(preached May 18, 2011)

Motherhood for the Glory of God

Ephesians 6:2

             My mother and I used to disagree on quite a few things, because, like many young men, I knew everything and Momma didn’t know what she was talking about. I remember one time in particular that I got some very wise advice from her, which I thought was ridiculous. I loved playing football in gradeschool days. The war-like scenario of physically overpowering your opponent was something in which I took great delight. Well, I decided at some point that football just wasn’t quite rough enough, and that I needed something even more physically challenging. So, it seemed like an easy choice – rugby; the rougher version of football played with no pads or helmets. I made up my mind, and waited for a chance to tell Momma what I had decided to do. We were sitting at the counter in the kitchen, and I decided it was time to inform mother of my plans, and so I looked at her and said, “Momma, I’ve decided that I’m going to start playing rugby.” And then she gave me some of the wisest advice I ever heard from her: “Over my dead body! If you want to injure yourself why don’t you just go beat yourself with a hammer!” Momma knows best.

            And as the years have gone on, I’ve realized with increasing awe just how much my mother did for me; how hard she worked to provide for us; how steadfastly she protected us; how much she sacrificed for us. I can’t help but keep the command found in our first scripture this morning.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—“that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

God has placed mothers in high regard

Look at what Paul points out: this command to honor mothers is the first one that comes with a blessing explicitly attached to it. God places great honor on the office of motherhood, and he calls us to do the same. Jesus honored the role of motherhood by being born to a woman who would be his mother. He didn’t have to do this, but he chose to bless the womb of a woman and submit to her as his earthly mother. Moreover, on the cross, some of his final words were to make sure his mother was taken care of. As he is about to die, Jesus looks down at his mother, and at the apostle John. He says to John, “Behold your mother.” With some of his last dying breath, Jesus honored his mother by making sure someone would care for her.

So: Mothers – be aware this morning that God our Father and Christ our Savior hold you in extremely high regard. God promises blessing for us if we honor you, and we are glad to do just that this morning.

The Greatest Role of mothers

Read something about the typical duties of mother: cook, janitor, van driver, nursery worker, daycare specialist, launderer, nurse, and child psychologist. Person writing this article said that the salaries of all those jobs combined would mean a salary of close to $200k. He ended with a note of thankfulness that his wife did not charge him for her tireless services.

Of course it’s true. Mothers have an extraordinary list of responsibilities. I mean, even at the very core of what they do: they are charged with keeping a helpless little infant alive. That’s a big job!

There are a million things we could say about mothers this morning, but let’s cut right to the chase. The biggest and most important task that Mothers have is not to care for their children’s physical needs. The most God-glorifying aspect of motherhood is not keeping their children alive. The most Christ-exalting and eternally profitable task of mothers is to point their children to true life in Jesus Christ!

A Christ-Honoring Motherhood

So, dear mothers: Christ has set you in a place of high honor. How is it that you can go about honoring him as well? How can you make the most of the task you’ve been given for the glory of the kingdom?

1. Spend time at the Savior’s feet (Luke 10:38-42)

Jesus goes to visit Mary and Martha, and we see something which I’m sure many of you mothers can identify with. Martha is busy. She has a house to clean, food to prepare, dishes to wash, guests to host. Moreover, she feels like she’s been left alone to do all these things, and is indignant that Mary isn’t helping.

Have you ever felt this way, moms? You feel like there’s so much going on around you that you can barely keep up, and you’re running your legs off trying to get everything done, and it seems as though nobody is helping you.

Jesus responds to Martha’s indignant question, and if you’re not careful you will miss what he’s saying. Jesus says that Mary has chosen what is better. It would be easy to make this the central point and miss what Jesus says in the sentence just before. Right before this, Jesus says, “You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.” One thing? What are you talking about Jesus? I have about 50 things that I need to do. What is this one thing that Jesus is saying is needed?

We see Jesus talking the same way when he meets the rich young ruler. Do you remember what Jesus says to the young man? The young man claims that he has kept all of God’s commands, and Jesus replies: “This one thing you lack, go sell all your possessions, give the money to the poor, and come follow me.” Here again you must be careful to not let the emphasis fall on the wrong thing. Jesus is not telling this man that selling all his possessions will get him into heaven. Jesus is not telling Martha that there’s just one thing she really needs to get done around the house.

In both of these circumstances, what Jesus is saying is that the ONE THING which is needed is Him! To the rich you ruler, Jesus says – “This one thing you lack: me! So go get rid of everything that’s keeping you from me and come be with me!” To Martha, Jesus says – “There is one thing that will always be far more important than any household chores you have: me! So stop all you’re doing and come to be with me!”

Dear mothers, there is one thing that you must do above all else: you MUST live your life in the presence of Jesus. Spending time with Jesus is more important than the dishes. Spending time with Jesus is more important than picking up toys. Spending time with Jesus is more important than doing laundry. Spending time with Jesus is more important than all the things you do. So, at ALL costs, whatever it takes, spend time at the feet of the Savior.

I have heard of one woman who had more than a handful of children. She had extreme difficulty in setting aside time during the day to spend with Jesus. So, her way to set aside that time was to sit at the kitchen table and drape her apron over her head while she read the Word of God. Her children came to understand that when Mother was doing this they were not to disturb her, and even if she was only able to do so for 15 minutes, she would sit at the table every day in order to sit at the feet of Jesus.

Whatever it takes, be a mother who lives at the feet of Jesus.

This is vital for you personally, but also for your children.

2. Train your children to know Jesus (2 Tim 1:3-7,14)

The greatest missionary theologian of all time – Paul the apostle – points to the faith of Timothy’s mother and grandmother as being pivotal in the faith of Timothy himself. Dear mothers, there is an extraordinary mercy of God whereby he has given you a highly intimate level of influence on your children’s spiritual vitality. Your example of Godliness can have massive, unbreakable effects on the life of your children.

Archibald Alexander, a Professor at the Princeton Theological Seminary in the 1800’s, recounts the story of a young man who was saved by his mother’s example:

“I recollect a young gentleman, who, although he had an uncommonly pious mother, broke over all the restraints of his education, and became a professed infidel and the advocate of licentiousness in its vilest forms; but a gracious God heard the unceasing prayers of his mother, and by means somewhat unusual he was converted from the error of his ways. In speaking of his former career—which he evidently did with shame and humility—he said, “I could get over all arguments in defense of religion but one, and that I never could eliminate, which was the pious example and life of my mother. When I had fortified myself against the truth by the aid of Bolingbroke, Hume, and Voltaire, yet, whenever I thought of my mother, I had the secret conviction which nothing could remove—that there was a reality in vital piety.”

Ladies, never be fooled into thinking that you have little influence over your children. Even when they are far astray from the godly fields in which you have raised them, the light of your faith and godliness may be the light which the Lord uses to guide them into salvation.

This is true even when the husband or father is unable or unwilling to serve as a godly example. We don’t know anything of Timothy’s father. He may have been completely out of the picture, or he may have been a pagan worshipper of idol gods. What we do know is that Timothy’s mother and grandmother deposited and nurtured the true gospel in him, and he became the apprentice of the greatest apostle.

Dear women, how glorious it is to know that your example and faithful witness to your children may lead them into the sort of faith that moves mountains! What small service I may be blessed to accomplish for the glory of Jesus my Savior must, in part, be credited to the account of my dear mother.

3. Encourage your children to love Jesus more than you (Luke 14:25-27; 18:29-30)

Now, this is a difficult thing. It is not easy to raise children with the express intent that they love someone else MORE than you. It is difficult to fix your mind so steadfastly on eternity and the glory of God. However, even in the mundane things of every day, eternity hangs heavy in the air. When you discipline your children, you are working for the glory of God. When you pray with your children, you are preparing them to glorify God. When you teach your children spiritual things, you are entrusting the good deposit of the gospel to those who will grow up and fight for the king.

So, when you raise your children, let more than their daily needs be on your mind. Let eternity and the glory of God, and the Kingdom of Christ be on your mind. Raise children who will affect the world. Raise children who will sacrifice everything they have for the glory of Jesus. Prepare your children to follow Christ no matter the cost. Be a mother who raises soldiers for the kingdom. Be a mother who bears the fruit that will glorify the eternal kingdom of God through your work in preparing your children to follow Jesus at all costs.

Momma gets scared every time I go somewhere dangerous to proclaim the gospel. I understand, and I hate that she gets scared, but I would willingly give my life to honor Christ. And THAT, above all else, eternally honors my mother as well. There is no greater way I know of to honor my mother than to give my life fully in obedience and sacrificial service to Christ.

4. Do not despair.

Some of you, through choice or physical inability or prolonged singleness, do not have children. The first thing I want to tell you this morning is that God sees your pain. He knows the hurt you have, the longing for unfulfilled desires. And God have a very special grace for you. He will sustain you and be nearest to you in moments of pain. Our Lord Jesus Christ will comfort you.

Secondly, I want to tell you this: realize that the reason God has placed you in the fellowship of saints and believer is to be a spiritual mother to those around you. Please don’t think this is some sort of conciliation prize; something just to put a band-aid on the aching wound. No! Your spiritual influence to care for and nurture your brothers and sisters in Christ is a very real calling. The Lord calls you to pour out your motherly care and love on those around you, who will be lastingly affected by your spiritual care.

There have been a number of men and women in my life who have acted as spiritual mothers and grandmothers – women who have encouraged me and prayed for me and nurtured my gifts and calling. Please understand that this is a massively important role for you in the context of the church. You effect eternity through your motherly love for those around you week in and week out. Please do not neglect this glorious calling.

Also, some of you ladies may be thinking: “I haven’t done these things. I’ve missed my chances. It’s too late for me to do any of that.”

No! Dear ladies, today is a glorious day for you. Today, the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal King and Savior, invites you to live from this day forward in the power and honor of motherly affection. And He will honor those who honor you, and you will be honored in the eternal, lasting spiritual fruit that will come.

You know, there are days when I’m simply overwhelmed at the great blessings God has poured out on me through my mother. Who can say what her eternal impact will be as her children live their lives for Christ.

And for you mothers also: who knows what impact you can have for the kingdom? When all God’s children stand rejoicing at the throne, there will be great honor given to the women who cared for and instructed God’s children. There will be a great multitude of women who spent their earthly lives at the feet of Jesus, showing their children by example what it means to have everyday faith in Christ. There will be a great many sons and daughters of God who will say, “My dear mother was a great influence in bringing me into the King’s household.” There will be a great many of those in heaven who we will call blessed: the saints, those who suffered for the name of Jesus, those who sacrificed life and limb for the glory of God, those who lived with fiery passion to exalt the name of Jesus Christ – many who were encouraged to do so by loving, godly, Christ-exalting mothers.

Oh, what will your impact be, mothers!? God our Father has set you in high esteem and commanded that everyone honor you. Will you now honor him with your life and service? Will your life exalt your Savior? Let it be so! And may you be richly blessed in the pursuit. Amen!

He is the Christ!

Mark 7:24-8:30

 

We come this morning to one of the most important passages in the Gospel of Mark, and indeed one of the most important passages in the whole of Scripture.

The MAIN POINT of this story is to point out the universal problem of mankind, to show that Jesus is able to overcome that problem, and to ask us what may be the most important question that you will hear in your life.

So, what Mark does in this passage is sort of build a 3-layer pyramid. The middle of the passage is the problem he is attempting to show us. On either side of that he illustrates the problem. And on either side of that he shows the remedy to the problem. That’s why we’re taking all of this passage at once this morning, because the whole thing works together. This is a literary device the Hebrews used to emphasize a point. The 2-dollar seminary word for it is “chiasm”.

 

The emphasis

Right smack in the middle of the passage is a story very similar to one just a page or two back in your Bibles. It is a story of Jesus feeding thousands of people with just a handful of food. Back in chapter 6 we see the story of Jesus feeding 5,000, and here we have him feeding a crowd of 4,000. However, the emphasis this time is not on the miracle itself. The emphasis now is on the response to the miracle.

Here’s what I mean:

1. the Pharisees – After he feeds thousands of ppl, they ask for a sign from heaven as proof that Jesus is who He says He is.
2. the disciples – They had one loaf of bread and were worried that they didn’t have enough to eat, again – RIGHT after Jesus just fed 4,000 people with 7 loaves.

The focus of this passage is the INTENSE spiritual blindness of those around Jesus – even those most close to Him. The Pharisees – well, we sort of expect them to be hard-hearted. We have come to expect that they aren’t going to see Jesus for who He is. They love themselves and their works too much for that.

But the disciples! These were men who have been with Jesus from the beginning. They’ve seen Him drive out evil spirits, heal leprosy, heal paralyzed men. They’ve heard His powerful preaching, and seen Him calm a raging storm with a single word. They’ve seen Him walk on the water, feed thousands of people with a handful of food – TWICE. They’ve even seen Him raise a little girl from the dead! And they’re there in the boat with a loaf of bread, thinking – “We don’t have enough to eat.”

And so you can feel the sense of anguish Jesus must have felt. You can hear the heart-wrenching pleading in His words as He speaks to them. “Do you still not understand?…Do you still not understand?”

And they didn’t. They did not understand, despite everything they had seen thus far. How is this possible? How could they walk with Jesus every day, seeing and hearing, but not understanding?

