
a. Blessing number one is contentment. David said, “I shall not want.”
b. Blessing number two is providential care. “He makes me to lie down in green pastures;”
c. Blessing number three is peace. “He leads me beside the still waters.”
d. Blessing number four is restoration. “He restores my soul;” That means that God will turn back the soul if we will submit to His will.
e. Blessing number five is direction. “He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.”
f. Blessing number six is courage. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;” I've wondered if when David wrote that particular part of this psalm, did he reflect back on that occasion when he faced the giant Goliath? There was no fear in David's heart and he won a victory that day. Then he led the children of Israel to win a great victory over the Philistines.
g. Blessing number seven is companionship. “For You are with me;”
h. Blessing number eight is comfort, something we certainly all need from time to time. “Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
i. Blessing number nine is favor. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil;”
j. Blessing number ten is abundance. “My cup runs over.” There are times we hear people refer to that particular statement who don't even believe the Bible. When they talk about enjoying a great blessing, they say, my cup is running over. David knew about that blessing. He knew all about abundance.
k. Blessing number eleven is assurance. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life;”
l. Then blessing number twelve is immortality. “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”
3. David wrote many beautiful Psalms. They are a joy to read and to study. He wrote about half of the Psalms. Think about all the years that the 23rd Psalm has been in existence, and the comfort that it has brought to so many people. We should be grateful that David wrote it.
E. These principles revealed in the first part of Psalm 100 will help us to worship God in spirit. A lot of emphasis is placed on praise. God deserves our praise, and of course, there are reasons given to us why He deserves our praise. We need to think about those matters.
II. In Verses 4-5 "Thanksgiving" is Emphasized:
A. Let's turn our attention, though, to something else that's addressed in verses 4 and 5 as we talk about guidelines that will help us to worship in spirit. We've already talked about the important role that praise plays in worship. Now let's see the emphasis placed on being thankful in this particular Psalm.
1. Let's look at two statements that are made in Psalm 100:4. The first, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving”.
2. The second, “Be thankful to Him” These are two appeals made for God's people to approach Him with thankful hearts.
B. Similar appeals are made in other Psalms.
1. Psalm 105:1 says, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples.”
2. Psalm 106:1 says, “Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.”
3. Psalm 107:1 says, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” Many times the Book of Psalms teaches us that as we endeavor to worship the Lord, we are to do so with thankful hearts, we give thanks to him. Praise is important, but thanksgiving is also important.
C. Now consider verse 5 of Psalm 100. This verse gives us several statements that show why God deserves our thanks. As we saw the first part of the Psalm emphasizes praise, and the writer shows us why God deserves our praise. Next our attention is turned to thanksgiving, and now we're shown why we need to be thankful.
1. Number one, “For the Lord is good;” Certainly that is an excellent reason to be thankful. Psalm 33:4-5 says. “For the word of the Lord is right, And all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” and Psalm 34:8, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!”
2. Statement number two says, “His mercy is everlasting”. We've already read several times from other Psalms that His mercy endures forever. Psalm 103:8 says, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.” And then verse 11, “For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;”
a. You probably have all experienced those warm summer nights when you were somewhere where the sky was clear and you could see the vast expanse of stars. I recall those times and wondered at the vastness of our universe and how far those stars are from earth. When you read about the stars, distances are mentioned which we can not even imagine. Suffice it to say it's a long way.
b. “For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;” God’s mercy is everlasting.
3. Then there's a third statement made in verse 5 that teaches us why God deserves our thanks. “His truth endures to all generations.”
D. Today it seems a lot of people have the idea that what they say is truth regardless of the facts. Why I wonder? Because the person thinks it is—and that is subjective.
1. There's an objective way to determine truth. Truth is not subjective, yet a lot of people today think that it is. What's true for you may not be true for me and vice versa. That, I think, is a reflection of one of the problems that we have in our society today.
2. Truth is truth. Truth can be known objectively. God's truth doesn't change from one generation to the next. His truth endures to all generations. That's the reason why God deserves our thanks. He's the source of truth, and His truth endures. It doesn't change. It doesn't go away. It's not replaced by something else.
CONCLUSION:
The principles we looked at from Psalm 100 that have to do with Praise and Thanksgiving will help us to worship in spirit. Jesus said, that acceptable worship, that true worship, must be offered in spirit and in truth. We need to understand “why” we worship God. To worship in spirit means to worship with the proper attitude and disposition.
We need to keep in mind the “why” to help us worship in spirit so that we can avoid the mistakes made by the Jewish people of Malachi's day. They got to the point where they said, Behold what a weariness it is. That's a bad attitude toward worship, isn't it? It became a chore to them. They became jealous of giving their best and even of the giving of their time.
If we have our hearts centered on praising God and offering thanks to him, I'm persuaded that that will go a long way toward helping us worship in spirit.
What about Christian worship? To determine how to worship God, today, we want to go to the New Testament. Let's look at Ephesians 5:19-20, “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Praise and thanksgiving are included in Christian worship.
Let's also read Hebrews 13:15, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”
We should also keep in mind that praising God and being thankful are not limited to worship. They're included in worship, they will help us to worship in spirit, but they're not limited to worship.
______________________________________________________________________
The lesson is yours. Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.
# ??? Reference Sermon by: Raymond Sieg
Monday Jul 01, 2024
Saturday Jun 29, 2024
Saturday Jun 29, 2024
Mark 3: 20-27
Macho men always want to brag about how strong they are.
One day some boys on a school playground were bragging. Johnny said, “My dad has a list of all the men he can beat up—and all your dads are on his list!”
Later that afternoon a knock came on Johnny’s house
and his dad answered the door.
A big angry man said, “Are you Johnny’s dad?”
He said, “I am.”
“Well Johnny told my son said you have a list
of men you think you can beat up, and my name is on it.” Johnny’s dad said, “That’s right.”
The big guy started rolling up his sleeves and said,
“Well, I don’t think you can beat me up.
What are you going to do about it?”
Johnny’s dad thought for a moment and then said,
“I’ll will ERASE your NAME OFF my list.”
Guys are always bragging about who’s the strongest.
Since 1977 there has been a televised event called
“The World’s Strongest Man.”
Most of the winners have come from Finland, Iceland,
and Eastern Europe.
These guys are required to perform amazing feats of strength
like pulling a Boeing 747 with their teeth.
In 2024, Ryan Stoltman secured his third
World’s Strongest Man title,
solidifying his status as one of the strongest athletes
on the planet.
Standing at an impressive 6 feet 8 inches
and weighing 408 pounds he’s a force to be reckoned with.
He holds the world record for lifting
the heaviest Atlas stone ever (631 lb) over a 4ft. bar.
So who do you think was the strongest man in the Bible?
Are you thinking the guy with long hair who could
kill a lion with his bare hands?
Samson was pretty strong,
but after he got a haircut in the devil’s barbershop,
he lost his strength.
In our passage today, Jesus is going to talk about a strong man;
Hopefully, by the time we finish you’ll know the identity of
the “The World’s Strongest Man.”
Mark 3:20-27. 20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat.
21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”
23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan?
24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.
27 But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.
On June 16, 1858 more than 1,000 delegates
met in the Springfield, Illinois, for the
Republican State Convention, and they chose Abraham Lincoln
as their candidate for the U.S. Senate,
running against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas.
That evening Lincoln delivered this address
to his Republican colleagues and the main focus
of his remarks were on the issue of slavery:
“Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention.
If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.
We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise,
of putting an end to slavery disconcertment.
Under the operation of that policy, that disconcertment
has not only, NOT ceased, but has constantly intensified.
In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis
shall have been reached, and passed.
A house divided against itself cannot stand."
"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
That's a powerful sentence!
Did Abraham Lincoln come up with that phrase all by himself?
No. Well, where did he get it?
He was quoting Jesus.
Whose kingdom is Jesus talking about here?
Who’s the “strong man” that must first be bound?
Who’s kingdom is about to come to an end?
The main reason for Jesus’ coming was to bind Satan,
to divide and destroy Satan’s kingdom.
Now, hold that thought for a moment.
Did you ever look up verses in the Bible that have the words “division” or “divide” or something similar in them?
I found that division is not always a negative thing in Scripture. In fact, sometimes God CAUSED division to take place.
