Tough and Tender
Leaving A Legacy
December 1, 2019 • 2 Timothy 4:1–8
Summary: When's the last time you've seriously thought about your funeral? How do you want to be remembered by those you leave behind? If you were to write a eulogy for your own funeral, would what you say? What would you like to be included in your obituary? What would you choose for your epitaph? These are seemingly morbid questions, especially in a culture desperately bent on sheltering itself from the realities of death. However, every sober-minded person needs to meditate on the inevitability of death. The inevitability of death should guide our life. We will die. We will be remembered. Everyone leaves a legacy. What kind of legacy are you working to leave? Does your desired legacy shape your current life? Audio Transcript: You're listening to audio from Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Heavenly Father, oh God who is everlasting before time and now and forever more, we thank you for your son, Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you that you, the living word of God, came and poured yourself out. You fought the good fight, you ran your race, and you kept the faith. And you did all of that, taking your life as a sacrifice to the cross, poured out your blood in order to pour out your love into our hearts. And I pray, Lord, that you today show us that a salvation isn't achieved, it's received. And after we receive it, we are then to go and to pour ourselves out for the faith of others into their lives for their eternal souls. Lord, I pray that you make us a people who care about leaving an eternal legacy. A legacy that will transcend our lifetimes, that through us, your word will be proclaimed into this generation and beyond. And that many, Lord, a myriad of eternal souls will be converted, and will spend eternity with us in your presence in heaven. And I pray that you give us the power of the Holy Spirit. Even now we welcome your Holy Spirit. We love you and we love your presence, come and minister to us, plant within each one of us a vision for living lives that will impact eternity. We pray this in Christ's name, Amen. Today we are finishing our sermon series that we've been going through this fall called Tough and Tender: Developing A Resilience for Life. And I hope the series has been a blessing to you. Today we're talking about leaving an eternal legacy. Living to leave an eternal legacy. And by legacy, we mean how do you want to be remembered after you're gone? What kind of legacy do you want to leave? And it's a strange question to ask in our present-minded culture. We rarely acknowledge the legacy that we have inherited. For example, what are your great grandparents' names? And we rarely acknowledge that we will leave a legacy as well. Also, we live in a youth obsessed culture. We idolize youth and do everything we can to stay young. And there's nothing wrong with being healthy, but there is something wrong in staving off the reality of death, finality of death. We forget about the fragility of life. And if the Lord tarries, every single one of us will die. So do you want to be remembered for perhaps your intelligence or education? No one takes out their resume at a funeral, that's not part of your eulogy. We want to be remembered for the impact we made on our friends, on our family, on the impact that we made in the world. Early on in my life, at very formative seasons in my life, I lost three really close friends. The first of which was my friend, Pete. We grew up together. We were both bi-cultural. He was from the country of Georgia, I was from Estonia. We actually went to the same public school in Cranston, Rhode Island, in middle school and high school. And we also went to the same church, and we were just best friends and understood each other in a way that few could because of our bi-cultural past. And he was just a great guy to be around. And Pete was driving with his brother, Dmitri, to my house in January of 2004 for a Bible study. And his brother was driving, and they hit a patch of black ice, and they went off the road and Pete died on impact. His brother was in a coma for three months, came out from that. That shook me to the core, and by God's orchestration, two weeks after that, I had pre-planned a study abroad in Moscow, so God took me out of my environment in Rhode Island, out of college and I went to do the study abroad in Moscow. My first Sunday in Moscow, I went to this church, Moscow Bible Church, and it was a little church, a church plant in a basement, and I connected with a few people and I was invited to a prayer meeting that Wednesday. I show up to the prayer meeting and there were three wonderful elderly women of God, and there was this guy named Constantine, my age, who was also there to do a study abroad from another part of Russia, and we became fast friends. Fast forward after I come back to the United States, graduate, I met my wife Tanya. We got married and we went to seminary, got called by God to go into ministry. Then we moved to Boston to plant a church. While in seminary, my best friend was a guy named Rowland. Rowland and I were prayer partners. Actually, I went into my Google, into my Gmail, and searched for his name, and I saw the prayer thread email, the thread that we had going. We just encouraged one another. He was a great guy, we took a lot of classes together, and then moved to Boston in July, 2009. August, 2009 I get news that Rowland died tragically. We plant Mosaic in October of 2011. December of 2011, my friend Constantine from Moscow dies with his wife in a car accident. At very pivotal times in my life, the Lord reminded me that life is fragile, that every single one of us, we have a mission given to us by God, and when we're done, when that mission's fulfilled, we're taken. And every single one of us leave a legacy, either good or ill, it's a legacy that grows into the future. And here's a thought experiment that perhaps is on the front end, seemingly morbid, but it's actually very sobering. What do you want, if you were to encapsulate what your life was all about, what do you want on your tombstone? The inscription, the epitaph, what do you want that to say? This is really ... Honestly, come up with an answer. If you were to write your own obituary, what would you want included in that? If you were to speak at your funeral, if you were to write out a message for what your life was all about, what do you want included in that? Then is your current life lived in light of the legacy that you want to leave? This is what we're talking about today. To frame up our time, we're going to look at the last words of St. Paul. St. Paul is the second most influential person on world history, after Jesus Christ. Whenever anyone speaks a final word before they pass or write a final word, those words are really important. And today, we're going to read the final words that St. Paul ever wrote. It's in 2nd Timothy 4:1-8. And just to set the context, St. Paul is in prison. He's awaiting execution by beheading. He's in the Mamertine Prison in Rome. Our prisons today are like the Hilton compared to the prisons in Rome. His cell is actually a damp, cold dungeon, more of a hole than anything else. The prisoner would be brought down on a rope from a hole up top. He would be brought down, the rope would be taken away, and this is a bucket for human excrement. He's there in the dark, and he is meditating on the final words that he wants to write to his disciple, Timothy. St. Paul is clearly at rest. He's confident in the life that he has lived. He has poured his life out for Christ, poured it into disciples, and he's made a difference eternally. He's poured his life into the next generation, passes this torch. And this is what he writes to Timothy in 2nd Timothy 4:1-8. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. This is the reading of God's holy and infallible authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Five points to frame up our time. We'll focus most of our attention on points one and two and then close off with the last three in rapid fire fashion. First of all, love God's word, pour yourself out, fight the good fight, finish your race and keep the faith. This is St. Paul's recipe for living a life to leave an eternal legacy. First of all, love God's word. There are only two things that are eternal in this world other than God himself: His word, which is an extension of himself and eternal souls created in the image of God. Therefore, St. Paul says, "Timothy focus on these two things. Give your life to these two things. Preach the word. Proclaim the word. And do the work of an evangelist. Meaning speak the word into people's live who are far from the Lord so they can be reconciled with God so that their souls are regenerated, so they spend eternity in the presence of God." He said, "Devote yourselves to these things, things that will outlast you." And what does he mean by this word? The very text right before our text today, if you take away the chapter divider in 2nd Timothy, 3:16 and 17, all scriptures breath out by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness, that the man of God may be completely equipped for every good work. He's saying eternal souls were breathed out by God and the eternal word was also breathed out by God, therefore they last for eternity. Isaiah 40:6-8, All flesh is grass. All its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades. When the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord will stand forever. Preach the word. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. By evangelist, he gets the word from evangelion, which means the gospel. The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. That Christ has done everything that is needed for salvation to be achieved. So we are not saved by anything that we do, we're saved by what Christ has done. Salvation isn't achieved, it's received. All we need to do is accept God's gift of grace. We all need grace. He says, "Doing the work of evangelism is sharing God's grace." Everybody needs it and everyone is offered the same grace. Just receive it. That's what it means to be an evangelist, is sharing the good news. That's what it means to preach God's word, is sharing God's word. That's what it means to fulfill your ministry. So we as Christians are to love God's word, study, meditate upon it, ruminate on the word within the word, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. So much so that it's so in us, it's embodied in us, that it just flows out of us naturally. And we talk about whatever we love. And then practically, it's sharing with the people around us, in our circles of influence. It's devoting yourself to the local church where God's word is proclaimed and to church planning, where God's word will be proclaimed. And we've received it for free, we are to share the gift of grace in the same way. An illustration just to help us grasp the eternal importance of sharing the gospel. Imagine if you contracted Ebola in a village in Africa, and there's a doctor who comes in there, offers medicine you know about, and the doctor says, "Go and tell anyone else who has the same virus that they can have healing if they come to this place." Obviously, you would go and tell absolutely everyone. It would be of first importance in our lives. Now, dear Christian, obviously we do other things in our lives other than share the gospel, but everything we do must be a means to the end of glorifying God, sharing the gospel so that other people may acquire, receive eternal life. Martin Luther King Jr. was asked, "If you were to die tomorrow, what would you do today?" And he said, "I would plant a tree." Meaning, he wanted to do something that would outlive him, and that's how he lived his life. Holy scripture says that we are not just plant physical things, we are to plant ourselves, devote ourselves to eternal things. And St. Paul understood this. He didn't have children that we know of, Jesus Christ didn't have children, but they affected the world. They influenced the world in a way that will impact not just the world, but all of eternity through the gospel of Jesus Christ, loving God's word. Proverbs 11:30 says, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise. And the idea here is, that we've received the gospel, God has freed us from captivity and the kingdom and the domain of darkness, and we're transferred to the kingdom of God's eternal light. And then we go and through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of the Spirit, we are to then capture souls. Daniel 12:3 says, and those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. He's saying this is the impact that we can have for all of eternity to help people turn to righteousness. That star, he says will shine forever. St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 has this incredible train of thought that a lot of Christians miss. A lot of Christians think that, okay, I receive grace and then I just wait until I go to heaven. St. Paul says, "No, you've received grace. Now, God has made you into an ambassador of the kingdom of God, of the King. You are not your own, you're sent as a representative to a foreign land with a message that is not your own, with resources that are not your own," and then we are to fulfill the mission that he has for us. This is 2 Corinthians 5:16, from now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. God making his appeal through us, we implore you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. And this is incredible. He says, "This is the message you've received. This is how you have become new creation in Christ." The message is the double imputation, the transfer of our sin to Christ, his righteousness to us. How does it happen? By grace through faith. Now, through us, the Holy Spirit reconciles many to himself. What's our message? Our message is, Jesus in my place. Our message is, Jesus got what I deserved for my sin against a Holy God. There was hostility between me and God, Jesus Christ absorbed the penalty for that hostility on the cross, in his body, in his flesh, in his soul, and now I'm reconciled with God just by grace, through faith. And God now implores others through our lives, "Please be reconciled. Accept this peace treaty that God offers through the gospel of Jesus Christ." So dear Christian, know this message, love this message, proclaim this message, share this message, and in our growing secular age, be able to defend the message. Take a course in apologetics. Read a few books to answer the questions that people have for why we believe what we believe. Tim Keller, The Reason for God or anything by Ravi Zacharias, William Lane Craig. 2 Peter 3:15 says, in your hearts, honor Christ, the Lord as Holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason, for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. And even so, we don't rely on our words, on our articulation, our eloquence, we don't rely on our apologetics. What do we rely on? The gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation for anyone who believes, and we rely on the Holy Spirit. I remember when Tanya and I, my wife, we were in seminary and we were talking about building partnerships with people to help us plant a church in Boston. I remember talking to this one gentleman, very affluent in North Carolina. And one of the things he said, we were over his house for dinner, and he said, "Nah, don't go to Boston. Anywhere but Boston." He's like, "Boston's lost." He's like "Way too many pagans up there. You can't preach the gospel there, too hard. Hardscrabble ground. Don't do it." And I remember driving home from that meeting, and it was like, thanks for the encouragement, first of all. Second of all, if I were to rely on myself, on my own resources, I wouldn't be up here. I can't save anybody. You can't save anybody. I didn't save myself, you didn't save yourself. If you're a Christian, you're a Christian by the power of the Holy Spirit, and whoever becomes a Christian becomes a Christian because God saved them, and I believe that. And we've seen that over the course of these eight years here in Boston, God has been saving people. God continues to save people, and I trust in the power of the Holy Spirit. And that's what he says in 2 Corinthians 5:20, Therefore we are ambassadors for God. But ambassadors don't go by their own resources. God making his appeal through us. How? By the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one that convicts, the one that regenerates, the one that draws people to God. And finally, ambassadors. If you continue with this metaphor. Ambassadors do have to give an account. How do you represent the King of Kings? King David lived a phenomenal life, faithful to the Lord for a long time. And then he got to this place of complacency in his life, committed adultery, and then ultimately murder. And then the prophet comes to David, and speaks the word of God. And the word of God was, "You have blasphemed the name of God. You misrepresented the glorious God that you were commissioned by, whose name you are carrying." Dear Christian, every single one of us, we will give an account to God for how we lived our lives. And one of the things that a lot of Christians miss in their theology is that there will be two judgments. The first judgment is the great white throne of judgment where we stand before God, and God says, "What did you do with my son, Jesus Christ?" If you rejected Christ in your life, you rejected grace, the gospel, you go to the left. And scripture says, "Consigned to eternal punishment in a place called hell, a place of eternal darkness." Why? Because you are separated from the God of the universe who is the source of love, light, truth, goodness and beauty. If you accept Jesus Christ, and if you're not a Christian, we plead with you, accept Jesus Christ today. If you do you, you are now brought to a second judgment. And that's the judgment seat of Christ, where we stand before God, and Christ will say, "What did you do with all of the talents, treasures, time, opportunities that I gave you." And St. Paul says, "This reality that I will be judged for everything God has given me, this reality, and it's not judgment of salvation, I'm saved by grace through faith, it's a judgment for rewards." He says, "This is one of my great motivators. This motivates me that I will spend eternity with God, and God will judge me for what I did with everything he's allotted to me." 2 Corinthians 5:9-10, So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. And then verse 11, Therefore, knowing the fear of God, we persuade others for what we are is known to God, and that hope it is known also to your conscience. And yes, this is difficult. Evangelism is difficult. Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in greater Boston is difficult. And that's why he says, "Fulfill your mission, endure suffering." And our suffering isn't physical, not in our culture, our suffering is more emotional, psychological, social. Yes, people might look down on us. Yes, your reputation might suffer. Yes, people might mock, but we are to do this, and we are to share God's love. And one of the things I hear is, "Evangelism's is not my gift. It's not my thing. I have other gifts, this isn't my thing. Let the people who have the great gift of evangelism do that." And yes, God does give exceptional, extraordinary gifts to people in terms of evangelism, in terms of prophecy, and in terms of service, even generosity and faith, but their great gifts should not eclipse the fact that we have been given a responsibility. Every Christian is called to believe, every Christian is called to serve, to be generous, and every Christian has been given the great commission. How do we do this? And this is point two. We do this primarily by pouring ourselves out. In 2 Timothy 4:6, this is the metaphor that St. Paul used to talk about his life ending. He says, "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come." It's a vivid image that he pulls from the Old Testament, an image that was used in the context of the ritual of the sacrifice of the lamb, where a chalice of wine was taken and poured out at the base of the altar. St. Paul takes this metaphor and he says, "This is what my life is. My life is fluid, and I need to channel my life. I need a pour my life out." And this is really incredible. What does he mean? He means his time, the greatest commodity that any one of us have is time, that any one of us has is time. And time, our life as in time, and time is in our attention. And he says, "I pour my life, I pour my time, I pour my attention into others." It's a fascinating metaphor because it can be used either way, like our life drips by, our life is like this river that keeps passing. But St. Paul uses this metaphor to talk about life that is invested by pouring into something, and the opposite of this is a life that is wasted by pouring it into things that ultimately pass. And he uses this metaphor to talk about pouring himself, his time, energy, emotions, everything he has into the faith of others. Philippians 2:17, even if I'm to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I'm glad and rejoice with you all because I sacrifice the most valuable thing I have for the faith of other people to impact eternity. Why could St. Paul's so freely, generously pour himself into other people? Because he knew his life was not his own and he knew that this life was not all there is. He understood that for me to live is Christ and to die is gain because I get more of Christ. He understood that death wasn't the end, death is just a door into life with God. He understood that death is not cessation, death is separation. When we die and our body turns into a corpse, our soul is separated from the body. Death is separation, and our eternal soul lives for eternity either with God or apart from God. This is why we can freely pour ourselves into other people, do everything we can so that they spend eternity in the presence of God. And he says, and by the way, everybody knows this. Everybody knows that the good life isn't about things. It's not about pouring yourself into things because we brought nothing into this world, we'll take nothing out of it. We are not to be like the Egyptians who would bury themselves with their wealth thing like they can transfer that into eternity. We can't take material things with us. So St. Paul invested his life, poured his life out into eternal things, eternal souls. He says, "My departure has come," and this is another very vivid Greek word that he uses here. It's a word that can be used in the context of unyoking or loosening. Unyoking in the context of a farm animal. And he says, "I'm unyoked," meaning my labors and toils are done, I fulfilled my ministry. In the context of loosening, my departure has come, my loosening has come. It's used in the context of the bonds of a prisoner being unshackled. He's saying, "I'm unshackled from this body of flesh, from this corruptible body, loosening of ropes of a soldier." 10 he's saying, "My job as a soldier of Christ's done. The battle is over. I'm headed home. The victory is won." And this word is used in the context of loosening the mowing ropes of a ship. And he said, "I'm now leaving the stormy shores of earth and I'm putting into the calm pool of heaven. He's pouring himself out because he knows that his life is a sacrifice, the sacrificial offering. Romans 12:1, I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God, because of the gospel, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, Holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. He says, we don't pour ourselves into the lives of other people because we earn salvation. We do it as a sacrificial offering, thanksgiving to God because we are saved. Different if you are a Christian and whom are you pouring yourself, in whom are you pouring your life? Perhaps if you have children, it's your children and the next generation, you're pouring yourself out and that's what it means to parent children in the faith. Perhaps it's your spouse, perhaps it's your colleagues, your friends, your family, it's the people around us. We pour ourselves into them. Why? Because our life is in our own. Acts 20:24, I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish my course in the ministry that I've received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 12:15, I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. Dear Christian, can you say that? Can you say, "I spend myself, I'm being spent for the souls of the people around me?" One of the things that secular stories have a really hard time understanding, they grapple with this, "Why did Christianity grow as it did in the context in which it was started? We understand why Islam grew by the sword convert or else, Christianity grew despite the sword, reject Christ or else." And one of the reasons why Christianity grew in the way it did was because Christians poured themselves out to the death to love others. They poured their love into people even at the cost of their own life. I'll give you two examples. In Rome, first century and second century, there were two plagues that swept the Roman empire. And first century is the Antonine Plague. The second century is the Plague of Cyprian. These plagues were so bad, thousands of people were dying per day in this Plague of Cyprian, there were a million people living in Rome, 5,000 were dying per day. At the first signs of the symptoms of this plague, streets would be emptied. People would leave their loved ones in homes on beds and run from the sickness. And everybody ran except for Christians. Christians stayed and they loved and they bandaged and they watered the sick and they fed them and they loved them and they encouraged them. They shared the gospel. People were dumbfounded, "Why are you doing this at the risk of your own life?" And many Christians died and they shared the gospel that this life is not all there is, that we have eternal life. And all you need to do is put your trust in Jesus Christ who has conquered death. Do you pour yourself out for the salvation of others? And this is by the way, the most effective way of sharing the gospel is by pouring your love into other people. Sacrifice your time, your talent, your treasure for other people. We understand that the most effective way of doing evangelism is personal relationships, where people know you and you have a relationship with them through hospitality, generosity, and sacrifice. I believe this is one of the most effective ways of doing evangelism today and sharing the gospel. Why? Because as Ravi Zacharias says, "We live in day and age where people think with their feelings and they hear with their eyes." People think with their feelings and hear with their eyes. Therefore, just proclaiming is not enough for many people, they don't want to see just proclamation, they want to feel your love. They don't want just the truth, they want the truth and love, and God tells us to do both 2 Corinthians 3: 14-15, for the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him, who for their sake died and was raised. How do we do this practically? It's got to be absolutely natural in the environment of love. I'll give you a couple of cross sticks here to think about, to think through when you think about sharing the gospel. The first one was just ABC of sharing the gospel, ABC. The first, the A stands for, do you ask the Lord for opportunities to share the gospel? Even St. Paul did this in the Colossians, he says, "Pray for me that the Lord would give me a door to share the gospel." Opportunity. Do you ask God, "God, please send me someone to share the gospel. Give me an opportunity today to share the gospel with someone of the good news to share the grace of God." If you're not asking for those opportunities in prayer, do you even really want them? So ask. The second one is belief. Believe that God can save anybody. Believe that God can save your roommate, believe that God can... Just think of the most lost person that you know, the most antagonistic person to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that God can save them? Of course he can. There's nothing impossible for God. God's saved Saul, and converted him into Paul. My goodness, God saved Kanye West. If God can save Kanye West, he can save anybody. I found out that Manny Ramirez, Manny being Manny, like 2004 Reds, Manny Ramirez has been converted. He's actually been trained. He's been in seminary for five years, he's been training to be a pastor. My goodness, what a miracle that is. God can save anybody, and if you're a Christian, the greatest miracle of salvation is your own. I still can't believe God saved me. I definitely I wouldn't. And this is the posture of heart. It's like, "I can't believe, God, thank you for saving." And then C is connect with people. Just connect naturally. Connect, and if you have a hard time connecting, a lot of people are super introverts in Boston. Here's another acrostic, FIRE, Family, Interests, Religion and just Experiences. Family, Interest, Religion, Experiences, ask about those things. Get a person talking about their favorite subject in the world. What's everybody's favorite subject in the world? Themselves. Everyone loves talking about themselves. It's just like, why? Because we're all selfish. It's like whenever you get tagged on Facebook in a group picture and you go and you look at it, who's the first person that you look at? Yourself? It's just like whenever you're FaceTiming with someone or Skyping, 95% of the time, you're looking at the small window, every single time, "I need to change the lighting." Every time. Get people talking about their favorite subject, and as they do, connect with them on universal human experiences, purpose, morality, hope, family. Two on-ramps for sharing the gospel that I like to use is beauty and death. I think beauty is one of the greatest apologetics for the existence of God and that God is beautiful. Why is it that though we live in a secular materialistic culture where we're told that material is all there is, why is it that we're so moved on like a deep soul level by creation, by the sunset, by an incredible work of music or art or film? Why is it that we're moved by the smile of a loved one and we look at them and we say, "You are so beautiful"? We're not saying, "I prefer your collection of Adams to any other collection of Adams. And it's not even my preference, it's the neurons firing in my brain, so it's not even me." No. Of course, nobody is a committed materialist. It's almost unthinkable to live like that. And the Christian explanation is that true beauty exists. A beauty that transcends the material. You look at a painting and all it is is canvas and wood and some paint. If you look at it and there's something that transcends it. Same thing with music, same thing with something that impacts your soul. And the Christian explanation is that, all that's true, all that's good, all that's beautiful is a manifestation of God. Image's God. God created everything beautiful for us to delight in and enjoy. And we understand that beauty exists in a fallen marred world, therefore we hunger for a restoration of beauty and it's coming in its perfect state. C. S. Lewis and his wonderful work, Till We Have Faces, expresses this yearning through a character. He says, "It was when I was the happiest that I longed the most, when I was the happiest I longed the most and because it was beautiful, it set me longing, always longing, somewhere else there must be more of it." And there is. The other on-ramp, and everyone can connect with this is the reality of death. This is a terror that haunts every single one of us. The anthropologist, Ernest Becker says, "We try our best to ignore mortality, but it's there, underlying everything." The current answer in our culture according to a materialist world views is that when we die, we just cease to exist. Yes, we say this, no one believes it. That's why at a funeral, you don't look at casket with your friend Joey. No one says, "And Joey, poof, cease to exist." No one says that. You know what they say, "Well, Joey's in a better place." Why do we say that? Why do we say that? Atheist philosopher, Luc Ferry says, "The question of death far from being something that we can easily dismiss, lies at the heart of our distinctiveness as humans. This is what sets us apart from all the other animals." He says, "As distinct from animals, a human being is the only creature who is aware of his limits. He knows that he will die and that his near ones, those he loves will also die. Consequently, he cannot prevent himself from thinking about the state of affairs, which is disturbing and absurd, almost unimaginable." Why is it that we even know that we're going to die? And why is it that we're so disturbed by it and we can't shrug off the existential way of this? Our greatest desire's to be loved, to be known, to be understood, and our greatest fear's being separated from our loved ones. In a word, our greatest fear is dying. And at this point, when I have conversations, you know what I say, "Wouldn't you want this to be true? Doesn't your soul want to live forever? Why do we long for this so much?" Perhaps it is true, and in the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is Jesus Christ lived and Jesus Christ died. He came back from the dead and in Christ death, we see the death of death itself. And when we believe in Jesus Christ, at that very moment, we're given eternal life. And I understand in my conversations with friends, when I share the gospel, I understand that I'm probably not going to close the deal right then and there, but you know what I try to do? I try to awaken them just a little bit from their spiritual slumber, and little by little, this is how the Lord wakes us up. So we have to know the tough truths of the gospel and present them in with humble confidence and love. And then points three, four, and five here at the end, how do we do this? We fight the good fight, we run our race and we keep our faith. Why? This is what I've seen in sharing the gospel in high school, with my wrestling friends, and with my football friends, and in college, with my rugby friends, share the gospel and they're like, "Yeah, not for me." But we're still connected. We still see each other. We're still connected on social media and you know what they want to know? Do I really believe this? And where do they get evidence to understand, do I really believe? Are you living it? See, our lives are our greatest sermons. That's why St. Paul at the very end says, "I fought, I didn't just preach the word, I didn't just do the work of evangelist, I didn't just fulfill the ministry. I fought the good fight." He said, in 2 Timothy 4:7, "I fought the good fight," the wrestling metaphor, and what he's saying is there's spiritual warfare. We're fighting on a daily basis and we're standing again. We're not wrestling with flesh and blood, but we're standing against the cosmic powers over this present darkness. And our righteousness is not our own, it's the breastplate of righteousness that Christ has given us. We have the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit. We stand through prayer. 