 

The explanation

Jesus points out very clearly why it is that they do not yet understand – and this is where we see the wonderful intricacy of the Bible, and of how Jesus worked. In chapter 8, verse 18, Jesus says – “Do you have eyes and fail to see? Do you have ears and fail to hear?” Now, watch this – oh it’s beautiful how Jesus sovereignly directed His steps as He was on earth: right before this part of the story, what did Jesus do? He healed a man who had ears but could not hear. He healed a man who was deaf. And right after this part of the story, what does Jesus do? He heals a man who has eyes but cannot see. He heals a man who is blind.

Jesus, in order to illustrate to the disciples the condition of their hearts, performs physical miracles on others which reflect the spiritual miracle that needs to take place in them. He is saying to the disciples: “You are the blind man! You are the deaf man! You do not yet understand because your hearts are blind and deaf!” Perhaps Jesus is telling you the same thing this morning.

In both stories of physical healing you have other people pleading for Jesus to heal these men. You have two men – first a deaf man and later a blind man – who are brought to Jesus by their friends. And they BEG Jesus to heal. Those who are well intercede for the sick men, and bring them where they could not get on their own, and beg Jesus for healing on their behalf. The sick men would not have been able to get there on their own. Perhaps the deaf man could have, but even if he did he would not have been able to speak to tell Jesus what he wanted.

Oh, this is so important. Jesus is not simply telling the disciples that they are deaf and blind. He is telling them that not only are they spiritually crippled and unable to see or hear, but they also are unable to be healed on their own! The two sick men could not find their way to Jesus alone. And the disciples could not find their way to Jesus alone, either! The sick men needed someone to lead them on the physical path to where Jesus was, and the disciples needed someone to lead them on the spiritual path to WHO Jesus was.

 

The epiphany

And now, to explain that deepest need – to explain who Jesus really is, we come to the outer edges of the passage.

At the beginning, we have a story that seems to be somewhat strange. We have this gentile woman who comes to Jesus and requests a miracle – which Jesus does. However, the focus of this little story is again not on the miracle. The focus is on what Jesus says to this woman, and how the woman responds to Jesus.

So we see the woman begging Jesus to heal her daughter, and after she does so Jesus says something that at first glance seems terribly insulting. She begs Jesus, and Jesus replies: “First let the children eat…for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”         Wow. Did Jesus really just refer to her as a dog?

But look at how the woman responds. She’s not offended, because Jesus’ intent was not to insult her. She says, “Yes, Lord – but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”

Jesus’ intention was not to insult the woman. Jesus intention was to test her faith by putting to her a statement about His identity. Look at His statement to her. He isn’t simply making an illustration from a common picture of a family. Jesus is speaking biblically here.

He speaks about children because in the Old Testament scriptures God the Father refers to His chosen people of Israel as His children. He speaks about giving bread to them because in the OT scriptures God the Father provided for His children with bread from heaven. So in this statement to the woman Jesus is proclaiming that He is the God of Israel AND He is the bread from heaven, coming down to save His people.

And the woman’s response is “YES, LORD.” This woman recognizes that what Jesus is claiming is true. She takes for granted that He is who He is claiming to be. And she ALSO recognizes that the children of Israel, the people of God, have not fully understood this. “the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” The people of Israel, instead of treasuring Jesus as the precious, glorious, infinitely valuable bread of haven sent for their salvation, are casting him aside like scraps thrown under a table. The Pharisees hate him, the people only like him because he heals the sick and make bread appear out of thin air. And so this woman, realizing who He is, pleads – “Yes Lord…just give me a morsel of your mercy. Just give me a tiny piece of your power. Your people have rejected you, so why not answer the request of the one who does not reject you?”

And Jesus, seeing her great faith, said “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

So we have this gentile woman who recognizes who Jesus is and why He has come before the disciples even recognize and understand fully who Jesus is. But let’s look now at the end of our passage. And what we see happen there is the climax of the first half of the book of Mark. Everything has been leading up to this. This is what Jesus has been laboring towards.

So, after the rebuke in the boat, when Jesus told the disciples that they were blind and then illustrating that fact with the healing of a blind man, they get to where they’re going – and Jesus begins to question them. He begins to press them on the most important issue for their eternity – His identity. “Who do people say I am?” He asked. The generality of the question is intentional. He is again highlighting the blindness of the world He has entered. All sorts of answers are given, all the guesses of people who have seen Jesus’ miracles and heard His preaching. “He’s a preacher! He’s a prophet!”

But then Jesus sweeps that away and lays upon the disciples the crushing weight of this question: “Yes. But who do YOU say that I am?”

My friends, it does not matter what others believe about Jesus. Your eternity is not based on what the preacher believes about Jesus, or what the church down the road believes about Jesus, or what your family believes about Jesus. Your eternity does not rest on who THEY say Jesus is. Jesus asks, “Who do YOU say that I am?”

Jesus asks them this question, and we see one of the most beautiful things in the book of Mark: Peter gets it right! We see this man who was blind and deaf finally understand! We see this disciple who had walked with Jesus and heard everything He said – but up until now He had not understood. Peter had been by Jesus’ side and seen everything He had done – and yet he had not seen the truth about who Jesus was.

But as he looked at Jesus asking this question, Peters eyes were opened and His ears were unstopped, and HE SAW. His deaf heart was healed. His blind soul was given eyes to see who Jesus truly was.

And in a dazzling moment of God-given understanding, Peter proclaimed: “You are the Christ!”

Application

My friends, the great desire of Jesus is that you would KNOW Him for who He is. The reason that He came was so that we might know Him. The reason He did everything He has done in the gospel up until this point is so that we might know Him. The reason that He has recorded it in His Word is so that we might read it and know Him!

And there are so many people in the world, perhaps even some of you here this morning, who are laboring under a spiritual blindness. We have a more full record of Jesus than the disciples had. We can more clearly see who He is, what He has done, and what He will do than anyone in history. But even still, there are so many who fail to recognize Jesus for who He is.

And this is where the important question which Christ posed to the disciples again becomes important. You see, it is easy to repeat what others have said about Jesus. It is easy to let Peter’s words come out of our mouths. But the important question for you is not, “Who did Peter say Jesus was?”

The question Jesus asks you is, “Who do YOU say that I am?”

 

Oh brothers and sisters, my dear friends, consider carefully! Do not allow your hearts to be deceived! Fight against blindness of soul!

            Who do you say Jesus is?

–If all your words about Jesus were examined by an outsider, who would you have said Jesus is?

–If all your thoughts were examined by someone from a non-Christian culture, who would they know Jesus to be?

–If all your actions were gathered up and examined, what would they proclaim about the identity of Jesus?

 

Do you find satisfaction in Him as the true eternal bread from heaven?

Do you Know Him, love Him, and submit to Him?

Can you see the truth of His glory such that you can’t help but worship Him?

Or do you ask for signs?

If He is not the Christ, then you are free to live your life as you choose.

If He IS the Christ, then nothing and no one could be more important.

If He IS the Christ, then:

–He is the only hope for salvation. No one else could die for sins and make an acceptable offering to God.

–He is the only Hope for satisfaction; there is no other source of eternal joy that will never fade or fail.

–He is the only way to have a relationship with God, and no one will get to the Father except through Him.

–He will rule for all of eternity as the King of the Universe, and recognizing that your souls are eternal as well, this means that you will stand before Him one day. The present body WILL fail, and then you will have eternity to deal with. And, as my brother pastor John Piper says, “You can either stand a face Him on His terms, or face Him on your own.” One means eternal life, the other eternal death. One means eternal joy, the other eternal suffering.

If He IS the Christ, then nothing and no one could be more important.

 

So, who do YOU say that He is?

Vengeance and redemption at the cross

Isaiah 63

          Today is Palm Sunday, and usually that means that we think about the glorious entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. He walks in amidst crowds of people waving palm branches, singing “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” It marks the first day of Holy Week, which leads up to the Friday crucifixion of Jesus. Rather than focusing on the joyful entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, I want to turn our attention this morning forward a few days. This Friday we’ll be having our Easter Cantata, which is titled “The Wonder of the Cross”, and my desire this morning is to give us a picture of the cross; to give us a picture of what Jesus was walking towards as he entered Jerusalem. And, if the Lord is gracious to open our eyes, we will be AMAZED at what happened on the cross, because we often do not focus on this particular aspect of what happened there.

The text I’ve chosen this morning is not one usually referenced when speaking about the crucifixion of Jesus, but it will help us in understanding what truly happened there.

Isaiah 63

God’s Day of Vengeance and Redemption

1Who is this coming from Edom,

from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson?

Who is this, robed in splendor,

striding forward in the greatness of his strength?

“It is I, speaking in righteousness,

mighty to save.”

2Why are your garments red,

like those of one treading the winepress?

3“I have trodden the winepress alone;

from the nations no one was with me.

I trampled them in my anger

and trod them down in my wrath;

their blood spattered my garments,

and I stained all my clothing.

4For the day of vengeance was in my heart,

and the year of my redemption has come.

5I looked, but there was no one to help,

I was appalled that no one gave support;

so my own arm worked salvation for me,

and my own wrath sustained me.

6I trampled the nations in my anger;

in my wrath I made them drunk

and poured their blood on the ground.”

Praise and Prayer

7I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD,

the deeds for which he is to be praised,

according to all the LORD has done for us—

yes, the many good things he has done

for the house of Israel,

according to his compassion and many kindnesses.

8He said, “Surely they are my people,

sons who will not be false to me”;

and so he became their Savior.

          Now, the main purpose of reading this passage this morning is not to impress upon you a fear of judgment. Rather, I hope that as we think on this passage it will give us a deeper understanding of what actually happened on the cross as Jesus hung there. Namely, we will see the measure of God’s infinite, holy, perfect wrath that Christ endured for us.

Now, as soon as we begin speaking about the wrath of God, we get uneasy, because it is difficult for us to reconcile the fact that God can be wrathful and loving at the same time. However, we must allow God to define himself, rather than defining what is right for God based on our limited understanding. To that end, let’s look at the first several verses to see what they say about God.

• Verse 1 – splendor, greatness, strong, righteous, mighty, saves
•  His immense goodness is evident! These are the things which dwell on our minds most often, and it is right that we should be awed into worship as we think about a mighty God who saves.

• Verse 3 – angry, wrathful, requires blood (Hebrews 9:22)
• Now, the Scripture JUST finished telling us about how God is a great, righteous God who saves by the splendor of His own might. How can this verse be just a few words away and now say that he is angry? That he requires blood?

• Verse 4 – vengeful, redeemer
• Now we’ve got two things coming together that we normally would consider putting together! God is vengeful? And yet he is the redeemer? How can this be?

• Verse 7 – kind, praiseworthy, good, compassionate
• If we are to believe the bible, we cannot pick and choose between these based on which one makes us feel nice. We must take God at his word.

Now, what we must understand is this: for God, these characteristics are not mutually exclusive; that is to say – it is not impossible for him to exhibit all of them at the same time. We find this difficult to reconcile because we often filter who God is through who we are. We say, “Compassionate and vengeful? That’s impossible for someone to be at the same time.” And we would be right in saying that! It IS impossible for SOMEONE to be all of these things – but God is not “someone”. God is the eternal Creator, and he exhibits these qualities in ways that we do not. As we think on this list of characteristics in God, we must realize that he exhibits the qualities in a way that shows how glorious he is; specifically, he is HOLY in all his attributes. We are NOT holy in all our attributes.

For example: when He displays wrath, it is holy wrath. When we display wrath, it is most often sinful wrath. When God displays anger and wrath, it is never out of sinful motives like ours often is. He is holy and pure in all his characteristics.

Before you raise an eyebrow on that, think on this: it applies to other attributes than wrath and anger as well. When God displays compassion and kindness, it is HOLY compassion and kindness. When we display compassion and kindness, sometimes we do so for selfish reasons; in order to get something in return, or in order to be thought of in a certain way rather than doing them out of LOVE.

You see my friends, God is infinitely above us in holiness, and so we must take him at his word when he says that he can be kind and angry; that he can be compassionate and vengeful; that he can be loving and wrathful. God is HOLY in all his ways.

Now, because God is infinitely HOLY in all His ways, he has an infinite aversion to all that which is UNholy. Yahweh God has an eternal, unbreakable, unyielding commitment to oppose, hate and destroy all that is unholy. For eternity past and unto the farthest reaches of the everlasting kingdom, God has hated sin and will hate sin. God is eternally committed to punishing what is unholy.

Now, that might sound scary for a moment, but here another one of those things that seems to be in contradiction for us: in addition to being committed to punishing sin, God is also eternally, unyieldingly committed to the salvation and eternal joy of His people.

-“For God so LOVED the world…”

-“You will be my people and I will be your God.”

-“You will give birth to a boy and name him Jesus, for he WILL save his people.”

God is absolutely committed to his people’s salvation.

BUT, here’s the thing: all of God’s people have sin. “All have sinned” Romans 3:23. So, if God is irreversibly committed to punishing and destroying sin, doesn’t that mean that he MUST eternally punish his people?

The answer is YES! He MUST! ….UNLESS someone else is punished in our place. God would utterly forfeit His holiness if he allowed sin to continue without punishment, because if he knows about sin and allows it to continue, then he becomes a willing party to sin. And if God participates in sin, then he becomes sinful. And if God became sinful, then he would not be God. So he MUST punish sin. He MUST pour out His wrath against sin. He MUST either punish us, or punish someone else in our place.