For example, in Genesis - when God created the world
– we’re told that: “God saw the light, that it was good:
and GOD DIVIDED the light from the darkness.” Genesis 1:4
I know quite a few people who when they eat…the various items on their plate CANNOT touch!
A few verses later we’re told “God made the firmament,
and DIVIDED THE WATERS which were
under the firmament from the waters which were
above the firmament: and it was so. Genesis 1:7
And these were pretty good things...
because God SAID it was good.
And then in Deuteronomy we read
“... when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars,
even all the host of heaven...
which the LORD your GOD HAS DIVIDED unto all nations
under the whole heaven.” Deuteronomy 4:19
God divided the stars unto all nations?
Did you know that if you were in the southern hemisphere
you see an entirely different set of stars than WE see
in the northern hemisphere.
God has divided all the stars unto all the nations under heaven. And that’s kind of a cool thing.
THEN I read this passage in the New Testament:
(Jesus said) Do you think that I have come
to give peace on earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.
They will be divided, father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
(Luke 12:51-53)
WAIT! WHAT???
Jesus came to bring division??
Well, that’s what He said!!!
But if (by definition) if God does something
it’s got to be good… so how can Jesus
causing division in a family be a good thing?
Well, here’s the deal: People live in one of two realms.
They either belong to Jesus or they belong to Satan.
And when you think about this
you begin to realize there are times we’ve seen
ONLY 2 or 3 members of any family come to church.
Maybe the wife. Maybe a teen.
Maybe grandparents.
And that reality can create division in the family
because some members of the family decide to
belong to Christ and others don’t.
By default – if these people don’t belong to Jesus
they belong to Satan.
You see --- belonging to Satan is not all that hard.
You don’t have to DO anything to Satan.
You don’t have to BELIEVE anything to go to hell.
In fact, not believing in God –
not belonging to Christ –
is all it takes.
Well, what about the people who have trouble
making up their minds?
There are many can’t make a decision to save their souls.
WAIT!!!! DID YOU HEAR THAT!!!
THEY CAN”T MAKE A DECISION TO SAVE THEIR SOULS!!
People who do not make up their minds
to believe in and follow God in their lives...
belong to Satan!
Satan’s kingdom is made up of all kinds of people
who simply have not decided that
they want God to run their lives.
Revelation 3:15-16 tells us
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.
And God’s focus is on bringing Satan’s kingdom to its knees.
His intention is to bind the strong man
and to invite the people who once belonged to the devil
the opportunity at life and hope and peace.
Matthew 11:28-29
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Now, the problem becomes that Satan has no intention
of letting that happen.
Satan intends to hang on to every last one of those that he has. And one of the tools Satan will use... is family.
That may end up being true.
OR your decision might just make all the difference
in the lives of your family.
They might just come to Christ because
you made that choice first.
By standing off to one side and simply being God’s child
you may begin to make your family jealous of your faith in Christ.
And if that happens, you may be able to
help divide up Satan’s kingdom
and change the eternal fate of those that you love.
Jesus faced continued bitter criticism
from these religious leaders throughout His ministry.
That lets us know that if you’re serving God,
you can be assured that you’ll face criticism.
When Jesus faced false accusations and criticism,
He usually asked His critics some questions,
and answered with a parable.
He turned their rants into teachable moments.
In this case He asked, “How can Satan drive out Satan?”
And then Jesus, the Master Teacher shared one of his shortest, and most enigmatic parables.
Let’s REREAD Mark 3:27… examine the parable Jesus spoke,
27 But no one can enter a strong man's house
and plunder his goods,
unless he first binds the strong man.
Then indeed he may plunder his house.
THE PARABLE: Jesus came to reverse the work of Satan.
The Pharisees were insulting Jesus when they claimed
that He was possessed by Beelzebub.
In Jewish literature, Beelzebub was a chief demon, and sometimes even identified as Lucifer himself.
Jesus used this event as an opportunity
to give a short but powerful parable.
What is the spiritual meaning behind this short parable
Involving the world’s strongest man?
Satan is strong, but Jesus is the strongest!
Jesus announced to the world that He came to drive out Satan, the prince of this world.
He said, “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.” (John 12:31)
I could have said Jesus is stronger,
but He’s the strongest.
Satan is real, and he is strong.
But sometimes we make the mistake
of give him qualities that only belong to God.
God is omnipresent—He is everywhere all the time.
God is omnipotent—He is all-powerful.
God is omniscient—He knows everything.
Satan, which means adversary, is Lucifer, a fallen angel.
He isn’t omnipresent, but he’s fast
and has an army of demons.
Lucifer isn’t all-powerful,
but he is like a roaring lion roaming about
seeking whom he may devour.
Lucifer isn’t omniscient, he can’t read your thoughts.
But, like a snake, he is shrewd and crafty.
So the strong man in this parable is the devil,
but Jesus is stronger.
Satan’s house is this world.
Satan is called the prince of this world
but this isn’t the only world there is.
Jesus is the one who came into the world
and He has bound Satan and then stolen his possessions.
But Jesus wasn’t really stealing anything from Satan.
He was only reclaiming what Satan stole in the first place.
Jesus isn’t a thief sneaking in and ripping off someone.
He’s like a policeman going into a robber’s house
and handcuffing him to retrieve stolen property
that the devil took.
Jesus called Satan a thief. He said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill destroy; I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full.”
Satan’s “possessions” are people without Christ
The Bible describes people without Christ this way:
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” (Ephesians 2:1-2)
The Bible says Satan is at work in the lives of people
who don’t know Christ.
Now if you told an unbeliever that they were
under the control of Satan, they would laugh at you.
They would probably say, “Are you crazy?
I don’t even believe in Satan!”
But the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:4,
In whom the god of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Even for people who don’t believe God or the devil exists,
Satan is actively keeping their minds shut
to the truth about Jesus.
They are slaves to Satan without even knowing it.
Jesus bound and overcame Satan on the cross
The Bible says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (1 John 3:8)
“By his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil.” (Hebrews 2:14)
So what does this mean to us?
The devil is a defeated foe.
He is still active,
but he was rendered powerless on the cross.
He knows his doom is sealed.
He’s smart enough to read
Revelation 20:10 that says, “And the devil,
who deceived them,
was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur,
where the beast and the false prophet
had been thrown.
They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
You may be thinking, “OK if the devil is a defeated foe,
he sure is causing me a lot of misery.”
He’s like a wounded animal.
He’s going to fight to the end, although his defeat is sure.
It’s like when the Nazis realized the war was lost,
Hitler issued the Nero Decree.
He told his retreating armies to destroy everything of value. Satan is doing the same thing.
He continues to steal, kill, and destroy.
But he no longer has any authority over you.
He will try to kill your joy,
steal your peace, and destroy your testimony,
but his power is broken.
You can say to him, “Get away from me, Satan,
because greater is he who is in me
than he who is in the world!”
You’re strong, but I have the strongest man living in me!
So that’s the parable.
CONCLUSION
On the evening of June 18, 1850,
a man stood in the bell tower
of London’s Winchester Cathedral staring anxiously out to sea.
All of England was waiting for a report of
the Battle at Waterloo between British general,
the Duke of Wellington,
and the French dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte.
The torch signals from a ship in the English Channel
were sent by code.
The message read: “Wellington defeated...”
At that moment a thick fog rolled in.
The man in the tower signaled the news across the city
To which there was great gloom and sadness
because that meant Napoleon would next invade England.
But hours later the fog lifted
and the rest of the message could be read:
“Wellington defeated the enemy.”
Sadness and despair was replaced with joy and celebration.
When Jesus died on the cross,
it would seem as if He had been defeated.
But when Jesus rose from the dead
the rest of the message was received.
Jesus defeated the enemy!
And we can rejoice today.
The World’s Strongest Man has defeated our enemy!
INVITATION
Friday Jun 14, 2024
Friday Jun 14, 2024
Romans 12:3-8
INTRO:
Good morning. Today we are going to continue to look at Romans 12. Just as a reminder if you hear me say anything that is not according to scripture please let me know and we can look at it together. This morning I would like to continue in our study of this chapter beginning at verse three and continuing through verse 8.