2 Corinthians 6:7, with weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left. See, the enemy wants to hate... He hates our legacy, he wants to taint our legacy and he does that by stealing, killing, and destroying our legacy. He wants to get us to stumble so that people look and they say, "Yeah, you don't really believe this." So we are to fight the good fight. Four is, the St. Paul says, "I've finished the race." 2 Timothy 4:7, I've finished the race. Starting stuff is easy, starting a race as easy, finishing it is much harder. Starting a diet is easy, day one super easy and you're like, "I can do this." Day two, three, four, so much harder. Starting a relationship, easy, you're in love. Flirtation, wonderful. Continuing, sustaining, much harder. Having a baby, easy, the man. Raising a child in the faith is difficult. The Christian life begins... Honestly, you come to faith, it's as if the Lord, God, the father's carrying you as a spiritual infant in his arms. It's incredible. And after a while you grow, and the enemy begins to attack, temptation comes from within, from with out, and you got to run your race. Galatians 5:7, you were running well, who hindered you from obeying the truth? If you were the enemy, if you are saying, "How would you try to dissuade yourself from finishing the race?" Perhaps through distractions of entertainment or money or power or comfort. Perhaps through discouragements, "It's too hard, I should quit." Perhaps through divisions between you and God, between you and other Christians or deception that your life is for yourself, live any way you want. God wants the most pleasures possible for you. All lies. And the five is keep the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7 he says, "I've kept the faith. I've guarded my faith. I've cultivated my faith. I've grown my faith. I didn't bury my faith," and we are to hold onto our faith tenaciously. Why? Because your life is your greatest sermon. Your life is your greatest plausibility structure that when you speak, your words are plausible. Are you living your life in such a way that people want to hear your words, that you words carry weight? And part of that is just don't underestimate the power of living a joyful life, a loving life, a kind life, a generous sacrificial life. And verse A in 2 Timothy, St. Paul says, "Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day. And not only to me, but also to those who have loved his appearing." He's not talking about a crown or award of salvation, he's talking about the reward that we get by living faithfully in our life after we've been given salvation. He's talking about reward for service. 1 Corinthians 3:10 and five talks about that. We can't do this on our own. Perhaps you look at your life and you're like, "If I died today, my legacy isn't what it should be." Perhaps there have been seasons in life where you've squandered your life, where you've wasted it, and this is where the gospel Jesus Christ is our only hope, that Jesus Christ left the greatest legacy that there was. His death on the cross, he poured himself out. He loved God's word, poured himself out, fought the good fight. He ran his race, he kept the faith in order to give us faith. And the way that the gospel impacts our legacy is through course correction. If you look at your life, you say, "Mm, I went off course here." At that moment, we need the gospel through repentance. We receive God's grace through repentance. And do you know what repentance is? In the Greek, the word repentance means, just turning around. It means, I have been running the wrong way and Jesus turned me around. I'm turning to you, I want to follow you. At that moment, he corrects us and continues to sustain us on our path. Galatians 2:20, St. Paul says, "I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me." It's his legacy. It's not mine. He's living in me and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith and the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Back to our question at the very beginning and we'll close with this before we go into communion. Do you have an answer for the question? What do you want your epitaph to be? That inscription on your tombstone, what do you want to say? Some of the most famous epitaphs in the world history, Alexander the Great was, "A tomb now suffices him for whom the world was not enough." Ludolph van Ceulen, the gentleman, the German Dutch mathematician who calculated pi to 35 numbers. Guess what his epitaph was? 3.1415926 etc, all the way to 35. Wanted everyone to know. Martin Luther King Jr, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty. I'm free at last." Frank Sinatra, "The best is yet to come." We don't know what St. Paul's was because we don't have his tombstone. We don't know where his grave is. But you know what I think an appropriate one would be, "Fought the good fight, finish the race, kept the faith." As we transitioned to Holy communion, we remember the words of Jesus Christ, he gave us Holy communion to do on a regular basis and he says, "Do this," why? "In remembrance of me." We remember his life, his death, his burial, and his resurrection because this is what sustains our walk with the Lord. The way that we celebrate Holy communion at mosaic is, the usher are going to hand out the elements, the bread and the cup. We ask that you hold on to them until everyone's received them. Here's what we're doing in Holy communion. The bread symbolizes the body of Christ broken for us and the cup symbolizes the blood of Christ poured out for us. And we eat and we drink, and what we're doing is we're internalizing these elements as a symbol for how we are saved, for how we're sanctify. We internalize by faith that Jesus Christ died for me. Who is welcome to take part? 1 Corinthians 11 says that, "Holy communion is for the converted and the repentant." For people who have repented, initially have become Christians and continue to repent. That's what it means to be a Christian. So if you today, repent of your sins. If you today turn to Christ, trust in him, you're welcome to partake. If not, we ask that you just spend this time meditating on what you've heard. After the ushers handout the elements, please hold onto them and they will partake. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we thank you for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus, we thank you for your sacrifice on the cross. We thank you for offering up your body and your blood, and I pray as we receive your sacrifice and your offering, I pray that you forgive us for our sins. Forgive us for our pride, forgive us for our selfishness, forgive us for living as if our life is our own. It's not. And I pray that you make this time a truly meaningful for each of us, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Authority
November 24, 2019 • Matthew 20:20–28
Audio Transcript: Good morning. Welcome to Mosaic Church. My name's Jan, I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic. And if you're new, if you're visiting, welcome. We're so glad you're here. By the way, congratulations for making it out. Whenever it rains, I already know the Navy SEALS are going to show up. It's like that meme, I don't know if you saw this meme going around, where the lady is screaming and then there's the white cat. And the screaming lady goes, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" And then the cat says, "Well, you can't even show up to church when it rains." And the cat is spot on. So, congratulations. The Lord sees your sacrifice. We'd love to connect with you if you're new, we do that through the Connection Crowd, the worship guide, if you fill it out legibly, you can either toss it in the offering basket after or redeem it at the Welcome Center for a gift, or you can download the app, the Mosaic Boston app in the App Store or Google Play. All the announcements are in the worship guide. There's a type in one of the announcements that the members meeting, it's not December 7th, which is a Sunday, it's actually December 6th. So, if you are a member or if you've been notified that you are becoming a member, please plan to come. With that said, will you please pray with me over the preaching of God's Word? Heavenly Father, we confess that you are a good Father, and that you have given us your Word for our good, for our flourishing, for our shalom, for our peace. And your Word, often, is in the affirmative, yes, you want us to live lives that are glorifying to you and then also beneficial to ourselves and the people around us. And in order to keep shalom, you often tell us no. And Lord, I pray that you, through the power of the Holy Spirit and by the Gospel, show us that our hearts are rebellious to your authority naturally. We viscerally reject your authority, and we repent of that, and we turn to you, and I pray that you give us tender hearts to your loving authority, tender hearts to even tough truth. And as we submit to your truths, as we submit to your authority, I pray that you show us that your authority, kingdom authority, Godly authority is an upside down authority, that you give authority not for us to be served by those under us, but to serve them. You call us to be servant leaders, sacrificial leaders to mirror you, to image you. And I pray you give us strength to do that. Lord, if anyone is not yet a Christian, if anyone has not yet submitted their lives to you, if someone has not yielded control of their lives to you, I pray today show Jesus how much you've sacrificed, how much you've done in order to redeem them, and I pray, draw their hearts to you. And I pray all this in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ. Amen. So, we're in a sermon series that we are calling Tough and Tender, Developing a Resilience for Life. This is week 10. Next week we're finishing it with a sermon on living in a way that we leave a Godly legacy. So, that's next week. And after that, we roll into advent. Today, we are talking about tough and tender authority, lion and lamb authority. The Holy Scripture teaches that Jesus Christ is the Lion of Judah who submits like a lamb to the will of God, and he shows us that truth and that authority are upside down, that God gives us authority, gives us truth, in order to transform us, in order to get us to serve others because one of the greatest blessings in the world is to give rather than to receive. So, as we talk about authority and as we talk about truth, I understand how counter-cultural this topic is, how counter-cultural this idea is. We are a [people who don't like sermons on authority, we don't like authority in general. Fight the power, stick it to the man, it's the Land of the Free. The last time we had a king was King George III, didn't work out for him. And not only do we live in the United States, the Land of the Free, we're also in Boston, Massachusetts. You going to tax us? We're going to get rid of all your tea. We do not like ... Live Free or Die, that's the motto of New England. So, with that to say, I know you want to hear a sermon on authority like you want to hear a sermon on a root canal. But it's important. Scripture talks about the authority of God, and talks about the authority of God's Word. One of the texts that's really important to understand both authority and truth was Jesus subjugated to the authority to Pilate, standing before Pilate. And Pilate says, "Why are you answering me? Don't you understand that I have authority either to execute you or to release you?" And Jesus says, "You would have no authority over me at all if it were not given to you from above." And then Pilate scoffs at this, and Jesus says, "Those who are of the truth hear my truth." And then Pilate scoffs at it and says, "What is truth?" And that sentiment is the milieu of our culture. This is the ethos of our culture. What is truth? Presupposition, "Truth is not knowable." Or we can't known truth. And obviously, that is a truth statement that crumbles under its own weight. There is no such thing as absolute truth. Are you absolutely sure? That is a truth statement. We can't know about God. How do you know that? Or, when people like Peter Berger say things like, "Truth isn't objective, it's culturally conditioned. You believe what people around you believe. In particular, when it comes to faith." Well, that itself is a culturally conditioned truth statement. Agnosticism, we can't know about God. How do you know that you can't know about God? No one should proselytize. At the very moment that you say no one should proselytize, no one should convert, no one should recruit people to their religion, you're actually doing proselytizing. You're converting people to your position of non-proselytization. So you can't get around truth statements. Everyone is making truth statements. What we need to understand is what is truth in order to understand authority. The other problem that we have in our culture, when people talk about truth, they think it's proud or arrogant to say, "No, this is true." It seems proud and arrogant to say, "This is true." And it seems humble to say there is no truth. We can't know truth. But actually, that's reversed. To say there is no truth, you're putting yourself in a position of arrogance over all truth. On the flip side, Jesus comes in and said, "I am truth, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." It's a tough truth when we tenderly submit to it, that truth frees us to be the people that God has called us to be. The other problem that we have with authority is that it has been abused so much. So, we talk about getting rid of authority. You can't get rid of authority. As soon as you start talking about getting rid of authority, be very ... Question anyone who says get rid of authority because those people then want to ... They get into authority. This was the historical lesson of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, the Communists, come to power and they said, "Let's get rid of the king." And everyone is like, "Yes! The workers of the world unite." And as soon as they get rid of the king, who comes into power? It's the communists. That vacuum was always going to be filled so you can't just get rid of authority. We need to redeem authority. And that's what Jesus Christ has come to do. Today, we're going to look at Matthew 20:20-27, in which Jesus tells his disciples, "You have a worldly understanding of authority. You have a flipped understanding of authority." And Jesus Christ came not just to give us the upside kingdom, but the right side up kingdom, and he wants to turn our understanding of authority right side up. So, this is Matthew 20:20, "Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, 'What do you want?' She said to him, 'Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.' And Jesus answered, 'You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?' And they said to him, 'We are able.' He said to them, 'You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.'" "And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, and even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'" This is the reading of God's Holy, inerrant, infallible authoritative Word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Four points to frame up our time so you know where we're going. First, authority rejected, then authority corrupted, authority redeemed, and finally authority exercised. First of all, authority rejected. What is authority? It's rightful power. A power that is used rightly and only God has ultimate authority, only God uses authority rightly. He is the rightful owner of authority. He created everything so authority belongs ultimately to the Creator. And the story of Holy Scripture begins in Genesis, the Book of Beginnings, that God, in authority, creates everything. And His authority is good. It's a blessed authority. It's for our benefit, for our flourishing, for our prosperity. And He gives it to us generously. He gives it to everything, for life, and for spiritual life. And submission to His authority is the place in which we are free to be the people we've been designed to be. We're free to prosper. God has intrinsic authority and He creates us and delegates authority to us. And He tells us, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, create civilization, create culture and have dominion over all things." He creates Adam, puts him in the Garden, to work it and to keep it. There's authority. Work it, there's authority over the world. And then keep it, protect it from the evil and authority over Satan. God entrusts them with everything, including His Word. He gives His Word to Adam and He says, "Keep it. This is my authority over you, ensconced in my Word. It's within my Word." And then in Genesis 3, Satan comes. And Satan has a conversation with Eve, and the very first thing that he attacks in an attempt to attack God's authority, what does he do? He attacks God's Word. He attacks God's truth. And he says, "Did God really say?" And Eve says, "God said we can eat of every tree except for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." And he says, "No, no, no. You will not die. You will become like Gods, knowing good and evil." And Eve looks at the tree, looks at the forbidden fruit, and says that it was the light to her eyes, the desire to make her wise. She rejects God's authority. Adam rejects God's authority. Because Satan had planted a lie in their minds that God's authority was bad, that God was keeping us from something good. And they eat. They trust in their feelings over God's Word. Adam doesn't exercise authority in protecting the Garden from evil, and he doesn't exercise authority to protect his wife from the lies, and he doesn't serve by leading and protecting. Fast forward to today. What is our stance in culture at authority? We live in a culture averse to authority. There's no respect to authority because we have long ago gotten rid of even the idea of truth. Even to talk about objective truth about God is so counter-cultural that we even have a hard time even grasping the idea that when we talk about God, we're talking about facts. We're not talking about preference. We're talking about facts about God, truths about God as true as gravity, as true as life, as death, as the laws of thermodynamics. And we live in a culture where it's we who create truth. The things that we believe become truths instead of taking truths and believing in them. Scripture begins with the unapologetic truth that God is sovereign, that God rules over the universe. Psalm 115:3 says, "Our God is in the Heavens. He does all that He pleases." Ultimate authority. He's like a potter, we are like the clay. All authority among humans is derived, and it's all from God. Romans 13:1, "For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." So, Adam and Even reject God's authority and, in place, they get a corrupted authority under the authority of the enemy. So, when we reject God's authority, we don't destroy authority, we corrupt it. And even the disciples of Jesus Christ, before the Gospel, have this corrupted understanding of authority. It's in their heart. On this point too, authority corrupted, we see in our text that John and James, part of Jesus' inner circle, Jesus had the 12 disciples, then he had the three disciples: John, James, and Peter, Jesus' closest friends. Now, one of the things that a lot of people don't understand is that James and John, they're brothers, but they're actually Jesus' cousins. They're the sons of Zebedee's. Zebedee is married to Salome. Salome is the sister of Mary, Jesus' mom. So, these are his cousins. So, his cousins, what are they doing? In Matthew 19, Jesus promised that he would give them authority. They will sit on 12 thrones to rule over Israel. And so, they're jockeying for position. They send their mom to Jesus in order for her to ask that they get the thrones closest to Jesus. And they think that Jesus will listen to his aunt, so she comes, she kneels, she asks. Why are they doing all this? Why are they jockeying? This is politics. Why are they politicking? The reason is because they think in their mind, the closer I am to Jesus on the throne, the higher rank I have, the more authority I have, to rule over people. And that's why Jesus, to correct their thinking, where does he go? This is verse 25, Matthew 20: "Jesus called them to him and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.'" What's he doing? He's canceling their wrong presupposition. Wrong presupposition, get as much power as you can, as much control, as much authority so that people serve you. You rule over, they serve you. Jesus says, "No, that's false." That's an ungodly mentality and that's rooted in selfish ambition. And this is our culture, get as much power as you can. Get the highest rank in your organization. Why? So that people serve you. And that's why we have abuse of authority in our culture because authority has a corrupting over every single one of us. You've heard that power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, we know this. And that's why in scripture, as people reject God, God then has to come in and control our abuse of power. And you see examples in scripture where employers abuse employees. So, you have texts like Leviticus 25:43, where God says, "You shall not rule over them ruthlessly, but shall fear your God." Or Deuteronomy 24:14, "You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor or needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your town." Why does God have to give this Word? Because of our corrupt understanding of authority. There's fathers who abuse their authority over children. Ephesians 6:4 tells us, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." There's abuse of power of authority with husbands over wives, that's why Colossians 3:19 says, "Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them." There's abuse of pastors or elders over churches, that's why 1 Peter 5:2-3 says, "Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsions, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock." You see over and over and over this upside down view of authority, whether it was mistreating foreigners or immigrants. Exodus 23:9, "You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." Those in power, in terms of finances, taking advantage of the helpless or poor. Zechariah 7:10, "Do not oppose the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart." James 2:6, "But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?" And then just abuse of power to oppress in general. Jeremiah 22:17, "But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood and for practicing oppression and violence." We have a corrupt understanding of authority. So, we can't just reject authority because it gets replaced with corrupt authority. So, what do we need to do? We need redeemed authority. And this is point three. Jesus Christ comes as the God of the universe. And he comes and he shows us a servant leadership. He shows us authority in order to serve instead of authority to get others to serve you. This is Matthew 20:26-27, he says, "It shall not be so among you." Among Christians. "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." So, from the beginning we said that God has intrinsic authority, He delegates authority to us. Those are the only two kinds of authority. Jesus has both. Jesus has intrinsic authority as co-equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and he also has intrinsic authority because he's the co-creator with the Father. But he submits to the Father. Though he has his own authority, he submits to the will of God, and then God delegates an authority to Christ. He has both. So, Jesus comes and he holds the office of prophet, priest, and king, and wields that authority well. He serves those underneath his authority. He has the authority to forgive sins. He has the authority to exorcize demons. He has the authority to control nature, to raise the dead. He teaches with authority. He could have demanded submission, he could have commanded submission. Instead, he compels our submission through our hearts by pouring himself out for us. So, how does Jesus lead? How does Jesus wield his authority? By submitting, by suffering, and by serving. By submitting, by suffering, and by serving. I'm going to give you three images right now that show us, that give us a picture of Jesus' authority. It's the yoke. It's the cup and the towel. So, if I lost you somewhere, come back. This is a good part of the sermon. I really enjoyed this part. This is my second time preaching, this is my favorite part. Yoke, cup, towel. Yoke, cup, towel. Submission, suffering, and service. What's the yoke? Jesus submits to the yoke of God the Father, meaning he submits to His will. Co-equal. Father and the Son, they're co-equal. This is the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity. They're equally God. Three persons in the Holy Trinity. Three persons, one essence, they're equally God. Jesus comes and he submits to the yoke of the Father. Where do I see this in particular? Look at Matthew 11:28-30. "Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." A yoke was a harness to attack a plow to farm animals, to oxen or to horses, and Jesus Christ says, "I have submitted myself to the harness of God's will." And he says, "I've done it gently. I've done it tenderly. I tenderly submit to the tough will of God, the Father." And this is the area, the submission, this is the area where true freedom is found. So, Satan's lie in the very beginning was, "Reject God's authority so that you can live lives of freedom." And Jesus says, "No. We reject God's authority ..." You don't get rid of authority ... Or, submit to corrupted authority, the enemy's authority, and then finally enslaved by sin and selfishness. He says, "No, true rest is found in submission to the Word of God, to the truth of God." He says, "Join me under this harness. I'm baring most of the weight. Come and take my yoke upon you. You will find rest for your souls." And by the way, this is what Jesus meant when he said, "You will know the truth and the truth will," what? Set you free. It's not freedom when we reject truth, it's freedom when we submit to God's truth. And it's tough to do, but when we do that, it tenderizes our hearts to God and we begin to understand that his authority is actually the best thing for us. So, Jesus shows us that his authority begins with taking a yoke and then it continues with taking a cup. Yoke and cup. Where did I get the cup? From our text. Jesus answered, "You do not know what you're asking." They asked for influence. He says, "'You don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?' And they said to him, 'We are able.' He said to them, 'You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and not my left is not mine to grant but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father." What is this cup? This is the cup of God's wrath. This is the cup of suffering. And Jesus Christ comes and he knows that he has to drink this cup down to the very last drop. Why is this a cup of suffering? Because in order for God to forgive us, he can't just say, "I forgive." Somebody needs to pay the penalty for our sin. There's always sacrifice. There's always suffering when forgiveness is given. If someone has treated you unjustly, committed egregious sin against you and you've been sinned against, for you to forgive that person, it always takes suffering. It's always painful. The greater the level of sin, the greater the level of suffering. Jesus is looking at this cup, he says, this is the only way that people can be redeemed, that we can be restored in a rightful relationship with us, and Jesus knows exactly how much this cup is going to cost, how painful it will be. And Matthew 26:39, this is the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is on his face, sweating blood, the capillaries on his face are bursting, he's under such immense pressure. And he prays to the Father, and he says, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." True authority always includes suffering, it always includes a cup. And he tells James and John, do you think you can drink my cup? And they say, "Yeah." And they did. James was the first apostle to be martyred for the faith. We get that in the Book of Acts. John was exiled at the end of his life on Patmos. They suffered partially just because of martyrdom and exile, and then also, because as the closest people in their lives, they were separated in the very beginning of the ministry, they drank the cup. So, when we think about authority it's not getting others to serve and getting others to suffer for me, it's I'm serving people even when I need to suffer to do it. So, there's the yoke, there's the cup, and then there's the towel. Where do I get this? Jesus, on the Last Supper, he gets up from the table, lays aside his outer garments, takes a towel, ties it to his waist, takes a basin, fills it with water and begins to wash the feet of his disciples. Says, "This is true greatness." God, on his knees, God kneeling to get the grime and the gunk off the feet of his own disciples. This is true leadership. This is servant leadership. This is godly authority. It's the towel. And then John 13:12-16, Jesus explains to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him." So, if we are to have a rightful understanding of authority, we'd first go to Christ and repent. And say, "Lord, forgive me for misusing authority. Forgive me for not submitting to your authority. I take that yoke under which I find rest for my soul. Lord, I accept the fact that you suffered for me, you drank that cup. And I accept the foot washing that you give me. I accept the yoke, I accept the cup, and I accept the towel. I accept that Lord. We thank you for grace." That's how we're saved, by grace through faith, and then that begins to redeem and redefine our understanding of authority so now we can begin to exercise authority as designed by God. And that's point four. Exercise authority. Authority exercised with the yoke, the cup and the towel. So, this is Christ-like authority. It shows us that true greatness doesn't come in being served, but in serving, being blessed but in actually blessing. It's not in getting people ministered to, but actually ministering to others. So, it begins with submitting to the yoke of the Gospel. Repent and believe. What's repentant? It's yielding your will to God. Not my will, but yours be done. You accept grace. You accept God's sacrifice. You accept His love and you accept His Word. You cannot accept God without accepting His Word, His truth. The thing that separated Jesus when he came, and people took note of this. They said, "You don't teach like the Rabbis do. You teach as someone who has authority." The Rabbis would say, "This is what the scripture say," or "Thus says the Lord." Jesus Christ doesn't appeal to a higher ... He says, "Truly, truly, I say unto you." He's not appealing to a delegated authority, he's appealing to his own intrinsic authority. So, Jesus has both kinds of authority. You're going to have to use your brain for the next couple minutes. Okay? You with me? This is stake upon stake. Jesus has intrinsic authority and delegated authority. It's in him and it's given to him. Same with the Holy Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures have an intrinsic authority, in and of themselves, an ontological authority, and they're given a delegated authority, a bestowed authority. It's not a borrowed authority, it's a given authority, and it's within, and it's given from without. How do we know? The theology is that God's Word is an extension of Himself, when God speaks, God is in that Word. And this is really important, because this is what separates us from other flavors of so-called Christianity. People ask me all the time, "What kind of church is Mosaic? What kind of Christianity are you?" And I've got a brand new answer, it came to me this week. I used to say, "Historical Orthodox Christianity," just because no one knows what that means and they're like, "Oh, okay." Now I say "What kind of Christianity?" I go, "The original. From the very beginning. That's who we are. The original." We believe what the Church has believed about Christ, about God, about God's Word. And this is where we're different from other historic churches that have accepted a liberal theology of God's Word. This camp rejects the intrinsic power of God, the intrinsic authority of God's Word. And they said, "Yeah, when scripture agrees with me, then I'll accept it. But scripture is relegated to my authority, it's relegated to my reason." And I push back to that and say, "Have you never made any mistakes in your life?" Just look at your high school picture. You are fallible. Every single one is us is fallible. So, you're taking your fallible mind, your fallible reason, and you're standing in judgment over scripture, over God's Word. And then people push back and they say, "Well, how do you know it's God's Word." And then my response is, "God's Word tells me that it's God's Word." And then people are like, "Ha! That's circular reasoning. Got you!" And I always respond and say, "We're all doing circular reasoning." When your reasoning with your mind, how do you know that your mind is being reasonable? That's circular reasoning, number one. Number two, we are not primarily intellectual beings. How many of our decisions are made because of our desires not because of our minds? And our desires override our minds? So, we need a word from outside, we need a truth from outside, a transcendent truth. And where do we get that? We get that from Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came and he taught the way of God. He taught that the Old Testament was God's Word. He lived a perfect life. He's crucified, dies, is buried, and comes back from the dead. That, right there, the resurrection, validates everything else that he taught. Do we believe that Jesus physically came back from the dead? Yes, we've done sermons on that. You can find them online. If you want more evidence for the historicity of the resurrection, a couple great resources: N.T. Wright is probably the best one. N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God. I think it's over 1,000 pages. If you're like, "I'm not reading 1,000 pages," go to the very end. You know what he says? "Jesus comes back from the dead." There. Spoiler alert. Geza Vermes wrote a book called The Resurrection, V-E-R-M-E-S. Michael Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus, phenomenal work. But ultimately, we believe in the authority of scripture because we believe in Jesus Christ. How can you accept Jesus Christ as savior if you think you're smarter than him, if you think you're wiser than him? John Stott has this great book called The Authority of the Bible, and he says, "Why should people believe that the Bible is God's Word written, inspired by His Spirit and authoritative over their lives? The overriding reason for accepting the divine inspiration and authority of scripture is plain loyalty to Jesus. Our understanding of everything is conditioned by what Jesus taught, and that includes his teaching about the Bible. We have no liberty to exclude anything from Jesus' teaching and say, 'I believe what he taught about this but not what he taught about that.' What possible right do we have to be selective?" What did Jesus believe about the Bible? Matthew 5:17-18, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law of the prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." He's talking about the Hebrew scriptures. He's says the smallest details of the Hebrew scriptures would all come to pass. John 10:35, "Scripture cannot be broken." So, Jesus believed in the Old Testament, referred to it as God's Word, then Jesus taught and gives authority, delegated authority, to his apostles who are filled with the Holy Spirit and then the New Testament, the books in the New Testament canon were either written by an apostle or connected to an apostle, every single one of them. And then I get the pushback, "Well, didn't the church give us the New Testament? Didn't they compile the canon? Well, how can we trust them?" And my response is, the church gave us the books of the New Testament as much as Sir Isaac Newton gave us gravity. He did not give us gravity, he recognized gravity. The spirit in them authenticated the spirit in the books, it was a recognition not a giving. It's like Tom Brady. I've been good. All football season, I have no mentioned the GOAT. Why is Tom Brady the GOAT? And this might connect with you, but it's okay. Why is Tom Brady the GOAT? Because a lot of people said that he's the GOAT? No, he's the GOAT and everyone recognizes that he's the GOAT. If you know, you know. You're welcome. And then Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding." Why trust in the Lord with all your heart? Why this combination of trust and the heart? Do you trust the Lord whole-heartedly? Well, if you do, do you let the scriptures override your thoughts and feelings? A lot of people think that God wants you to agree with Him. And we agree with the scriptures when our feelings coincide, when our ideas coincide, and then when our ideas don't coincide with scripture, we just get rid of it. God doesn't say, "Agree with me." God says, "Obey me." Meaning, there are times when God says no. And that, right there, it challenges the most cherished thoughts and feelings that we have. And do you submit to the good will of God, to His good authority? 