And THAT, my friends, is where Jesus comes into the picture. On the cross, Jesus put on the wretched, reeking garment of all the accumulated sins of God’s people, and he was CRUSHED under the full weight of God’s wrath for those sins which were not his.

Jesus Christ, the holy one, the God-man, the glorious revelation of God’s will, in all His infinite perfections, in all His divine goodness, in all His absolute and unfailing obedience…died on the cross…in OUR place.

The most sacrificing love, the boldest courage, the most tender compassion, the greatest strength, the deepest and most readily available forgiveness, and the most steadfast leadership ever know – all these and a thousand others met in the fullness of Jesus – a being so infinitely beyond us in His deity that we will NEVER fathom the depths of who He is; yet who was so human that He wept at the death of His friend; so human that he wept at the death of His friend. He was so human that he cried out in fear in the garden – “FATHER! If there is any other way, let this cup pass from me!”

You see, in that moment in the garden, when Jesus looked up from his prayers, he did not see the loving, tender face of a Father. He saw the furious wrath of God’s burning presence, as God held His judgment sword aloft, ready to bring it down on Jesus head with all the force of the power that created the universe. And Jesus was terrified.

And then the time came. In order to provide for the salvation of His people, God ordained that Jesus would be arrested, that he would be tried, and that he would be sentenced to the cross by the will of the mob. And with each impact of the soldiers fists, Jesus knew that God would soon be the one beating his brow. With each lash of the cat of nine tails, Jesus knew that God’s righteous judgment would fall heavily upon him soon. And as he walked up the hill, he vision was consumed with the picture of God, waiting, burning is his fiery anger, ready to unleash an eternity’s worth of fury upon him.

And then it began. With each soldier’s hammer strike to pierce the flesh of Jesus and secure him to the cross, Jesus cried out in agony, because God’s holy hammer of wrath was falling upon him. As the thorns ripped the flesh of His head, Jesus felt the fury of God ripping into his heart. As the thousands of open wounds on His back ground against the rough, splintered wood of the cross, Jesus felt the awful pain of God’s molten fury falling upon him like waves of a tsunami. And the full, eternal, unfathomable weight of God’s awful wrath crushed down upon him as he HUNG…from 2 nails and a spike in his feet.

As Jesus hung on the cross, enduring unimaginable physical pain, the wrath of God was still more awful. When Jesus cries out on the cross, does he mention his uncountable wounds? No! Jesus cries out and says, “Eloi, Eloi! Lamach sabachthani!?!” “My God, My God! Why have you forsaken me!?”

Jesus endured more physical pain than any of us will ever know, but more than that, he was FORSAKEN by God. In that moment, God’s robes were spattered in the blood of Jesus, so that OUR blood would not have to be. Jesus was trodden down in the gruesome winepress of God’s awful fury so that WE would not have to be.

This perfect one, who never once failed to love, who never disobeyed, who was more compassionate and perfect than any other human being who has ever or will ever live – he felt the savage tide of the Father’s infinite wrath, which poured out from God like a glorious and terrible, golden black hurricane and fell fully and without mercy on the cross.

You see friends, God tread the winepress of His fury that day, and he held nothing back. All the reserves of God’s thunderous anger at sin were emptied and drained completely dry. ALL the punishment required of ALL of God’s people was trampled out of Jesus. The stored up wrath of God for every sin of all His people was fully spent on Jesus.

Oh friends, the cross was TERRIBLE! …and it was GLORIOUS!

There is no more punishment required! “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” “God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Christ we might become the righteousness of God!” The punishment, condemnation, wrath and blood that God required from YOU for YOUR sins was fully, completely, finally trodden out of Christ.

There is mercy for you at the cross, because there was no mercy for Jesus.

There is the promise, “I will never leave or forsake you.” because Jesus was forsaken at the cross.

There is an eternity of blessing waiting for you at the cross because there was an eternity of punishment for Jesus on the cross.

Will you neglect this great salvation? Oh, will you turn your back on a Savior who endured this for you?! The consequences of doing this are terrifying!

If we do not go to Jesus and receive the forgiveness of sins and commit our lives to him, we will still bear the guilt of our sin. And IF YOU BEAR THE GUILT OF OUR SIN…then the same wrath the fell on Jesus will fall on you. If you don’t ask Jesus to pay the price of your blood, YOU will have to pay it. If Jesus does not stand in the winepress of God’s wrath, YOU will stand there.

In fact, if you neglect Jesus as our substitute and Savior, then He himself will turn against you.

“Yet they rebelled and grieved His holy spirit. So he turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.” Isaiah 63:10

So what will it be this morning, dear friends? Will you cling to Jesus for the mercy of God? Will you accept God the Father’s love for you, by trusting in Jesus for your salvation? Will you accept what the Father has offered? He spoke to the Israelites long ago and said, “This day I set before you 2 choices: life and death, blessing and curses. Choose life!” Lay you sins on Jesus! Trust in the Father! Do not condemn yourself to experiencing the wrath of God, when Jesus has endured it already.

Baptism: The Proclamation and Affirmation of the Gospel

Romans 6:1-11

 

This morning as we continue in our attempt to think through how the gospel relates to the church, we come to the glorious ordinance of baptism. Now, the underlying principle I have attempted to show in each of these sermons is the fact that every facet of the church’s existence and life is based upon the new birth that comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. When we spoke about church membership, we saw in Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church that to be a member of the church, one must be born again. Last week, in discussing the examination for faith, we see that it is required of us to test ourselves and each other to make sure we are born again. This week, we will hopefully see that the ordinance of baptism is grounded upon and proclaims the new birth in Jesus Christ.

So, to draw this all together: the foundation upon which the church is built is the new birth through salvation in Jesus, and if the new birth is the basis of the church’s existence and the qualification for membership, then we must examine ourselves and one another to see if we have been born again, and finally: baptism is the way that a believer personally proclaims that they have been born again, and the way the church affirms that this person has been examined and shown fruit of the new birth. The church is made up of those who have been born again through faith in Jesus, and because this is the case we must examine each other to look for evidence of new birth, and thus baptism becomes the ceremony in which the believer publically and finally proclaims that they have been born again, and the church corporately recognizes that this is true. Therefore, baptism is the ordinance that allows the believer to identify themselves as being born again, and allows the church to place their approval on that believer’s faith after having examined them.

Now, in our passage this morning, what we are going to see is that Paul is painting a picture of the gospel, and the example he uses is that of baptism. The imagery of baptism is dripping with the gospel, and it is beautiful! We observe baptism so that a believer can say: “This is the gospel I have believed.”, and so that the church can say, “Yes! This is the gospel we affirm.”

 

READ Romans 6:1-11        &         Pray

 

Summary: Baptism into death & raised into life (3-5)

Now, in these first verses, Paul ties baptism to the gospel. He makes reference to 2 things: Christ’s death, and Christ’s resurrection, because these are the central elements of the message of good news. We’ll see more precisely what Paul is talking about in just a moment, but what is important to recognize is how Paul relates baptism to what Christ has done.

According to Paul in these verses, when a person is baptized, it is a demonstration of the transaction which has taken place between themselves and God through Jesus. Christ died, and our baptism shows that we have somehow participated in that death. Jesus was raised, and we have participation in that resurrection also. So there are two central elements of the gospel which baptism proclaims: Jesus death and resurrection.

Ah my friends, set your mind to see what this means for the act of baptism! It is not simply a rite of passage for someone to become a church member. It is not simply a nice ceremony when we get to congratulate the believer on making a public display of their faith. Brothers and sisters, the full weight of the precious cross lays upon the ordinance of baptism! When our Lord was carried to the grave, they sealed his lifeless body behind a massive wall of stone. But at the proper time, the glory of the Eternal God filled the tomb so powerfully that the very earth shook. THAT is the glory which shines through in baptism. We’ll see it more clearly in the coming verses.

 

Crucified with Christ and free from sin (1-3,6-7)

These verses speak to one of the deepest truths of the gospel. If I were to ask you what the main problem of mankind is, what would you say? If you had to point out the greatest problem in all of human history, what would it be? The Bible speaks very clearly about this: the greatest problem in all of human history is the fact that every single human ever born is separated from God because of sin. EVERY other problem we face here on earth comes from that. Sickness, natural disaster, emotional pain, weariness, fear, even death itself…all of that comes from the fact that sin has entered the world and broken the relationship between man and God. And this problem extends far beyond the pain and difficulty which we experience in this life. The fact that we are separated from God because of sin poses a HORRIFYING threat for ETERNITY, because if we are not somehow reconciled to God, if our sin is not somehow dealt with, we will spend eternity being punished for sin. Eternity.

But oh! My friends! This is PRECISELY why Jesus came! All of the guilt which I have heaped up before God, all of the sins – from the smallest lie to the most awful thing I’ve ever done – everything which separates me from God…was laid upon Jesus on the cross, and God’s FULL wrath for MY sins broke upon Jesus. My guilt was destroyed. My sins forgiven, all because I have gone to the one who hung on the cross and said, “Oh Lord, forgive me! I commit my life to you!” And so, the old self which was condemned to die for sins, was crucified with Christ! The body of death is done away with! We are no longer slaves to sin, but we are free!

THIS is what the believer is proclaiming in baptism. When the physical body is immersed under the water, the truth being proclaimed is that the body of sins has been crucified and laid in the grave. When the believer goes under the water, they are proclaiming that their sins have been buried. When the water covers them, it shouts to the world that they have been cut off from the kingdom of sin and death. The placing of a person under the waters of baptism is the beautiful, glorious proclamation that Jesus has died for their sins, and so their old way of life is as good as buried.

“My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part but the whole was

nailed to the cross and I bear it no more! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, oh my soul!”

 

Raised with Christ and done with death (4-5,8-9)

But it doesn’t stop there. READ 4-5,8-9. The gospel does not stop with the destruction of sin. The gospel goes FAR beyond that. Jesus held out sins on the cross, and the wrath of God fell with infinite fierceness upon Jesus as He carried our guilt, and so our sins are destroyed, but then…oh beautiful!…the power of God filled the tomb with infinite glory so that the sacrificial Lamb might become the Risen Lord! And Jesus, after taking our sins away, gives us that glorious resurrection power in return! The gospel is not simply that Jesus takes away our sins, it is that He GIVES us life so that we might walk as born-again, new creations!

ILLUSTRATION – Think of it this way: suppose you have the worst year of your life financially. You find yourself not only with no job and no money, but because of how the year has gone and some bad luck, you have racked up extraordinary debt…debt that you couldn’t pay back even if you gave your entire salary towards it for 50 years. You can’t pay anything. You are going to lose literally everything you own. You find yourself in court, standing before the judge with no less than several dozen creditors accusing you. And as you feel the terror of what is to come, knowing that there’s no way out, you hear someone from the back of the room speak up and say, “Judge, I would like to pay the debt.” Flabbergasted, you turn around, thinking maybe it’s a cruel joke. And you watch, stunned, as this man goes to each of your creditors and pays what you owe in full, no questions asked. He even pays the court and legal fees. You have literally no financial burden. And you break down in tears, weeping in thankfulness, because this man has just lifted you out from under the burden of your debt. Still weeping, you reach out to hug the man, but he holds up a hand and speaks again. “One more thing, Judge: I would like transfer my entire fortune to them.” A wave of adrenaline chills sweeps over you, not believing what you just heard. You watch, weak in the knees, as the proper calls are made, realizing that you are now in possession of a fortune so vast that you could not spend it all in 50,000 lifetimes. The payment of debt was incredible…but this! This borders on unbelievable. You went from having nothing, to having EVERYTHING!

My friends, this is the gospel! Not only will Jesus pay every ounce of debt you owe for your sins, He will also give you a treasure that eternity will not be able to deplete. Jesus was raised from the dead and lives on for eternity, and He offers us this same eternal life in the gospel.

And so, in baptism, after the brief moment of burial, there comes resurrection! Our faith unites us to Jesus’ death, and our faith unites us to Jesus in His indestructible, eternal life! Coming up out of the waters of baptism proclaims the gospel truth that we born again into new life even now, and that one day we will walk the golden shores of eternity with our Risen and glorified King.

“When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun,

we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun.”

Coming up out of the waters of baptism is the joyous and glorious proclamation that Jesus has given us new life, and will sustain that glorious life throughout all eternity.

 

Conclusion: Sin is done, life is Christ (10-11)

Paul’s summary of the passage comes in these verses. Jesus died to sin once for all, and so the life He lives, He lives to God. Sin has nothing to do with His existence, and God has everything to do with His existence. He is dead to sin and alive with the Father.

And Paul says that our lives should reflect the same thing! Not only are we forgiven of sins; not only do we receive the promise of eternal life and resurrection, but even now in this very moment we live to God! This goes back to the first thing Paul says in this chapter: “Shall we go on sinning so that God’s grace can increase? BY NO MEANS! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

ILLUSTRATION – In my travels, I have met a number of people who converted to Christianity out of another religion. In some of those circumstances, the person did so at great personal cost. A number of Christian brothers who come from a Christian background have told me things like this: “When I became a Christian, I wanted my family to know the truth about Jesus as well. But when I told them about these things, my father said ‘You are dead to me. If I ever see you again, I will kill you.’” There was a divide between them that was so deep that the father was willing to say that it was as if they no longer existed.