Annie Johnson Flint lived between 1866 and 1932. She suffered from early onset arthritis yet she wrote many beautiful poems. With a pen pushed through bent fingers and held by swollen joints she wrote without any thought that it might be an avenue of ministry, or that it would bring her returns that might help in her support. Her verses provided a solace for her in the long hours of suffering. Then she began making hand-lettered cards and gift books, and decorated some of her own verses. Her life was beset by many problems and suffering. I would recommend you read about her sometime. In considering her life it brings again the question to mind; “Why do good people sometimes suffer?” Of the many poems she wrote I want to mention one titled; The World’s Bible, of which I will read just the first few verses.
Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work today;
He has no feet but our feet to lead men in His way;
He has no tongue but our tongues to tell men how He died;
He has no help but our help to bring them to His side.
We are the only Bible the careless world will read;
We are the sinner's gospel, we are the scoffer's creed;
We are the Lord's last message, given in deed and word;
What if the type is crooked? What if the print is blurred?
What if our hands are busy with other work than His?
What if our feet are walking where sin's allurement is?
What if our tongues are speaking of things His lips would spurn?
How can we hope to help Him and hasten His return?
I would suggest that's what we need to think about. Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work today.
I would also suggest that this is a basic truth of the passages that we've been studying in Romans 12 concerning offering our bodies as spiritual sacrifices to God. God has given us the responsibility to do the work. Not only has He given us responsibility but He has given us the tools and functions as well.
This evening we're going to talk about the gifts God has given us to do His work. Christ has no hands but our hands. He has no feet but our feet. He instructs us to use what we have, to do what God has given us to do.
Turn to Romans chapter 12 if you are not already there. Let’s read starting in verse three again the passage we've been studying.
Romans 12:3-8 – “3. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5. so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7. or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8. he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”
We’ve examined these passages in past weeks to try to understand what our responsibility is in terms of service. What serving God is all about. We found as we studied earlier that the attitude of service is humility. That we must not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but to be always willing to put the other person above ourselves.
We also recognized that in the relationship of service, there are many members in one body. Last week we talked about not being stand alone Christians, we are not isolated from one another, but as the physical members of our body make up a single unit, so we as spiritual members make up a spiritual body. As such we are to focus attention on one another, to care for one another, and to serve one another.
This morning I would like to look at verses 6 to 8, and this aspect of gifts.
I. The activity of service is using gifts: It is functioning in a way that God has given us, not only as a body together corporately, but more specifically as individuals who would do their own work and thereby build up the body of Christ. There are a lot of those in religion who seem to misunderstand what the Bible says about spiritual gifts. In fact, the term gift as it relates to what God has provided for us is looked at in many religious circles as a mystical term that can't really be defined, can't really be explored in any concrete way. That is unfortunate because what the Bible tells us about the things God has provided for us, using the term gifts, is very concrete. It's very particular and practical about way that we are to serve before God.
A. The Apostle in Romans 12, uses a word that is very familiar in the New Testament translated into English as the word “gifts”. The Greek word is charisma [khar-is-mah] which means a gift of grace. It is from the common Greek word charis [kha-res] from where we get the word grace or mercy as it is used throughout the Scriptures. In fact it is used in this very verse that says we are given gifts according to the grace of God.
1. Three times in this passage Paul mentions the aspect of grace or mercy. One of those times is in the definition of the word gift itself. That a gift is an act of mercy. When you receive a gift from someone it is not because you earned it. It means the giver was not under obligation, but rather they gave of their own free will.
2. Before we begin talking about the gifts that God has provided for us and discerning what it means to you and me, to have these gifts from God, we first have to recognize, that we have what we have, and we are what we are by the grace of God. God has given us the tools that we need to function in a spiritual way. These gifts then are not earned; they are that which God has given us of His own free will.
3. In fact, other passages indicate, as Ephesians chapter four does, that God has placed these gifts in His church at His own pleasure. That He has placed the structure of the church according to His own desires. It’s not up to man to decide the leadership characteristics of the body either corporately in terms of the local congregation or even universally in terms of God's church as we can talk about it in a universal sense.
4. Back up a little bit and recognize what Paul said in verses three and four of this particular passage.
i. Paul just said; God has dealt to each one a measure of faith for as we have many members in one body but all the members do not have the same function. So what are the gifts here? What are these things that God has given us?
ii. In the context itself Paul saying they are functions. They are practices or deeds that need to be accomplished. This is not in terms of rank or position as we mentioned last week, but in terms of work that needs to be done.
iii. The implication here is that all of us have received or do receive from God the responsibility to function in a certain way and the ability to function in the way needed. He has given this freely to us through His grace.
B. “Differing according to the grace”: What the text also says is that these gifts differ. That though we all have gifts, we all have functions, we all don’t have the same function, we don't all have the same gifts. We recognize that aspect in the physical body when we make the analogy that Paul makes. We have a physical body. We have different parts, members, of the body and these different parts of that body do different things. They differ.
1. This diversity of gifts or functions makes up the benefit of the whole and so the body is able to function, it is able to do what it does as a whole because each individual part of the body works its own work. The diversity of gifts then is a part of the biblical discussion of the church that Paul presents in a couple of other places.
2. Last week we turned to First Corinthians chapter 12, and I ask you to turn back over there again, because I want us to notice that Paul uses the same concept there. Paul uses the aspect of the diversity of gifts to talk about the actual activity or the functioning of the church at Corinth.
i. In First Corinthians chapter 12 I believe what Paul's talking about are the temporary, miraculous gifts, given by the Holy Spirit at that time. We'll talk about the distinction between this discussion and Romans chapter 12 in just a few moments.
ii. We see in the context of First Corinthians chapter 12 there are these spiritual, miraculous gifts that were given by the laying on the hands of the apostles and they differed from individual to individual. Not everyone that was a Christian in the first century had a miraculous spiritual gift. Some did but they did not all have the same gift. Paul is making it clear here this diversity lends to the unity of the whole.
iii. I Corinthians 12:4-7 - “There are different kinds of gifts but the same spirit. There are different kinds of service but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the spirit is given for the common good.” [para]
iv. Each manifestation of the spirit, gift, is so that the body itself can grow as a whole and can function as a whole. Certainly he’s saying there are different kinds of gifts and this diversity must be recognized.
3. The reason Paul wants them to realize that there are different kinds of gifts, is because he's going to point out later on, particularly as he gets to Chapter 13 and 14, that no gift is better than another. There are different kinds of gifts but any gift, such as the gift of speaking in tongues, is no more spiritual than any of the other types of gifts that were given such as the gift of prophecy.
4. Before we go any further in terms of our discussion of Roman 12 the question comes to mind: Do Christians today have spiritual gifts? We recognize from the study of miraculous gifts that the apostles are no longer around to lay hands on people. The miraculous gifts in the first century were temporary, and therefore there is no miraculous measures of the spirit given to individuals today. In the sense of First Corinthians 12 there are no spiritual gifts today.
5. We see the term spiritual is not used in connection with the gifts in Romans chapter 12. When Paul talks about God giving differing gifts in Romans 12 he doesn't use the term spiritual, and that is significant. In comparison to that, looking at 1 Corinthians 12:1 we recognize that when Paul begins talking about spiritual gifts that the word gifts is in italics which means that Paul doesn't use the word gifts. He simply uses the word spirituality or spiritual. It's clear from what takes place in the rest of the context of 1 Corinthians 12 that what he's talking about there are individual miraculous activities, which benefit the whole spiritual body.
C. Miraculous or not: I wondered, how do the spiritual gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 relate to Romans 12? In Romans 12 when he says we all receive gifts; is he talking about spiritual gifts that are miraculous or not miraculous?
1. We have to be careful to recognize the context of the times in which Paul and the other apostles mention the list of spiritual gifts.
2. Paul has a list in 1 Corinthians 12. He also has a list in Romans 12. Peter has a list in 1 Peter 4. There are lists of individual gifts that are given by the Apostles. Are those lists miraculous or are they non-miraculous? Can we make a clear distinction in the list between what is miraculous and what is non-miraculous? I would suggest that first we have to recognize the context of each passage.