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." Now, scripture talks about different spheres of authority, so I'm going to talk about the different spheres of authority. Authority in the church, authority in marriage, authority with children, and authority with the civil government, and look at every single one of those spheres through the prism of yoke, cup, and towel, and that's how you understand Godly authority. So, authority in the church. Scripture teaches that Jesus is the head of the church and that Jesus rules over the church through his Word, and God sends the Holy Spirit. The Holy Scripture talks about under-shepherds that are given to the church, called by God to teach and care for the flock. So, if you, and here, I'm speaking to myself, I'm speaking to the leaders in the church. If we are to wield this authority rightly, there is a yoke of submission to God's Word, there's a cup of suffering. If you want to lead in the church, if you want to do ministry, there's always suffering. If you want to minister to people on the soul level, there's always suffering. There's always opposition from Satan and the demonic. And then there's the towel, where you care for the practical needs of your brothers and sisters, that's how Godly authority is to be wielded. Hebrews 13:17, "Obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you." As a pastor, Pastor Shane Pastor and Andy, we take this seriously. We will stand before God and given an account for how we do ministry. And it's frightening, and that's why we want to do ministry God's way. God's work, God's way. There's authority in marriage and the family. Scripture talks about God's design for family, God's design for marriage, that husbands are an authority over wives, to love, to honor, to serve, to sacrifice. 1 Corinthians 11:3, God grounds this idea of headship and the Trinity. "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ and the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God." And this is important because St. Paul doesn't ground this in culture, he grounds this in the Trinity, that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are equal in power. They're equal in divinity. And yet, Jesus submits to the headship of God the Father, and we see that pattern that Jesus is the head of the church, and that Jesus is the head of the man, and then the husband is supposed to be in this godly, sacrificial headship over the wife. Ephesians 5:22-25, "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 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. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." St. Paul grounds it in the Trinity, he grounds it in the church that Jesus is head over the church, and he grounds it in God's created order. 1 Corinthians 11:8-9, "For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man." And I say that the Trinity, the church, and creation are the foundation for the doctrine of headship because a lot of people reject this and they say, "It was cultural." It wasn't cultural. St. Paul wasn't wearing cultural goggles as he was writing this. He was pointing to things that are eternal. So, practically, how does this work itself out practically? Sacrifice. Who should be sacrificing most in a marriage? It's the husband. You lead with sacrifice. Just practically, how does this work out? When you're eating a delicious meal together, husbands and wives, who gets the last piece? This week, my wife and I, we buy this delicious salami from Trader Joe's. It's wrapped in paper. It's so good. And my wife and I, we wait until our kids are asleep, and we're just downing this thing. It is so good. And out of nowhere, we're on the last piece. We just demolished this thing, just inhaled it. And the last piece, and my wife is eyeing it, and I'm eyeing it. And I was meditating on this text, and I was like ahh, I was like, "Baby, here you go." And she's like, "No, I don't want it." And I know she's lying. And then she takes it and I'm like ... And I thought she was going to take a bite and give the rest back to me. That's the pattern. No! Gone! Gone! Sacrifice, sacrifice. Parents over children, there's authority to teach, to command, to discipline. Ephesians 6:1-4, "Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother, this is the first commandments with a promise, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children with anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." So, parents are to be authoritative, not authoritarian. So, not leading in a way that provokes the child, but leading the heart, shepherding the heart. And yes, we are to tell our children yes and no. The fact that he says, "Children obey," means that there is an act of guidance, act of discipleship over our children. This week, my daughter, Ekaterina, she's four. She's number three in the order. Ekaterina, driving home from preschool with my wife. She says, "Mom, there's a boy at school today who stole chocolate and he put it in his pocket." And they're driving home from the store. And my wife is like, "Huh." Come home, and she's like, "Come here. Let me check your pocket." Chocolate bunny in her pocket. Stole it! What do we do? What do we do? You got to discipline, but it's got to be a loving discipline. So, my wife unwraps it, and being the wise, Godly sage she is, broke off the bunny's head and gave it to her. "Don't do this anymore." And then she ate the rest. So, it was just this incredible mix of ... You're welcome. It's got to be both. And authority of the civil government. Scripture talks about the fact that we are to honor and pray for those in authority over us. Romans 13:1-2, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." Who's he ... He's writing in a culture where Caesar is the emperor. Unrighteous, ungodly leader, and St. Paul says that there needs to be a respect for authorities, and obviously, not when those authorities contradict the Word of God. So, Acts 5:29, Peter gives the example, "We must obey God rather than men." In 1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, "First of all then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, Godly and dignified in every way." Some Christians sin in their utter disrespect for those in authority. Yet, there's got to be this balance where I don't agree with the person, I don't agree with the policies, but there is a respect for the office, for the authorities. We are told to give unto Caesar what is Caesar's and give unto God what is God's. We will never give to Caesar what is God's, but we are called to honor, to respect, and to pray for. I'll close with this. Philippians 2:5-11, this is the ancient hymn about Christ coming to serve, showing us true Godly authority: "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Jesus Christ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Every single knee will bow. Either we bow in this life, humbly accepting the Grace of God, or we will bow the knee in the next life under judgment and condemnation. So, we call you, if you're not yet a Christian, bow your knee to Jesus Christ in repentance. Submit to his good authority, and on the day that we humble ourselves, he raises us up. Let's pray. Lord, we do start with repenting of the fact that our pride gets in the way of submitting to your authority all too often. We all too often think that our way is the right way, that our truth is the ultimate truth. We repent of all that. And I pray Lord that you give us grace to submit ourselves, to yield ourselves, yield our wills to the will of God the Father. We thank you Jesus that you took the yoke, you took the cup, and you took the towel. And I pray that you give us grace to do the same. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
Facing Opposition with Grace
November 17, 2019 • 1 Peter 4:7–19
Summary: Satan hates God. However, he can't hurt God directly. So he does everything he can to hurt God indirectly, and he does so by attacking God's children. Holy Scripture promises us that "all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Timothy 3:12). Jesus promised his followers that they will be hated just for being Christians (John 15:18-20). Christian, if you follow Jesus faithfully, you will have enemies. These too are God's promises. Jesus calls us to withstand hate with love, but how do we withstand opposition like lions, while loving those who oppose us, like lambs? Audio Transcript: You're listening to audio from Mosaic Boston church. You'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com And God, we thank you for the blessing and privilege it is to gather safely, in peace, to worship your Holy name, to meditate upon your Holy scriptures as your church, as your people. We recognize that this blessing isn't afforded to many in the world, that many do not have this freedom, this Liberty, this privilege to gather in peace that many are actively and violently opposed and persecuted and we pray for our brotherhood and we pray for our sisterhood. We pray for those who are suffering just because they name the name of Jesus Christ. We pray that you strengthen them. We pray that you also remind us today that when you call us to yourself, you call us to a path of sacrifice. That we worship a God who gave himself. Jesus, you were nailed to a cross and like a lion, you tenaciously and ferociously overcame Satan, sin, and death and still as you hung in that cross, you extended your generous, lavish embrace to your enemies. I pray that you make us tough as nails and tender as lambs that when we are persecuted, when we are slandered, when we experience the opposition that you have promised us. We pray that we recognize that often that is your will in order to refine us in order to give us a perspective that is eternal. I pray Holy spirit come and strengthen us, give us a resolve that we will not just live for you, but we would be willing to even die for you if that's what you choose for us. We pray that you bless our time, the Holy scriptures. Now we pray all this in the name of the father, of the son, of the Holy spirit. Amen. So we're in a sermon series that we are calling "Tough and Tender: Developing Resilience for Life." And the topic of the message today is opposition. This sphere, this area will strengthen your toughness and will soften your tender heart like nothing else that we have covered. Today, we are talking about opposition that the way of following Christ is a path of opposition. Why? Because at the center of Christianity, at the crux of Christianity, is a crucified savior who has given himself for us and he calls us to take up our cross and follow him daily. Thus, we shouldn't be surprised that Christians have been persecuted and continue to be persecuted, have been opposed, and continue to be opposed. Christians are the most persecuted group on the planet. It's the least reported and the most overlooked truth. The secular society called International Society for Human Rights says the worst persecution of Christians in all of human history is actually happening in our lifetime. 70 million Christians have died for their faith from the beginning of the church. The founding of the church by Christ. 70 million have died, 35 million in the past 100 years. Every 10 minutes at least two Christians die for their faith. John L. Allen Jr wrote "The Global War on Christians" in which he documents today's stories of people who are dying for their faith. The Christian Perspective Review of 2019 says that one third of the world's population suffers from religious persecution, 80% of which are Christians and spreading not just geographically, but it's growing in severity. In some regions, the level and nature of persecution is coming close to international definitions of genocide. Open Doors 2019 Worldwide Watch List Report says that in 2018, 215 million Christians have been persecuted. This year alone, it's been 245. This year alone, 2,625 Christians have been detained without trial, arrested, sentenced and in prison, 1,266 churches, church buildings have been attacked. In the last five years, the number of countries classified as extreme and persecuting Christians has grown from one, North Korea, to 11 countries. That's increasing and the persecution is coming from aggressive nationalism or ultra nationalism in countries like China and India and from Islamist militia groups. How about in Boston, 2019. Well, it's different here. Might not be an active violent oppression, but it's definitely a silent repression. It's a polite persecution. There's ridicule when people can't respond with reason. Laughter. "I can't believe you believe that, you bigot" laughter as substitute for logic. We might not be persecuted, but certainly we are pressured. You might not get that promotion just because you're a Christian. You might not get into that program, not get into that school. Just because you're a Christian. People might look down on you as antiquated or unintelligent because you are a Christian. Be silent, shut up, blend in, conform. Do not share your faith. Do not proselytize. I can't believe that you are on the wrong side of history. Well, for Christians it's more important not just to be on the right side of history, but to be on the right side and that side is the side of Jesus Christ. And he said, I am the way, the truth and the life and there's no other way to the father, but through me. If you claim that, if you believe that if you live that out, you will be opposed. Jesus Christ said, count the cost before you come and follow me. There is a cost to following Jesus. What does it cost you to follow Christ? Would you die for the name of Christ? Statistically, some of you might. And if you're willing to die for Christ, are you willing to live for him? If being a Christian ever became illegal in the United States, would there be enough evidence against you for claiming Christian, confessing Christian, to convict you? These are some of the things that we are talking about today. To set up our time, we're going to look at first Peter chapter four, seven through 19. First, Peter suffered for the faith to the point that he died. He was crucified upside down. He knew about suffering. He knew about beatings. When you talk about suffering, you just talk about verbal suffering. You talk, not just emotional suffering but physical suffering for the faith. So he writes this letter to Christians who are suffering in Asia Minor and he reminds them over and over refers to them that you are sojourners, you are exiles. This is not your home. Our citizenship is in heaven. We are resident aliens. This is all temporary. We might suffer, but from the point of view of eternity, this is just a blip on the radar and is worth it. First Peter four seven through 19 would you please look at the text with me? The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever speaks as one who speaks Oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet, if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God, and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. This is the reading of God's Holy and infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Seven practical points to frame up our time. Point one is welcome to the club. Point two is lead with repentance. Three, rejoice at the honor. Four shame with glory. Five, love your enemies. Six, trust God as you do good and seven, extend hope gently. First of all, welcome to the club. This is what he begins with. So what did you expect if you follow a crucified savior? And Jesus said, "Come and follow me." What did you expect? So don't be surprised. He says in verse 12, beloved do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. For them, they understood what it meant to follow Christ in that Roman culture. Christ was crucified. Therefore, he calls us to a path of suffering. Don't be surprised, it's not unusual. You're probably doing something right. It is surprising to the church in the United States. To many, it's surprising because many present the gospel as a bait-and-switch. We do not do that at Mosaic. When we talk about coming to the Lord, repenting of sin and accepting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we talk about counting the cost. There is a cost. Jesus said, before you build a tower, you got to sit down and first figure out how much it's going to cost or else you won't have the resource. There is a cost to following Jesus Christ. And as our culture becomes more antagonistic to the gospel and the implications of the gospel in particular when it comes to gender and sexuality, there's going to be more and more of a cost. Don't be surprised. It's not unusual. It's not new. It's not strange. He says it's normal. It's necessary. It's refining. Life is hard. God is good. Glory is coming. The fiery trial here he's talking about is persecution, is to be expected. In Peter's mind, it wasn't just insults, it wasn't just maligning or slander or reviling, it was beatings and sufferings and crucifixion and being tossed to the lions. 2 Timothy 3:12, indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. God promises this. Acts 14:22 talking about the apostles, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. Through many tribulations. Many of us have developed a theology of prosperity, not many of us have a theology of adversity. And we need a theology of adversity to recognize how to meet these trials head on. It's guaranteed trials will come, expect it. 1 Peter 5:6-9, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you. There's a humility that needs to come with becoming a Christian. And Lord I repent of my sins. I'm a wretch, please save me. But then there's also a humility of following Christ and on a daily basis. God is sovereign and often sovereignly ordains trials, opposition, persecution, and there's a humility that needs to come. Lord, I humble myself under this chosen path that you have for me, that at the proper time, he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. Now, Peter, how can you write this as God's timeless word and have it still relevant today as we're reading it? Because this fact has not changed. Satan hates Christians because Satan hates the church, Satan opposes the faithful. And I understand that our opposition is first world opposition. It's micro-suffering, but still it's suffering, it's persecution. And unlike on a daily basis, you need to count the cost of following Christ. My oldest daughter Sophia is 11 and she was telling me that she just wishes there were more Christians in her church. Sorry, that too. Amen. In her school. I wish I had a Christian friend in my class. Maybe that's why we're here. We're not here because it's comfortable, we're here to get the gospel to those who do not have eternal hope in Christ. That's why we're here. It's difficult. Hebrews 13:3, remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated since you are in the body. That we are a body of bleeds, we're the body of Christ and parts of the body and other parts of the world are suffering for the faith. We are to remember them, we are to pray for them. Many of us hearing a sermon on suffering and persecution for the faith is brand new. If you come from other parts of the world, you know about this. You know about this, not theologically, you know about this experientially. My family is in the United States because they were persecuted for their faith. That's how we got to the United States, in religious refugee asylum in the late 80s because in the Soviet Union was illegal to be a Christian. It was illegal... typically the gospel. We have family members who spent decades in prison for their faith. This isn't new. This is part of following Christ. John 15:18-20 Jesus said, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you are of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. Jesus was persecuted. Jesus was the most opposed figure in all of world history, so it makes sense that his followers will too, be opposed. Mark 10:29-30 Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive a hundredfold." Now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, we love that promise, with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life. Don't be surprised. So welcome to the club. It's part of being a Christian too, is lead with repentance. This is important. 1 Peter, Peter, when he talks about persecution, he's very careful to qualify that you are being persecuted for the name of Christ, not because of your own sin. That you're not using persecution as a cover for sin. 1 Peter 3:17, it's better to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will than for doing evil. And in our text, 1 Peter 4:15, but let none of you suffer as a murderer or thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. What's he talking about? Saying some people are persecuted for being Christians, some people are being persecuted just for being obnoxious. That's what the word meddler means. So meaning, you've got to hold this imbalance. If you are always persecuted for everything. If any kind of criticism, any kind of negativity for anything from anybody is persecution. He said, "Be careful it's not for your own sin." If you are never persecuted for anything ever as a Christian, then you've got to ask, "Am I living faithfully following Christ?" And by meddler here he's talking about being the type of obnoxious Christian that hold any conversation with absolutely anybody. You're always Jesus juking. You're always trying to talk about hell and condemnation and fire and brimstone. Don't be that person. Don't be the person, and I've got to qualify this a little, who at work instead of doing your job, you're evangelizing. It's important to evangelize to coworkers and it's important for them to know. And I say this because I went through a season where I call this the cage stage. I think every Christian goes through this cage stage. I found out about reformed theology and I wanted everyone in the world to know about it. And instead of working on my Excel spreadsheets at work, I would read Bible studies. Don't be that person. Don't be, this is what he's saying, the meddler. So you might get fired for being a person like this. But you got to do a spiritual inventory. Hey, is there hypocrisy in my life? Is there sin in my life? Is there opposition in my life just because there's a carnal nature coming out or is it truly for the faith? And it happens with personal judgment. That's why 1 Peter 4:17 he says, for it's time for judgment to begin at the household of God, meaning we judge ourselves. We're doing this spiritual inventory ourselves. It begins with us and what will become of those who do not obey the gospel of God and if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? So lead with repentance. If there is sin, we repent of that sin in the context of persecution as well. Three, is rejoice at the honor. And this is incredible that he uses the word rejoice in verse 13, rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and if God rests upon you, is it comfortable? No. But there's something greater than comfort. There's development of character, and God cares infinitely more about our character than our comfort. We choose to rejoice. It's a choice to rejoice even in suffering, and this is absolutely nonsensical to the unbelieving world. The unbelieving world finds this unbelievable. The world doesn't understand that there's a source of joy, a joy that's greater than happiness, that's greater than pleasure. He says, "Rejoice at this." Congratulations, it's a confirmation, it's a compliment from God that when we suffer, when we are insulted for the name of Christ, it is to bring us joy, because God's name is glorified. Matthew 5:10-12, Jesus, this is in the Beatitudes talking about blessing, and the word for bless here is the highest level of happiness, the highest level of joy. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Rejoice, great is the reward. And this only makes sense from the perspective of eternity, the eternity... that our life compared to eternity is just a little blip on the radar. St. Peter, after he was beaten with the other apostles in the book of Acts as the very beginning of the inauguration of the church, Acts 5:41, "And they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name." They were dishonored, they were persecuted, and they rejoice. They rejoice not despite the persecution, but because of it, because of the persecution. The persecution gave them this perspective of eternity's perspective on what really matters, and they rejoice. Scripture often talks about suffering as a path that God chooses for us to strengthen us and to increase our joy. Romans 5:3-4, "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." James 1:2-3, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." Nothing tests our faith as genuine like persecution. God often sends persecution in order to purify the church. Who's truly a Christian, who's a genuine believer? There's a testing. Romans 8:18, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." Hebrews 12 talks about Moses, who leaves the comforts of the palace, of Pharaoh's palace in Egypt, and it says he, Moses, "choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward." Fleeting pleasures that you can't keep or an eternal reward that you can never lose. He does the cost-benefit analysis, he said, "Yes, the cost is worth it." God wants to prosper us. He wants to give us an enduring prosperity, a long-term prosperity that often comes at the cost of short-term adversity. Opposition also strengthens our faith. This is another reason to rejoice, that we are getting stronger. Every athlete knows, if you work out, you know that strength is developed under pressure. It's time under tension, and you go through that suffering because you have an end goal, and you're willing to endure because of the strength that's coming. 1 Peter 1:6-7, "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." He talks about this testing as a fire. What does a fire do? It burns off the impurities, the dross, and leaves the substance, leaves the goal. And what the fire and the testing does, it reveals our true allegiances, what we truly love. If the idol in your life is comfort, then you can't begin to understand suffering, you can't begin to understand pain. But if God is at the center of your life, if God is the most precious thing in your life and the greatest treasure that you have, then you will cling on to God despite suffering. It's no secret that adversity makes us stronger. A couple secular studies I'll quote here, Alyssa Croft in 2013 surveyed 15,000 adults, and she's entitled the study From Tribulations to Appreciation: Experiencing Adversity in the Past Predicts Greater Savoring in the Present, and this is what... She found people who had experienced major trauma in the past, and she said that people who have overcome adversity in the past are better at savoring life's small pleasures, which in turn could promote greater life satisfaction. This is how Scripture talks about it, that adversity, opposition, persecution, suffering, it's a blessing if it's from the Lord, and this blessing allows us to truly savor his other blessings. There's a negative blessing that leads to a depth of savoring the positive blessings. She noted that people who emotionally overcome a negative event, it leads to this greater appreciation later in life and makes them more resilient. And this is what fiery trials do. They make us stronger. They make us a courageous people. Scripture often talks about Christians as needing to be courageous. Would you describe yourself as being courageous? Are you a courageous Christian? And the way that we strengthen our courage is going through that suffering. Jesus is the great shepherd; we are the sheep. Sometimes he brings us to green pastures, sometimes he brings us to nice bucolic rivers. Other times, he takes us through the valley of the shadow of death, and I trust him, he got me this far, he'll get me through, and that strengthens us. A study by Stanley J. Rachman, he researched Fear and Courage: A Psychological Perspective, and here's how... This is secular work. Here's how he talks about growing from courage to fearlessness. He says, "Situational demands and confidence are thought to be important contributors to fearless behavior. The successful practice of courageous behavior leads to a decrease in subjective fear and finally to a state of fearlessness." How? "Courage grows into fearlessness. People who are learning to parachute from an aircraft display courage when they persevere with their jumps despite subjective fear. Veteran parachutists, who have been successfully habituated to the situation, no longer experience fear when jumping; they have moved from courage to fearlessness." Subjective fear, you overcome it with courage. The more you do that, the more you string these wins together, the more fearless you become. Courage just becomes part of who you are. This is why we are to rejoice when God allows us to be opposed for his fight, shame with glory. Jesus often talks about those who are ashamed of his name. Mark 8:38, "For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." Have you ever felt shame for being a Christian? Have you ever felt shame for believing the words of Christ, words that our culture rejects? 