In the same way, we should look sin in the face and say, “You are dead to me.”…because it is! When we place our faith in Jesus and ask His forgiveness, it means that our sins and sinful way of life was crucified to death with Jesus. Gal 6:14 – “by [the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

And thus, as we walk out of the waters of baptism, we leave our sinful way of life behind. The sins of our old life are buried beneath the waters with Christ, and we are born again into new life which we live for the glory of God. Baptism illustrates the gospel in this way: like Christ was buried, we are buried in the waters of baptism. Like Jesus was raised from the grave, we are raised out of the waters. And just as Jesus now lives eternally for the glory of God the Father, so now WE must live for the glory of God. We are buried, raised, and then set out on a Christ-exalting, God-glorifying life.

Guard against error

Baptism does not save. Salvation comes BEFORE baptism, and is finished and accomplished before we go beneath the waters of baptism. Jesus saves, not baptism.

It is also necessary to point out, however, that baptism ALWAYS follows belief. Every time we see someone come to faith in Jesus in the New Testament, they are immersed in and raised out of the water in order to proclaim the gospel of their salvation.

 

Summary

So then, as a believer comes to the waters of baptism, they come to proclaim the most precious truths of the gospel. And as they go under the waters, they proclaim “I have cast my sins on Jesus, who died for them so I would not have to.”, and they church affirms: “Yes! This is what Christ has done.” As the believer comes up out of the waters, they proclaim: “My Lord did not stay in the grave, but was raised in victory, and so I too will be raised with Him and by His power.”, And the church affirms: “Yes! This is what we have believed.” And as they stand and leave the water, they proclaim, “I have passed from death, and now walk in the new life I have in Jesus Christ.” And the church affirms: “Yes! This is what we have believed!”

Oh precious is the sign of baptism, because it proclaims the work of our beautiful Savior on our behalf! He died for our sins, and just as surely as He went to the grave, so our sins were buried with Him. And, oh glorious thought! – just as surely as He was raised, so also have we been given new life, and so shall we also be raised to finally be with Him one day.

 

As we have said many times already: every facet of the church’s life and existence is founded upon the new birth in Jesus Christ. To be a member of God’s church, one must be born again into it. Since that is the qualification, we examine ourselves and each other to see if we have indeed been born again. And those who profess faith in Christ, who have been examined by the church to see if they have been born again, proclaim the gospel of their new birth through baptism as the church affirms that gospel and the believer’s faith.

–Have you been born again through faith in Jesus?

–Have you obediently, joyfully come to the waters of baptism to proclaim that your sins have been buried and that you have been raised with Christ?

–Won’t you come? Why delay? Come and proclaim the saving truth of the gospel through baptism! Come so that we as a fellowship of saints might affirm your faith and rejoice with you.

–Won’t you come to the gospel waters of baptism?

 

Testing for Life

2 Corinthians 13:5-10

I’ll have to apologize this morning. I know I said that we would be discussing baptism this morning, but in my study I realized that our look into baptism would be greatly helped if we thought through our topic this morning. My hope is that next week we will arrive at the topic of baptism, more fully prepared to see the glory and responsibility of baptism as an ordinance given by Jesus Christ.

To briefly recap: last week I laid out the proposition that every facet of the church’s life and existence is founded upon the new birth through salvation in Jesus Christ. We repent of sins, ask His forgiveness, commit our lives to Him, and He re-creates us. He makes us be born again into the hope that comes through His sacrifice for our sins. Specifically last week we saw that, by definition, a member of God’s church MUST be someone who is born again, and that as a local church we must be faithful to that same qualification.

So here’s the therefore for this week: By the biblical definition, every member of God’s church and the local church must be born again…THEREFORE, if membership depends upon this qualification, then the church MUST examine its members and those seeking membership to know whether or not they have been born again. If we recognize that there IS a qualification, then we must seek to KEEP that qualification.

READ 2 Corinthians 13:5-10         &         PRAY

Ok, let’s think about the context in which Paul is writing this passage. We see throughout the book of Acts that Paul is going into all different places preaching the gospel, discipling more people, and building churches. Then, after the books of Acts, we see the record of Paul interacting with his churches. He goes around and plants all these churches, and then continues to support and teach them even as he goes elsewhere, and nearly half of our New Testament is a record of this correspondence between Paul and his churches. It seems as though the church at Corinth is one of his most difficult situations, and he has to deal with a lot of issues with them, both theological and practical. Through this letter in particular, we see that Paul is answering objections and accusations. They have even demanded proof that he is speaking from God, apparently (13:3)!

However, what we see Paul doing constantly is working for their good (12:14-15, 19), even though what he must do for their good is not going to be easy or fun (12:20; 13:2). And all of this is for the purpose of building them up (13:10).

Now, we know that our passage this morning is right in the middle of this. Paul is working for their good because he loves them and wants to build them up. So what does he tell the Corinthian church to do for their good, so that they might be built up?

1. Examine yourselves to see if you’re in the faith (13:5)

Paul urges them to examine each other to find whether or not they are “in the faith”? This is an examination of the faith once and for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3). The Corinthians are to examine each others’ beliefs to see whether or not they accord with true gospel teaching.

1. Test yourselves to see if Christ is in you (13:5)

Again, the urge is to look at one another’s’ lives and provide accountability. Are we in the faith? Do our lives give evidence that we believe rightly? Do we live as though Christ were in us?

1. Apply this same test to the apostles and teachers (13:6)

This is a necessary action which everyone takes part in and to which everyone submits. There are no exemptions. The members of the church were to be constantly examining each other.

This is how Paul the apostle, the master church planter and disciple-maker, urged the church to build itself up: to examine each other to see whether they were born again, and to see if their lives showed that Christ was living within them!

And this was not simply a practical suggestion written to one church. This is a biblical command that applies to every church. If the church is to be built up, it MUST be grounded upon Jesus Christ, and those who are born again through faith in his name. It is imperative and absolutely necessary for the life, health, and survival of the church to do this.

ILLUSTRATION – Wise man built his house upon the rock.

In the same way, the church will be endangered and unsteady if it is founded upon ANYTHING but Jesus Christ. The first and most important way to do this is to make sure that each member is grounded upon Jesus Christ. We MUST hold ourselves, AND ANYONE WHO SEEKS MEMBERSHIP, up to the biblical qualification for membership in God’s church.

 

OBJECTION: “Wow. You mean we’re supposed to stand here and say who is and is not born again? That’s really judgmental. ‘Judge not, lest you be judged.’”

First, I want to recognize that there have been many people through history, probably a number of people in your own life, who have overstepped their bounds and stood in judgment over you or over someone else. They condemned and passed judgment in a brutal or hurtful way. I want you to hear me say that that is evil and sinful. HOWEVER…that’s not what we’re talking about this morning. Turn over to Matthew 7 with me.

READ Mt 7:1-2

So yes, we are warned against being judgmental. But look at what Jesus says later on   in the same chapter.

READ Mt 7:15-20

The testing for faith, the examining to see whether a person is born again or not, is not judgmental. It does not fall into the category of verses 1-2. The testing that we’re talking about this morning falls under the category of 15-20. We are not standing in judgment   over someone in order to condemn them. We are simply walking up to the tree to observe what sort of fruit is growing there. Christians and churches are called to do this. We MUST do this.

SUPPORT: Rev 2:2…..1 Cor 2:15; 5:12…..Noble Bereans (Acts 17)

This is not being judgmental. It is being discerning in order that the truth of someone’s heart might be known. This is a MASSIVELY important thing to be assured of. Eternity is at stake on how we use our discernment in these issues. Look at the terrifying picture painted in the next verses:

READ Mt. 7:21-23

This is what we’re guarding against! If we do not hold true to the biblical qualification for church membership; if we do not examine ourselves and those who seek to be members to observe whether or not new birth has actually happened, we could be affirming salvation that does not exist! How TERRIFYING to think that when the day of judgment comes, we might see someone stand before God, hear these words, and cry out “But I was a member of so-and-so’s church!” Oh, how awful! There is a GREAT weight of responsibility for us to examine and test one another to see whether we are truly in the faith.

Now, we have seen that this is not an attempt to be condemning or judgmental. This is a biblical command for the good of the church. How does Paul say we should go about following this command? There are several things:

1. Work to build up, not to exclude

The purpose of all this is not to form a “cool-kids” group. It is not for the purpose of standing as the judges of who is and isn’t getting to heaven. No, it is for the building up of the body of Christ and all who seek membership with that body!

ILLUSTRATION – Ski trip. 1^st timer tries to ski down a double black. Their way is barred. Is that exclusion for the sake of meanness? No, it is for safety and well-being. In the same way, the church holds to the qualification of being born again in order to protect the body of Christ and cause no harm to those seeking membership.

ILLUSTRATION – Good Samaritan didn’t just look & say “oh you’re good to go.” He actually got the man well and ministered to his needs.

Again, the purpose of limiting membership to only those who pass the test for life is not to cloister ourselves off from the world so we can have a holy huddle. In doing this we remember what people’s deepest needs are. A person’s deepest needs are not to FEEL accepted by the church. A person’s deepest need is to be truly forgiven by God.

1. Be humble (12:21)

Paul does not say that the CHURCH will be humbled if he comes. He says that HE will be humbled before them. He is not acting as a dictator or a tyrant. He is humbly crying out to them so that they might see the truth. He loves them so deeply that he is broken for their lack of faith. I think we automatically assume that limiting the membership of the church to those who show good evidence of truly being born again would end up being a witch hunt, and when we find someone who maybe isn’t truly saved we would triumphantly cry out, “Aha! Found one we can excommunicate!” No! Paul is not triumphant here. Paul loves these people so much, and so greatly desires to see their eternal good that he would sooner break down in humble weeping, begging them to see the truth.

1. Realize how true love acts (Eph 4:25)

Just as a parent might speak a difficult truth to the child for their good, if we truly love people we MUST love them enough to speak the truth in love.

ILLUSTRATION – Imagine a circumstance in which there is a person who obviously does not know Jesus. They live in sin and maybe don’t even know that they need forgiveness. Then for some reason they walk by the church and decide maybe they should come in. But instead of encouraging them to seek the truth, I do everything in my power to convince them that they’re fine. “There’s no need for God. Don’t even worry about coming in the church. You’re good to go.”

The most eternally destructive and blatantly UNloving thing we could ever do to a person is allow them to continue thinking that he or she is saved by Christ when they are not. By failing to examine each other and require that members show observable evidence of being born again, we do EXACTLY that. It is the MOST loving thing we can do to examine a person’s heart and life to see if they are truly in the faith.

1. Know what is right/true belief

Now, here’s another weighty truth that comes from this biblical command: if the church corporately is to examine and test one another for true faith, then the members of the church must know what true faith is! The church cannot fulfill the call to examine one another if those who are members of the church don’t know what is and is not biblical faith. This is a glorious task, but one that comes with great responsibility. It is not the task of the pastor or teachers or deacons to make these decisions – it is a corporate commitment to hold one another to the biblical standard. So, do we know the biblical standard?

ILLUSTRATION – Twilight zone: what if you blinked your eyes and came to in the middle of a massive battle between two armies. You’d be severely disoriented already. THEN you realize that you’re the medic, and people are bringing you all sorts of wounded men. You might cry out, “I can’t save these! I’m not a doctor!” And it’s true: if you don’t have the knowledge of medicine, you can’t treat people’s wounds.

In the same way, if you do not know the faith once for all delivered to the saints, you will not be well equipped to minister to the wounds of the people around you. The body of Christ is called to know what is right and true so that together we might build one another up, and administer saving spiritual medicine to those in the world whose souls are fatally wounded by sin.

1. Aim for perfection (13:8, 11)

This is the goal: perfection. Perfection can only be found in Jesus Christ (Col 1:28 – “present everyone perfect in Christ.”). And so if we are aiming for perfection, we are aiming for Him! We are helping one another along, carrying each other’s burdens amidst all the spiritual warfare going on around us. We encourage and admonish one another, examining our hearts so that we might not be wounded by sin and unbelief. And we do the same for those who have not been born again. We aim them towards Christ in order that they might also become His disciples. The perfection towards which we are aiming is a Church that is fully founded upon Jesus Christ; whose members are all disciples of the Lord, growing in faith and holiness.

Dare we aim for less?

Conclusion

Again, the church is founded and rooted upon Jesus Christ. This means that the members of a church must be born again through faith IN Jesus. And therefore, we must test and examine the members and those seeking membership in order to make sure that all are born again. This is a qualification for membership that we cannot afford to neglect. We cannot afford to fail in this task of testing for the new birth, or we may find ourselves wracked with anguish on the day of judgment as we see those condemned appealing to US for salvation, instead of appealing to Jesus.

To carry this task out is biblical; it is obedient; it is truly and deeply loving. Thus, it will accomplish the work which God said it would accomplish: the building up of the church towards perfection.

What Glory!

 

The Church of True Believers

1 Corinthians 1:1-2

As most of you know, we recently had a young man (Noah McGhee) make his faith in Christ public. A few of you have asked when his baptism will be, and so to introduce what we will be speaking about in the next several weeks, I wanted to let you know that I have spoken with Noah and his parents to ask if they would be willing to postpone his baptism for a time so that we as a church might use this opportunity to consider what it means to be a church, what church membership is, what baptism is, and what we should infer from these truths. So, to take advantage of this opportunity, we will be thinking together this month about church membership, baptism, and church accountability as we rejoice in our young brother’s faith.