3. The context of 1 Corinthians focuses on the Corinthians misuse of miraculous gifts. Some of those Christians were saying speaking in tongues was more important than any other gift. It was more visible, showier if you will; therefore those who had the gift of speaking in tongues seemed more “spiritual” than other people who did not have that gift. Do some religious people think that today?
i. Paul corrects this. He says there are a variety of gifts God provides for all of them and in the end a person should really seek for love which is far beyond any temporary miraculous gift that was given. You should seek for that greatest gift first, love. 1 Corinthians 13
ii. In the Corinthian letter where Paul deals with the aspects of miraculous gifts he provides a certain context.
iii. The context of Romans 12 is different. The context of Romans 12 is that every Christian has an obligation to offer his body as a spiritual sacrifice to God, verses 1 and 2. The list here then, verses 6 through 8 certainly includes what we would recognize to be non-miraculous functions. Notice what he says here. Paul says there is ministering, there’s teaching, there’s exhorting, there’s giving, there's leading, there’s showing mercy. None of those things require miraculous activity or a miraculous ability to function.
iv. There are no implied miraculous gifts in Romans 12. In fact the only one on the list, I believe, that seems to demand miraculous activity or miraculous measure is the first one when he says if you go into prophecy do it according to a measure of faith. We also find in 1 Corinthians 14:3 – “he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.”
4. What's this mean to us? I think the first thing it shows us is the willingness of the apostles to mix miraculous with non-miraculous gifts. It shows, in some sense, that the church in the first century held them as equal functions. In the congregation you had people who did particular work that they couldn't do without a miraculous measure, such as speaking in tongues. There were other individuals who functioned in what we might think of as a regular capacity, who had been given gifts of ordinary measure of the spirit and performed functions in non-miraculous ways.
5. When the apostles talked to the church about gifts, they lumped them together and recognized that all of these were the product of the Holy Spirit in the life of the individual and given by God. They were equal functions from the same spirit.
6. Later Peter uses the term “gift” in 1 Peter 4:10-11 and notice that he applies it to the aspect of that which is non-miraculous. “10. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.”
D. We’re familiar with these verses. We use these words of Peter to make the point that if a person is going speak or preach he needs to do it as the oracles of God. Meaning what? That he’s going to receive a special miraculous manifestation? No, he’s going to take the word of God as the oracles of God and on that he's going to base his statements and not speak anything other than what God has spoken.
1. Peter indicates that speaking is itself a gift. It is itself a product of the Holy Spirit and therefore spiritual in its very nature. The focus of what Peter said, the focus of what Paul says, in both places, is that the gifts are from God. The glory ought to be given to God when the gift is utilized, or used.
2. When we get through considering the context of each list we should recognize that the term spiritual certainly applies to both miraculous and non-miraculous gifts. It's not wrong to recognize that you and I do have spiritual gifts and that God has given all of these things to us by His power through the Holy Spirit, but that doesn't involve nor necessitate any miraculous activity.
E. These are spiritual functions that benefit the spiritual body of Christ to build it up. They have been acquired through the influence of the Holy Spirit through the word of God. I think that's an important distinction, but sometimes we talk about passages like Romans 12 where it says that we have been given gifts, and we are to use our gifts to the glorify God, and we think simply in the terms of obvious ability.
1. If someone has the ability to run fast or if they can jump high or has some athletic ability or they are very smart, has a lot of intellect, or excels in math, they needs to use that ability to the glory of God.
2. Certainly we are to be using all of the things that God has given us in terms of ability to serve God but recognize in the context of Romans 12 that's not all that Paul's talking about. He's talking about spiritual gifts that have been given to us by the influence of the Spirit of God in our life to do spiritual work.
3. He mentions or lists these things that come from the Spirit of God that an individual ought to be able and willing to use. As a person uses these gifts in the work that is what makes the gifts productive. Makes these gifts function. We are the hands.
4. Consider that for a minute. Now in Philippians 2:13 Paul says; “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
i. The person is influenced by the word of God.
ii. The Holy Spirit provides gifts or functions that we can engage, that will build up the body of Christ.
iii. The implication there is that if the person does not spend time in the word of God they are not influenced by the Spirit of God, then they can’t have many spiritual gifts.
F. Certainly then, when we think about this aspect in searching after ways in which we can serve God, we have to recognize that the source of the ability and the knowledge and strength to use it comes from the word of God. Making sure that we spend time in the word of God and we meditate on the word of God and we live in obedience to the word of God in our life, so that the things God has given us to do become the functioning of the service that God provided to us.
II. Use Them: Then we come to the text. “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:” This then is the activity of service—use of the gifts that God provides. The growth and development of the body of Christ through the gifts that God provided, is the way that Paul says the church has built up. What gifts does Paul mention here? Let me take a couple of minutes to talk about these gifts because I think that even though the list is not exhaustive, there are some thoughts contained in it that help us to understand what our gifts may be or what our functions may be.
A. The first one he mentions here is prophecy. He says “if prophecy let us prophesy in proportion to our faith.” As I mentioned before the Greek word here prophēteia [pro-fey-tie-ah] is defined as; speaking forth of the mind and the Council of God, according to Vine’s. It simply means the aspect of speaking what God has given the person to speak. In nearly every occasion in the Bible, prophesy is used to describe the activity of someone who has been given a message directly from God.
1. The apostles were inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak and write. God brought things into remembrance that they wouldn’t have known had not the Holy Spirit been given unto them.
2. The prophet was one, both in the Old and New Testament, who could predict the future, reveal undiscoverable things from God, and therefore I believe that this aspect of prophecy always relates in its use to the miraculous measure or the Holy Spirit. It is by definition a miraculous gift.
3. The prophets and the apostles are talked about as laying the foundation of the church. Ephesians 2:20 so their work was by its very definition temporary. They were to receive the word as the apostles did and when they preached that word it became the basis on which the church was built.
4. Other men would preach the word of the apostles even as the apostles preached the Old Testament prophets to lay the foundation of an individual coming to God.
B. Today if we try to make an application of this aspect of the gifts we recognize that prophecy most clearly relates to someone who would stand up and preach or teach the word of God. This someone would not be receiving a direct revelation but would preach the word that came through direct revelation as recorded in the Bible.
1. If we think about the gifts there are some individuals who have a gift to stand up and preach the word of God, because they know what the word God says. That is, they've come to understand and recognize and discern what the word of God teaches and therefore they can stand up and they can take the prophetic word and they can make it known unto those listening.
2. That's exactly what Paul told Timothy to do to commit the word to other faithful men who would be able to teach others also.
3. Vine’s New Testament dictionary says that with the completion of the cannon of scripture prophecy apparently passed away. In this measure the teacher has taken the place of the Prophet. The difference is that whereas the message of the Prophet was a direct revelation of the mind of God for the occasion, the message of the teacher is gathered from the completed revelations contained in scripture.
4. You see then as mentioned in 1 Peter 4 the implication is; we dare not preach and teach anything other than that which is written in scripture, for which we have prophetic word. As Peter said in 2 Peter 21 “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”.
5. In the text Paul says, “let us prophesy in proportion to our faith”. The faith here may refer to the objective measure of the revelation. I think that's probably the best understanding. The prophet received a message. He was to prophesy according to that. He was not to go beyond that or leave anything out. He was to make known to others what God had made known to him. That's the very same principle we’re talking about here in speaking the oracles of God.
C. Then he mentions the word ministers. He says one of the gifts is ministry. If we have the gift of ministry let us use it in our ministering. The Greek word here is diakonia [de-aka-ne-ah] which means to serve. It’s used to describe all types of service. Physical servants who would serve a master or Paul as he talks about himself being a servant of Jesus Christ, as the apostles were talked about as being servants of the church.
1. The word there is diakonia [de-aka-ne-ah] referring to these as servants of the church. The word minister simply means Servant. Are you a minister? Yes, you are if you’re a Christian. You can't be anything other than a minister if you’re a child of God. Someone who recognizes their responsibility to serve others, and by the influence of a Holy Spirit has the ability to serve, to help another person.
2. Then we look at people as they help one another today and we recognize the spirit still gives the ability to individuals in a non-miraculous way to help one another even through the experiences of life and certainly through an understanding of the word of God. To understand what it means to sympathize and have empathy for another person, to read what Jesus did and know what Jesus did to help others and follow that example. All of that ability comes through the power of the Spirit influencing a person’s life. If one has the capacity to serve, to help in any way, Paul is saying you must use that gift. You dare not hold it back if you can serve another person you must do it. In a very real sense then we are all to be ministers.