1 Peter 4:16, "Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name." Don't be ashamed, but glorify. Why is he bringing these two together? What ashamed, what is shame? The human ego hates shame. The human ego hates to be embarrassed. So Scripture says, what do we do with this shame? We are to follow the example of Christ, who despised the shame. Hebrews 12:2, "Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." He despised the shame. Jesus despised what kind of shame? At the center of Christianity is a shamed Christ, Christ who was mocked, he was rejected, he was spat on, he was stripped, he was scourged, and ultimately he was crucified. And the crucifixion was developed by the Romans not just to increase the level of pain as much as possible, it was to increase the level of humiliation, but Jesus went through it because he despised the shame. There's something greater motivating him than his own honor, and that was to bring glory to God the father. Don't be ashamed. What is shame? It's our name not being glorified. It's our name not being honored. Our reputation tarnished. We are not as approved or accepted by the people around us. That's shame. My wife and I we have four daughters, and I get this question all the time, and I just got to remind everyone to stop asking this question, "Are you guys going to go for the fifth? Are you guys going to try to get a boy?" Stop asking that question. In particular, I get it from my Slavic brethren, from people from a Slavic/Russian background. "Don't you want a boy? And what about your name? Don't you want your name to continue past?" Like the name is so important. And my response every single time, "I don't care." Vezikov that's not a good last name. Like who cares? That's number one. Number two, theologically it's wrong. Who cares about my name? Seriously, if I'm dead and rotten and forgotten, who cares? As long as the name of Jesus Christ magnified through my life. I believe that theologically. Experientially? And I struggle with this all the time describe for people, "What do you do?" "I'm a pastor." Just having that conversation, or like, "What kind of Christian are you?" Just having that conversation. "Oh, you guys really believe in The Bible? Isn't that antiquated?" And like, "Yeah, we do." There is a shame, but you know what? It's not about my name being glorified it's about the name Jesus Christ being glorified even at the expense of my name, of my disrepute because we worship a Christ who despised that shame. Luke 6:26, "Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets." If you're never opposed for being a Christian, if you're never dishonored for being a Christian are you standing for the truth? Are you public with your faith? And why do people hate the truth, why do people oppose the truth? Because there is an element of the truth showing the darkness for what it is, exposing the evil. This is John 3:19, this is the judgment, "The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil." The way that we fight shame is by glorifying God. A God who deserves all glory. Five is love your enemies. This is so counter intuitive, it's so counter cultural. The preached opposition here is that there will be enemies. We do have enemies. There are people who are defiantly opposed to the Christian truth. Luke 6:27 through 31, "But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies," then act of agape love. "Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you, to the one who strikes you on the cheek offer the other one also, and from the one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from the one who takes away your goods do not demand them back, and as you wish that others would do to you do so to them." Refuse to retaliate that's what he's... Refuse to respond to hate with hate. Refuse to allow other people to control your emotions, to control your reaction. The way that we oppose our enemies is not with hate, but with love. Romans 12:17 through 21, "Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine. I will repay,' says the Lord. To the contrary, if you're enemy is hungry feed him, if he is thirsty give him something to drink for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, and overcome evil with goods." It's so hard. It's not just hard this is impossible. It does take supernatural strength, it does take a filling of the Holy Spirit to respond to our enemies in the same way that Christ responded to us. Jesus Christ died for us not because we were lovely, but because he was loving, and he died for us when we were still his enemies. First Peter 4:89, "Above all keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sin, show hospitality to one another without grumbling." It's a practical love. There are enemies in your life, those who oppose you practically seek to show them love. And this perfect love casts out fear. First Peter 3:9, "Do not repay evil for evil, or reviling with reviling, but on the contrary bless. For to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing." So, we bless our enemies in the name of Jesus Christ we bless them, and we do that by praying for them. And what are we praying for? We're praying for them to come to an eternal relationship, into an eternal life with Jesus Christ. And the only way you can do this practically is if you understand theologically the source of opposition. It's not us against them, it's not Christians against non-Christians. It's every single one of us against God, and God comes, gives himself, is crucified in order to redeem us. And the real source of the opposition is not the person who is opposing you. The real source of opposition is Satan. It's the demonic realm. First Peter 5:89, "Be so reminded, be watchful your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world." Satan hates God. Satan wants to do everything he can to oppose God, but Satan can't hurt God. Jesus promised that he will build his church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. The book of Revelation promises us that Jesus wins. We know how the story ends. Satan does as well. He can't hurt God, so he tries to hurt God by means of hurting God's children. And this is what opposition is. This is what persecution is. Ephesians 6:12, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers, over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." So, when we are opposed we need to know who's behind the opposition, it's Satan, and that's why we pray for the person who is in front of us. It seems like if the person is embodying the persecution, embodying the opposition, but we need to pray for this persons eternal soul. We need to pray for the Lord to release this person from the entanglement of the evil one. Six is trust God as you do good, and the word for trust here is more than just intellectual assent it's entrusting yourself to the good will of God. This is First Peter 4:9, "Therefor let those who suffer, according to God's will, entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good." We entrust ourselves to the sovereignty of God. "God, if you have allowed suffering, and opposition, and persecution in my life this is your will, and I will humble myself underneath your will, under your good sovereign will. Let your will be done in my life." We entrust our souls to him. It's the the same word that Jesus Christ uses when he's on the cross in Luke 23:46, "Jesus calling out with a loud voice says, 'Father into your hands I commit my spirit.' And having said this he breathed his last." It's the same word that's used in first Peter 2:21, 25, "For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you. Leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin, and live to righteousness by his wounds. You have been healed for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls." Sometimes suffering is God's will for your life. First Peter 2:15, "For this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people." First Peter 5:10 through 11, "After you have suffered a little while the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you to him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen." And then point seven to extend hope gently. What do I mean? Suffering exposes what we truly hope in. Where is our hope? What is the anchor of our souls? When we're tough under oppression, and we tenderly share hope this is one of the greatest apologetics for the Christian faith. And this is why this suffering grew the Christian faith like nothing else. Historians are puzzled by how quickly Christianity grew despite opposition and persecution. Despite martyrdom, Christianity grew at a clip of 40% per decade. Up to the point where in the 4th century, Constantine comes to power and realizes that the only way to consolidate all of the empire is by claiming to be a Christian. How? It was through oppression. It was through persecution. The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church, and this is why. In 1 Peter 3:14-15, the famous verse is, "Always be ready to give a defense for the hope that you have." That is given in the context of suffering. Verse 14, 1 Peter 3. "But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them nor be troubled. But in your hearts, honor Christ. The Lord is Holy. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason, for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. The world understands. If you become a Christian to prosper and be healthy and wealthy, the world understands that. That's your ticket to prosperity. We have other tickets to prosperity. The world does not understand when Christ is your greatest treasure, despite suffering. That makes no sense. You still love Christ. You didn't get the prosperity. You got adversities. You still love him. Makes zero sense. People begin to wonder, what is this thing that you believe? Hold onto Christ in the midst of suffering. Be prepared to make a defense, to explain why Christ is your treasure. So when you suffer, don't panic. Pray. Don't worry, worship. Don't focus on the pain, on the opposition. Focus on God. We extend the gospel with gentleness and respect. This is 1 Timothy 2:23-26, "Have nothing to do with foolish ignorant controversies." And he wrote this before online evangelists and comments section and Facebook evangelists. He wrote this way before any of that. Don't get into debate on Facebook about Jesus. It's never helpful. Ignorant controversies. You know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone. Able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth that they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will. This is our goal. This is our hope. We have received this hope and Christ. It was not of our doing. We're saved by grace through faith, and we're willing to go through the persecution and opposition in order to testify to this grace, to those who are far from the Lord. My short term comfort, I'm willing to sacrifice it for someone else's eternal comfort in the presence of Christ. Titus 3:2-7, I'll close with this. "Speak evil of no one to avoid quarrelling, to be gentle, to show perfect courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, lead astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another." But when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our savior appeared, he saved us. Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration, renewal of the Holy spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our savior. So that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. If you're not a Christian today, cry out to God. God, save me. God, repent my sin. God, I entrust myself to you. But do so knowing the path that Jesus Christ might potentially have for you, a path of opposition, persecution, and suffering. But it's worth it. The seven points, just in case you missed any. Welcome to the club, lead with repentance, rejoice at the honor, fight shame with glory, love your enemies, trust God as you do good, extend hope gently. And we'll close with the words of Christ on the cross, Luke 23:34. And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them for they don't know what they do." Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for grace we didn't deserve. But Jesus, through your suffering, we are saved. And we understand, Lord, that you might ordain suffering for us so that we may be strengthened, and for others to be saved through our witness. And I pray that you strengthen us in those moments. Make us a bold people, a courageous people, people who proclaim your truth. And we do it unapologetically, unflinchingly, and we do it with tenderness of heart. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
The Keys to Being a Good Friend
November 10, 2019 • John 15:12–17
Summary: Proverbs 13:20 says, "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm." Wise friends set us on a trajectory of wise living. Foolish friends predict a foolish future. Who are your friends? Are they wise? Are you a good friend? Do you treasure friendship? This week we look to the greatest friend ever, Jesus Christ, to study what made Him such a great friend, and how, thanks to Jesus, we can all grow to become better friends. Audio Transcript: You're listening to audio from Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Heavenly Father, Holy Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you, Holy God, that you are a perfect community. In the Holy Trinity, there's a perfect friendship and perhaps that sounds a little strange to us in particular because the word friend has been so hallowed in our culture, and I pray today, Lord, that you remind us that you have created us for friendship, friendship with you and friendship with one another, a friendship that once we're reconciled with Christ, the greatest friend whoever lived, since he gave his life for his friends, once we receive Christ's friendship, we are friends with one another and with you for all of eternity in a place called heaven. Show us today that the foretaste of heaven is true friendship with those who love you. I pray, teach us how to be better friends. Each one of us we long to have more friends and some of us we do struggle with loneliness. I pray today, Holy Spirit, come, give us wisdom and also infuse us with your presence so we know that when we are in you, when we have Christ as our greatest friend, we can be truly satisfied, we can be truly completed, we can be truly content, therefore not look for those things from people. Instead, we can be givers. You gave yourself and we can be givers to other people, which, and now the secret to friendship, like the secret to all blessing is to give rather than receive. We pray Holy Spirit, that you prepare our hearts to hear from you and we pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen. We're in a sermon series that we are calling Tough and Tender, Developing Resilience for Life. And what we're doing is we're looking at the paradoxical nature of Christ, that he is the lion of Judah and the lamb of God at the same time, and the more that we revere Christ, the more that we worship Christ, walk with him in his presence, the more we begin to look like and resemble him, that we can have the confidence of a lion taking on the challenges of life, or we can have the tenderness of a lamb and continue to be intimate with the people around us and tender with them, and we're looking at the greatest spheres of life, the most consequential areas of life, through those lenses. Today we are looking at friendship. When's the last time that you gave significant thought to the topic of friendship? Friendship is one of the most important aspects of life and the least thought about. We all long to be less lonely, we all long to be more intimate, more well known and loved by other people, and we live in a day and age where we are connected with many, the average person on Facebook has 338 friends, connected with many yet connecting with few. The UK actually has appointed a minister of loneliness to address the problem of social isolation. There's companies started in Japan and now they're popping up all over the West, they're called to rent a friend, where you go and you pay money, rent a friend for a day or longer. In 2018, Cigna ran a study of 20,000 US adults and they found that nearly half feel alone, 46%, or left out, 47%. One in four Americans, 27%, rarely if ever, feel that people understand them. Two in five Americans, 43%, sometimes or always feel that their relationships are meaningful, meaning the rest do not. One in five people rarely or never feel close to another person or have another person that feel that they can truly talk to. Generation Z, that's people of ages 18 through 22, are the loneliest. And the group of people 72 and older, were the least lonely. Another study came out that said, one in five millennials, it's 20%, have no friends. The ancients, Christians who went before us, they understood the importance of friendship in a way that we rarely do. J. C. Ryle, a pastor and theologian, he said, "This world is full of sorrow because it is full of sin. It is a dark place. It is a lonely place. It is a disappointing place. The brightest sun beam is a friend. Friendship halves our troubles and doubles our joys." How many friends do you have? I'm talking about true friends through thick and thin. Friends drop everything to help you in a time of need. Friends, "When are you moving? I'm there. Give me the other end of the couch," friends. That's the true test in Boston. Most of us think we know true friendship, a few of us do, and particularly young people because you go through school, you go through high school, your friends are always there, you didn't have to plan to be there, you're just there together all day, proximity. You go to college, you make new friends, and again, proximity. And then you graduate, you move to a city where you don't know anyone and you're like, "Where's my friends?" And particularly because we live in the West in a very hyper individualistic culture, and particularly because we live in Boston where everyone is crazy busy, "Let's hang out. How's your December or January?" And then also the transients. Like you're here, you make friends, and then move away. C.S. Lewis says, "To the ancients, friendship seemed the happiest and most fully human of all loves; the crown of life and the school of virtue. The modern world, in comparison, ignores it." C.S. Lewis wrote to his lifelong friend, Arthur Greeves, and he said, "Friendship is the greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life." In The Weight of Glory he wrote that friendship causes perhaps half of the happiness in the world. This is a person who's very specific about his words, very particular. Augustine said, "Two things that are essential in this world, life and friendship both must be prized highly and not undervalued. They are nature's gifts. We are creatured. We are created by God that we might live, but if we are not, then we are not to live solitarily, we must live, we must have friendship." And then Jonathan Edwards, the greatest theologian of the United States, the one United States produced is, "Friendship is the highest happiness of all moral agents." By the way, not just Christians know this, everybody knows this. Atheist, A. C. Grayling, a modern atheist philosopher, he wrote a book called Friendship, he said, "The highest and finest of all human relationships is arguably friendship." He says that marriage is to be the best of friendships and then parent-child relationships are to develop into friendships. Arthur Brooks wrote a book on happiness called Why Happiness Matters for America. He said, "You need four things for happiness, one, faith. Two, family. Three, meaningful work. Four, friends." Think about the happiest moments of your life, happiest moments ever, who's there? Definitely not alone. And if you are alone, most likely that wasn't in the top five. Why? Because joy is consummated. The pinnacle of joy happens when we can share it. Friendship consummates joy. When we experience something amazing, you can't but share it. I was listening to this guy who for the first time ever experienced ESPN television sports all the time, and he experienced it by himself watching a game and he couldn't believe this comeback and he got up and he started yelling, "Did you see this?" And nobody saw it. And he says, "It's gray, but tinged with sadness." Because joy not shared, is joy unfulfilled. And a joy shared, is a joy multiplied. Now, the big idea of this sermon is not how to help you find your best friends. Perhaps that's what you want. Give me a list where my friends at. The point of this sermon is to help you become a better friend, and I know in my own life and I know just watching other people's lives, better friends are also better at making and keeping friends. We're going to look at John 15:12-17 today, to frame up our time. John 15:12-17, the words of Jesus Christ. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another." This is the reading about holy, inerrant, infallible authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points in Roman numeral format with seven practical points. It worked last week. Let's do it again. I, Jesus the lion lamb friend. II, friends following Jesus. And III, growing as a lion lamb friend, with seven practical sub-points, treasure friendship. Form concentric circles of friends. Choose friends intentionally. Be a giving friend, a wise friend, a loyal friend, and be a fun friend. Come on, that's free. I, Jesus the lion lamb friend. Do you find it fascinating that Jesus, as he talks about the greatest expression of love, he points to friendship? And this is fascinating because I've always been taught that in Greek there's different levels of love. There's agape love, and there's phileo love, there's love of God, and there's love of friendship, and there's eros, et cetera, but one of the things that Jesus does is he conflates agape love and phileo love, love of a friend and the love of God. The true love is sacrificial love and the highest expression of friendship is a sacrificial love in that friendship. Why? Why does Jesus do this? Because he understands that friendship is at the heart of the universe, because the friendship is at the heart of God, that God is a God of friendship. There's perfect friendship in the Trinity. That God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are in a perfect community of friendship, of love, and then God creates us in that friendship image. Genesis 1:26, "Then God said, "Let us," plural, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."" The next verse. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them." That it takes two in order to understand God more fully. That out of the outflow of his goodness, God creates us out of the outflow of the love. In this friendship, he creates us to image that friendship. So we are created for friendship, friendship with God, friendship with one another, and we can't experience the fullness of God, we can't experience the fullness of a true life, a good life, a Shalom life, universal flourishing, without deep meaningful friendships that God wove it into the fabric of the world. That's why before the fall, God looks to Adam and says, "It is not good for man to be alone." That's the first malediction. Benediction is, it's good, it's good, it's good, it's good, everything's good, except it's not good for man to be alone. This comes prior to the fall. It takes place before sin enters. So the first problem in human history and the first problem in Holy scripture is not sin, it's solitude. Adam was alone, not because Adam was imperfect, Adam was alone because he was perfect, he couldn't fully enjoy paradise without friends, without community. And it's not until Adam and Eve are created together, until God brings them together, that God looks at everything and says, "It is very good." We need another human being. It's an ancient and primal ache. That's why solitary confinement is a punishment. Social isolation leads to increased anxiety, depression, mental illness unravels our humanity. Friendship is the ultimate end of existence with God and with one another. This is what made the fall so tragic. Adam and Eve alienated themselves from God, they isolated themselves from the greatest friend that there is. Now there's hostility, there's enmity, between us and God, and we see glimpses of God beginning to reconcile humanity to himself. He goes to Enoch and says, "Enoch walked with God." It's the Hebrew word, halak. That they walked in a way that friends walk with another. Abraham was explicitly called a friend of God. God calls Abraham explicitly, my friend. Moses says spoke with God face to face as a man speaks with a friend. God pursues Israel, cares for them, provides for them, as he does for a friend. Isaiah 41:8, "But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen the offspring of Abraham, my friend." And as the storyline of scripture progresses we see Israel spiraling downward and they fundamentally reject God, his presence, his friendship, and one another as true friends. The Old Testament ends with a cry, a plea, for someone to come and restore humanity's relationship with God. Enter Jesus Christ. Fully God, fully man, lives the perfect life. He's fully God, does he need anyone? He's got Trinity, but he's fully man, and he needs friendship. And the same way the first Adam needed friendship, the second Adam, Jesus Christ, needed friendship as well. He comes and he spends time with people, Matthew 11:19, so much so that Jesus's enemies throws spurns and derogatory term at him. It says, "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, "Look at him, a glutton and a drunkard," he was never a glutton or a drunkard, "A friend of tax collectors and sinners."" He's a friend, yet wisdom is justified by her deeds. Jesus is a friend. How does that sound to you? How does it sound that Jesus offers his friendship to you? There's two things that come immediately to mind, and this is when I was prepping the sermon. That one is Buddy Jesus, where it's Jesus with the thumbs up, and then there's like '80 song on YouTube, Jesus is a Friend of Mine, I can't get that out of my head, Jesus is my friend. It's so bad. For some of us it's hard to understand that the God of the universe offers his friendship to us that we can call God friend. It seems even irreverent, and I would submit to you partially that's the case because of what we have done in the English language with the word friend. We have hallowed it out probably partially because it's so hard to make friends, so now everyone we meet is a friend. Anyone who's nice to us is a friend. Any acquaintance, any contact we ever made is a friend. We've stretched the words so broadly semantically that it's ambiguous at best, what do we mean? So what does it mean that God is my friend? Is God my best friend? Is God an acquaintance? Is God just someone that I pay homage to once in a while? Well, Jesus comes in and says, "No. Friend is the person with whom your soul is bound. That's who a friend is. Your souls are intertwined." God is giving us this level of intimacy to the Holy Trinity. We can come to him because of the throne of grace. So God wants us to have friendship, friendship with him, friendship with other people. What gets in the way? It's our culture. It's our sin. Sin makes us naturally antisocial. Sin makes us bend in on ourselves, drives to isolation. And God is a God of friendship, so the more that we seek friendship, the more that we become like God. The more that we seek isolation, the less we become like God. And Jesus was a man of friendship. He came, he didn't live alone. He comes to his disciples, the very first thing that he says is, "Follow me." And that imagery he borrows that from the Old Testament, it's the halak imagery. It's Adam walking together with God in the garden. It's Enoch walking with God. It's Noah walking with God. It's Moses, Abraham walking with God. Jesus comes and he tells his disciples, "Follow me." Now he spends three years with his disciples, his best friends, walking dusty roads together, fishing, talking, feasting. There's a meme going on recently where it said the most underrated of all Jesus's miracles was the fact that he had 12 friends in his 30s. Something to it. Why is that even a meme today? Because honestly, you get to your 30s and you're like, "There's nobody here." Jesus had friends. He invested in friendships. He invested in different concentric circles of friends, we'll talk about that. He grieved over the death of Lazarus. The scripture said, "His friend." In his most distressing moment, Jesus in anguish in Garden Gethsemane wants his close friends there and he's disappointed when they're not. So I start here showing you what friendship is in terms of the gospel. Jesus says that the greatest love, the essence of love, is someone giving themselves for their friends. Meaning that the secret to friendship, the same secret as a secret to all blessing, it's more blessed to give than to receive, it's sacrifice. And I say that because we're so busy, "I don't have time for friends. I have schoolwork to do, and then I have a job to go to, and then I need promotion to pay off my loans, and then I have kids. I definitely don't have time for friends," it goes on and on and on. But we always make time for what we treasure, for what we value. Jesus valued friendship, and he offers friendship to us, not just as equals, he doesn't throw off his crown and say, "I'm no longer king," no, this is the king of the universe welcoming you into his presence as our Lord, our King, our truest friend, who knows us fully and loves us completely. That's what makes Jesus such a good friend. That with Christ we are never alone and we are never unknown. Jesus Christ welcomes us into the heart of God through sacrifice. John 15:15, "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." By the way, this is what makes Christianity so utterly unique. There's no other faith that comes even close, and Jesus speaks these words on the eve of his death, meaning that the cross is not just the greatest demonstration of love, it's the greatest cosmic act of friendship. John 5:13, "Greater love has no one than this that someone laid down his life for his friends." Friendship is about sacrifice because love is about sacrifice, because you love your friends who are willing to sacrifice. The more time you spend with Christ, the more you understand how much he loves you, the more you find contentment in him, satisfaction in him. He satisfies your soul, he completes you. Therefore, now you are recharged, you are encouraged, you are filled with the Holy Spirit, now you can go and be a blessing to your friends, be an encouragement to your friends, be what Christ is to you. So the cross is a heroic act of friendship because on the cross Jesus gets what we deserve. He gets the opposite of what he deserves so that we don't get what we deserve. What do I mean? I mean that Jesus Christ on the cross bears the penalty for our sin, which is hell. Jesus bears the flames of hell upon himself on the cross. You're like, "I didn't see any flames, that's not in the text," he cries out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Meaning he bears abject loneliness, the darkness of abject loneliness on the cross when God the Father and the Holy Spirit turn from God the Son because God the Son took upon himself the sin of the world, the wrath of God upon the sin of the world. When you realize how much Jesus sacrificed in order to welcome you in to friendship with God, that right there makes Jesus your greatest friend, which now begins to give you the resources to be a better friend. Puritan Walter Marshall said, "Justification," we talked about that last week, "Is God's way of taking you into friendship with himself." So seeing the way that Jesus treasured friendship, seeing the way that Jesus sacrificed for friendship, seeing the way that Jesus was perfectly humble and confident at the same time humble, why? Because he doesn't look down on his disciples and say, "You're beneath me, we're not going to be friends." He doesn't say, "Your IQ isn't high enough to be my friend. Your education isn't high enough to be my friend. You don't live in the same neighborhood that I live in, we can't be friends." He doesn't look at the disciples and say, "You can't give me anything. I can't benefit from you." He doesn't do that. He comes and utter humility and he says, "I can serve you," and that's the first step to the friendship and yet he's incredibly confident, humility and confident, he knows who he is. He knows that he's the son of God and he gives us both humility, "You're sinners saved by grace," and he gives us the confidence, "I was willing to save you," and that right there, that formula of humble and confident lion and lamb and now gives us the recipe for being great friends. So vertical friendship with Christ transforms our horizontal friendships, and that brings us to point two, friendship following Jesus. The disciples were such great friends. The early church was an outflow of that love between friends. The church was a community of friends on mission. The New Testament repeatedly portrays the church, not just the place to go to, but a community that you belong to. Acts 4:32, "The full number of those who believed were of one heart and one soul and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common." It's the two souls coming together, it's multiple souls coming together, in love and friendship. Practice as normal across ethnic socioeconomic divides. Peter and John are flogged and imprisoned. Once they're let out, scripture doesn't say that they went back to the Christians, says that they went to their friends, Acts 4:23, B. The apostle John refers to the local church as the friends, in third, John 15. Why? What united these people? They had nothing in common prior to Christ. What united them was the love of Christ and the mission that God had given them. What do I mean? What I mean is that friends always have something to do together. If you think of your best friends, like there's always some activity, there's always something. There's so many people in New England today bemoaning the day that Tom Brady is going to retire because then it's like, "What is left? There's nothing else to unite any of us just other than that we live in New England." It's sports, movies, literature, running, working out, friendship is always about something and the more important that something, the deeper those relationships, the more significant those relationships. Well, what is the most consequential thing ever? It's eternity. It's an eternal God and it's eternal souls, things that will never change, and it's Christians who've been united to eternal God, reconciled with him, will spend eternity with him, and now we're on mission for as long as we live to help others who are not yet reconciled with Jesus, who still are at enmity with God, hostility with God, to help them meet Jesus, have their sins forgiven, accept the friendship of God, and be welcomed into eternal life. All of my best friends, I look back in my, all of my best friends, people with whom I've connected on a soul level, they've all loved Jesus, all have followed Jesus, and all care about the mission of God. All of my best friends. And all of the deepest relationships I've ever formed were with people with whom I was on mission together wherever I lived, because those things don't change. If you look at a relationship that's based around sports, based around education, based upon proximity, where you live, your roommates, all of those things change and after those things are removed, you're like, "What do we even have in common?" If your relationship is built on something eternal, that thing will never be removed. I have friends that I've been on mission with in college and after college in D.C. and down North Carolina when I was in seminary, and years go by, and then we see one another it's as if nothing's changed because nothing truly important has changed. We still have Christ, we still have the Holy Spirit, we're still on mission with God. By the way, dating, this is my test when I met my wife. I wanted to know, "Do you love Jesus? Are you a member of a church? Very important. Do you care about the mission of God?" Because I knew like I want to marry a true Christian, and true Christians really care about the mission of God. Because when you've been found by Jesus, you want to give your life to help those who are lost find Jesus. In Matthew 4:19, Jesus says, "Follow me," to the disciples, "And I will make you fishers of men." I love that he uses that analogy because one of the greatest bonding activities is fishing. You're together, throwing the rod and whatever, I don't really fish very often. This is all hypothetical. I live in Boston. I want to get into fishing, but apparently it's one of the greatest thing to bond people, and Jesus uses that imagery to talk about the mission of God, "Follow me, I'll make you fishers of men." What is it? Catching them, releasing people from the entanglement of sin. Matthew 28:18-20, the Great Commission, "Jesus said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples, go together make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold I am with you always to the end of the age."" This is the mission that God's... This is really important. At Mosaic, we care about community, not community for community's sake, not unity for unity's sake. The greatest unity, the greatest community, is always a byproduct of serving the Lord together, being on mission with the Lord. Just a word here about being on mission in a place like Boston where it's so transient, where people come and people go. I've been here for a decade, hundreds of people, thousands of people, come and go. What really allows me to keep my heart open to people is the fact that eternity is real, and if I form a relationship with another believer with another Christian here on earth, that eternity is for ever. We're going to be friends for ever. And by the way, that love, that friendship, is one of the greatest apologetics to an unbelieving world. John 13:34-35, "A new command I give you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another." It's really shocking to people when they walk in and they experience love in the community, they experience love amongst friends who are together because of Jesus. Like what unites you guys? It's Jesus Christ, and that's apologetic. And point three is, III, growing as a lion lamb friend, Jesus was incredibly loyal, tenaciously loyal. Gave everything for his friends as a lion, but incredibly intimate. You see him with the disciples in the Last Supper, they're embracing one another, both lion and lamb. We can grow in this paradoxical nature of friendship through the following seven points. First is, treasure friendship. Why did Jesus treasure friendship? Is friendship a luxury or a necessity? And I would argue, it's a necessity, and Jesus knew that as a human he knew that he needed friends. Imagine life without friends. It's not just depressing, it's also dangerous. When we come unglued socially, we begin to unravel emotionally, psychologically, and physically. US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, he says the most common illness that he came across in his medical practice wasn't cancer or heart disease, it was loneliness. A Judith Shulevitz says loneliness poses a particular threat to the very old, quickening the rate at which their faculties decline, cutting their lives shorter. We need friends. Do you treasure friendship? Proverbs 18:24, "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Companions meaning many acquaintances, many people with whom you're connected but don't really know you. There's no one really in the circle of intimacy. And some of us, I like this, we have a lot of companions. We keep them at arms length, "I'm too busy for friends. I don't have time to cultivate friendship between work, family, and just living in the city. I don't even have time for sleep, not even mentioning friendship." Extroverts make fast friends really quick, but usually they stay at the surface. And this vision of treasuring friendship, pushes us deeper, introverts, like we need to recharge, us, introverts, together. I too am one. Sunday is really difficult for me. It is. This just shows you how much I love you guys. We need time to recharge, but some batteries if left plugged into the side like the wall too long, they lose their capacity to hold a charge. So we get recharged in order to re-engage. Do we treasure friendship? We always make time for what we value. John 15:12-13 Jesus said, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that someone laid down his life for his friends." According to Jesus, no one exceeds... No love exceeds friendship love, and we need to make time for that. Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse and she serve in hospices and she wrote down people's epiphanies at the end of their life and what they talked about, what they asked for, in this book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, which is often they would not truly realize the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks, and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years and there were many deep regrets about not having friendships the time, not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying. Saint Paul at the end of his life writes his last epistle, 2 Timothy, and he says in verse nine of chapter four, "Do your best to come to me soon," talking to Timothy, and he's not a writer that repeats himself. In verse 21 he says again, "Do your best to come to me before winter." If this were your final week, who are the three friends you would like to see? Specific names. Now, what are the concrete steps that you want to take to deepen those relations? Do they even know that? Do they even know that they're in that circle? Two is, form concentric circles of friends. By concentric circles, I mean like small circle and then a widening circle and then a widening... You understand concentric circles? Yeah, you're all wicked smart. You know, I should've showed an image. Just imagine the line in the land, it's one circle, and then... Okay. Here's what I mean by concentric circles. The closer you are to the middle, the greater level of intimacy, but it's also smaller. The more it widens, less intimacy, wider, broader, more people included. So at the very center for every believer, it's got to be you and Christ, you and God, nobody knows you like Christ knows you, nobody loves you like Christ knows... He knows all of your thoughts before you even think. He knows everything, so that's Christ. Then that's your closest friends. And for the believer, for the Christian, those people have to be Christians. If you are truly going to be intimate with someone, if you're going to be best friends, lifelong friends, covenant friends, it's got to be a person who understands your greatest relationship, your deepest relationship, which is with the God of the universe. They will never get you. They will never understand you in the same way that Christians will understand you. And by the way, this is just practically in this Bible verse where practically this is why Christians shouldn't date unbelievers and Christians shouldn't seek to pursue marriage with unbelievers. Because either that person will draw you out of the most intimate circle or they'll be on the outside looking in and you'll never have the same intimacy with them. So for marriage, from a Christian perspective, you're best friends with someone else who knows your soul in the same way that Christ does or similarly like begins to understand you in the same way that Christ does. A Song of Solomon 5:16, "His mouth is most sweet and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved, this is my friend." Scripture talks about marriage as the union of two souls and they're best friends. My wife and I, we are best friends, and I said that in the first sermon and I have all these stories. I can actually start sharing now. We connect on a level. We don't even have to talk. This is one of my favorite things about my wife. I come home, I'm worded out, she looks at me, there's like no words, zero words. We just connect just like two friends, two best friends, and what really connects us is our love for the Lord and our mission together. But we also need to make space in our lives and time for friends that enrich our lives, and then when we come together, there's a greater enrichment. So Jesus had these concentric circles. So Luke 6:12-16, there's a list of his disciples, I won't read it, but it's right there. He's got 12 disciples. These are his 12 best friends. And Luke 10:1, it says that there's 72 others that he sends out. So he's got another concentric circle that's a lot broader, a lot wider. Later on in the book of Acts, it says, "120 gathered together." So he had another concentric circle. 1 Corinthians 15, "A broader circle yet of those who saw the resurrected Christ." However, he had a circle within the 12. This is in Matthew 17:1-2, "After six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light." So he had three closer friends to whom he revealed more of himself because of this intimacy. So he had the disciples friends. Then he had his best friends, Peter, James and John. How do we know that they were his best friends? Partially from this text, partially because he gave them nicknames. You don't just give random people nicknames, you've got to feel close enough to look at a guy and be like, "Your name is Simon? No, Simon. We'll start calling you the rock. Why are you going to start calling me the rock? Because you're dumb as a rock, Peter. I love you, but you're the rock. You're Peter." And then he looks at James and John and he's like, "You guys have anger issues. I'm going to start calling you sons of thunder. Stop trying to call down fire from heaven. I can do that, but am I going to do that because I love those people too." But those are his best what brings these people in with whom he shares more of his life. Therefore, do not feel bad that you're not at the same level of intimacy with everybody, Jesus wasn't. So don't feel bad about having a limited number of deep relationships. You've got your best friends then you've got your close friends, your casual friends, your acquaintances, fewer people, as you move to the center. One great example is King David. King David had lots of relationships. He had relationship with his brothers, he had relationships in the Saul's Court, but his greatest friends, best friend, was Jonathan, the son of Saul. In 1 Samuel 18:1 says, "The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David." So friendships, sometimes you don't even choose your friends, it's as if like your souls are just bonded, you weren't looking for one another. It's like C. S. Lewis says, "I thought I was the only one in the world." Oh, you too. Like you connect on the soul level that you didn't even know could exist. It says in 1 Samuel 19:1, that David delighted much in Jonathan and vice versa. A crucial moment of testing, Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul. So when Saul forces David away, Jonathan, it says, they embraced, they cried, and they kissed on the cheek. When Jonathan dies in battle, David was so crushed in spirit. He says this in 2 Samuel 1:26, "I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant have you been to me. Your love to me was extraordinary surpassing the love of women." Seemingly strange. You read that and you're like, "What is going on?" But then you read the scripture talking about how intimate of friendship that Christians had with one another. In Acts 20:37, Saint Paul, the great Saint Paul, the most cerebral person who have ever... He wrote the book of Romans. It says that there was weeping on the part of all, they embraced Paul and kissed him. Incredible affection. To respond to why this seems so strange to us, why it makes us feel so uncomfortable, C. S. Lewis in The Four Loves, he says, "On a broad historical view, it is of course not the demonstrative gestures of friendship among our ancestors, but the absence of such gestures in our own society, that calls for some special explanation." He's saying, don't ask why they're so expressive with their love, ask why we aren't and why it makes us feel so uncomfortable. And I'll tell why. Because we live in a culture where we understand lust without love. It's very difficult for us to understand expressive affectionate love without lust, and that should not be. It should not make us squirm that two friends actually express their love for one another. Jesus did. Point three is choose friends intentionally. First we make friends and then friends begin to make us. They shape our characters, they shape our personalities. They reveal the hidden parts of us. That's why when you have a friend who passes, it's as if you lose a part of yourself. Proverbs 13:20, talks about walking with the wise, "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, the companion of fools suffers harm." Interesting. It's not just reading wisdom literature that makes us wise, is living to the walking together that sets the trajectory of our lives. Why? It's because of the power of affection informing us that we do what we love and we begin to emulate or copy those whom we love. Proverbs 22:24-25, says, "Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and untangle yourself in a snare." It's the power of affection. So be careful whom you let into the inner circle of intimacy. We can have like lots of people in the circle of care, we have to care for one another and care for our neighbors, not as many in the circle of influence, be careful who we... But in the circle of intimacy, be careful who we let in there, and make sure it's a person that you want to resemble. Here just a word about friendship with unbelievers. Can we have as Christians friendship with unbelievers? Yes, of course. Not in the inner circle of intimacy, but definitely in the circle of influence and care. Jesus was called a friend of sinners. He influenced them more with his love than they influenced him with was sin and sinful past. James 4:4-5, says, "Be careful you adulterous people. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?" Meaning friendship with the sinful worldview, the sinful systems of the world. "Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us?"" So we can be friends with unbelievers without being friends with the world just like Jesus was. Four is be a giving friend. We've mentioned this already, but great friends give. They give of themselves, they give of their affection, they give of their attention, they give of their worth, they give of their finances. Luke 15, talks about make friends with unrighteous. Means talking about finances, and the secrets of friendship is the secret to blessing, to give is more blessed than to receive. To share time together. 2 John 12, "Ihough I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face that our joy may be complete." The people who are closest in your life, spend time together in one another's presence. Not just group chats, not just memes and gifs, all wonderful, spend time together. Block off time together, eat together. Great friendships are... Friends and food they just go together. There's something about it, something Biblical there. Be generous. The best friends that I ever had have always been generous friends. Strengthen long-time friendships. You make friendships, keep in touch with one another. Make friends where you live. Don't just move to a new place and say, "Oh, I miss all my friend," make friends where you live. Invest in new friendships. When you move to that place, it hurt to leave your friends. Invest so deeply here that while you're here, you're invested, and when you do move, you feel the same way, but you might not have to move. You might want to stay here forever because you actually factor in how enriching your friends are, and I know like family pulls away and finances and jobs and things like that, but shouldn't friends at least be a factor in the decision of should I move? But parents do this all the time. "I'm not going to move my kids out of a school because why? They're going to miss their friends." If this is important, why isn't as important to us? What do we value more? What do we treasure more? And I say that just out of a place of my own personal bitterness, all my friends moved away, but we've got new friends, and you're here. Let's be friends. Okay, move on. C. S. Lewis, Collected Letters, "If I had to give a piece of advice to a young man about a place to live, I think I should say, sacrifice almost everything to live where you can, be near your friends." I know I'm very fortunate in that respect. Practically in terms of giving, be a radiator, not a drain, and this is very important categories. There's some people that you hang out with and they're radiators. They just radiate heat and encouragement and affirmation, you love spending time with them and you feel so good after spending time with them. And some people, they just drain the life out of you and you're like, "I need a vacation after meeting with this person." Don't be that person. And it works itself out in all kinds of ways like keep an eye, like be attentive to how much you say when you meet and how much the other person says. Be a good listener. Interact with what they say. Be attentive to their needs. Saint Paul talked about friends who refreshes soul. Proverbs 12:25, talks about anxiety in a man's heart weighs them down, but a good word makes him glad. Be generous with words of affirmation and encouragement. Proverbs 18:21, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruits." Saint Paul at the end of Romans, he greets 28 people by name and just encourages them. Encourages them for their service to the Lord. Romans 12:10, "Love one another, brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor." Five, be a wise friend. Be a friend that speaks truth and love, tough and tender, with others. Proverbs 27:5-6, "Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, profuse are the kisses of an enemy." Open rebuke is better than hidden love, what does he mean? When you see a friend on a path of holy folly doing something that's going to lead to their pain and you hide a rebuke, why are you doing that? Because you are treasuring something more than the best for that person. You're actually potentially being selfish. "Oh, it's just uncomfortable to... I shouldn't meddle." Or you're afraid of losing this person's affection or friendship, therefore you don't want to bring up a hard conversation. But true friends are willing to have that hard conversation, because you want to do what's best for your friend. It takes courage, it takes candor, and it takes love. Proverbs 27:17, "Iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another," so learn to go deep where you are sharpening one another. Proverbs 27:9, "Oil and perfume make the heart glad and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel." When you need counsel, where do you go? Sometimes we do need therapy and sometimes we do need counseling, but in my experience, the best counsel I've ever received from anyone, it's a person that loves me, knows me, has been through the highs and lows of joy and sorrow of my life, is actually invested in this decision that I'm making because they will be with me and seeing this decision come to fruition. Rejoice with the rejoicing, weep with the weeping, this takes emotional intelligence. Friends ease our sorrows through presence and words. Empathy. True friends feel our pain. They're there when we need them, attentive to our needs to our emotions. Provers 27:14, "Whoever blesses his neighbor," I'm talking about... This is just emotional intelligence, this is being a wise friend. "Whoever," one of my favorite verses I love, "Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing." "God bless you," at 5:00 AM. No, no. By the way, if you want to go into business with me, we're going to start coffee cups with this Bible verse on it. No talking before coffee. But what this verse gets at is just common sense when it comes to friendship. That's what I mean by a wise friend. Common sense. You know the right time, the right place to come to visit. You know about just timing. You know about closeness. You know how to engage a person in a way that you connect. You know how to have a conversation where you look a person in the eyes and you listen, you respond, you're not a close-talker, nobody likes that in the United States. There's an aroma of the gospel around you, about you, scripture says, but there are also aroma of like, "You smell nice. We'd like to be around people that smell nice." This is important. It's really important. Hygiene is important. Like being a person that smells nice is crucial. Crucial, write that down. It's in the Bible. Careful of friendship fatigue, important. Friendship fatigue. Provers 25:17, "Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house, lest he have his fill of you and hate you." Friendship fatigue. Like no, don't overstay your welcome. Max, maximum, two hours. Maximum. That's like we love each other and we're hanging out, max two hours. Hour and a half, hour, an hour and a half, that's the sweet spot. Don't go to someone's house, if they invite you, don't go with empty hands. Just don't do it. Just stop somewhere, grab something, a little something, makes everything better. Proverbs 12:18, "There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." So don't provoke people, know what to say, when to say, how to say. Be a loyal friend. Point six, openness, trust, transparency. Talking openly about how you feel, openly about things that matter, is more important than talking often, and true friends walk in the light together. So if you sin against a friend, go and ask for forgiveness. If your friend sins against you, tell them, "You hurt me. What you're doing like your reaction, actually cause me a lot of pain." And this is what it means to walk in the light. John 1:7, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin," and trust of course. A friendship is built on trust. Distrust always erodes friendship. And what leads to distress, gossip. When what you share with a friend, you start hearing from other people. Proverbs 16:28, "A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends." Proverbs 17:9, "Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends." And then constancy, like you're together through thick and thin. Proverbs 17:17, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Don't be a consumer friend, be a covenantal friend. Here's what I mean. There's people in our lives where you view them in terms of using instead of loving. It's a very consumeristic mentality. Provers 19:4, "Wealth brings many friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend." Many seek the favor of a generous man and everyone's a friend to a man who gives gifts. Obviously that's not true friendship, it's consumeristic, it's, "What can I get from this person?" Therefore, I'll invest in true friend. Like you're together through thick and thin, useful or not. I'm going to love you, serve you, and give. And finally, this is really important, be a fun friend. Be someone people want to hang out with. People, "Should we invite that person?" "Yeah, definitely. That person's always fun." Jesus did not get invited to party after party after party because he was boring. No, the Pharisees were like, "You're always at a party," and they call him a glutton and a drunkard. Was he a glutton and a drunkard? No, of course not, but every time they saw him, he's with his posse rolling in with his entourage to a party, and he's got a lamb chop in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. Jesus was a lot of fun to be around. How do I know? Because Jesus was the wisest man who ever lived. Here's my basic theology of Jesus was a lot of fun. Wisest man that ever lived, Solomon, the second wisest person to have ever lived, said that there are appropriate emotions for appropriate times and he says, "There's a time to plant, a time to reap, a time to build, a time to tear down, a time to dance, a time to sing, and a time to laugh." Jesus was the wisest person ever, and he knew this is a time to dance. He goes to a wedding at Canaan in Galilee, you cannot have 180 gallons of wine with no dancing, you just can't do that. It's impossible. A time to dance, a time to sing, and a time to laugh. I'll close with this. C. S. Lewis knew about friendship, about deep friendship, and in The Four Loves he describes just spending time with some of his best friends like this. "Those are the golden sessions, when our slippers are on, our feet spread out toward the blaze of the fireplace, and our drinks are at our elbows. When the whole world, and something beyond the world, opens itself to our minds as we talk, the same time an affection has mellowed by the years enfolds us. Life, natural life, has no better gift to give." Let's pray, and the last points are up just in case you missed them. Lord, we thank you that you are the greatest friend, and I pray, Lord, continue to make us better friends to one another. And as our friendship and our love deepens, I pray, Lord, that many who are not yet Christians see that and are just blown away by this gospel-centered love that you have given us and they too become Christians, and I pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Mastering Our Desires
November 3, 2019 • Galatians 5:16–26
Summary: Psalm 34:8 says: "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!" There is a seeing and tasting that is infinitely deeper than physical. Tasting God, who is supremely beautiful to the heart and exquisitely sweet to the soul, precedes seeing God. The only true way to master our harmful desires is to counter them with healthful desires. How can we learn to crave that which is best for us? Through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, God can recalibrate your taste buds, physical and spiritual. Only when this happens, can we talk about "tasting God." Audio Transcript: You're listening to Audio for Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Heavenly Father, we pray that you send us the Holy Spirit to show us what the Holy Spirit desires and, Holy Spirit, you desire to vivify in us and liven in us, resurrect in us affections for God. And why? Because only God can ultimately satisfy. God, you alone are truly beautiful, ultimately beautiful. You alone satisfy the depths of our souls. Lord, we come and we confess that we do not love you as you deserve. We don't love you as we ought because there's so many things competing for our affections, and often those desires are harmful. And I pray today, Holy Spirit, replace harmful desires with healthful desires, and show us that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can grow into the image Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, as we root ourselves in the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we see Jesus how much you have sacrificed to love us, to pour your love into our hearts, to redeem us, that that alone is what can transform us, that alone is what radically can humanize us and transform us into the people you've created us to be. So I pray, Lord, today that you show us where our harmful desires need to be supplanted with healthful desires and where the taste buds of our souls need to be recalibrated, and I pray that you do a deep work. I pray for those who are Christians and are caught in sin and shackled in sin. I pray today send liberation. You've saved us for freedom, you call us to stand firm in that freedom, and I pray for anyone who's not yet a believer. I pray today radically regenerate their hearts, draw them to yourself. Lord, there's nothing that we can do to convert anyone, proselytize anyone, Lord. We believe that regeneration is a miracle, supernatural. I pray today, Holy Spirit, save many, and I pray this in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ, amen. So we're in a sermon series that we are calling Tough and Tender: Developing Resilience for a Life, and what we're doing this series is we're looking at the paradoxical nature of Jesus Christ, that on the one hand he's the lion of Judah. He comes as a king. He comes as the Lord. But on the other hand, he's also the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That he dies as a lamb. He's slaughtered as a lamb, burying the wrath of God that we deserve for our sin upon himself. He's both. He's a lamb who gives himself and he's a lion who devours vehemently Satan's sin and death. And when we see that Jesus Christ is both lion and lamb, and the more that we worship him, the more we revere him, we begin to resemble him in our daily life. So we're looking through this prism of lion and lamb, tough and tender, and we're looking how this applies to every single area of our lives. Today we're talking about desires. Recent data from the Institute of Health Metrics and Valuation shows that the U.S. is among the world's highest rates of substance abuse, has one of the highest rates. Dr. Steven Sussman in a study from 2017 entitled Substance and Behavioral Addictions: Concepts, Causes, and Cures, he says, "Around half of the population of the United States at any one time is addicted to something." Marijuana 17% of 18 year olds are addicted to it, 2% of 50 year olds. Illicit drugs, non-marijuana 8% of 18 year olds, 5% of 50 year old. Tobacco is 15% of the U.S. adult population. Alcohol 10% for older teenagers and adults. Food addiction 10% of the U.S. population, 25% for those who struggle with obesity. Gambling 1-3% of the U.S. population. The internet at least 2%. Exercise 3-5%. But if you are in college, that number jumps to 26% addicted to exercise. Workaholism, addiction of work is 10% of the U.S. adult population. Significantly more probably anecdotally from just living in Boston, in a place like shopping addiction 6% of the U.S. adult population. Dr. Sussman says in the study, he says, "What's fascinating is that income per capita in the U.S. has more than doubled since 1972, and yet our levels of happiness or just general subjective well being has not changed and actually has declined." And he concludes the study by saying, "The U.S. is suffering from three series epidemics, obesity, substance abuse, and depression." That's the study. There's no solution. Well, we believe that solution is in Jesus Christ, that he alone is the one who ultimately satisfies our souls. Today we're going to use the word epithumia. This is a word that shows up in our text simulations five, over and over and over. Epithumia, and it's a neutral word that sometimes epithumia is used positively. Jesus says, "I long, I epithumia. I want to have the last supper with you," he tells his disciples. Same Paul says, "I long to be with Christ," in Philippians 1:23. In First Thessalonians he says, "I long to see you face to face." On the other hand, it's the same exact word that's used to describe our lust or ravenous appetites and inordinate craving. It's desire out of control that we need something to feel alive. It's as if our souls are naked and empty and looking for clothing. Blaise Pascal talked about this gigantic vacuum in every single soul, and we long for it to be filled. And we try to fill it with creation, things around us, experiences or people, or money, or power, et cetera. And the more we get, the more we want. It's like trying a satiate thirst with salt water. Today we're looking at Galatians 5:16-26 to frame up our time. Galatians 5:16-26. Please follow along either in your Bible or on the screen. "But I say walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, sexual morality, impurity, sexuality, idolatry, sorcery, amenity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, decensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherent the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and evil desires. If we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit. Let us not become conceded, provoking one another, envying one another." This is the reading of God's holy inherent, infallible authoritative word. May he write these internal truths upon our hearts. Three main sections to the sermon today. In Roman Numeral format because there's seven practical points to take away. So I've tweaked the formula because a couple sermons ago the main points were numbered and then the sub points were numbered and everyone got confused. So Roman Numerals, practical points. You're welcome. So number one is crucified as a lamb, resurrected as a lion, that's Jesus. Two is crucify your sinful desires like a lion, and there's five practical points there. We'll get into them. I won't read them now. You can take a picture if you want to follow along. And then three is resurrect your holy desires like a lamb. Number one is crucified as a lamb, resurrected as a lion. Of course we're talking about Jesus Christ. Every other world religion in every misguided flavor of Christianity teaches the following, this is a distilled version of their path to salvation. It's be good and do good. In order to gain acceptance, in order to make your way to Heaven, be good and do good. At the heart of Christianity is the gospel, and the gospel, this is what Jesus preaches his very first sermon. Again preaching the gospel. And the gospel is not what we do for God. That's not the good news. There's nothing that we can do to make ourselves right with God. The good news is that Jesus has done everything. The good news is that Christ died for the ungodly. There's nothing that we can do to atone for our sin. There's nothing that we can do to earn penance before God. Christ has done. When did he die for us? When he saw that we would be good people or would fulfill his commandments. No. He died for us when he saw that we were still ungodly. Christ died for us when we were yet sinners. Isaiah 53:3-7. Isaiah 53 is one of the great prophetic passages about the Messiah who's come. Written 700 years at least before the birth of Christ. It says, "He was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not." Meaning we did not desire Christ. We did not desire God. And that's the story of humanity. It's the story of holy scripture. "Surely he has born our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed strick and smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our inequities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the inequity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter. Like a sheep that before it shears is silent. So we open not his mouth." We went astray like sheep. He comes and he sacrifices himself like the sacrificial lamb as a blood offering, substitutionary atonement for our sins. This is what happened on the cross. Jesus Christ absorbs the wrath of God that we deserve for our sins, for our law, breaking for our rebellion. But he doesn't stay dead. He absorbs our wrath like a lamb, but he comes back in the third day like a ferocious lion. After he ravenously consumed, defeated Satan's sin and death. Why did Jesus do that? Jesus didn't destroy the power of death, the power of sin just to forgive us of the penalty of our sin. Jesus didn't die just to forgive us of the penalty, just to remove the penalty, but he also died in order to remove the power of sin over us. He died in order to free us from the bondage of our sin, from the bondage of our harmful desires. So Galatians 5:1, this sets the context for our text. Galatians 5:1 says, "For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yolk of slavery." He set us free from what and free for what. Well, here we got to ask the question what is sin. Sin isn't just breaking God's laws by committing bad things, by doing. The essence of sin is not doing, the essence of sin is desiring. And we get that when we understand what the 10 Commandments are. The 10 Commandments aren't just don't do these things. The 10 Commandments are be careful that your heart's desires are not drawn to these things that pull you away from God. So have no gods before me. Thou shall not have any idols. Thou shall keep the sabbath day holy, devote a day to God. And then Jesus comes in, he looks at the 10 Commandments and the sermon on the mount, this is the greatest sermon that was ever preached. And he says, "You know the commandment around adultery, I shall say to you that whoever looks at another person that they're not married to with lustful intent has already committed adultery." And then Saint Paul talks about the fact that he didn't even know how sinful he was until he read