Now, here’s the biblical truth that I will be attempting to convince you of over the next several weeks: the root and foundation of every aspect of the life of the church is the new birth given to those who are saved by grace through faith. Church members are, by definition, born again. Baptism is an outward symbol of the inward fact that someone has been born again. We are accountable to each other because we have been born again. Every aspect of the church’s existence and functioning is based on the new birth. Without new birth, the church does not exist. So, let’s read our passage for this morning.

READ 1 Cor 1:1-2     &   PRAY

Illustration: It was a time of great change; a time of great turmoil; a time in which the Biblical convictions of many gained them persecution and suffering. Arriving to the mid-1600’s, the world had come through over a hundred years of the reformation – the spiritual movement which attempted to expose the errors of Roman Catholicism and restore the church to its Biblical foundation upon Jesus Christ and salvation by grace through faith.

During this time there was a particular issue that is coming to a head and spreading more and more widely throughout the world, but especially throughout England. That central issue arose out of the fact that the government of England mandated that every citizen be a member of the government’s church. So, if you were a citizen of England, you were required to be a member of the Church of England. Throughout this turmoil there would be various times at which it would be illegal to miss church, and those who did not appear to receive communion from the priest so many times a month would be heavily fined or thrown in prison!

Two of the main groups attempting to make reforms during this time were the Puritans and the Protestants. The puritans thought it was possible to purify the church (hence the name); to take the church which already existed and renew it to Biblical faithfulness. The protestants protested, and believed the existing church was so broken and sinful that it was beyond reform, and so they separated themselves from it. One of the main things that both groups were absolutely convinced of is that a church cannot survive and thrive in a Biblically faithful way if it was composed of people who did not belong to Christ. So, eventually both groups ended up separating from the state church in order to re-create the church on the basis of a born-again membership. It was a difficult time of struggle and turmoil. Those who sought membership in one of these churches were open to all sorts of persecution, exile, and even death, and yet they were so deeply committed to and convinced by the Word of God that they were willing to endure great suffering for their obedience. Do you think there were any members of their churches who were flippant about membership? Who were not deeply committed to the cause of Christ, such that they did so in full knowledge that they might lose their lives just for seeking membership with a Biblical church? What a glorious time it must have been!

There were many reasons that convinced the reformers of the absolute necessity of having a church whose members were born again. We will see a few of them distilled in our scripture for this morning. Our text for this morning is the beginning of a letter Paul writes to the Corinthians. In the second verse he specifically says that he is writing to the church, and then goes on to qualify that statement and say what the church is.

From all of these we will see that a member of the church, by definition, is only one who has been born again through faith in Jesus Christ. Let me point out 6 things Paul says which make it impossible for people who have NOT been born again to be members of the church.

 

1. “To the church of God in Corinth…”

The body or gathering to whom Paul is writing is the church of God. The church belongs to God. How is it that we come to belong to God? In the Old Testament God frames it by saying: “You will be my people and I will be your God.” How do we get to the place where that is true? This becomes true when we repent of our sins and commit our lives to Christ, being born again through His forgiveness. We become the church of God when we are born again into the Kingdom of God.

READ John 3:3-5; Eph 2:12-13, 18-19; 1 Cor 6:9a

Illustration: If we were walking outside on a rainy day and you had 2 coats in front of you, 1 yours and 1 mine, and I asked you to hand me my coat, you wouldn’t hand me both. You would hand me the one which belongs to me. In the same way, the church is made up of those who belong to Jesus and have been born again into His kingdom. Those who do not belong to Jesus and have not been born again are not the church.

 

1. The church is “…those sanctified in Christ Jesus…”

Ok, $20 word. What does that mean: sanctified? The root of the word is sanctity, which means holiness or righteousness. So, those who have been sanctified are those who have been made holy or made righteous. This speaks directly to our standing before God. How is it that a person can stand under the holy gaze of the Creator and be declared righteous? We CANNOT accomplish that on our own. Our best attempts at righteousness are still ruined by sin. The ONLY way God will ever rest His piercing, perfect gaze on a person and declare them righteous is if they have been GIVEN righteousness from someone else.

Illustration: I remember school picture day when I was a kid. I remember seeing people who had forgotten about it and wore something that their parents would’ve been displeased with, and so before they had their picture taken they would borrow someone’s jacket or tie or something. They weren’t acceptable, and so they borrowed a covering to improve their appearance. My dear friends, this is exactly what Jesus has done for us. Jesus is the only person who ever walked earth to live a PERFECTLY righteous life. He was completely, fully pure. His righteousness was perfect. And when we stand before God, the ONLY thing that will make us acceptable under God’s searching eye of judgment is if we put no hope in our own righteousness, and put ALL our hope in Jesus’ righteousness. Instead of standing before God looking like a colorblind kindergartner who ran through the mud and sticker bushes before picture day, we stand before God having been given the glorious, shining, opulent, richly flowing righteousness of Jesus.

THAT is how we are sanctified. THAT is how we are made holy. THAT is how we are declared to be a part of the church! The church is “those sanctified in Christ”! The church is those who have recognized that they are unable in themselves to be righteous, and so have appealed to Jesus for forgiveness. And when a person does that, God, in His unfathomable mercy, chooses to take the perfection of Jesus and give it to us eternally! The person who has not been born again into the perfection of Christ is not a member of the church.

1. The church is “…called to be holy…”

This one seems similar to the last, but here’s the difference. In the phrase before Paul is referring to how we stand before God: we are declared perfectly righteous EVEN THOUGH we have not lived a perfectly righteous life. Here, Paul is saying that the church, in their earthly lives, should now REFLECT the holiness which they have been given. In essence he says, “The church has been declared righteous, now live like it.” But a life lived in holiness is impossible for the person who has not been born again, because it is only by the power of Jesus Christ that we are enabled to live in holiness.

Listen to Paul as he speaks about this very topic to the Ephesians: READ 4:17-24.

Those who are not born again as new creations cannot live as though they were new creations. Those who have not had their desires and affections made holy cannot live in as though they were holy.

Illustration: I and all of you were born as humans. Could you, then, decide suddenly that you wanted to be a bear, or a crocodile, or some girly animal? Well, you might be able to imitate a few of the characteristics of that animal, but you could not actually BE anything other than a human, because you were born a human. In the same way, it is impossible for those who have not been born again into Christ to act like Christ. A person cannot be holy unless they have been born again into holiness. The church, by definition, is only those who are born again into Jesus Christ.

 

1. The church is “…together with those everywhere…”

Ah, what a beautiful truth! I stand covered in the garment of Jesus’ perfect righteousness, and 10,000 miles away, on a lonely island, and in massive cities, and on the sides of mountains, there are men and women clothed in the same garment. I have committed my life to Jesus Christ, and so am in the family of God. And I have family members spanning throughout every corner of the earth. I could meet a Christian from the deepest expanse of Siberia, and with overflowing joy and sincerity say: “Brother.” There is a connection that exists between every Christian who has ever lived that does not exist for those who have not been born again.

READ Romans 12:4-5

The church, by definition, is a body of members who all belong to one another because of their mutual salvation in Jesus Christ. Therefore, someone who has not been saved by grace through faith and been born again does not have that connection to the rest of God’s people. And if they do not have a connection to God’s people, then they are not members of the church.

 

1. The church is those “…who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.”

This is one of those basic characteristics which break the link between those who have been born again and those who have not been born again. Fundamentally and by definition, the church is composed of those who have called on the name of the Lord for salvation, and have submitted to Jesus Christ as their Lord. Romans 10:13 says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Here in his letter to Corinth, Paul uses this in his definition of the church: the church is those who have called on the name of Jesus for salvation. So, a person who has NOT called upon the name of Jesus for salvation is not part of the church.

Lastly, look how we have come full circle: the first thing Paul said about the church is that is belongs to God. The last thing he says here is that the church recognizes Jesus Christ as their Lord. By definition, the church is composed of those who belong to God, who have submitted their lives to Jesus Christ, to follow and obey Him as their Lord and master. If a person has not submitted to Jesus Christ, how can they be said to be part of his church?

Illustration: I’ve really enjoyed going to see the Cats play down here at the school these past couple weeks. I haven’t been to as many games as I would like, but I’ve been to a few. Now, if at the beginning of the game tomorrow night I hopped down out of the bleachers and onto the court in my blue jeans and cowboy boots and started shooting layups, do you think the coach would be ok with that? No, of course not! Well, why not? Because I’m not a member of his team!

In the same way, those who have not submitted to the authority of Jesus Christ, who cannot truthfully call Him “Lord”, are not members of His church.

READ Romans 8:7-8 – Those who have not been born again are not members of the church of Christ, because they cannot submit to Christ as Lord. They are, in fact, enemies of the Lord.

 

Now, in order to be clear, I want to answer some objections that may have cropped up in your mind as you have listened, or which may crop up as you continue to think through this during the week.

1. Perhaps you have felt a tension in what I have said over and over; namely, that there are some people who by definition are not members of the church. I want to be very clear in saying: I have not meant this to be derogatory, nor has it been my attempt to insult. I am simply saying that the church is not defined by what we do or where we meet, but by who we are. If I were to look at two pieces of fruit and say, “This one is an apple. This one is an orange.” it would not be insulting. There are clear definitions that enable me to say this piece of fruit is not an apple. In the same way, when I point out what it means to be a member of the church, I am simply working to present the clear definition found in scripture.
2. Secondly: This doesn’t mean people who fall outside the biblical definition of church cannot participate in some of the activities and meetings of those who are the church. In fact we WANT people to come around. However, just because someone participates in the activities of the body of Christ does not mean that he or she is a member of the body of Christ. We welcome them in, in hopes that they will see the glory of Jesus Christ in our lives. However, no matter how much a person participates, if he or she is not born again through faith in Jesus Christ, the Bible says that they are not a member of the church.
3. Lastly, I know that this may sound somewhat foreign to some of you. It may sound as if I’m proposing something different than what you have done up until this point. However, it is not nearly so different as it may sound. I’m saying that church membership MUST be based on whether or not a person has been born again. Listen to your current bylaws: READ PAGE 2 – Membership qualifications and candidacy. This is why we require someone to profess faith before we recognize them as members, because only those who have been born again by grace through faith in Jesus Christ are truly the church.

 

Now, what does this mean practically? There are many, but here are 2 things which I think we must do in order to respond faithfully to God’s word regarding what it means to be a member of the church:

1. Examine your heart and faith. Can you say that you are truly a member of God’s church? Have you been born again? Have you been sanctified IN Christ Jesus? Are you connected with brothers and sisters in every place around the world because you call upon the same Lord? Have you truly, wholeheartedly submitted to Jesus Christ as Lord? If you have, then you ARE a member of the church, because you have been born again into God’s people. If you have not, then you are NOT a member of the church, because you have NOT been born again into God’s people. What matters to God is not whether your name is on a roll, or whether you have participated. What matters, as you stand before God, is whether or not you have been born again into His kingdom by repenting of your sins and submitting to Jesus Christ as Lord.
2. Secondly, if we are to be faithfully obedient to the Word of God and honor what He has said, we must do all we can to ensure that OUR church membership reflects HIS church membership. In other words, it is necessary for us to be diligent in limiting our membership to those who have truly been born again. It is necessary for us to strive towards ensuring that everyone who we recognize as a member of this church conforms to the standard set out in the Bible and reflected in our by-laws: to be a member, a person must be born again through faith in Jesus Christ.

 

In the coming week we will speak more about how we go about doing that. Next week we will study the topic of baptism, and I hope to again re-enforce the same truth: the new birth that comes from salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation and basis for every aspect and ordinance of the church.

 

The Lord of the Sabbath

Mark 2:23-3:6

So far in the book of Mark, we have seen the beginnings of Jesus’ life and ministry. He comes as the Messiah proclaimed by John the Baptist, calls His own disciples, begins to preach and teach while healing many people of diseases and casting out demons. Now, what we saw in the very beginning of all this is that the people are all amazed, but as time continues on the religious leaders in particular begin to realize that Jesus is doing things very differently than they expect from their Messiah. Religious leaders start asking questions. They take offense at Jesus’ answers. They question Him about forgiving sins, eating with tax collectors, fasting, and in our passage this morning they question Him about the Sabbath. In all of these, their questions come mingled with accusation. The Pharisees were not compassionate people. They were not gracious people. If you did not conform to their standards, you were automatically a lower-class human being. They thought of themselves as the guardians of holiness who alone had a special relationship with God.

What we have already seen Jesus do, and what we will continue to see Him do, is break down the very heart of their man-made religion. Over and over again Jesus lays the weight of His divine authority into smashing, demolishing the strongholds of pharisaical ritual. This morning we see Jesus attack the very heart of their worship. He smashes the foundation of all their thoughts on what is right worship; on how we must act toward God. So, if you’ll open in your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 2, we’ll begin reading in verse 23.

READ Mark 2:23-3:6

Again, what we’re seeing in this story is that Jesus is destroying the Pharisees’ ideas about worship, and about what pleases God. The core truth I want to focus on this morning is very similar to that of last week: worship is about man resting in and enjoying God. It is not about man serving God according to some human standard.