D. He also says he who teaches in teaching. The word here again is the very general term. The original word simply means someone who stands up and through systematic and regular instruction tells another person what he needs to do or what he needs to know. In school your teachers would stand up and they would tell you things you didn't know before you studied and that's the aspect of teaching here.
1. The teacher in the biblical context has an enormous responsibility. In fact James says in James 3 that he has a heavier responsibility than a person who doesn't teach. “let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment” His is a greater degree of condemnation because if he teachers something wrong and leads someone astray there’s a problem there. He is not only responsible for his own life he is also responsible for the life of the person he’s teaching.
2. Teaching is something that a person should never engage in without serious consideration, without recognizing the serious responsibilities involved. However, on the other side of that, every Christian must be a teacher.
3. Teachers are not simply a select group of individuals here that we set aside to do the teaching for us. The Bible nowhere in any way, condones the clergy-laity distinction among God’s people. In that sense we’re all clergy in the sense that we are all to be priests before God serving him and sacrificing and certainly teaching.
4. We look at Matthew 28:19 where the great commission is given to the apostles to go out and preach the gospel to every creature. He says they're to teach them to observe all things I have commanded. Everybody needs to be involved in the process of teaching. Titus 2:4 even older women are to teach the younger women how to love their husbands.
5. The word teach is used over and over again in the scriptures to talk about this aspect of imparting to someone information that they need to know.
Are you a teacher?
Do you know how to teach? Perhaps not in the official capacity or before a group. Consider...
Can you teach your children?
Can you teach others’ children?
Can you teach your spouse?
Can you teach your neighbor how to become a Christian?
Teach the very basics of what you did to become one.
Can you replicate that in teaching someone else?
Maybe the more pressing question is: Have you ever done that?
6. By becoming a Christian God gave you and me responsibilities to teach others how to become a Christian. Have you ever converted someone to Christ?
E. Paul also uses the term exhort here. He who exhorts. The compound word parakaleō [para-ka-layo] in the Greek language, para meaning alongside kaleō meaning to call. It literally means to call someone to your side. You're traveling a path that you have chosen and you call another person to go along with you. Side by side you encourage, you exhort this person.
1. In Ephesians Paul uses parakaleō and the English translation of that word is encourage. It means to advise, to plead with someone, to beseech, to warn someone, to strengthen someone, to comfort someone as this particular term is used to describe the Holy Spirit as the comforter, the paraklētos [para-kla-tos], the one who would bring assurance to Christians even through miraculous measures.
2. The Christians then is obligated to learn to exhort another person. It might involve comforting a brother and sister who is going through some emotional distress, who is facing trouble or suffering physically or is facing spiritual problems, who is involved in some trouble or some temptation. The Christian has an obligation to use the gift that they have to call that person along to their side and to exhort them.
3. How important is it for the church to have individuals utilize the gift of exhortation? We should recognize that there is a potential for all of us stray, become weak, fall away, just head down the wrong path, and if there is not someone there to bring us back, if there is not someone there to exhort us, someone who's close to us who can relate to us in a personal way, who can go to us even in privacy and talk about these things, we may very well be lost simply because there is no one to exhort.
4. In Galatians 6:1 Paul called on those who are spiritual. Notice he says; “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.” Do we see the context here? The person who through the power of the Holy Spirit has learned a function and God expects them to use it. If you have a person that's spiritual they have an obligation to use that spiritual function or gift to bring someone back, to restore someone who's fallen away.
5. They have to do it in a spirit of gentleness. They may have to bear that other person’s burdens but they must use the gift. Perhaps many times we do not. Many times people fall away from church and become weak. They don’t come to the assemblies anymore and they don't associate with other Christians, they get involved in sin. What do we do? Do we stand back and watch? We have the ability to go talk to them, visit them, and try to encourage them. We can give an example of faithfulness to them but perhaps we don't use our gifts.
F. Then Paul says he who gives, do so with simplicity [KJV] or liberality [NKJV - ASV]. The idea of the word here is sincerity, free from pretence, not self seeking, openness manifested in generosity.
1. All of us give. I suspect Paul knows that some do not give from the heart, not giving as cheerful sharing but perhaps with other motivation. Paul is saying that God has given you the ability of the function to give, to understand the importance of giving, not just in the aspect that you have something to give but understand the importance of giving, and also to know how to give so that other people can benefit from it.
2. You remember what Jesus said in Luke 3:11 “"He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.''” That passage is pointing out what we have determines our responsibility. If you've got two tunics and think someone else needs one you should give him one. You can give to him abundantly.
3. Let him give it to him who has none certainly that applies the physical blessings but I believe it applies spiritually as well. A person is to give with liberality, generosity. While this carries with it the aspect of the amount that a person should give freely, it’s important to recognize that what the apostle is talking about here is that a person gives with no strings attached. He gives in an untainted way without any ulterior motive. That they are to give for the sake of the one they are giving to, for what God has called them to do. They do not give to be recognized as a giver, they do not give to get back or to have the applause of man.
4. Those who have the capacity to give should never be discouraged or prohibited from giving. One way we can deter people from giving—is by not receiving. Sometimes we are simply too proud to receive help. We don't want to admit that we need something.
5. I’m not just talking monetary here. Giving can take many forms and sometimes we are inclined to refuse it. Here's the problem: The person who is trying to do what is right, giving liberally and using their gift for good is turned back and discouraged from giving.
6. Or we're simply not willing to let them be anonymous in their giving. We want to shower them with Thanksgiving and bring them out into the open and give them applause. What we need to realize is that sometimes our human fleshly propensities and ideas of helping one another stand in the way of true spiritual giving where a person can give simply, for the purpose of serving God anonymously, seeking nothing in return, doing it out of the conviction of the heart.
G. Paul says he who leads to lead with diligence. I strongly suspect that this particular Bible passage refers to those who are in positions of leadership, the elders in the capacity of overseers. The same words used to describe their work is translated in 1 Timothy 5:17 – “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.” The word here is translated rule. That they need to rule over their families. They need to rule over the church.
1. Those who have been given the capacity to lead—need to lead. If they have the ability through their knowledge and through the Spirit’s influence in their life to lead others, they should lead. They should not be held back from their function of leading, and they need to do it with all diligence. The word there means zeal. This means you do something not casually, in a leisure way, you do it with great intensity towards a purpose. If you take on a position of leadership you need to take it seriously.
2. There's something here that really stands out to me where a person has been given the spiritual function to lead, whether they like it or not...and that's when you’re a father. You are the spiritual head of a family. You may not have consciously chosen that. You didn’t get that position because you were qualified from a training class, because you had a checklist, met all the requirements to be the head of a family.
i. You got that when you entered into the relationship of marriage and then you had children. You’re a father and a husband and God says by His very decree, without any necessary explanation, you are the leader.
ii. God will give you the capacity to lead. Not in some miraculous way, He’ll give you the capacity to lead in his word. If you spend time meditating on the word of God, listening to the example of Jesus, trying to be a spiritual person, if you use the gift that you already have in a way that pleases God, you will learn through the power of the Spirit of God how to lead.
iii. Not just how to lead but how to lead seriously your family into spiritual health.
H. Then lastly Paul says he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. Look at the list. Does it seem a little odd that this would be included in a list of spiritual gifts? I can understand leading, some people are leaders and other people are followers. In the aspect of giving some people have something and some people don't. But showing mercy? Isn't that something everybody should do? Yes it is.
1. Showing mercy and showing sensitivity to suffering and sorrow and then responding, is a gift. It is something that God gives us through the influence of the spirit in our lives. The way of the flesh says I'm for myself and I only care about myself and a person ought to get what they deserve. Isn’t that the way the world looks at it?
2. A person becomes a Christian, the spirit influences their lives and they recognize I am what I am by the grace of God. If I am going to be a spiritual person I need to learn how to show mercy to others. I need to learn how to look at other people and see their suffering and empathize with that suffering, to see the suffering and sorrow that go unnoticed by others. To see the suffering that takes place within the heart of an individual and tries to do something about it.