the 10th commandment, which says thou shall not covet. He said, "I didn't understand that the commandments weren't just about action, they're actually about desire." So Christ comes and he says, "Sin is love for things that harm us." Therefore Christ wants to free us from loves or desires for things that harm us, and replace those evil desires with righteous desires for things that actually give us life. From harmful desires to healthful desires. This is the beauty of the gospel. That God does not just command that we love him. God actually compels us to love him. He does this through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. As you see, what Jesus Christ is doing on the cross, when you realize that he did that for you, that if you were the only person to have ever lived, Jesus would still have died for you because he's so loves you. Your name is graven on his hands, written on his heart, we sing. That Christ came and he loves you infinitely more than anyone has ever loved you, and when you realize what he did in order to show that love, his love is poured into your heart. And your heart is freed from loving lesser things. One of the things that Augustan said is that the problem with humanity, the problem with humans and the human condition is that our loves are disordered. When we take creature, when we take creation, when we take things and we take a good thing even and we place it in the position of preeminence and we make it an ultimate thing, then that thing begins to control us. And this is how addiction works. Instead the gospel comes in and says, "No, Christ deserves a position of preeminence in the throne of your heart. When you realize what you did in order to free you, you're freed now to love him with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind." This is the beauty of the gospel. It produces love for right things. It doesn't mean you manufacture it. It produces it organically. Christ did not come just to give us a get out of Hell free card. A lot of people view Christianity like this. You come to God, you pray this prayer. Okay, you're out of Hell. No, you can live anyway you want. If you get into some really bad sin, come back to church, pray another prayer, you'll be fine. Christ didn't come to get us out of Hell and to get us into Heaven primarily. Christ came not just to get us out of Hell. He came to get Hell out of us. Harmful desires, insatiable sinful desires, hellacious desires. God wants to remove those and replace them with vibrant desires, desires that lead to life. And God doesn't primarily compel our obedience through fear. Though he could. He could've. Jesus could've come and said, "I'm Lord. Get on your knees and worship me." And force everyone to become Christians through fear. He doesn't do that because what fear does, it produces a surface level obedience, and actually it's at the heart of it, it's very selfish. It's not God honoring. It's only you honoring. You're doing this because it's the best thing for you, and you want nothing to do with God. God doesn't motivate us to change by saying, "If you don't obey me, you'll go to Hell." He motivates us through love. Fear doesn't change us, love does. Every parent knows this. I've got four daughters and my wife, we got four daughters. And the thing with my daughter, they're beautiful and they're also little. In comparison, I'm a giant to them, and I tower over them. And I could cower them into submission, "Go clean your room," or, "Go wash the dishes," finally. I could do that. My wife and I could say to them, "If you don't obey us, we are leaving forever." It might be effective for a day. It would never change their hearts. How do we parent? We parent with love. We lead with love. This is how much we love you. This is how much we sacrifice for you. So when I tell you to do things, it's because I love you and I want the best for you. So our rules, our commandments in our house, they're not fences to keep you from fun. They're guardrails to keep you from going over the cliff. And this is how God talks about transformation. It's not just about our behavior changing. It's not about behavior modifications. It's about heart transformation. Christianity's actually a spiritual heart transplant. God takes out our heart of stone that's numb to God, desensitized to God, seared to God. And he replaces it with a heart of flesh that is sensitive to God. That's what changes us. What changes us is showing us the extent of God's love. What was the extent of God's love? That Jesus Christ on the cross literally goes through Hell and back in order to save us. This is how much I love you, the gospel says. God says, "I'm wiling to go to Hell, take Hell for you." When you realize that he did that particularly for you and you believe that with every fiber of your being, it absolutely changes you to the core. And now the spirit enters your heart. You are regenerated, and you have the power of God within you. You have new affections, new desires, and you have the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. This is how Saint Paul compels the church in Ephesus to stand firm in the faith. He says, "For this reason," Ephesians 3:14. "I bow my knees before the father for whom every family in Heaven on earth is named. That according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power. Through his spirit, in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." So Christ is in you, power of God is in you that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breathe and length and height and depth, an to know the love of Christ that surpassed knowledge. To know Christ's love so deeply in your core, in the core of your being that it's not just intellectual ascent. You don't just understand it with your mind, you understand it with your heart, with all of your being. To know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Stand firm, therefore, is a military term. It means that if you do not stand firm in the freedom for which Christ has set you free, you will be pulled back into the bondage of sin. Scripture often talks about Christianity in militant terms, militaristic terms. Fight the good fight. Saint Paul uses the term agonism. Agonize in your faith. What's he talking... He's talking about this warfare between the flesh and the spirit, and then the flesh isn't just our body. It's the sinful nature, unredeemed nature of every single one of us, the darkness deep within. He's saying stand firm in the faith or else the flesh will take over. And then there's Satan in the world that exacerbate the desires of the flesh. So how do we stand firm? By standing firm in the gospel. How do we grow in the faith? By standing firm in the gospel. The gospel, the work of Jesus Christ. Here I got to do a little theology. So if you left, come back for just a little bit. This is important to understanding the rest of the sermon. I've done this long enough that eyes glaze over in evening services. This is how salvation is described in the holy scripture. It begins with justification and then it starts the process of sanctification, and it ends and culminates in glorification. Justification, sanctification, glorification. Justification is I have been saved. Sanctification is I'm being saved. That's from the moment of conversion to the moment that you die. I'm being saved, and then glorification is I will be saved. At the moment that you believe in Jesus Christ, you are justified. That means you are acquitted of all of your sins. God looks at you as if you have never sinned. You're fully accepted, legally righteous. You're justified. Just as if I'd had never sinned. Then it begins the process of sanctification. Sanctification comes from a Latin sānctus faciō, which means to make holy. We grow into holy. So grow in righteous, and we grow into the image of God. We are being saved from the power of sin, and then finally when we're glorified in Heaven, we got glorified bodies. Heaven is a physical, embodied existence. We'll have perfect bodies. Everyone's going to be 4% body fat with six packs. No acne. Everyone's going to be perfect. That's Heaven. Glorification, no calories. Don't have to work out. That's glorification. But in the process from justification when you met Jesus to glorification when you'll see Jesus face to face is the process of growing into the image of Jesus Christ. Justification is Christ puts his robes of righteousness on you. Sanctification is you're growing into his clothes. His righteousness begins to grow in you. We're incrementally transformed. And Jesus Christ is the benefactor who gives us justification. He's also the benefactor who gives us sanctification. It's his justification, he's righteousness, and it's also his sanctification. This is important. First Corinthians 1:30, "And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." Jesus is our sanctification. He's our righteous sanctification and redemption. Meaning that when you grow in your faith, when you grow in righteousness, that's not you. You're part of that process, but that's not your power. So you don't get glory for God does. How does this work? When we believe in Jesus Christ, we are placed in Christ, and he's placed in us. Kind of trippy, I know. But that's theology. We're in him, he's in us. We're reunited with him. So everything that he's done is counted to us. So his death is our death. His death for sin is our death for sin. His resurrection to a new life is our resurrection to a new life. So Jesus died for our sins, which now gives us power to put our sin to death. Jesus was resurrected so now the holy desires to live for God can be resurrected in our hearts. Christ took up a cross, died for sin once and for all, but he tells the disciples, what? In Luke 9:23, he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let me deny himself and take up the cross daily and follow me. Deny yourself and take up the cross..." This is the negative part of sanctification. "Deny yourself and take up your cross on a daily basis." You're putting your sin to death by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is called mortification. You mortify or you kill sin within, sinful desires. Then he said, "Follow me." This is the positive aspect of sanctification. "Follow me," this is your vivifying. You vivify. You give life to godly affections. So it's not just fighting sin. It's replacing evil desires with righteous desires. You're fighting fire with fire, desire with desire. When we're joined to Christ by grace through faith, because of the historical act of his life, death, burial, resurrection, we're saved. But also that act, what he did on the cross, has an operative efficacious effect for us today when we use it, when we use the resource that he has given us. This is point to, that we first of all crucify our sinful desires. How do we do that? How do we put our sin to death? Well, primarily begins by humbling seeking, and this is the first practical point, humbling seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So Galatians 5:16-18, several times he talks about the spirit. So first he says, "Walk by the spirit." That's active. Then he says in verse 18, "If you are led by the spirit," that's passive. Being led. You're still walking, but you're being led. Verse 25 says, "If you live by the spirit," that's active, "then let us keep in step with the spirit." It's like a mixture of active and passive. So this is really important because a lot of people ask, "What's my part? What am I going to do?" In the practical, give me a list of practical things I got to do, and I'm going to do that. And then I'll be done with sin. I'll be all set. That's not how relationships work. Do this together by his power. The most helpful verse about this incredible paradoxical relationship or active and passive with us and spirit. Ephesians 5:18 where Saint Paul says, "Do not get drunk with wine." So do not give control to a substance over yourself. And then that is paralleled with, "Be filled with the Holy Spirit." So don't be filled with something that will pull you away from Christ because you lose control, but be filled with the Holy Spirit, which actually makes you more like Christ. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. And this is fascinating because be filled is both active and passive. Be, that's a commandment, it's imperative. Filled, that's passive. Be filled. It's imperative that's in the passive voice. Meaning you've got to do something and be filled. But you can't fill yourself. It's like your gas tank. Gas tank, thou shall be filled. How's it get filled? You drive into a gas station in New Jersey where it's full service, that's the illustration. That always catches me off guard. "Oh, okay, I can't do this myself. Get a dollar out." Be filled with the Holy Spirit, meaning you place yourself in a position where the Holy Spirit fills you. This is what I mean. So how does this work? It works just by recognizing your desperation. Lord, I can't overcome these sinful desires myself. Lord, I need you. Lord, I'm nothing without... I'm morally bankrupt without you. I'm spiritually inept without you. Please, Lord. And it doesn't begin with cleaning you our lives, and then we're filled with the spirit. It's actually vice versa. It's be filled with the spirit, walk in the spirit, be led by the spirit, and then you won't gratify the desires of the flesh. It's not a matter of sheer will power. It's the matter of utter contrition before God, humbling coming forward. God, please help me. And God pours his spirit into your heart and he fills you up. But then we need to do something with that power, and that's when we exert all of our energy. We pray. We plead. We position ourselves. We exert our energy. It is our responsibility to obey. One of the most effective programs to fight alcoholism and other addictions is the 12 Step Program for Alcoholics Anonymous. And the first step is powerful because they understood this principle of submitting to God, of admission of powerlessness. And it's the first step of the liberation. And it goes like this, "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable." Admission of weakness, powerlessness is the first step to liberation. And their second point is, "We've come to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." And this is what we believe when it comes to sinful desires that have hijacked our walk with the Lord, habitual sins where we come to God and we say, "God, we're helpless. We're entrapped. We're unshackled. Please help." And at that moment, God is always delighted to help those how seek his help humbly. I've seen this issue often with Christians, we just get stuck in the faith where they become Christians by repenting of sin and believing the gospel. And something happens along the way where now they think this is how I stay in the kingdom, this is how I stay in a rightful relationship with God by my works. So I wasn't saved by my works. I'm saved by Christ's works. But I stay saved by my works. So I'm going to try to clean up my sin by myself. That never works because that right there, you're operating out of pride. And whenever we operate out of pride, that right there it actually pushes God away because God, he resists the proud. Often if you think that you are strong enough to do what God has called you to do, God often allows you to keep struggling with particular sin, to get you to a point of brokenness, of humility. I got this idea from John Owen who wrote this incredible book called Mortification of Sin. You can pick it up. It's an old work, but there's a newer version, a revised version. It's abridged version. It's 80 pages, J.I. Packer did the introduction. And this is what John Owen writes. He says, "Says God," here's a Christian. "If he could be rid of this lust, I should never hear of him more. Let him wrestle with this, or he would be altogether lost. Wasn't it a correction to Peter's self confidence that God left him to deny his master?" That's so profound. Peter's the one that told Jesus, "Jesus everyone else is going to leave, betray, deny you. I will never do that." And Jesus said, "Oh yeah? Tonight before the rooster crows this morning's dawn, you are going to deny me three times." Justification, we have absolutely nothing to do with that. Sanctification, we're empowered by the Holy Spirit to watch, praise, strive, take actions as we cry out to God. How does justification start? With a cry of desperation. God, save me. How does sanctification continue? With the same cry of desperate. God, keep saving me. God, help me. Galatians 3:3, Saint Paul says, "Are you so foolish having begun by the spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" You began by the spirit, now you think you can do this on your own. You can't. We can't. God wants us from us a broken heart, and we start by grace. And we take every step by grace. First, humbly be filled with the Holy Spirit. Second, call a sin a sin. And this is important. As I write the list, there was something you probably heard and you were like, "What? That's in the Bible? What? He read that out loud in church in Boston 2019? What?" What he's doing here is he's calling sins by their name. Why? What's he doing? He's countering the enemy's attack. This is what Satan did when he came to Eve in the Garden of Eden. He said, "Did God really say..." What's he doing? He's questioning God's word. Saint Paul comes in and says, "No, this is how God views these actions. This is what God calls these actions." And here we have 16, and I'm calling it 16 decaying fruits of the flesh. 16 decaying fruits of the flesh. They come in four categories. The first category is a sexual sin because often this is one of the primary ways the flesh reveals itself. This is one of the primary ways that our flesh rebels against God. There's three words here, sexual morality, porne in the Greek... This is sex between unmarried people. Impurity, unnatural sexual relationships, sexuality, uncontrolled sexuality. The second category is corrupted religion, idolatry, and sorcery. Idolatry is worshiping or craving, desiring created things more than the creator. And then sorcery, this is trying to manipulate God or the spiritual realm. By the way, a lot of people view Christianity like this in terms of sorcery. What do I need to do? Get God off my back. How much money do I need to give? How many times do I need to come to church in order to do penance or atone for my sins? And then I'm out. It's actually sorcery, we're manipulating God for our ends. Third is relational conflict, and this shows us how important it is to God or our relationships with other people. Amity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, descensions, divisions, envy. And the fourth category here is substance abuse. He talks about drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. Whatever you need to feel alive. Whatever you need to get that dopamine rush. It could be alcohol, drugs, pornography, prostitutes, drugs. I mentioned impulsive buying, media. Your soul feels dead. It feels empty. Philosophers talked about spiritual unweave that every single one of us feel, and sometimes we look to these substances to feel alive. And this is important that he calls a sin a sin. He calls sexual immorality, sexual immorality. He doesn't call it living together. He doesn't call fiscal responsibility, he calls it covetousness and greed. Amity, he doesn't call it... I just want they have it. He calls it envy. And what he's saying here is unmasked the self deceit. This is what sin does. It blinds us to its own existence. And then point three is see sin for what it really is in God's presence. Galatians 5:21, "I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherent the kingdom of God." And do such things means this is the lifestyle, it's habitual practice. It's not falling into the sin, repenting quickly, getting up and following Christ. It's that you fall and you stay and you never get up. So what he's saying is look to the cross. Look what it cost God to forgive us. Look what our sin deserves. The very son of God dying on a cross. Our sin doesn't just evoke God's displeasure. It evokes God's just wrath. When we feel the weight of our sin in light of its eternal punishment, that begins to reawaken us and our conscious. Some people here push back and say, "But my sins forgiven, isn't it? Jesus died for my sins past, present, and future. So why do I need to keep fighting sin?" Well, again, it's not just about get out of Hell free card. It's about you being a child of God. You're adopted into the family of God. First John 3:9 says, "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning." You don't continue in this pattern of sin. "For God seed abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God." What marks a Christian isn't the absence of sin. What marks a Christian is the deep grief over sin. We grieve over it. Every time we sin, there's a brokenness because we understand we broken God's heart. Four is be killing sin or it will be killing you, and I got this term from John Owen. This is Galatians 5:24, "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and evil desires." You belong to him. You're his. And you have crucified the flesh with this evil desire. Now it's not an utter destruction of sin. It's not a concealing of sin. But it's the suffocation of sin. You're crushing the life out of it. You're constantly draining the life out of it. It's a tug of war between the flesh and the spirit. You feed the spirit, the desires of spirit, and you emaciate those desires of the flesh. So how do you do it? You refuse it. You starve it. You reject it. It takes strength, power, and resolve. Jesus Christ actually said, "If you struggle with sin, if you eye causes your sin, pluck it out." This is Matthew five. "Cut off your arm." Matthew five. He's not talking about literally, hyperbolic language in order to communicate just how important it is to deal with sin with resolve. And the moment you become a Christian, God gives you this desire to fight sin. To be intolerant with it, unaccommodating. That we are spiritual assassins. This is scorched earth sanctification. If all of my sins have been forgiven, why do I need to work for a righteous life? Scripture says if you are Christian, you don't ask this question. If you are a child of God, you want to honor God with all of your being, so you want to ask how can I fight my sin. Romans 6:1-2, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by know means? How can we who have died to sin still live in it?" True justification and sanctification always go together. So when we try to see have we been justified, am I a Christian. Well, are you continuing to walk with Christ. So my oldest daughter was born when Tonya and I were in seminary. By the way, I was 26 years old. I look back and I'm like, "This is crazy. I had a kid at 26." 25. Whatever. 25, 26. I look back now, and I'm like no one asked me to take a test. There's no IQ test, there was no drug test. There was no test. I have to do more to get a drivers license than I do to get a kid. So we got to the hospital, and they're like, "Here's the kid." I'm like... So I go home. I did all this research about making sure your kid stays alive, and they're like kids actually are like... I was super afraid of this thing called sudden death syndrome where kids just die in their sleep. So every night I would come up to her bed, "Is she alive? Is she alive?" Now in order to prove that she's alive, what do I do? Do I go to her birth certificate and say, "Yeah, she was born. Okay, we're good." Do I look in the stuff that we bought for her, "Yeah, we're good." No. To prove that she's alive, what do I do? I listen to breathing. Is she breathing? I listen to her heartbeat. Is she alive? Yeah. Praise God. Are you a Christian? Don't just tell me, "Yeah. I prayed a prayer. Yeah, I was baptized. Yeah, I grew up in a Christian family." Do you have a heartbeat for God today? And justification, sanctification, they go together. You can't have one without the other. Separating them is like separating the heat of the sun with the light of the sun. No. If you have the son, you have both. If you have Jesus Christ, the son of God, you have both justification and sanctification. So never use justification as a justification to continue sinning. If that's what you do, then most likely you're not a Christian. The more we grow in our sanctification, the more we actually realize how sinful we are. The most mature Christians I have ever met are absolutely blunt about their sin. Saint Paul at probably the pinnacle of his sanctification following Christ, he says, "I'm the chief of sinners." John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace, "You've saved a wretch like me." At the end of his life, people asked him, "You must be a saint already." He says, "No, there's only two things I know that I'm a wicked sinner, and I have a great savior." The more I'm a Christian, the more I realize I've so much more to go. I had a conversation today about the veracity of Christianity. Why don't we do more proof of why we believe in Christianity? We do that all the time. There's sermon series 2014 with a whole series on exploring Christianity. Last fall we had a sermon series on Jesus among other gods. There's so much objective evidence for the existence of God, for the life so Jesus Christ, for his death burial, and his resurrection. It's incredible. I'm a Christian not just because of that. I'm a Christian mostly because of these subjective experience of Christianity. I am a wicked sinner. My wife actually recently, she's like, ты ужасный. That's what she told me. ты ужасный. You don't know Russian yet? "You're horrible. You're a terrible person." She said, "Where would you be if you weren't a Christian?" And I was like, "I know where I'd be. I'd probably be a Russian mobster drinking distilled vodka. That's all I'd be doing." It's a very similar skillset to being a pastor of a church. I know that a part of Jesus on a daily basis, I'm fallen. I'm gone. So I thank God for great... By the way, this is also how I view parenting my kids. This is anthropology. This is from biblical perspective that they're born as very cute, very pudgy, very scrumptious, very delightful little wicked sinners. My youngest, her first two words were nope and mine. Rebellion and selfishness. That's my job to teach, to help her. She definitely needs some sanctification. So point two is take immediate and radical action when tempted. First Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation is overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you maybe able to endure." So as soon as a sinful inclination rears its ugly head. At that very moment, we are to mortify. Why? Because it has a power over us that's suicidal. What sin does, as soon as we let it in the door, the very first thing it does, it goes to the wheel center of your being, and takes over. You let a sin in. You're on fire for the Lord, and then you let a sin in. And then you're like, "I don't even think I'm a Christian." Spiritual amnesia kicks in. There is a suicidal destructiveness over your mind, over your desires, over your will. The more you get it, the less you want to fight it. And then it takes control where you don't even enjoy anymore but you can't shake it. You're like an addict. When you're done with that sin, it's only begun with you. This is John 8:34, Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin." This also includes eliminating any triggers. You got to know yourself, and you got to know your sinful temptation, where you're prone and proclivity. But eliminate those triggers. Eliminate the people that pull you back into sin. Place the situation. Romans 13:14, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires." So don't lead yourself into situations where you'll be tempted. And this category three, resurrect your holy desires. Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control against such things there is not law." Fruit, singular, meaning that when you mature, you mature in all of these. And you are only as mature spiritually as your weakest fruit here. So this is practical point six desire with the holy spirit desires. Galatians 5:7, "The flesh had desires, but the spirit also has desires. And they're opposed to each other." So what does the Holy Spirit desire? So desire what God desires. What does the Holy Spirit desire where he's called the Holy Spirit. He desires holiness. And the Holy Spirit is gentle. He's like a dove who's easily scared away. He's easily grieved. He's easily quenched with our sin. So we have to desire what Holy Spirit desires, he desires to glorify Christ, to glorify God the father. He desires for the gospel to go out. He desires all of this fruit. How do we grow in this fruit? We grow in this fruit by casting deep roots in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The heart can't but love. So what the Holy Spirit wants to do is replace sinful desires with righteous desires. I follow these motivational gym bros on Twitter who try to help millennial guys become men. Just for entertainment I follow these guys. This is what they do, this is their whole thing. They sell these eBooks and become millionaires. So they start like this. They're like, "If you struggle with laziness, you pathetic, lazy, little boy. Stop playing video games and move out of your mom's basement. Cut it out, start working out." And what's the motivation? So they replace the idol of sloth and they're like, "Because you're single and you can't get a girl." Now the motivation is get girls, get girls, get girls. And that's why you want to work out. That's why you want to stop being lazy. So they're replacing one idol with another idol. And then they're like, "Well, you got girls. But you don't have any money. That's why they're not going to stay with you. So get money, get money, get money." They replace this idol with another idol. And then they're like, "You've got all this money. You are such a waste of life. Actually learn to enjoy your life." And then they kick you all the way back to the laziness part. Idol after idol after idol, back to the very first idol. And they sell their eBooks for $19.99. And they make a fortune. That's how a lot of people grow in life. That's how they progress. Christianity says, "No. You got to supplant sinful desires with righteous desires. The desires the Holy Spirit desires are the fruit of the spirit." And then seven is pursue the means of grace habitually. You need to deny flesh, pursue Christ on a daily basis. So much so you string winds together. Follow Christ today, focus on today. Tomorrow comes, follow Christ. Follow Christ. When you string those together, now your character begins to change. Your habits begin to change. And now it takes less effort to follow the... You're still humble. You're still contrite. But now you're focused on other battles. CS Lewis Screwtape Letters, incredible work. There's this demon called Uncle Screwtape. It's a head demon. He has an apprentice, a nephew demon. And one of the apprentice's patients becomes a Christian, and then Uncle Screwtape writes to him and says, "There's no need to despair. Hundreds of these adult converts have been reclaimed after a brief sojourn into the enemy's camp and are now with us. All the habits of the patient, both mental and bodily, are still in our favor." Habits didn't change. So we need our habits to change, and we do this primarily through the means of grace that God has given us. The reformers talk about means of grace. They're kind of like waterfalls where if you stand under these particular waterfalls, God sends extra grace in order to strengthen you and wash the sin. The first one is the word and prayer as a means of grace. Jesus talked about in John 17:17 that the truth of God's word is for sanctification. Sanctify them in the word. Your word is truth. When we study God's word and we do it prayerfully that gives us power to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Suffering is a means of grace. Sometimes we ask God, "Why are you sending suffering into my life?" Well, God sometimes ordains suffering as a tool for the purpose of sanctification. Fellowship of the church is also a means of grace. Fellowship with believers and worship. The weak need the strong, build each other up. The spirit is given to individuals, and when we come together, we experience that spirit. Gifts are intended for the body and the church is this community of prayer. And also we get accountability where we help one another keep from relapsing into sin. If you missed any points, they're right here. They're right here. There you are. You can take a picture. They're all there. All the points. Now I'm going to transition into another means of grace, and we celebrate this once a month at Mosaic. It's the means of grace of communion. What is communion? Communion is the celebration of our participation of the death, the burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why is it called communion? It's called a common union that we are united with Christ. First Corinthians 10:16, "The cup of blessing that we bless is it not a participation, the blood of Christ. The bread that we break is it not participation, the body of Christ." Who's communion for? Who partakes in communion? Communion is for the repentant. So if you're not a Christian and you have not repented of your sin and trusted in Christ, it's not for you. If you're a Christian and there's sin that you have not repented of, this is not for you also. We get that from First Corinthians 11:27-32, "Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, unrepentant manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let the person examine themself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For everyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself." That is why many of you are weak and ill. Some have died. But if you judge yourself, we truly would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So we don't do this flippantly. We do it reverently, with repentant and contrite hearts. And when we come to God with repentance, God is delighted to extend forgiveness. So this isn't a glum time to navel gaze on our sin. It's a time to give our sins over to the Lord and feast on his grace. The way that we celebrate communion here is the ushers are going to hand out the elements, the bread and the cup. The bread symbolizes the body of Christ, the cup symbolizes the blood of Christ. Please hold onto the elements until everyone's received them, and then we will we partake together. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you, God, that your word is powerful. That it does vivify our affections. Lord, we long to desire you more. We long for more of your presence, more of your power, more of your Holy Spirit. Lord, give it to us. We repent of all our sins, our wrong headed, harmful desires, and I pray that you replace them with helpful desires for your glory. We pray this in Jesus name, amen.