So then, the first thing we see in this passage is that Jesus and his disciples are walking through the field, eating grain. The Pharisees see this and pose a question to Jesus.  “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” Now, why were the Pharisees so upset? The Pharisees were outraged at this because the Sabbath was the most central part of the legalistic, ritual righteousness in which they put their great hopes.  Everything centered on the Sabbath.  It was the holy day.  And they extended their Sabbath laws far beyond what the scriptures required with the mindset of: the less opportunity you have or the more restricted you are, the holier are you are.  I mean, and they really came up with some extraordinary laws.  There was a man named Edersheim who researched and studied the Jewish law books and compiled a list of the Sabbath laws, or a partial list.

For example, no burden could be carried that weighed more than a dried fig, or half a fig carried two times. If you put an olive in your mouth and rejected it because it was bad, you couldn’t put a whole one in the next time because the palate had tasted the flavor of a whole olive. If you threw an object in the air and caught it with the other hand, it was a sin. If you caught it in the same hand, it wasn’t. A tailor couldn’t carry his needle. The scribe couldn’t carry his pen. A pupil couldn’t carry his books. No clothing could be examined lest somehow you find a bug and inadvertently kill it. Wool couldn’t be dyed. Nothing could be sold. Nothing could be bought. Nothing could be washed. No fire could be lit. Cold water could be poured on warm, but warm couldn’t be poured on cold.

You could not bathe for fear when the water fell off of you it might wash the floor. If a candle was lit, you couldn’t put it out. If it wasn’t lit, you couldn’t light it. Women couldn’t look in a glass or they might find a white hair and be tempted to pull it out. Women couldn’t wear jewelry because jewelry weighs more than a dried fig. A radish couldn’t be left in salt because it would make it a pickle and that’s work. You couldn’t put false teeth in your mouth. What else was forbidden? Sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, sifting, grinding, kneading, baking, washing wool, beating wool, dying wool, spinning wool, putting on a weaver’s beam, making threads, weaving threads, separating threads, making a knot, untying a knot, sewing two stitches. (Credit to Edersheim and John Macarthur for compiling this list.)

And this is the sort of laws that they attempted to live by every Sabbath, and they actually thought they could keep these laws! The arrogance of this is stunning. They had a tremendous MISunderstanding of who God is and how holy He is. They actually thought that they could live up to the holy standard of God. In effect, they built these laws because they thought they could be just as holy as God! They had elevated themselves over every other human being. No one else was worthy of them, and no person was as important as their laws.

We can see that Jesus had no intention of tolerating this. Look at His response to their accusation that He is breaking the Sabbath.

READ 2:25-26

Now, the story to which Jesus is referring occurs in 1 Samuel 21. David is running away from King Saul, because Saul has become jealous of David and is trying to kill him. So, David has to get out of town, and as he is fleeing he stops and asks the high priest for provisions – food and a weapon. The only food the priest has on hand is the bread that is placed in God’s presence every day to honor and remember God’s provision for the people of Israel. This is consecrated bread; holy bread; bread set aside for ONLY the priests to eat, because it has been in the presence of God. This is the bread David takes for himself and his men.

Why is it that Jesus uses this story to respond to the Pharisees? Because their priorities were so upside down that they would rather ignore someone’s physical needs than break their Sabbath laws. David and his companions were in need, and their need for provision was of greater importance than the sacredness of the showbread. Jesus and His disciples were hungry and in need, and their need was more important than the sacredness of the Sabbath laws. The Pharisees would rather have let them starve to death than break the Sabbath. You can see this clearly in 3:1-6. The Pharisees would refuse to give someone medical help on the Sabbath unless they were mortally ill or wounded or dying. How wretched, arrogant, compassion-less and mercy-less were these men! And it doesn’t say that Jesus simply disliked their stubborn hearts. It says He was ANGERED by their hearts. Jesus will not humor this kind of stubbornness. God will not tolerate the elevation of ritual over the needs of people. God would have been FAR more pleased if the Pharisees forgot their laws and went out and helped the poor every Sabbath.

Now, at this point the Pharisees would have already been upset. They know Jesus is rebuking them, and they are not accustomed to being rebuked. They think of themselves as above reproach! However, Jesus isn’t nearly through yet. He’s about to     say something that must have outraged them beyond belief.

READ 2:27-28

“Lord of the Sabbath”?!?!?! This is one of the most shocking, destructive, offensive things that Jesus says to the Pharisees in all the gospels. Why? Because GOD HIMSELF was “Lord of the Sabbath”! God took the first Sabbath on the 7^th day after he spent 6 days creating. God is the one who commanded the Sabbath to be kept holy. It was God who spoke to His people and promised blessing for keeping the Sabbath. And so, Jesus is claiming to be Yahweh, the creator and law-giver, as the Lord of the Sabbath. He is claiming that HE is the one who is being obeyed and worshipped by keeping the Sabbath holy. The Pharisees must have been utterly flabbergasted. This would have been so unthinkable to them that I wonder if they even got angry at this moment. Have you ever heard someone say something so shocking that you wonder at their sanity; you’re too shocked to even be mad?

Jesus, in response to their question, not only rebukes them for elevating their ritual laws over the needs of men, He claims that He is Lord of the Sabbath, and can therefore do whatever He likes on the Sabbath! The Lord of the Sabbath is not bound to the laws for the Sabbath. Again, we see Him show this in the following passage. In front of everyone, in a blatant challenge to the Pharisees, he heals a man and then rebukes them all. He’s not hiding. He’s not timid. This is why the Pharisees are seeking to kill him at the end of the passage. He is openly attacking the foundations of their ideas about what makes someone righteous; the very core of EVERYthing they do in their lives. Their entire lives center around keeping the law, then Jesus comes and tells them that the very center of their ideology is completely wrong.

Now, Jesus said something right before He claimed to be God that we skipped over. In verse 27, Jesus says something that is absolutely vital for our understanding of why the Pharisees were so completely wrong. Jesus says “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Here’s why this is so vital: in the mind of the Pharisees, there was no greater thing for man to do than to zealously keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the pinnacle of religion, and the most important thing about man’s relationship with God. So, in the mind of a Pharisee, the Sabbath was the main thing man was created to do – man was created for the Sabbath. But Jesus flips this on its head and says that the Sabbath was created for man, not the other way around!

Right, so what does that mean? How is the Sabbath FOR man? First of all, the Sabbath was created because work is hard. Can we all just agree that work is tiring and wearisome? Anyone ever been worn out after a long week of work? Yea, we all have. You know WHY work is hard? Because that was part of the curse after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. God said, “Work will be a burden to you, and by the sweat of your brown will the field produce its crops.” But, in His great mercy, God gave His people relief from the great burden of their work. Every week, they were to set aside an entire day when no work was to be done. Now, this is kind of a big deal when the Israelites were primarily a farming nation. For those of you that farm – is there ever a day when you do absolutely nothing for the farm? Few and far between, I’m sure. But God promised them that if they faithfully kept the Sabbath, He would bless them and provide for them even thought they only worked 6 days a week. So, not only was the Sabbath created for the REST and REFRESHMENT of man, but also to strengthen man’s TRUST in God. The Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Now, that’s not all the Sabbath was for – and this is where things begin to tie together   for us. Ultimately, as with everything in the Old Testament, the Sabbath was intended to prepare for and point to Jesus Christ! Hebrews chapter 4 tells us this:

READ Hebrews 4:9-10

Our Sabbath rest comes in Jesus Christ! The Sabbath day was created FOR mankind, just like the Sabbath Savior was sent FOR mankind.So, the physical rest from the burden of work is fulfilled in our spiritual rest from the burden of our sin. You see, what the Pharisees were trying to do was carry the heavy burden of living up to God’s righteous requirements. They attempted to complete the work of righteousness but serving God through the Sabbath. But Jesus comes and replaces flips this on its head with a shocking truth: man wasn’t created to serve God; man was created to rest in God! Man does not and cannot serve God. GOD SERVES MAN!

Now, before you think I’m blaspheming, turn to Matthew chapter 20 with me.

READ Matthew 20:25-28, Acts 17:24-25

Jesus, God Himself in the flesh, did not come to be served, but to serve. God needed nothing from the Pharisees. There was nothing the Pharisees had that God required. There is nothing they could do that God could not do completely on His own. My friends, it is the same with you. God needs nothing from us. NOTHING. He is infinitely self-sufficient, and there is He can accomplish and fulfill every desire He has altogether on His own.

WE, on the other hand, desperately NEED God for everything. We need Him for our existence. We need Him for life itself. We need Him for breath, for heartbeats, for safety, for protection, for mercy, for forgiveness, for strength to live as He requires, for help in prayer, for comfort in affliction, for courage in trouble. We need God for EVERYTHING!

So do you see? Man was not created for the Sabbath, as if God NEEDED someone to serve Him. The Sabbath was created for man, because we NEED to BE SERVED BY GOD. Now, here’s the question: if this is the case, then what is left for us to do? What can we do for a God who cannot be served by human hands? We ENJOY Him. We rest in Him. In this way we imitate God, who took the first Sabbath. After 6 days of creation, God rested. Now, God did not rest because He was weary. Creating the universe did not fatigue Him in the least. It is infinitely more difficult for us to take one single breath than it was for God to create universe. So why did He rest? He rested simply to enjoy His creation; treasure what He had made. And we are meant to imitate that! We enjoy the creator. We treasure the one who made us!

Do you see how this destroys the Pharisees’ mindset? They worked as hard as they possibly could to obey and serve on the Sabbath in order to earn God’s favor, increase their righteousness. And yet Jesus says that this is the very opposite of why the Sabbath was created! Man was not created for the Sabbath. Man cannot serve God. The Sabbath was created for man so that God could serve man!

ààà Now, I want to guard against falling into error here. There are many scriptures where we are called servants of God; where we are called to serve Him. What this means is simply that even when we serve God, we are resting in our Sabbath Savior. We don’t serve God because He needs us to, we serve God because we want to. We don’t serve to EARN our forgiveness, we serve out of joy that we HAVE BEEN forgiven. So, we don’t serve God because He needs us to, we serve God because we LOVE Him; treasure Him; enjoy Him.

The Pharisees had it all wrong, and we love to hate them for it…but are we making the same mistakes? Why do you go to church? Why do you live a moral life? Why do you avoid sin? Why do you obey the Bible? Do you do these things to live up to some standard that you think God will be pleased with, or do you do them simply because you love Jesus? Do you attempt to serve God to earn his favor, or do you serve God because you rejoice in the favor He has shown you?

Here’s the most important question: have you allowed Jesus to serve you? When He came and lived a perfect life, He carried the burden of righteousness that was too much for us. When He died on the cross, He accomplished the work of forgiveness that was impossible for us. Are you trying to serve God to gain what only Christ can give? Again, remember 3:1-6. That man couldn’t heal himself. He needed Jesus to serve him. We are all that man.

So are you letting Jesus serve you by asking that He GIVE you His own forgiveness and righteousness. Are you attempting to serve a Savior who cannot be served, or are you resting in that Savior and allowing Him to serve you. He is our Sabbath Rest, and He was sent to serve us by being our righteousness and earning our forgiveness.

Wineskins and Worship

Mark 2:18-22

We come to a gloriously interesting passage this morning. A portion of it is well known to many of us, but I think we rarely see it or think of it in context. The verses you will recognize are when Jesus begins to speak about pouring new wine into new wineskins. What we will see is that Jesus says this directly in response to a question about worship; specifically the practice of fasting. He rejects the Jewish notion of ritualistic fasting, and responds with 3 illustrations to clarify His meaning.

Let’s read the passage, and then we’ll work from the end back to the beginning.

READ Mark 2:18-22

Alright, so as we saw last week, Jesus is feasting with Levi and other tax collectors at Levi’s house. As this is happening, or soon after, the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees get their feelings hurt. Why? Because Jesus is feasting while they’re fasting. So, Jesus responds, in one breath giving 3 mini-parables. The first is the image of the joy that accompanies a wedding ceremony. Then, without pausing or taking a breath Jesus speaks these words about old garments and patches, old wineskins and new wine. This isn’t a new section. Jesus is still responding to the question about fasting. So, in some way, what He says about wineskins and garments relates back to the question about fasting. It’s our task this morning to understand what that is.

Now, in order to show you plainly where I’m going, I’ll tell you what I think Jesus is saying through these verses, and then show you how I arrived there and try to bring you along with me. Here’s what I think Jesus is saying: the gospel of Jesus Christ creates a drastic change in us, so much so that we are not simply refurbished or revitalized or fixed up, we are entirely new creations! This newness about us is shown above all else in this: treasuring Jesus as our greatest reward.