3. I believe this is particularly seen in the Christian who visits the hospital, who goes to the sick, who visits the prisoner in jail, who helps the young mothers struggling with their children. The one who cares about other people, who aids people with disabilities, who recognizes that other people don't have as much as they have and wants to provide help for them. Those are the activities of mercy that were vital to the first century church.
I. One of the first visible manifestations of the Lord’s Church in Acts chapter two was that they cared about one another. Individuals that didn't have immediately received from those that had, so that everybody had what they needed. They didn't deserve that, they didn't earn that, those weren’t acts of obligation. They were Christians using the gift that God gave them through the power of the Holy Spirit to help another person, to show mercy.
1. How do you do that? If you have to bite your tongue when you're saying a kind word, if you have to grudgingly squeeze the nickel out of your hands, God doesn't want it and neither does the person who’s going to get it. It has to be given from the heart. It has to be given cheerfully.
2. One cannot show mercy out of obligation because showing mercy is giving to someone who does not deserve it. That's how I got the Mercy I got. That's how you received mercy as well. We didn't deserve it. God gave it to us. If I'm going to give to someone else, I have to be willing to give it cheerfully.
3. One writer wrote in talking about this as a spiritual gift and comparing to other spiritual gifts in the Bible: “Would all the Christians with this gift not only administer it cheerfully but also regularly and consistently there will be fewer needy who have to depend on a Godless and impersonal government or social agency and if Christ’s people patterned their lives after His gracious example, far more people would hear and respond to the saving gospel that meets their greatest need.”
CONCLUSION:
Oh, if we were just people who would use the gifts that God gave us. If we could just show mercy, as basic as that is, we might even bring people to Christ.
It's critical to understand that spiritual gifts are not given for us; they're given for other people. In order to properly use our gifts we have to be willing to serve other people and use our gifts for the development of the whole body of Christ. It is into our hands these gifts have been given.
We are personally blessed, when we're able to use the gifts that we have for other people. Not only that, it is helping the other people that makes the gift powerful.
1 Peter 4:10 a passage we looked at earlier and we’ll close with this; “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” Stewardship, folks, is how we use the grace, the gifts, given us.
What do we do with our gifts? Do we minister to somebody else? Do we give to other people? Help other people with it. A thief steals it for himself. Christians give to somebody else.
No ability, gift, spiritual or otherwise is of any value if it is not used. Think about this; what if all the worlds beautiful sculptures and paintings were in private hands, in collections not to be seen by others. They would simply be a collection. That's not what God means for us when He says we have been given gifts. They have to be used to be beneficial. It’s tragic when we keep our spiritual gifts stored rather using them to serve our Lord and to provide for the benefit of His spiritual body.
We are about to sing the song of invitation. If you are not a Christian, we with all our heart plead with you to make a decision for Christ today. To decide to be His child, step out in your faith and be baptized in water for the forgiveness of sin. That faith becomes access to the grace of God, made possible by the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We believe in that and we rest our hope in that blood.
We invite anyone who has that need or any other need to come forward while we stand and while we sing.
Invitation song: ???
Reference sermon: David Schmidt
Monday Jun 10, 2024
Monday Jun 10, 2024
Romans 12:3-8
INTRO:
Good morning. Today we are going to continue to look at Romans 12. Just as a reminder if you hear me say anything that is not according to scripture please let me know and we can look at it together. In general I will be using the New King James or the King James Version for reference. This morning I would like to continue in our study of this chapter beginning at verse three and continuing through verse 8. Please turn there with me now.
Romans 12:3-8 – “3. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5. so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7. or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8. he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”
In our last lesson we looked closely at the first part of these verses and talked about Paul’s admonition to humility. We cannot think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. True humility is the environment for serving one another and for serving God. That was the lesson last week, to have a proper attitude for service.
In the continuation of our study I want to look two other aspects of service that are contained in these verses. First is the proper relationship of serving. We will talk about that this morning. God has placed us in a relationship with Him and with one another. That's the perfect environment in which we can serve Him and each other. Second we will look at the activity of serving. Paul gives us a list here that talks about different activities which are to be involved in serving one another and serving God. These activities flow from the attitude and the relationship that he just discussed.
I. The Proper Relationship of Serving: As I thought about that I wondered, what is the proper relationship of serving? I believe it may be found in the verse where he said we have many members in one body. Earlier in this chapter the apostle used the term body in the literal sense when he said we should offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God. He was talking about the use of our physical bodies in such a way as they are consecrated to God. In verses 4 and 5 he uses the term body in a different way, a symbolic way, illustrating the spiritual sense. He says; For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
A. The term body here is referring to the body of disciples, the assembly of individuals. The analogy is easy for us to see. In the physical reality we have one body, one physical body. In the spiritual reality there is one body of God’s people, one body of disciples. That tells us some things about the body of Christ, about the singular nature of the body of Christ, or as we refer to it, the church. In the Bible the church is not a conglomeration of various denominated congregations. The Bible does not teach that the church in the universal sense is made up of different denominations or even of different congregations.
1. The Bible describes the universal body of disciples as made up of individuals who are individually consecrated and given to God. Who individually belong to Him in the same way that the members of your physical body belong to you. Those members, in the strictest aspect of the analogy, all submit to the leadership of the single head.
2. I don't believe we can possibly understand the Biblical use, and particularly Paul’s use of the terminology “body”, without looking closely at what it refers to in the analogy.
i. That is, the physical organism that you and I live in—the physical body.
ii. In these verses Paul is not using physical body in an institutional sense. He is not talking about a body in the sense of being an institution or an organization, but in an anatomical sense—in the aspect of an organism or a living thing as our bodies are living things.
3. Paul identified the church as the body of Christ. We can use that analogy to further understand the spiritual relationship that we have with God, and the spiritual relationship we have with one another. Now there are several times in scripture where Paul talks about the body as being the body of disciples. He identifies the body of Christ as the church in Ephesians 1:22-23 – “22. ... He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23. which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”. Also Colossians 1:24 – “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,”
i. Paul uses this illustration in several different ways to help us understand that the body is the universal group of God's people. It is the church. I think that in many ways we can recognize that this destroys the idea of the denominated church such as exists today. In this country we seem to have the view it is ok that there are many churches with different beliefs and different creeds, different confessions, and with different congregations. I’ll talk more about that in another lesson.
ii. In our text in Romans chapter 12 that's not really the way Paul uses that particular terminology or at least that's not the main point when Paul says that we are members of one body.
iii. The only head of the church as His is body, is Christ. That concept can never be divorced from the Biblical use of the terminology that the church is the body of Christ. When Christ is referred to as the head of the body it’s referring to this aspect of the mind or the spirit of the body—the control of the body.
iv. Jesus is the head of the church in the sense in which you and I submit to His leadership we submit to the mind of Christ. We submit to His desires and it is Christ that animates the church in the same way that the mind animates the body in the physical realm.
v. When a body loses its mind or loses its spirit it becomes dead, it is nothing more than a corpse. If a group of individuals, or if a congregation of the church of Christ loses its connection with the head, if it fails to follow the mind of Christ, it is nothing but a dead corpse of individuals, spiritually. That concept is important for us to recognize. The church may be properly organized may have an institutional reference to being a church of Christ, but if it does not follow spiritually the head it is certainly not the body that belongs to Christ.