Dealing with Family of Origin Issues
October 27, 2019 • Andy Hoot
Summary: How do we wrestle with the realities and complexities of our family situations today? How do we properly sort through the blessedness and the brokenness? Is it worth it to dig up all the dirt in order to move forward? How do we identify and interact with our biological families and the world given that Scripture tells us that when we're united to God through Christ we become a member of a new family? Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Man, it's hard to get up here and preach after Caleb and Pastor Shane pray, basically do a full sermon. Good morning. My name is Andy. I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic. If you're new to Mosaic, we're thrilled to have you here. In our bulletins, we have a connection card. We want to get to know you. We went to live in community with you and let you know about what we have to offer in terms of community groups, service groups. You can hand those in at our welcome center if you want a special gift. Please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come to you today with various family backgrounds. Lord, some of us come from brokenness. Some of us know blessedness very well. Some of us it's a mixed bag. Lord, we try to make sense of it of ourselves, and sometimes we identify ourselves too much by the brokenness, too much by the blessedness. We stray from clinging to who we are in you. Lord, we pray, please help us to define ourselves by who we are in your family through our faith in Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to know how to face our families with our new identity, face the world with our new identity. Lord, we pray, help us to lean in to you, the true source of love today. Holy Spirit, please be with us as we dealt into some difficult, potentially painful topics for some of us here today. Let your Spirit comfort us. Let your Spirit guide us. Let your spirit keep our gaze on Jesus Christ, on the cross. Lord, we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Today, we're continuing our series. It's called Tough and Tender: Developing Resilience for Life. Despite our personal preferences to choose a side of Jesus that we like, Jesus was a man who came and told us to love our enemy. If he turns and speaks against us or hits us, he told us to give the other cheek, but he was a man who spoke hard and firm truth. He was not one or the other. He split both sides right in the middle. He walked that narrow path in life. We've been talking on some difficult topics to breed resilience in ourselves as Christians. We're trying to give you all a vision for what it would be like if our society was filled with people just like Jesus, tough and tender. Today, we're making sense of our family origins and we're going to be asking how do we embrace the blessedness and face the brokenness. How do we face what's good in the right way, face what's bad in the right way as well? Why bring this up in this series? Why bring this up at this specific moment in history in Boston? First of all, at Mosaic, family or origin issues are the most common issue that comes up. I was in my residency role the past year, and just time and time again so many people come to me and say, "Andy, you don't know just what it was like in my family." We're a young congregation. A lot of us come from brokenness, and we're at the point where we're learning how to move forward from that with our new identities in Christ. Some of us are even scared that we have just those difficult family members, those influential family members, those shepherds of our past that were not good influences. We're afraid sometimes that we're appearing to be just like them. Some of us come from strong families with a good Christian heritage. As we're getting older, we're realizing that our parents are not perfect. The people that once fulfilled your every need that seemed perfect and indestructible, you realize as you come of age that they're not perfect. Even those of us who come from a strong background, a strong family heritage, a strong faith tradition or denomination, it can be even harder for us to see the brokenness in our situation. Today, we need to ... We all come from families. We all have brokenness that we need to deal with. We don't just need to talk about this because we're a young church. God is the creator of the family. There's a lot of therapeutic approaches, a lot of theories going around about how to help people to reconcile both the good and the bad of their past. The Bible is all about a family. God creates Adam and Eve in the garden, and he lives in perfect communion with then before they sin. They sin in Genesis 3, and for the rest of the book, all 66 books, it's a story about God trying to unite his family. Man sins over and over again. God keeps pursuing them, pursuing them, pursuing them. We need to turn to God to enter into this conversation. Just a lot of the therapeutic strategies out there, they harp on the past. They suggest delving into the past. If you take a look back at your life, you can learn more about yourself, and that can help you move forward. If you can find the deficiencies of your upbringing, you can figure out ways to address them and be stronger going forward. If you can shed the influence of your parents and the morality that they introduced to you, you'll finally be free to be great, the great and accomplished person that you were created to be. These approaches in which looking back, they're particularly attractive to those of us with broken family backgrounds. Since the garden, Adam and Eve, when they sinned, what did they do? God came to them acting as if he didn't know what they did, and he asked Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" They both hid. They're trying to hide the shame of their sin. They both point the finger at each other. They're trying to deflect the blame. The problem with some of these approaches that say look back, look back, look back to move forward is that it appeals to that fallen nature within ourselves to cover up, to point the finger, to blame others. Then on the other side, there's a way of looking back at the good things that's promoted using nostalgia. Andrew Abeyta, a researcher at Rutgers-Camden University published an article in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2015 about looking back to move forward. It suggest how one can use nostalgia as a psychological resource for promoting relationship goals and overcoming relationship challenges. It's an interesting article, and it seems that relying on nostalgia can be influential in helping us overcome challenges in relationships, and I think that captures a lot of those people who come from good backgrounds. When things in life get difficult, when we face challenges, when relationships break down, especially for the first time, we cling to the past. We go on saying if things could only be the way they were with my family, I would have peace again. If only I had success in this area, I would just have peace and joy. We're like Bruce Springsteen singing Glory Days over and over again, and we just keep trying to relive them. We go on trying to satisfy our lack of satisfaction in our hearts just by just pursuing and feeding our co-dependence, going to relationship to relationship, church community to church community, job to job, finding friends with whom we can pursue squad goals, but we never get ultimate satisfaction. We never grow substantially, and we struggle to engage in relationships and live in the present. Today, I don't want to argue about the dynamics of modern counseling approaches. I don't want to say don't go to counseling. If you are in a desperate situation, come talk to the pastors. Talk to people in your community group. Talk to pastors. We have our prayer team up here after the service as well. If you just during the week have nowhere to go, pursue that care. But I just want to point out these issues, these treatments, they're mainly forces of nursing. They're only treating minor internal issues. It's like putting a new kitchen in a house when the foundation is damaged. In Christianity, it's neither nature or nurture, nursing nor nostalgia that determines a person's direction in life. It's the nativity that makes people new. As fallen sinners, only faith in Jesus can fix our foundation. Today, I want to talk about in order to face the blessedness and brokenness of our earthly family like Jesus, we should embrace a new family identity, face family as a lamb, face family as a lion, face family with God. Obviously, I'm keeping, if you've been with us, with the lion and lamb imagery, but I promise that I won't have 10 sub points in this sermon. I really wanted to, but I want to sit on some of this other stuff today. Where do I get these instructions from? Embrace a new family identity, face family as a lamb, face family as a lion, face family with God. I get this from James 1:1 to 5. Please listen along as I read God's Word. "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 disciples in the Dispersion: Greetings. scattered among the nations: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him." Embrace a new family identity. If any of you know the book of James, as I'm sure many of you do, and just listening to this text, you learn that this is not a book specifically about family. It's not about how to deal with your family brokenness and blessedness. Some of you might be asking, why are we here? What makes this text relevant is who James is talking to. Verse 1, "James, a servant of God," he's speaking to the 12 tribes of the Dispersion. That's he's speaking to the Dispersion. That's language in reference to just the Jews. They were spread throughout the region. He's calling them my brothers. He's writing ... James is the brother of Jesus. He's writing to Jewish brothers, Jewish Christians. Just what's so important to emphasize here is this audience. Like we think we have it bad in Boston. Like we face some intellectual persecution. It's hard to find a Christian date or partner, because there's so few Christians here. Raising a kid here, we think it's difficult, like fighting the squirrels away in the Boston Common. We think like we have it tough, but first century Jewish Christians had it really tough. This is something that a lot of us, it doesn't make sense. Christianity seemed to have taken off at Jerusalem, but you have to remember the Christians of this day, they were mainly in lands occupied by Roman pagan soldiers. These soldiers did not, and the rulers, governors didn't hesitate to rule with an iron fist if they didn't like someone, didn't like a group. But just with that lingering potential persecution, the Jews had to deal with persecution from other Jews. We think of the apostle Paul when he was Saul, just pursuing them jealously. But not just in public, but they faced persecution within their own families. You have to think like for a Jew to leave their family, a cult steeped in tradition, we're talking about people who knew their family heritage. They should state it orally going back hundreds and hundreds years. Like this, becoming a Christian in that day was the ultimate betrayal. We think of a Red Sox fan switching to the Yankees, Barcelona fans switching to Real Madrid, a modern Democrat switching to Republican. I'll stop. Juliet Capulet marrying Romeo Montague. Forgive my French. More seriously, like an orthodox Jew or devout Muslim becoming Christian today. These Jews were people that would've had to scrounge to survive. When they gathered for worship, they would have been on the lookout for zealots. They would have been on the lookout for the Roman authorities. Just scriptural support from this comes from Galatians 2:7 to 10. "On the contrary." This is the apostle Paul talking about some of his early interactions after his conversion. "On the contrary, when they," the church in Jerusalem, "Saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised, and when James, and Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." The poor that Paul's talking about in verse 10, these are Jewish Christians. When you read through the book of Acts and Paul's other writings, you find that you on his missionary journeys traveled across the region towards Europe to collect money, hundreds of miles of travel, and take it back to the Jews in Jerusalem, because in such a heavily populated Jewish area they were the poorest Christians. They were facing really difficult circumstances. Therefore, the book of James, it's not specifically about our earthly family, our biological family, but it's a book written by a pastor with a congregation full of people who had extreme family issues. If they weren't steadfast in their faith, they were always wavering over whether to continue to face the potential persecution and abandonment for the sake of Christ, or they could return to their families where they had heritage, they had peace, they had comfort. This is specific advice, and this begs the question, why would these Jewish Christians leave their families? Why would they risk this persecution and this abandonment? Some of them did choose to leave. Others were kicked out. Obviously, I mean most people are logical. They don't just leave something just because. They typically choose something because it's better than the previous option. Scripture talks about believers in Christ, they have a place in the kingdom of heaven. "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and tells all that he has and buys the field." These early Jews believed that, Jewish Christians. The early church heeded the words and took these words literally. "And everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands for my name's sake will receive 100-fold and will inherit eternal life." They believed that, and following Jesus Christ they had a means of salvation of peace before God, but also an eternal inheritance. They also believed they're joining a new family with access to a father. Romans 8:31, "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also give him ... how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" They have a new heavenly Father that will never fail them. Finally, in Ephesians it talks about they're joining this line with all the faithful saints and prophets of old, united by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit." These people, these are benefits that the early Jewish Christians just saw and they wanted to ... They took them up. They left for the better option, but they also would have known the scriptures. Just when you read through scripture, again it's about a family. I just want to take you through the brokenness presented in Genesis, and these Jewish Christians, they were the ones, not their families who stayed devout Jews, these were the ones who knew that Jesus was the Messiah. He was just the figure they looked for all along. You think of Adam and Eve. They immediately disobey God in the garden. Their firstborn kills his younger brother. Abraham and Sarah, who received God's promise, because of infertility, Sarah gives Abraham and concubine and then gets mad and jealous when she gets pregnant. Lot, Abraham's nephew, gets drunk. His daughters get him drunk, they seduce him, commit incest. Isaac and Rebekah, Isaac, Abraham's son, they play favorites with their twins, whose sibling rivalry becomes one of the worst in history. That's Jacob and Esau. Esau has no discernment, sells his birthright for a bowl of soul. He marries a Canaanite woman. Jacob, he manipulates Esau to give him his birthright. He shows extreme favoritism to one child, Joseph. Uncle Laban, he deceives Jacob at one point. He makes Jacob work for years and years and years to offer him Rachel, the beautiful daughter, but he gives him Leah. Jacob's daughter Dinah is raped by a pagan, and then her brothers go and kill a whole village. Jacob's oldest son Reuben can't resist his incestuous desires. He sleeps with his father's concubine, the mother of some of his brothers. Ten of Jacob's sons, they plan to kill their brother, but instead they decide to sell him into slavery. Judah, one of Jacob's sons, as a widower he frequents prostitutes. This is the one who's Jesus ... who started the line towards Jesus. This occurs frequently enough that his daughter-in-law Tamar, whom he had dishonored, knew that she'd disguise himself with one. He slept with his daughter-in-law and got her pregnant. That's Genesis, but the list just begins. It's blunder in the Old Testament, blunder after blunder by the priests. Lots of false prophets. King David, a man after God's own heart, commits adultery. Solomon, after David unites the kingdom, he unwisely marries 1,000 women. I'm going, I'm going, but you read the Bible and a lot of Christian traditions talk about the Old Testament figures as heroes, and in many senses they were heroes in the sense that they pointed to Jesus Christ, but it's a whole story of brokenness. For the Jews of Jerusalem, the Jewish Christians of the early days, they would have been starving. They had read the scriptures. They studied them. Jesus was the fulfillment. He was finally that perfect figure, the one who fulfilled the Law, the second Adam that did not sin, the Christ, the Savior to whom all the prophets ... about whom all the prophets spoke of. These Jews, they were standing on a rock. They had a foundation. Were they to dwell on what they left behind? Are we to dwell on what we leave behind? Do we dwell on the good things, the bad things? The apostle Paul just captures the spirit of the mindset that Christians are supposed to take as they go forward. Philippians 3, "But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained." 2 Corinthians 2, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." Colossians 3, "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." I hope I'm getting redundant here. This is a little bit in counter to the movement, the tendency not just of our current day, but of our flesh to want to look back to find excuses for our state of trouble, our state of pain, our state of affliction. In Christianity, it's a forward looking mindset. A lot of Christians, they never grow. They come to faith. They love the gospel. It brings joy to their soul and peace to their hearts, but a lot of them are like the lead character of The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes, the lead character. He's unjustly framed and thrown into jail, a medieval jail, and he's there for years. He sleeps on a dirt floor, just in isolation for years. After several years, he escapes and he righteously comes upon a great fortune, a buried treasure. He buys himself a great estate with a mansion and he tries to create a new identity as the Count of Monte Cristo. He has everything he ever dreamed of while living in his jail cell, but he can't completely shake his old identity. At one point, his servant discovers that despite his lavish mansion and bedroom, despite the comforts, the count still sleeps on the floor at night. That's a lot like us. We come to faith in Christ. We're privy to God as Father. We're privy to forgiveness. We're privy to the means of sanctification and grace, but we're still sleeping on the floor. We aren't owning our new identity. We're defined by our family background, both good and bad. What did those members of the early church dwell on and meditate on daily to walk forward? What news powered them each day to face the hardship that they faced? They had family wounds lingering. They had temptation to go back to the comforts and the traditions. At the heart of Christianity is a Savior who is both born into both blessedness and brokenness. Jesus was conceived out of marriage in a day and culture when it was socially and religiously preposterous. When he was brought to the temple, his parents gave the payment that was paid by the poorest of the Jewish community. He could have let his circumstances and dishonorable nature and birth define him, but he didn't. Jesus could have swung the other way. He was after all the Son of God. He could have proudly used his prodigious knowledge of the scriptures as a means to build us his title within the community. As the chosen one, the son whom the Father sent, the Son of David, Jesus could have used his powers and authority to garner earthly acclaim. Could have denied the cup and established an earthly kingdom, but he didn't. Jesus had every problem to wallow, every reason to wallow in the brokenness or to cling and bask in the pride stemming from his gifts and calling, but instead was a man whose entire identity was built on who he was in relation to his heavenly Father. When Jesus said, "Into your hands I commit my spirit," he experienced ultimate abandonment, despair, excruciating pain at the hands of his Father. He relinquished ultimate power, pedigree, wealth, acclaim. He offered himself completely to God and his purpose. He knew that his Father had the love and power to redeem such a tragic moment. He's wiling to set aside all vendettas and potential momentary exaltation for our eternal exaltation. We need to follow in the steps of Christ. We need to embrace our new family identity. We cling to our family, this new family identity. If you're not, this is waking up each day grounding yourself saying, "Lord, I am satisfied in you." But how do we interact with our earthly family? Are we to leave them, to break all ties with them? Matthew 19:29, are we to literally leave houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father and mother? We don't take that part literal. In some cases, yes. If they resist us and prevent us from worshiping God, we might have to take those steps, but it's the principle. Trust in God first. Follow God first. Be willing to give all of your life, even the slowest relationships with the people closest to you to follow him. If we are to continue to interact with them, how do we face them? This is point two, face family as sheep. This comes from James 1:1 again. Sorry. My favorite preacher can do like an hour with two words. "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." We get this just face family as sheep just by thinking about who James is. James is a man who could have pulled rank. James is the brother, the earthly brother of Jesus. His parents, Jesus' parents were Mary and the Holy Spirit. James's parents were Mary and Joseph. Look what he calls himself here, "James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ." This word for servant, that's doulos, servant, slave. Like he's saying I'm a slave of God and Jesus Christ, my brother who I grew up with. James in that day, he could have pulled rank. He's the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. Then in verse two, he calls his audience brothers. James has a lamb mentality. Even though Jesus was his earthly brother, James knew that Jesus was the Savior, and that just humbles him. This is the part of the sermon where I really could just give you 10 practical points of how do we face our families as humble lambs, humble sheep, but I think ... and giving you those 10 sub points. But I just want to pause here. I don't want to be too firm, but I just want to ask some pointed questions. Some people come to church week after week for year after year. They're scribbling down the 10 sub points every week. They're at community group. They're giving faithfully, but there's heartache tied to family brokenness that they can ignore for decades. Just thinking about James, a man, a pastor, Jesus' brother, well studied in the scriptures, lots of wisdom, he shows his humility. He doesn't pull rank. He united himself with his congregation. I ask, who in your family could you pull rank on? Who are the people you're pulling rank on? By that I mean with whom do you have the high moral ground? Have you forgiven them? Have you pursued reconciliation? Who in your family has sinned against you? Who's that person that you're avoiding just because the history is too complex? Who are you tempted to blame for the many problems in your life? What are you doing to pursue that person's salvation? What are you doing to pursue that person's sanctification if they are a Christian? Colossians 3 says, "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." Luke 6:27 to 31. "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them." A lot of Christians love these verses, and like a lot of you who will hear this, shake your head. This sounds great, but there's often that one person or those few people in everyone's life for whom we make an exception to these verses. The wounds, the bitterness that we carry from not pursuing reconciliation, from not forgiving, man, they're obvious to everyone but you. It doesn't have to be a family member. It doesn't have to be. It could be a friend, a schoolmate, a whole race of people. Who do you need to forgive? A lot of people when I counsel, I can sit with people and meet with them regularly for a year, and they try to act like I don't notice, but I can meet with them once a month for a year, I never hear about that estranged mother. I never hear about that estranged father. A lot of those people, you might be thinking, "You don't know my situation. You don't know what I've been through." Like that's ... you're right. I honestly knew I was born into blessing, born into a Christian home, raised in the church. I was trained to thank God for that. Like my compassion, I'm so thankful that I didn't have to deal with some of the trauma, some of the pain, physical and emotional, that a lot of you had. But I don't know it, but the Lord does. Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." Forgiveness, faces your family members as a lamb, it doesn't mean trusting the person. It doesn't mean becoming best friends with them. It doesn't mean letting them back in as if nothing ever happened. It doesn't mean that you don't put up boundaries upon reengaging. It certainly doesn't mean that you put up with physical abuse. At Mosaic, we do not support that. If anybody is experiencing that, if anybody is facing that, let us know. Let us know how we can help you do whatever you can to get out of your situation. Forgiveness means committing in your soul to leave a situation in God's hands, to trust that he will ultimately bring justice, and therefore that you won't hold a sin against the person anymore. You commit not to bring the sin up, not to dwell on it in your heart, not to let it fester and stir up bitterness and self pity. Some people who are victims of just traumatic assault and tragedy, you don't take on the burden for the wounds afflicted against you. We all born in the image of Adam are sinners. We have to turn to Christ in faith to deal with our sin, but we don't ... you are not responsible for that sin. Brandt Jean, a young African-American man, made an amazing courtroom statement a few weeks ago to a former white female police officer, Amber Guyger. Amber shot his brother. In the statement, Brandt told her that he forgave her. He wanted her to go to God with her guilt to ask for forgiveness. He told her that the best thing he thinks she could do was to give her life to Christ. He told her that he loved her as a person, told her that he didn't wish that she served time, and he wanted to hug her. That was just an extreme, beautiful example of forgiveness, but we don't have to use his specific language. We don't have to want to hug them. We don't have to wish that people don't serve proper and just legal time or face proper civil punishment. But we're called to be good stewards, not just of our finances as we learned last week, but good stewards of God's love and grace. 