Let me show you where I’m getting this from. Remember the scene: these other men are questioning Jesus about why His disciples aren’t fasting. This fasting was a worship ritual; a set action that you observed in order to be obedient to the law. The way in which Jesus responds is one of the first in which we see Him reveal that the old way of worshipping God is going to be replaced by something far better. So, in these verses where Jesus talks about wineskins, what he’s saying is that the old rituals which are performed out of a sense of duty are not adequate to honor Him. Jesus Christ as a Savior does not fit into the scheme of ritual worship. When He says that you can’t put new wine into an old wineskin, He is saying that He Himself cannot simply be added into the sort of worship they have already been giving. Look at what He says: “…or else the new wine will burst the wineskin, and both the skin and the wine will be ruined…” Ruined! Now, it doesn’t mean that Jesus Christ is ruined. We can do nothing to smudge, damage or destroy the Savior. What it means is that the work of Jesus and all He accomplished would be ruined, useless to them if they simply added Him into the old ways. Jesus is so glorious and so infinitely good that He cannot be contained by mere obedience for the sake of ritual. The only way someone is going to be able to benefit from and enjoy the new wine of Jesus Christ is if the whole wineskin is new as well!

Imagine with me for a moment that you have a task that you need to accomplish: changing a tire, washing clothes, feeding cows, grocery shopping. Think for me the steps you might take to go about accomplishing that goal. Oh wait, one more thing to add to this scenario: there’s something must be done, some chore to do, but here’s the glitch – you’re dead. Ok, now how do you go about getting the task done? Well, the answer is obvious: you can’t! And that’s what the scriptures tell us: “You were dead in your transgressions before Jesus Christ.” Dead people can’t worship. They must be re-made, they must be born again. We see throughout the whole Bible that this is what Jesus has come to do:

1. Ezekiel 36:26 – “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
2. 2 Cor 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
3. Rev 21:5 – “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’”

Jesus’ words about the old garment and new cloth convey the very same message. The old, tattered garments of Jewish ritual could not simply be patched with a Messiah. They needed all new clothes. Jesus would not and could not be simply a patch to cover the inadequate ritual system.

There’s a great example in the book of Acts of what happens when Jesus is used like a band-aid.  ACTS 19:11-17 tells the story about these 7 brothers who were itinerant Jewish exorcists. First of all, what a job description! “What do you do?” – “Oh, I travel around and perform exorcisms.” That’s not likely to get a lot of conversation at the dinner table. Ok, but these 7 brothers hear about what Jesus is doing through Paul: incredible miracles all over the place. So, they decide to use the name that Paul preaches in order to give strength to their ritual exorcisms. Paul used the name of Jesus, so they figure they’ll use the name of Jesus too. So all 7 brothers go to cast a demon out of this guy, stand in front of him, and they say, “I bind you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” But instead of being bound or cast out, the demon starts to talk back to them, and says “Jesus I know, Paul I recognize…and who are you?” And THEN, this demon possessed man jumps on all SEVEN of the brothers and BEATS THEM NAKED! I’m not making this up! It’s in the Bible! He leaps on them and beats them so badly that they run away naked and wounded.

Jesus is not and will never be a band-aid, or good luck charm, or anything else other than the glorious Savior-King. He is not honored when we try to simply fit Him in to how we have always done things. He will not fit. Unless we are made new, He will burst everything at the seams and pull away from the garment, and we will be worse off than we were before.

—Jesus Christ came to make us new, and until we worship Him out of that newness, we’re not really worshipping Him.

Now, we’ve made it back to the first thing Jesus said. Look with me at the first few sentences of His response.

READ verses 19-20

As soon as John’s disciples and the Pharisees ask their question, Jesus paints a picture of a wedding. I don’t know how many weddings YOU’ve been to, but there’s not a whole lot of people who go around fasting during a wedding. Why? Because a wedding is a time of feasting! It is a time of JOY! You don’t fast when you’re at a wedding ceremony – you celebrate and eat and dance and sing and smile and share in all the goodness of being with the bride and groom.

Turn over with me to the other passage when Jesus talks about fasting – Matthew 6.

READ Matt. 6:16-18

Notice that this whole passage, beginning in chapter 6 verse 1, is about seeking a better reward. Over and over we are encouraged to seek our reward from God, instead of finding our reward in men. So when Jesus in Matthew 6 tells us to fast so that God might rewards us, how does that tie in to our passage in Mark?

Ok, ready? Stay with me. In Matthew, Jesus says that we should fast to seek the reward from God. In Mark, He says His disciples don’t fast because He is with them. The reason Jesus’ presence keeps His disciples from fasting is because HE IS THE REWARD! They don’t need to fast for the reward from God if they already have the reward! This is precisely why Jesus uses the image of marriage. The marriage guests rejoice because the groom is with them. Jesus’ disciples rejoice because the reward is with them! In Matthew, immediately after talking about fasting Jesus says that our treasure is where our heart is. If Jesus has our heart then He will be our treasure! (Gen 15:1 – “Do not be afraid Abram. I am…your very great reward.”)

THAT is why Jesus disciples don’t fast like the Pharisees. Do you see why it is necessary for the whole garment to be new? Do you see the necessity of the entire wineskin being new? Jesus is not served through ritual, like the pharisees. He is not to be worshipped out of duty, like John’s disciples.  If we are to actually worship and serve God in a way that truly honors Him, we must first be made new by repenting of our sins before Jesus, asking His forgiveness, and committing our lives to Him. Jesus did not come to fix what is old and tattered. He came to make things completely new!

Oh my friends, there were many years when I thought God was most honored by my ACTIONS. I tried my best to set my mind to be a good Christian, and I failed, often. And when I failed, I thought God would love me less, or that I would have to earn back His favor with extra goodness. When all the while, what God wanted was my HEART! He wanted me to love Him above all else! He wanted my affections. And here’s the glorious part. As Jesus more and more became the central affection of my heart, my actions began to fall more and more in line with God’s word. It is the very same with our worship, whether it be fasting or singing or reading the Bible or whatever else you can think of: none of it will be acceptable until it comes out of a heart-gripping love for Jesus.

The root of our worship MUST be a desire for Christ, and all of life is worship. We live in a constant state of worship. And so the primary thing for us to do in our whole life, no matter what the specific activity, is to treasure Jesus; value Jesus.

In Matthew chapter 13 we see The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl: 44“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. 45“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

—Following Jesus requires radical change, complete newness in our hearts and lives.

—This newness is based on the infinite goodness of Jesus.

—What this newness produces in worship that recognizes the infinite goodness of Jesus and desires Him above all things.

The new garment is a garment of joy in Christ.

The new wineskin is a heart gripped by an abiding love for Jesus.

Fasting is done because we DESIRE to be in the presence of Jesus.

All of life, all of worship, all of our heart/soul/mind and strength is acted out and set upon getting the one great and eternal reward – Jesus Christ!

Now, I realize that this may sound foreign to many of you. “What happens if I don’t feel that way?” you might ask. Well, if you don’t find yourself treasuring Jesus; If you find that He is not your great, burning desire; if He is not the ever-present center of your affections, here’s 2 things to consider:

1. Perhaps you have gone far too long without tasting the glorious new wine of Jesus Christ. Perhaps you have truly committed your life to Him, but never focused yourself on pursuing Him and knowing Him and spending time with Him. And so, because it has been long since you tasted the infinite goodness of our Lord’s grace, you no longer remember your first love for Him. (“Those who have tasted the new wine no longer desire the old.” Luke 5:39)
2. Or, simply and gently put, perhaps you have not yet been made new. If you find that you value all manner of other things over Jesus, then perhaps you have not yet been born again through Him.

In both of these cases, there is one answer: seek hard after HIM! Remember and strengthen your first love for the Savior. Go to Him in repentance and confess Him as your Lord and master for the first time

My friends, pay attention to me. Do I have your attention? Let me tell you the desperate truth in this passage: God WANTS to reward you. God WAITS to reward you. He desires to heap such an abundant reward on you that you would be overwhelmed with its goodness. God WANTS to reward you…and that treasure of infinite worth, the pearl of great price, the very great reward that He offers is Jesus Christ. Nothing else. We cannot fully enjoy Him when we desire other things as much or more than Him. But oh! If you would only set your affections only and truly on Jesus and value Him above ALL other things, God would open the floodgates upon you! Jesus Christ is the infinite God from eternity past, and so the goodness of the reward in Him is infinite. There is no limit to the joy and satisfaction and strength we have in Jesus. But He must be our one desire. God will suffer no other desire to be set above His son, because that would be idolatry. Set your affections on Jesus.

Adorning the Doctrine of God

Titus 2:1-3:8

[2:1] But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. [2] Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. [3] Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, [4] and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, [5] to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. [6] Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. [7] Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, [8] and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. [9] Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, [10] not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

[11] For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, [12] training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, [13] waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, [14] who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

[15] Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

[3:1] Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, [2] to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. [3] For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. [4] But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, [5] he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, [6] whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, [7] so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. [8] The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

(Titus 2-3:8 ESV)

In looking at Ephesians last week, we saw that when we turn away from sins and put our faith in Christ, we are re-created in Him. We are unified with Christ by being re-made in Him and by Him. Not only that, but at the end of the passage we looked at we’re told that we are re-created in Christ to do the good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Now, this week we’ll look at one of the ways our good works affect the outside world, and we’ll talk about a few practical examples of those good works. So, here’s the entire sermon today; I’m going to pack it into a single sentence for you: Adorn the doctrine of God by being eager to do good so that people will see the beauty of what Christ has done.

—Adorn – to make beautiful. A woman adorns herself with jewelry. We adorn a Christmas tree with lights. Now, I want to point out the fact that we don’t have to do anything to the gospel to make it beautiful. It already is beautiful, and we are simply showing it for what it is.

—Doctrine – teaching; beliefs; basic teachings of a faith system. Christian doctrine says that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.

So we adorn the doctrine of God. We show the world the beauty of Christ in the way we live our lives.

Illustration: Now, to give you a clearer idea of what I mean, let me give you two examples of people acting OPPOSITE to what I’m saying. “Burn a Qu’ran day” & Westboro Baptist.

The way Paul encourages us to show the gospel to be beautiful in this passage is to encourage us to abound in good works. We are to eagerly make the most of every opportunity to do good both to our family of faith and to the world outside the church. And what this does is highlight what Christ has done for us! So let’s read these passages where Paul talks about what Christ has done. These are the doctrines that we help the world see to be beautiful.

REFER TO Titus 2:11-14, 3:3-8

–It is only by God’s saving grace that we can say no to the worldly passions that enslave the world. Look at the sort of things that enslave those who do not know Christ: malice, envy, hatred, foolishness, deception. The very fact that we can act contrary to these worldly characteristics sets us apart. Moreover, it’s not like we’re neutral. We are not simply coming to the middle of the road between good and evil, we are going from one side to the other side. Instead of being enslaved to passions and pleasures, Christ gives us the strength to have self-control. Instead of hating others, this love that Christ has shown us spills over onto everyone we meet.

And it is all because Christ has re-created us, and graciously saved us. How? Titus 2:14 – He gave Himself for us. He took the punishment for the sins of every person who would believe in Him. And through that, through Christ taking the beating for our wickedness, God creates in us the purity of Christ. So we have put off worldly things, and purity has been put in us, and so now we are eager to show it by our good works.

One last thing to point out, or else we’ll end up spending all day on these glorious passages: look at the idea of hope that Paul writes so forcefully into this passage. We hope in the day Christ will bring us home. We hope in the promise of eternal life. Brothers and sisters, this is such a powerful testimony to the world. There is so much hopelessness in the world. People feel as though their lives won’t matter. They feel like they have failed those they love. They have no hope that anyone will ever love them. They are beat down by the world and have nothing to hope for in death. But in Christ we have an unshakeable, eternal, sure hope! Let us show the world just how glorious our Savior is!

So, in the first part of chapter 2, Paul gives us some practical wisdom in how we can adorn the doctrine of God. He gives us practical examples of things we can do to glorify God to the world. He breaks his advice down into several groups, so let’s look at these.

Older men: Be LEADERS…by EXAMPLE.

–There is such a deep need for Godly older men to pour their lives into the church, and particularly into the lives of younger men. I haven’t looked at stats recently, but for some time the participation of my generation in church was heavily lopsided with more girls. Young men are not growing up. They don’t know how to love wives and raise families. Part of this is because the divorce rate is so high that MANY young men grow up without any consistent male role model. They desperately need you older men to train them up in how to be a man. So live your life to earn their respect, and as those younger than you give you their respect, be sound/proficient/abundant in faith, love, and endurance. Teach young men how to endure.

Older women: Be REVERENT. TEACH younger women.

–Ladies, much of what is true for the men is true for you also. We live in a culture that is brutal to women. I don’t mean physically…that happens, yes…but I’m talking about how we train girls to live their lives. Our society teaches young women that their worth is in their body. Oh how many girls’ lives have I seen ruined because they destroy themselves trying to look like the cover of Cosmo or People Magazine!? So many women have zero self-esteem, because they tie their well-being to whether or not a man desires them. If only they knew the hope in Christ! Older ladies, it is your glorious privilege to teach younger women things like:

1 Peter 3:2-4 — “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

Proverbs 31:30 —“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

Now, specifically what Paul encourages older women to teach younger women centers around the family.

Young women: LOVE and SERVE your families.

–Now, let’s just be honest and admit that this passage would make the vast majority of women in our society very uncomfortable. It talks about working in the home, being submissive to your husband. Whew, there are some places where if I read that I might get run out of town. So, let’s talk about this for just a moment. Why does Paul point this out? Why does he make a wife’s submission to her husband central to this section where he talks about adorning the doctrine of God? I’ll tell you why, and this is good stuff…it may be the most powerful adornment of the doctrine of God. Now, when God created the relationship between men and women, and when he instituted marriage, he had a very specific purpose in mind.