4. The same picture, I think, of the body of Christ is utilized by Paul in his discussion of miraculous gifts in I Corinthians chapter 12. I would like to look at a couple of passages from that as well to help us understand the point. First Corinthians Chapter 12:12-14 – “12. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14. For in fact the body is not one member but many.” Here Paul again utilizes this aspect of the body to make a point about the diversity of spiritual gifts that existed in Corinth, how they were misusing those gifts and how their attitude towards those gifts was certainly not indicative of the spirit in which they were given.
i. In this discussion Paul makes it clear that the unity of God's church is based upon their common obedience to a single head, the Lord. In this passage he mentions this aspect of the single nature of God himself. One Spirit. There is one God. As there is one God, there is one body. In verse 13 he says “have all been made to drink into one Spirit”. The singular nature of God, the singular nature of the spirit, singular nature of the revelation makes it clear that there can’t be many different bodies. There must be one body because there is one head, because there is one mind, because there is one spirit.
ii. That tells us something. That the unity of God's people in the church is based upon the unity or the singular nature of the objective message of the Spirit of God. It's contained in the written word. We become the church that belongs to Christ when we obey the word, the revelation of the mind and the spirit of God.
iii. When we as members of a body submit to the head, we become the church that belongs to Christ. The physical body has many members but one mind. That one mind tells each part of the body what it is best suited or fitted or equipped to do. The members of that body work in conjunction with the other members of the body and they make the decisions they do and actions that they take based upon what's good for the body as a whole. All of that is orchestrated. All of that is made possible because there is a will, because there is a mind, because there is a head.
iv. In Ephesians chapter 4 Paul says that we are not to create the unity of the spirit that we are to maintain the unity of the spirit because the unity of the spirit, the unity that is created by the spirit of God, is already in place, by the written divine Spirit given by God.
5. What makes the church one? It's not me saying it or you saying it. It’s not by putting it on a banner or making it a mantra of the church that we are one. What makes the church one is the singular nature of the mind of God revealed through scripture. God had given His body one direction, one mind.
B. In Romans Chapter 12 Paul uses the term one body. In this context Paul is showing that there is one body and there is a diversity of members of that body. How obvious that is to us in the physical sense. There is only one of us, but there is one body that works together, we just have different members.
1. The implication of that is what Paul is able to show here. He makes a point about using the gifts that we have for the benefit of the church as a whole. He says this one body has many members, just as we do in a physical sense. What does that mean? As I mentioned, I think, there are implications.
i. One of the most basic implications of that statement is that God's church is not a homogenized group of spiritual clones; we are not all exactly the same. We come from different backgrounds, different cultures, different races, different social classes, different nationalities, we come from different places.
ii. Ultimately our backgrounds contribute to make us who we are. It is an arrogant mistake, I think, to see Christians or to visualize Christians as being American, white, middle class Northerners, who sing 4 part harmony. That may, in some way, describe some of us, but in no means describes all of us and certainly does not describe who all Christians are. Even in a local group of individuals there are different people from different cultures from different backgrounds who have ultimately different thoughts and ideas. Maybe even to the point they have different convictions on what God has said in his word, and are very likely at different points in their spiritual growth.
2. Paul deals with that in the book of Romans and again in the book of First Corinthians. Individuals are at different levels. Some are more knowledgeable and some are not as knowledgeable, and some are strong, some are weak. All those individuals make up a single body—many members making up a single body.
i. God demands within that body, even with all of that diversity, He demands that there be what we might call “practical unity” among the group. As God has established unity on a spiritual level so He demands unity on a practical level. By that He means we’ve got to get along as God’s people. The way that we get along as God's people in this context, is that we recognize that we have a job to do, that we have tools to be used, and that God has made possible practical unity among His people even in diversity, through the use of their gifts.
3. What we recognize in this is the individual diversity is consistent with practical unity. The fact that we are all different and come from different backgrounds does not mean that unity is not possible, nor is that individual diversity inconsistent with the fact that God demands unity. It is as big a mistake to force unity by trying to make everyone alike, a clone, as it is to elevate diversity to the extent that each individual member looses contact with the mind and unity becomes impossible. There's diversity in God's body but that body works together because the single mind has given each individual member a function to perform and as it performs that function—the body has benefited as a whole.
i. The body is like unto a football team, you've got 40/50 guys on the roster. What happens if all of them want to be the quarterback? How about if there are just a couple of guys that want to be quarterback, and who have the skills to be quarterback? You know what has to happen; one has to be selected as the quarterback. He will operate as quarterback and nobody else on the team can be him. They have to be somebody else. Everybody on the team has a job to do and as those individuals work together—the team functions.
ii. Practical unity of the body is based upon individual function. Individual function does not destroy unity it creates unity. Certainly that's true from a spiritual sense. Paul addresses that Ephesians 4:13-16 “till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;”. There’s the body, there’s the measure. “14. that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive, 15. but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head Christ 16. from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. ” Paul tells us in using the analogy of a physical body, that all parts have to function together and it is the head that directs. We all grow up under a single head and if every part does its share then the body grows. A body that is unified grows stronger.
iii. A body where the parts rebel and the members don't do their job is a body that will die. Think about that in the spiritual sense.
C. Now turn back to Romans chapter 12 and a further description of the unity of diversity. Paul says in Romans 12:5 that we are individually members of one another. What does that mean—individually members of one another? I suggest to you that is the biblical picture of interdependence. Not independence but the opposite, interdependence. What Paul's telling us is that we cannot in the spiritual sense function in isolation from each other any more than a member of the physical body can say to the rest of the body I'm not connected. I don't have anything to do with you.
1. The members of my body cannot exist nor function in isolation from other members of my body and we are the same way in the spiritual sense. There is no independence in the body of Christ. There is interdependence in the body of Christ. Again go back to First Corinthians chapter 12. First Corinthians 12:21-25 - “21. ... the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you''; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you.'' 22. No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24. but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25. that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.”
2. Paul compares again the spiritual parts of the body of Christ to our human body. He says there are different kinds of parts to your physical body.
i. I'm not well versed on anatomy and all there is to know about parts of my body, but I think what Paul says here is obviously true of our physical bodies. There are parts that are more visible, that are more prominent, that are out in front, that everybody notices.
ii. If a person walks up to you and they don't have a nose you're going to notice that right off. It's a presentable part in the middle of a face that should be there and if it's not, you notice. There are parts of our body that are up front and prominent such as our eyes and our hands and our arms and our legs or our ears.
iii. There are those members which by the way they are placed on the body would seem to be more important or stronger than other parts of the body. We know that's not so. There are members of our body that are in that sense less strong, more vulnerable, yet are more important in terms of the life of the body itself.
iv. In terms of Paul's discussion here think about the physical body and ask, what are our vital organs? Is your ear a vital organ? If you lose it, it's a bad thing or if you lose an eye, it's a bad thing, but you can live without it. There are people who have no eyes or no ears who live. If however someone were to lose their heart or their lungs or one of their vital organs that are on the inside of the body they cannot survive.
v. Isn’t it interesting in terms of the physical body those organs we consider to be vital, organs that need to be protected, in the physical sense they are protected. The lungs and heart are skeletally protected in your body away from the view of others and away from that which might harm them, so that they can be vital to life. They are weaker but they're more important.
vi. We can lose an eye or an ear or a leg and still live. Certainly the work of your hands is more prominent, what do you do with your hands is seen by all, the work of your heart that goes unseen almost unnoticed—yet is absolutely essential. I lose my hands and I can't work where everybody can see what I do, that's bad. But if my heart stops working--that's critical. Just because a member is weaker does not mean that the member of the body is less important to the body as a whole. In fact the natural aspect of it is that the body itself protects those members that are more vulnerable because those members that are more vulnerable are sometimes and in many ways more important than those that are not as vulnerable.
vii. Think about that on the spiritual level. We all have different vulnerabilities spiritually before us and we could use the term weaker and stronger to apply to ourselves as members of the body of Christ. If there are weaker and stronger members of the body of Christ, which of those members are more important to the body as a whole. Which of them are more vital?
viii. Could it be that sometimes the members who appear the weakest, who are less prominent, are the most vital to the life of the body itself? Could that possibly be what Paul’s telling us? We have to recognize that we are members one of another. I cannot stand in isolation from others and say “well you know they are just not that important”. I can not say “it doesn't matter about them and that I can overlook them, I can neglect them”; when they are members of the same body.
3. Paul's using this analogy to get us to recognize that we have a mutual responsibility. In Verse 25 and 26 he gives two necessary admonitions that flow from the illustration. He said but the members should have the same care for one another. I Corinthians 12:25. Mentally underline the word same there because while we are willing to say “I care about everybody”, that’s not all the Paul’s saying. He's saying you have the same care for every member of the body of Christ. If this person is hurting and this person has spiritual problems and this person's marriage on the rocks... that is just as important as this member over here, when they suffer.
i. We have the same care for one another, that we value each person in the body, and sincerely care about them as well as the others in the physical and social and spiritual sense. We are all members of one another in the body of Christ.
ii. If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it or if one member is honored all the members rejoice with it. That’s true physically isn’t it?
iii. Sometimes members that are seemingly insignificant in our physical body when they start hurting, everybody else hurts too. I never even gave my thyroid a thought through most of my life, but when things started to go wrong with it believe me the whole body felt the effect! When one member suffers all suffer and there is no insignificant suffering going on in the body of Christ. Because there is no insignificance part.
iv. There's also no insignificant honoring going on. If there is an occasion for rejoicing among seemingly the most insignificant member of the body of Christ, members of the body need to rejoice over that. They need to be happy about it. We need to be willing to honor one another.
4. What this tells me is that in the whole body of Christ there is no place, there can be no place for competition and for envy among God’s people. Envy destroys the ability in us to rejoice about something good that happened to somebody else—in somebody else's life. It's the very antithesis to this aspect that Paul’s talking about here. When envy is there honor doesn't happen it simply doesn't happen.
D. Turn to Romans chapter 12 Verse 4 again. In verse four he says; “we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function,”. Not every member has the same function. Again that's one of those ideas when you apply it to the physical body that’s easy to see. In fact we diagnose problems depending upon the function of a particular member of our body. If we're having trouble hearing we don't examine the big toe because we know that we don't hear through our big toe. There's a place to look if we can’t hear and there's a place to look if we can’t see because there are members of our body that are distinguished by their function.
1. Paul uses the words function in this particular passage of the NKJV and the King James uses the word office which I think is probably one of those unfortunate translations of the original word. The word here is praxis which means a doing, an act or a function or a deed. It is best rendered I think as function. When we talk about a doctor and say: Does he have a practice? We might mean does he have an office somewhere but we may mean more. Does he have a place for his patients to come? We mean does he have a function of serving as a doctor. The term office in the 1600’s did indeed carry that meaning though not so much here today.
2. That's the aspect here. Not all members have the same function in the body of Christ. Paul is not talking about position or rank, which is what we might get from the word office today. That's not the thought. There are many in the church who do not have an office so to speak, but they all have a function to perform. That's what Paul's saying here.
3. The question that comes to mind, what is your function? What is your practice? That's an important question to our discussion unfortunately we're low on time. We're not going to discuss all that this morning. Lord willing next week this is where we're going to pick up at this particular passage and talk about how we function as an individual, diverse members of the body of Christ.
E. But let me give an overall answer to the question before we close. We're going to try to answer it to some extent from the scriptures in a particular sense by looking at the things that Paul mentioned here. What’s my function? What’s my job? What is important for me in terms of the overall working of the body of Christ?
1. Think about this on a local level as this body of Christ exists today. I believe the answer is found in verse six. My function is to use the gifts that God gave me. That's my function. That takes some spiritual discernment, not only does it take courage and faith to exercise the gifts God gives me but before that—I have to find out what the gifts are!
2. What is it that God has given me to do, for which I am equipped and which I am able to perform in such a way that benefits the body as a whole? Never be mistaken or deceived into thinking that each one of us does not have a function for the performance of the body as a whole. That's exactly what Paul’s saying here. You and I, each one of us have a function. We all have a gift if we use that terminology as Paul does.
i. We all have a gift given to us by the grace of God that we need to utilize to benefit the body of Christ and for our own salvation. In fact, if I'm not mistaken Paul's making it an absolute criterion of my own salvation in Romans chapter 12, that I learn to exercise my spiritual gifts. Don't be thrown off by the word spiritual there because sometimes we take the word spiritual and apply it to the word gift and immediately assume we're talking about miraculous activity. There are times the Bible where the term spiritual gifts, particularly in First Corinthians 12, where it’s talking about that which came in miraculous measure in the first century by the Spirit of God.
ii. The word spiritual in the general sense applies to those things that come as a result of the working of the Spirit of God in my life. God expects me to be a spiritual person not in some miraculous measure but with the spirit of God influencing my life to the point that I would do and think and act in ways that I have never acted before. That are contrary to the carnal way, the natural way that I might act. God would turn me around and make me a spiritual person.
iii. There are spiritual gifts that all of us have. There are things that God could create within us through the power of the His Spirit to get us to do things that we wouldn't ordinarily do. Some of them we've already mentioned in the passage such as; to be able to have the same care and concern for people that are not like us; to be unprejudiced and open minded towards the lives of others; to be compassionate towards those who are suffering things that you and I have never suffered. Where do we get the ability to do that? We get it from the Spirit of God. That does not come naturally.
3. I have to say this, naturally men divide. They divide on the borders of nationality and culture and thinking. They are carnal by their very nature. There is not a natural unity among people today. There is a natural disunity. When God's people, diverse as they are, come together to work together, coming from different backgrounds all for the purpose of doing what is right, that's a spiritual thing that comes from the Spirit of God.
i. Paul tells us be filled with the spirit of God not with dissipation. Learn to love your enemy, give to those who do not give to you, that is doing things that are unnatural. In this society that applauds self-sufficiency, that applauds independence; it is easy for us to fall prey to the notion that we don't need each other. It's easy for us to fall prey to the thought that we can stand alone in our relationship to God.
ii. Paul dispels that forever here in these passages. You and I are a body. We are not only members of the body but more specifically and particularly we are members of one another. God redeemed us and called us not only for Himself, He's called us and redeemed us for each other so we could benefit each other in the quest to live for God.
4. In Hebrews 10:24-25 the writer says; “... let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” I wonder about the overall emphasis of what the writer is exhorting here.
i. These verses are not simply to be used to encourage people to attend an assembly. As important as attending an assembly is and as absolutely essential as it is that we not forsake the assembly of ourselves together, he prefaces this aspect of the necessity of the assembly by saying; we must first consider one another. We first have to care about one another.
ii. We first have to really be involved in one another's lives to stir up love and good works. We can't do that by forsaking the assembling of ourselves together! It’s the coming together that provides the arena and the environment in which the true stirring up can take place. Let us recognize that without the care and concern the assembly loses meaning. We have to care as members one to another and to serve one another.
CONCLUSION:
Let me close with this thought.
You cannot fulfill your responsibility of being a member of another individual in the body of Christ if you are outside the body, if you’re not under the head. Paul told the Corinthians in the passage we just studied that they had been baptized into one body by the Spirit of God. He makes known to them the time at which they became a member of that body because that's an important consideration in terms of their responsibility.
They can't simply stand aloof from the responsibly when they become a Christian and just say oh that's nice. There are a lot of people that take that approach to religion. They want to ignore the clear indication of what it means to become a Christian and do things in obedience, to come into the body of Christ. Yet they want to extol the aspect of unity and interdependence and mutuality among us.
We all ought to love one another. Of course the concept of love is portrayed more clearly in the body of Christ than anyplace else. That is the true and proper relationship of service that you be a part of the body of Christ. You cannot serve God apart from being a part of the body of Christ. That doesn't make the body an institution to save you. It makes it the environment and certainly the organism that you must be a part of to ever be saved.
Certainly the Bible describes the body of Christ as those that are saved. We submit ourselves to the headship of Christ. That's the question we end on this morning because that's the question that's most related to our understanding of the body of Christ as the Bible describes.
Are you willing to submit to the headship of Jesus Christ? That was the call of the Gospel from the first century. In the very first gospel sermon the thing that Peter made known to them was that this Jesus they had crucified is both Lord and Christ. The question was What must we do. What can we do to submit ourselves to the authority of Jesus Christ? The answer to that question was You must repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins.
Do you believe that Jesus Christ is head over all things to church the fullness of Him who filleth all in all. Do you believe that Jesus died for you and rose again on the third day and by that He has all authority in heaven and on earth? You as a creation of God must submit yourself to Him before you can ever be pleasing to Him. If you believe that and are not part of the body, come and be baptized this morning. When you repent of sins and you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior and are baptized for the forgiveness of your sins you are baptized into a body.
That's not a local congregation; you're baptized into the universal body that belongs to Jesus Christ because you in the exercise of that faith have submitted yourself to the head of that body. He alone is the one who directs you. You've all been made to drink of one Spirit and are of one body. We invite anyone who has that need or any other need to come forward while we stand and while we sing.
Invitation song: ???
Reference sermon: David Schmidt