[Wives and Husbands]

[22] Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23] For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. [24] Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

[25] Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, [26] that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [27] so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. [28] In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29] For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, [30] because we are members of his body. [31] “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” [32] This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. [33] However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

(Ephesians 5:22-33 ESV)

Whoa! Did you catch that? Paul is saying that marriage is a visual parable for Christ’s relationship with the church. That means that all along, from the very beginning, God’s purpose in marriage is to show the world how sacrificially Christ loves the church, and how joyfully the church submits to Christ’s leadership. So, women, the reason you are called to submit to your husbands is because God has ordained that your submission to your husband would reflect the submission of the church to Christ. And this does not mean that you become a slave, or you become some sort of maid that just takes orders and gets walked on. No, look at how Paul says husbands should act. A husband should love his wife like Christ loved the church. Men, do you hear the weight of that statement? Do you remember how Christ loved the church? Christ DIED for the church! Christ loved His church so powerfully that He forgave her infinite sins. Christ was broken for the church. He gave EVERYTHING for the church. So, husbands, are you adorning the doctrine of God by giving everything to your wife? And wives are you adorning the doctrine of God by joyfully and completely submitting to your husbands?

***What if I don’t have a husband? What if I don’t have a wife? That’s easy: love the church as if it was your family. The time you might have spent with a family, spend ministering to the church. Serve other families in the church. Pour your love into the church.

Young men: Be SELF-CONTROLLED. Be a MAN.

–Young men, be honest: you know why Paul’s first statement is about our self control. As young men, we have the tendency to be wild. We do ridiculous stuff. “Hey, I’mma climb on top of this building!” “Hey, watch me peel out around this corner.” “Hey, I bet I can eat 3 large pizzas faster than you.” Whether it’s some contest, or struggles to be pure in our thoughts and actions, or just acting crazy for the sake of acting crazy, we OFTEN could use more self-control. And brothers, this will never happen unless we let God teach us discipline in our lives. But let us submit to Christ! Let us learn self-control. Let us train ourselves for Godliness. Let us live disciplined lives so that we might be warriors in the kingdom of God. In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul says, “I beat my body to make it my slave, so that after preaching I might not be disqualified…” Young brothers, are we willing to do what it takes to adorn the doctrine of God? Are we willing to live so uprightly, and so disciplined as to be an example to the rest of the believers? As Paul says, we do this so that no one will look at our lives and have something bad to say about Christ. Is that true for us? I pray that it will be.

Slaves (employees): Work hard. Be trustworthy.

–Brothers and sisters, realize that your behavior where you work will affect how people view Christ. It has been my experience that employers are almost taken aback by someone who works hard. Perhaps we can think of it this way. The world goes to a job and works for money. However, as Christians we go to work for the glory of God. “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of Jesus…” Colossians 3. Work is included in there. So as we go to work, we go in the name of Jesus. And if we are working for Jesus and for His glory, shouldn’t we be far more willing to give our all than people who are working for something as fragile as money? We work for the eternal God! The world works for something that doesn’t even last through their lifetime. Do we adorn the doctrine of God in how faithfully we work?

General: All of these are empowered by our trust in God

–We can live joyfully under any government because we know that ultimately we serve the Creator and King of the Universe.

–We slander no one because we see that every human is made in the image of God; that God loves every person and desires their salvation (no matter how much we dislike them.)

–We can be humble to all b/c our King was humble, and we know that He will lift us up in due time. If we are humiliated during this brief life, we can be content…b/c we will be exalted in eternity.

So, brothers and sisters, let us live in these ways. Let us always be looking for opportunities to show the beauty of Christ to the world with how we live. So often the world sees what a few people calling themselves Christians do, and they reject the beautiful message of Christ. How far are we willing to go to help the world realize that our news really is good?! How much of our lives are we willing to lay down so that even 1 person might see and believe that Christ loved them and died for them on the cross?

Let us be ready to do good. Let us devote ourselves to doing good. Let us eagerly look for opportunities to do good, so that we might show the world the beauty of what Christ has done.

Unity With Christ – First Steps

Ephesians 2:1-10

Last week we focused on the fact that corporate unity in the church only comes through personal unity with Christ, and we saw in Christ’s prayer in John 17 that one of the major purposes of church unity is so that the world will see and believe that Christ is God and that God loves them. This week, I’d like to very explicitly show what how we are unified with Christ. How is this unity between us and God created. What does it mean for us, and for our lives? What is God’s part in it, and what is our part in it? That is the focus of our passage today. If you’ll open your Bibles with me to Ephesians 2, we’ll read together.

READ Ephesians 2:1-10

Now, notice how often the idea of unity with Christ comes up in this passage:

–“made us alive WITH CHRIST” vs. 5

–“seated us WITH CHRIST” vs. 6

–“kindness to us IN CHRIST” vs. 7

–“created IN CHRIST” vs. 10

So in this passage Paul is just hammering this nail. He’s driving home the point that this is how we are unified in Christ; this is how we live with Christ.

Now, according to Paul here there are several things necessary for a person to be individually, personally unified with the Jesus. First, that person must understand that every person is a sinner, including him/herself. Secondly, the person must turn away from his/her sins. Third, we must trust in Christ. Fourth, we must do what God has created for us to do.

So, let’s get into the text and see where this comes from. First: understand that every person is a sinner.

READ Eph 2:1-3

Now, he’s writing this to a group of believers, and reminds them that they used to be DEAD. In verse 3 he says that ALL once lived this way. Brothers and sisters, this is a universal problem. Every sin carries with is the punishment of death, and every person on earth has sinned at least once, and so every person on earth is OWED death. That means the most holy, Godly person you know was once just as much a sinner as the most sinful person you know. We ALL lived this way. “For ALL have sinned.”–Romans

This reminds us that there is a need for URGENCY! If you can, imagine living in a time when ancient weapons were used – swords, axes, etc. Now imagine you’re walking down the street with a friend, and some crazed person runs up with a huge battleaxe and raises it up to lop off your friend’s head. Surely you wouldn’t politely say, “Hm, not to bother you, but you may consider moving just slightly, if it suits you.” No! You’d grab that person by the shirt and bodily throw them out of the way if you could. Now imagine the axe was aimed at you. Would you stand and consider, “Hm, I wonder if I’m imagining this. Is that guy really about to chop my head off? That wouldn’t be very nice.” No! Acting like that would be ridiculous…and yet we act exactly like that with ourselves and with others around us. In Matthew 3:10 John the Baptist tells us “The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce the fruit of Godliness will be chopped down…” My friends, you are a tree! Everyone you know is a tree! The axe is poised and ready, and if we are not found to be faithful the next words are terrifying: “…will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.” My friends, hell is very real, and the axe is poised and ready to pay the wages to anyone who is found in their sin, and the wages of sin is death and hell.

There is an urgency that we MUST exhibit if we believe this. Just like you would be urgent if someone was holding an axe to chop off your head or your friend’s head, we must urgently act to make sure that we get ourselves and anyone around us out of the way of the axe. We must not procrastinate in this. Jesus spoke of the rich fool in Luke 12, saying “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you!” James 4:14 says, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life, it is a passing mist; a fog that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” There is no time to waste. We MUST understand that every person is a sinner, and this every person is under the threat of imminent death and hell.

So, first step in being unified with Christ – understand that every person is a sinner. The second step to being unified with Christ is to turn away from sin.

Look at how Paul phrases things in these first 3 verses.

–“You WERE dead…”

–“…you USED to live…”

–“…lived among them AT ONE TIME…”

–“…we WERE objects of wrath…”

All of these are past tense. For the believers that Paul is writing to, these things no longer describe their way of life. They are no longer living in sin, and they are no longer gratifying the cravings of the sinful flesh. Yes, at one time every person is under God’s wrath, in danger of going to eternal punishment at every second. BUT, for the one who is unified with Christ, that is NO LONGER the case!

How does this happen? How do we have life, when we were “dead in our transgressions”? How do we remove the axe from over our heads? As Paul cries out in Romans: “Oh wretched man that I am, who will save me?!” Here’s the answer:

READ verses 4-7

Glorious! In His mercy God has MADE US ALIVE! We were dead, in the grave, gone…but Christ called us out of the hopelessness of the grave and said to us: “That lying? No more. That anger and bitterness towards your family you feel? It’s gone. Those addictions you can’t shake? They’re finished. Those sins of impurity? Destroyed. You no longer belong to the axe and the fire because of your sins, now you belong to ME and my kingdom because of MY gracious love.” THAT is how we turn away from sin. We turn away from sin because Christ destroys the power of sin in us, and calls us out of the grave.

Now, this doesn’t mean that we can just sit in the tomb and wait for God to come carry us out. That’s not how the story goes. When Lazarus is dead and buried in the tomb, Christ calls; Lazarus believes and obeys. So the third step in being unified with Christ: you must trust in Christ.

We MUST have faith in what Jesus says He will do in us. We must BELIEVE that what He offers us is true. We cannot overcome sin on our own. We cannot turn away from our sinful desires on our own any more than we could open up our coffin and push our way out from 6 feet under. It is only Christ who gives us life. But, it MUST be us who respond to His call. We are Lazarus, and when Christ stands at the door of our tomb and calls our name, we MUST believe in Him, get up, and walk out to live! “How do I know when He’s calling my name?” you may ask. Well, He’s doing it right now, if you’re here. He is standing beside your deathbed, at your graveside, before your tomb and calling your name. He is saying, “I WILL raise you up! I WILL seat you in heaven with Christ! I WILL empower you to turn away from sin! I WILL show the riches of my grace to you!” And brothers and sisters it is all because HE LOVES YOU! Will you trust this morning that what He is saying to you in this passage is true?

Now, lastly, the fourth step for being unified with Christ is this: DO what He has created us to do. READ vs 10. Now, these are NOT good works for the purpose of gaining God’s favor. This passage is NOT saying that we do good things to earn a place in heaven. Our entrance into heaven is based SOLELY on God’s unmerited favor. It is by grace (God did it), through faith (we simply believe and respond to what God has done in us). This salvation is a “gift of God, NOT OF WORKS, lest anyone should boast.” Remember the order that things happen in this passage: before DOing these good works, a person must BE alive. Life comes first, and good works come second.

Why is that an important distinction? Well, I think there are several reasons. First, I think oftentime we expect a person who is not a Christian to act like a Christian. We expect them to live like they are IN Christ when they are still IN the grave. We’re shocked when we see sinners sinning, and we spend time trying to train people to do good works when they are still dead in their transgressions. ààIt’s like trying to play catch with a corpse! This applies to your kids, your coworkers, your friends, family, etc. If we want to see people ACT in ways that we know are right, then we must first help them BE a Christian. There is no way for a person to live a life of good works if they are still in the tomb like Lazarus. They must believe Christ, and walk out of the tomb. THEN, and only then, when we have shown them what they must BE can we disciple them in how they should act.

Secondly, the world OFTEN thinks that they have to clean themselves up before they come to Christ. I can’t tell you how many people feel like they can never set foot inside a church because they feel like they aren’t good enough. And when we hear that, it should be our greatest delight to tell the person, “No, you’re not good enough! But that’s ok. Christ will give you life.” This is one of the most wonderful things you can ever have the privilege of telling a person – that when they put their trust in Christ and turn away from sin, their past sins have nothing to do with them anymore. In fact, their past sins are not even theirs anymore! Their past sins belong to Christ, and He took every single one of them with Him to the cross. So on the cross, Christ was punished as if He had used the filthy language we used to use. On the cross He was punished as if HE had been addicted, or been impure, or lied, or cheated, and whatever else! He was sinless; absolutely perfect, but He took on His own body the punishment for our sins. And if God has punished Christ for our sins already, why in the world would we punish ourselves for them again!? No, but God has removed our sins from us completely – as far as the east from the west, washing us as white as snow, declaring us righteous. Now, this is difficult because it may not FEEL this way instantly. A person, perhaps you yourself, may FEEL like they’re sinful and dirty even after they come to Christ. Thankfully, our feelings do not dictate what is true. God’s word does, and it tells us that when we put our trust in Christ, we are re-created IN CHRIST as new creations.

Thirdly, sometimes we get discouraged (or lazy?) and think that maybe God hasn’t really prepared any good works for me personally. I’m not a preacher. I can’t teach. I can’t sing. There’s really nothing for me to do. WRONG! Brothers and sisters, if you are a child of God you can KNOW, you MUST believe, that God has prepared a place for you in His divine plan for all eternity. There are good works that He has set aside for you specifically, because He LOVES you and values you! Will you trust God in this? Will you trust Him to lead you into the good works He has prepared for you? This is something we should always be growing more and more into. In one of Paul’s letters to Timothy, he says, “Persist in these things continually so that all may see your progress…” I want to challenge you to always be looking for good works to do in order that your Savior Jesus Christ might be honored. Look for them among the saints, in your family, at your home, in your schools, at your jobs, in the community. AND as you do these things, share them with the church family in order to spur one another on to love and good deeds and pull them deeper into doing good works with you. Here’s how I would do that: read the rest of Ephesians and act like Paul is writing it directly to you.

So, are you unified with Christ? Have you realized your sinfulness? Have you turned away from sins and TO Christ, trusting in what He has said and done for you? Are you living your life in the abundant good works that He has prepared for His people?