1 John 3:16 to 18 says, "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth." James is also famous for saying, "Faith without works is dead." If you know God's love, you're a steward. You share it. You give it to others. What's at stake when we don't cling to our new identity? What's at stake when we don't face our families, family members like sheep? We go back to James and talk about facing family as a lion. "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James tells his brothers to count it joy. That's what's at stake when we're not clinging to our new identity, when we're not facing our family as lambs. We're losing out on joy. Additionally, we're losing out on steadfastness that leads to perfection that leads to completeness that feels like we're lacking nothing, a perfect soul satisfaction. Throughout the book, again it's a book specifically about family, James lists many trying situations as tests, poverty, suffering, sickness. It also lists many good situations as tests of faith. Are you wealthy, healthy, in a new job, in a new city, in a position of authority? He's saying, "Surely you're going to face trials in this life," but we can apply that and say you are going to face trials in your family life. James kind of has a madman's mentality. We don't just ... A lot of people go through that honeymoon phase and you're just shocked when that first trial comes upon us, upon you. But he says count it joy. That trial, especially those within our family, that's a stamp of God's love on your life. We think of this as awful. Like the last thing that I want to do when I see my family is dig up the dirt, bring out the areas where there isn't reconciliation, bring out the areas that have just not been addressed for years. I heard a song on the radio somewhere in the low 90s, where you never know what you're going to get. It was a country song by Uncle Johnny and the Bullfrogs. No, it wasn't actually called that. I heard ... It was on like the scan mode. I heard one line, and it said, "You want the spark, but not the burn." That's a lot of us in relation to our families, and even in our Christian life. We want the good things. When I see my family, like I'm tempted to visit. I just want to visit nice places, eat, drink, turn on the TV, avoid, do all that I can to avoid those difficult conversations, reminisce, and avoid that conversation of, "Mom, dad, are you going to church? Mom, dad, are you pursuing your relationship with God? Siblings, where are you on your faith?" We want the spark. We want the good things, but we don't want the burn. If you do family right, in the church and in your nuclear families, like there should be some burn. That's the benefit of family. By your connection through blood, you have a naturally stronger connection. You can risk hard conversations. You can risk poking and nudging, and they are still tied to you, whether they like it or not. Of course, pursue them in gentleness, love, respect, but take advantage of the fact that your family, whether they disagree with you or not, like they have to stay connected to you. It's just that intimacy that you have just in being fully known yet fully loved that we experience in family that points to the love that's complete and perfect in God. Just in scripture, this 1 Corinthians 7, Paul tells his audience stay where you are in many situations. We need to ... The first instinct is to book it from our families, but we have to take advantage of the roots and connections we have with people. Show them you've changed. How can you convince the people in your life that you've changed through your relationship with Jesus if you're never around them, if you don't even know them beyond a shallow level? This is hard. When you're living far away, like many of us here, whether you're a single or a young couple living away from family, or whether you're parents here living away from your children or parents, it's really hard to do this from a distance, but you need to be creative. Be practical. How can you engage your family members? As a church plant, we really want you to stay, but we need you to invest. Why do we do this with our family? Why do we pursue them with zeal? It's out of response, out of love, out of gratitude for Jesus, for God who continued to pursue us and pursue us, pursue his people over and over again. I went through the Genesis sin trail just to illustrate man's brokenness. God pursues us as a good shepherd seeking that one lost sheep out of the 99. Why do this in our family? James 5:19 says it's good for them. "My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from ..." This is the last words of the book. "If anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins." That family member that hurt you, just that person I asked you to think about or those few people, do you really want them to have eternal separation, eternal condemnation from God? When God pours out his wrath on the world, do you want them to taste that as Jesus once did? Also, why pursue our family with zeal? Why not just sit back and relax with them all the time? It breeds steadfastness, perfection, completeness. You learn it's more blessed to give than to receive. It's more blessed to be a blessing. Your tastes and desires change from things that you like to things that are good and godly. You go from drinking coffee with sugar to drinking black coffee, drinking soda to water. Do you really want full soul satisfaction? Pursue the salvation of those people around you, the people who you are most naturally connected to in this life to bring about salvation, to be used to bring about salvation as your earthly family. It's painful. Count it all joy when you receive kinds of various trials. I hate trials. In my own marriage, I hate when Joyce and I have a disagreement. It's not just an argument. Any form of disagreement I want to avoid, but by God's grace I've learned the benefit. I've learned the joyful part of it. She's often just like spewing truth after truth after truth at me, and I don't want to hear it, but in the back of my mind ... Sometimes I'm spewing out bitterness, saying, "No, no, no." At the back of my mind though, I'm learning to say, "Yes, yes, yes. This is rooting out the impurities of my soul. This is good for me. This is good for our marriage. We are growing here, and I want more of it." I'm calling you to face your family as lions. Facing family as a lamb, that's the heart that we have. Face your family as lions, pursue their salvation with the zeal of the lion going after its prey. Now, face family with God. We're not alone in doing this work. Clinging to your identity in Christ just daily, that's difficult. Pursuing those family members with the heart of a sheep, those people that you don't want to pursue and just being constant in it like a lion, it's tiring, it's confusing, often don't know what you want to do. James 5 gives us some comfort. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him." James wrote for this people about church problems, but we certainly need to ask God for wisdom in engaging our families. For many of us, we'll find satisfaction with the words that we can pursue God without reproach. He's a Father that's never going to tire of us coming into his presence to ask for wisdom, ask for discernment, ask how to navigate the situation. Why is that the case? Like there's a connection when we do that, when we humble ourselves to the point that we say, "God, I need you. I needed Jesus to go to the cross to die for me, to save me from my sin. I need your help right now in this moment to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. I need your wisdom to deal with this difficult family situation right here." That's a correction. That's a recalibration of who we are before God. That's the position we were originally created to be. Adam, his first relationship was not with Eve. It was before God, having peace with God. Adam walked in the garden, tilled the garden. He named the animals with God. He always needed God to guide him and to be submissive to him. We are creatures. God is the creator. When we're in this position properly, when we see our need for God, we're able to see our family situations properly. Just notice, if any of your lacks nothing at the beginning of the verse, like this is saying God offers us everything. We see family properly. Some of you are expecting too much from your families. Some of you place way too much pressure on your fathers and your mothers, whatever were those primary figures in your life, those shepherds. You want them to fill the ... those old shepherds to fill the role that only the one great and true shepherd could fulfill. Family is designed in this life to not fully satisfy. It's only when we're in relation to God, submitting to him, turning to him, being reliant upon him that we are in our proper place, that we can have full satisfaction, that we can have peace, that we can feel fully secure, that we can see, just understand, make sense of the blessedness that we've tasted, not make idols out of that, and make sense of the brokenness. God, how are you using this brokenness that I've experienced for your glory? It doesn't make sense, but I trust you. To close, I just want to read Isaiah 58:9 to 11. This is the prophet Isaiah. "Then you will call, and the Lord will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say, 'Here am I.' If you do away with the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become like midday. And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones. And you will be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail." Do you want that? Just turn to him, position yourself properly before the Lord. You'll know how to make sense of your family situation. Please join me in prayer. Lord, we praise you that we don't have to be people that look back. We don't have to be constantly searching for a new identity. Lord, we have a sure foundation in you. You're a good Father that loves his children, and pursues them, and pursues them, and pursues them even when they sin against him, and yet you still offer eternal riches. Lord, we just pray that we would cling to you, cling to who we are through you, and that would give us a heart to pursue our families, a heart to pursue them with the proper heart of humility, with love, with grace, with gentleness, and also a zeal to be constant in the pursuit. Lord, we pray, help us to find rest, find peace, find completeness, perfection, full soul satisfaction when we pause to turn and gaze upon you and ask you for guidance as we just wait upon the day that you return. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.
Financially Responsible and Generous
October 20, 2019 • 2 Corinthians 8:9
Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Good morning. Welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan, I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic. And if you're new or if you're visiting, we're so glad you're here, welcome. We'd love to connect with you if you'd like to connect with us. We do that through the connection card and the worship guide. If you'd like to fill it out legibly, you can either toss in the offering basket after or redeem it at the welcome center for a gift. We also have an app and you can download at the app store or Google Play, and there's a connection card in there as well. Quick announcement for members and people becoming members. If you'd been notified that you are becoming a member today, we have a members meeting from 1:00 to 3:00 PM. With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's word. Heavenly father, we thank you that you are a loving God. Therefore, you are a giving God. Thank you Lord that you showed us that the heart of love is giving, is generosity. We thank you that you so loved us that you gave us life. And then although we rebelled against you, you gave us your son. We thank you Jesus that you poured yourself out generously, lavishly, extravagantly. You poured out your grace upon us, you offered us grace upon grace. I pray Lord, allow us to receive that grace. Transform us today from one degree of glory to another, from being takers to givers. Give each one of us a vision for our lives to be as absolutely generous as we can with everything we have and with everything we are in order to reflect you, image you to the world that you are a gracious and giving God. We pray Holy Spirit that you come today and minister to us, speak to us. And even as perhaps we deal with an uncomfortable topic for some I pray, Lord, show us that your plans are so good and that the greatest blessing is to give greater than even the blessing to receive. I speak to anyone that's not a Christian today, I pray, Lord, give them grace to receive grace, to be transformed from being a rebel to a child of God. And I pray all this in Christ's Holy name, Amen. So we are in a sermon series that we've been calling Tough and Tender: Developing Resilience for Life. And we've been looking at the big topics of life through the lens of the lion, lamb paradox that Jesus Christ is both the lion of Judah and the lamb of God. He was the ultimate tough and tender person. And today, we're talking about lion and lambing our finances. And the big is it takes toughness in order to acquire finances and think about them strategically so that we can be as lamb like with our finances as possible, as generous as possible. I saw an ad, I saw a commercial yesterday watching college football. Yeah, that's a thing. There's nothing else. So I was watching college football and Northwestern Mutual came out with a commercial. And the commercial, it was a lady who quit her job and then she goes and works for herself. And the message was spend your life living. The Christian message is the opposite of this. The Christian message is because of what God has done for you, God has given himself, the son of God sacrificed himself lavishly. Therefore, we are to invest our lives in giving, giving in a way that impacts eternity. Whenever I do premarital counseling one of the questions that I ask as we're in the financial section is, are you a spender or a saver? That's an important question. Two savers get married, it's okay. It's all right. Go on vacation once in a while. If two spenders get married, big problems ahead. Big, huge, massive problems. Scripture comes in and says, no, there's another category. Not just spender, not just saver, but giver. Well, today we're talking about money, and I don't know how you feel about that. I know some people respond like this in like, "Oh, again, church talking about money wise, church talking about money. They just want my money." We want more than your money. We do want, but we want all of you. We want all of you because God wants all of you, God wants your whole heart. He wants us to worship him with every fiber of our being because that's what he deserves. And here's the other one, scripture talks about finances all the time because finance is money. It's one of the main idols that compete for our affections toward God. Jesus gives us 38 parables, 17 of them have to do with finances. There's 2,172 verses in the Bible about finances. Compare that with believing, it's 272. Compare that with prayer, 371. Love, 714 times. This is why idolatry was such a big problem in the Old Testament, not because the people of God were attracted to these little statues, these statuettes. That's not where the power of the idols came from. For example, First Kings 17, Baal is the idol that King Ahab begins to worship because he married a Baal worshiper. And the farmers of Israel start worshiping Baal. They build a house to Baal. And the reason was because Baal was the idol of prosperity. He was called the rider of the clouds. He promises economic prosperity. And when you worship him, the rains, so to speak, came down as oil and rivers ran with honey. And then God sends Elijah. And Elijah says this to the people, he says, "Stop limping between two opinions, between two faiths." It's not that they had rejected God, they just added the idle of prosperity to God as an insurance policy, just added it to the Pantheon. So the reason why we're talking about finances, the scripture talks about finances because greed is such a powerful force. When's the last time that you repented to God of greed? Greed is always subtle, it comes in and blinds us to its own reality. And it's deep down in every single one of our hearts. And Jesus said, "Beware of all covetousness." Colossians 3:5 says, "Put to death therefore, mortify sexual morality, impurity, passion, evil, desire, and covetousness, greed," which is idolatry. So that's one of the reasons why we're talking about it's one of the great competitors to true faith in a true God. The second reason is God wants you to be blessed. God wants to bless you, he longs to bless you. We as a church, we want to see this church prosper, we want you to be blessed. But blessing from a biblical perspective, it's an upside down idea. Many of us think of blessing as receiving me more and more. Scripture talks about blessings. Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive. So when you pray, "Lord blessed me", the Lord responds and says, "yeah, I want to bless you, but the greatest blessing is to give." I saw that Shaquille O'Neal bought a house for a family whose son, he was shot at a football game, bought him a house. Whenever I read a story like that, man, my heart just melts like Shaquille O'Neal, oh man. Wow, so generous. I just love the guy now. Whenever you see stories of just lavish generosity, something in our hearts, it's like, "Oh wow." Someone's pays off a single mom's mortgage, things like a philanthropist comes in and pays off everyone's student debt, just wow. Why? Why? Because generosity is written on our hearts. We are created by God to give. We are to live to give. So I'm going to do something a little different today. Instead of expositing one text, I'm going to exposit lots of texts. And the reason being is because scripture gives us a very multi-layered, very multi-faceted theology when it comes to money. So I'll give you three points and then we'll jump in. First of all, from takers to givers. Second of all, lion your finances. Three, lamb your finances. So first from takers to givers. Points two and points three, I can give you and it'll be a helpful sermon, but it'll be a self-help sermon. Really practical tips because true spirituality always impacts reality. But the reason why Christianity is so different than any other world religion is because of the Gospel. The Gospel transforms us from takers to givers. And theology begins like this, that God is the original giver, he's given us everything. He's given us the first gift of creation that we live our lives, every breath we take, every experience that we chase, every single dream we have, every single desire is within this reality of the ultimate gift, which is creation. The gift of the universe from the elusive subatomic particles to the cosmos that spans billions of trillions of miles. It's so mind boggling, it's so vast that we got to use light years. How far does light travel in a year? Our universe is about 13.7 billion light years across. And within this universe, God has created us with the gift of self-consciousness that we can take a step back, we can reflect, analyze, meditate upon the universe that we are in. We can think of the universe as an object, and simultaneously think about the fact that we're thinking about the universe. Trippy. Thinking about the vastness of the universe, and then you realize that you are ... And this is what ... says, "I can't but believe in God because of the universe out there and the universe that's within." So we don't just inhabit this world, we reflect upon it, we develop it. So in that sense, we share in a creaturely way God's transcendence. God also has given us beauty in creation, he's given us pleasure, he's given us relationship. He's given us the greatest gift, which is a relationship with him, the gift of love, relationship with one another. Creates Adam and Eve, our fore parents, puts them in the Garden of Eden, in paradise, everything is incredible. And God says, "Enjoy everything except this one thing. Take from every tree except this one because I want you to give me the gift of obedience because that's what love entails in a relationship with God." Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." And what do we do? God says, "Don't take, don't eat." Eve takes, she eats. Adam takes, Adam eats. And that's in a sense, we see that is the essence of sin, taking what isn't ours. And then they are transformed into takers. The root of sin, all sin is selfishness, take, I'm entitled, I need, I take, I eat. Then God sees our brokenness, both economic brokenness and all elk. Sends his son, Jesus Christ, the ultimate giver. Jesus Christ gives his life, pours himself out. And before he goes to be crucified and bearing the penalty for our sins, for our rebellion, for our selfishness, he selflessly gives himself on the cross, excruciating physical pain, infinitely more excruciating spiritual pain as he bears the wrath of God. Then he dies, he's buried. Put before all of that in the last supper, he takes a loaf of bread and he says what? He says, "Take, eat, and do this in remembrance of me." Why? He's saying you took what wasn't yours that led to the fall. I came and I gave what isn't yours in order to save you from the fall. The way that we are saved from our selfishness is Christ lavish, selflessness. And when we come to Christ, we receive grace by just crying out, "God save me. God, I need you. God, forgive me." And he pours out grace upon grace into our needy hearts. And that right there, when you get the gospel, it transforms you from taker to giver. It begins initially and then you grow in that more and more, you mature in that. That's what the Gospel does. Second Corinthians 8:9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich every day." Lord, I need you. Lord, I need grace. And it transforms me from taker to giver I receive and now I give. So that's point one that frames our theology of giving. I preached a sermon in our sermon series the beginning of the year in February, I think it was, called Rhythms. And there was a sermon on generosity, really helpful. And if you haven't heard it, I would definitely commend that to you. It's on the app, on the website. And I set up the theology from Second Corinthians 8:9 of generosity. Today, what I'm going to do in points two and three is give some very practical points how we can in our daily walk with the Lord, the lion and lamb, our finances. Whenever I preach on money, I feel anxiety from some pockets of the room. And one of the reasons is because we have made financial folly. We've made mistakes financially, and perhaps we even sinned financially. So one of the ways that we grow in our financial wisdom in order to give, the way we go, it begins with saying, "Lord, I am a dumb sheep. Lord, speak to me, Lord, guide me." And the Lord is a good shepherd, and he leads. And then also in terms of community, the Lord leads us as we're Christians into a community where we can learn from one another. So we can ask each other, "Hey, I need some wisdom. Hey, help me with my finances." Proverbs 15:22, "Without counsel, plans fail. But with many advisors, they succeed." One of the things with American culture. If you're from other parts of the world, in some ways it's unique to the Western world. We don't like talking about finances with anybody. We'd rather talk about religion and politics. Let's talk about politics, who'd you vote for? We'd rather talk about that than talk about the real nitty-gritty financial decisions, financial health. And the vision of Christian community from Acts two is that they opened their books with one another. And they say, "Hey, help me with my finances, help me grow in generosity." We practice community systematically through our community groups where you form relationships, study scripture together, pray for one another. And it's also a place where you can ask one another, "Hey, how are you growing in the Gospel of generosity?" Okay, point two, lion your finances. I'm going to give you seven points here, and you're like, "Hey, what happened to the 10 point format?" I'm already used to it. Don't worry, three more points are coming in with point three. So this is point two with seven sub points, then point three with three sub points. But you get 10 really practical steps. Lion your finances. Number one, be content. Number two, work hard and smart. Number three, live below your means. Four, steward wisely. Five, save wisely. Six, invest wisely. Seven, stay out of debt. First is be content. God calls us to finding satisfaction in him, contentment in him. Now, some people take this a little too far to the point of asceticism. And the pendulum in swung this one this way because people have taken the Gospel and started preaching a prosperity gospel, which is a false gospel that if you give to God, God will give you. It's kind of like a bribe to get God to do your bidding. We don't preach that. And a lot of people have swung the pendulum over to the austerity gospel where you just live according to what you need and then give everything away. Or to the point where it's like, "I just don't want to talk about money, it doesn't feel spiritual. Let's talk about spiritual things not material things." And it's kind of a skewed perspective. So it begins with spiritual satisfaction with the Lord. Hebrews 13:5-6, "Keep your life free from love of money." He's not saying keep your life free from money, love of money. Money is neural, money is just a tool. But he's saying, "Don't over love it and be content with what you have for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you." What's that contentment based and rooted and grounded in? It's in the fact that God is our father. So we can constantly say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me?" My greatest asset in the universe is God. My relationship with God, my greatest treasure, and no one can touch that asset. Second Corinthians 6:0 Saint Paul says, "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing everything." He's saying financially, I might not be rich, but I'm rich in every single way that matters. And that's how scripture talks about blessing. It's more blessed to give than to receive not because God will bless you in turn financially. Often, he does if you're faithful with the little he's giving you. But his blessing is spiritual, he sends joy, he sends satisfaction. First Timothy 6:6-10, "But godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it, out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these, we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction, for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs." He says, "Be careful what your heart is drawn to, be careful where your affections are going. Be careful of what you love." And the fight for faith is a fight for desires to trust God not money. Worship God, not money. This is the secret to being content. It's worshiping God, it's being thankful to God. That's the secret to contentment. God, thank you for life. God, thank you for creation. And God, thank you for meeting my greatest need on the cross in Jesus Christ. And because you met my greatest need and I'm secure for all of eternity, I will be with God. And you've given me the Holy spirit. Now, obviously, you will provide for my lesser needs. Romans 8:32, "He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" We have an eternal soul, and finite things cannot satisfy our soul. So we go to God and God says, "I'm an eternal God, only I can satisfy your eternal soul." When you find your satisfaction in God, here's how I practically do it. I wake up every single morning with dissatisfaction, every single morning. It's deep inside. And I sit down and I pray, and I meditate over God's scripture. And I think about the Gospel, and I meditate with the fact that my name is written on his hands. Nothing can pull me away from God. And when you meditate on the scripture, spend time with God, all of a sudden he fills you with the Holy Spirit, and you're satisfied. You have joy, a joy of salvation. And what this does practically, it curves your appetites. And a lot of us just waste money because our appetites are out of control. That's why I begin with contentment. What do I need? I have everything I need, and God spiritually provide for my physical needs. And this is how I grow in satisfaction. Philippians 4:11-13, "Not that I'm speaking of being in need for I've learned its secret is a skillset to develop. I've learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I've learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:19, "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus." God promises as a good father to his children, "I will provide for your needs not necessarily your greeds." So my daughter Sophia is 11. She asked me yesterday, "Dad, when can I get a phone?" I said, "When you're 47, 47?" She said, "No." I said, "All right, 46. You don't need a phone yet, not yet. And if we do ever get a phone, it's going to be a flip phone. It's going to be like a $5 burner phone. That's all you're getting." Her needs are met. I know what's best for her. That's how God operates. So finding contentment in the Lord. Number two, work hard and smart. Contentment plus hard work is a powerful combination. And obviously, you've got to qualify this, work in a way where your relationship with the Lord is neglected, where you do not neglect the Sabbath. The Sabbath is commandment number four right up there with don't murder. Commandment number four is you shall work six days, work hard, but one day you give to the Lord. You rest in the salvation of Jesus Christ and you rest from your own labors. 10% of your time if you calculate it and you take sleep out, 10% of your time you're giving to the Lord, and it's an act of faith. And you're saying, "God, I believe, I trust that you can do more with 90% of my time than I can with 100% of the time." So don't work in a way that neglects to Sabbath the Lord or your health. We are to steward the bodies that God has given us. Proverbs 23:4, "Do not toil to acquire wealth, don't wear yourself out to acquire wealth, but be discerning enough to desist." Don't work in such a way where you neglect your family. God has given you a family. If he has, then he's entrusted eternal souls for you to disciple and care for and people to care for. So we invest in our families. Don't neglect your church. Don't forget your greater calling as you think about work. Don't neglect the greater ministry that everything that we do is for the glory of God to expand the kingdom of Jesus Christ where we are. And don't forget that your identity isn't in your work. We're rooted and our identity is in God not in our job. Proverbs 14:23, "In all toil, there is profit, but mere talk tends to only poverty." So we are to work, we're to work hard. Ecclesiastes 9:10, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might." Second Thessalonians 3:10, "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." We're called to work. I tell my kids that all the time, they haven't learned that yet. I'm getting ROI little by little. You want to eat, wash the dishes. Colossians 3:23-24, "Whatever you do, whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." He's talking about work as service. Through our work, whatever our work is, I'm serving Jesus, and I'm serving people. This is my ministry, and I do it with love. I'm providing a service or I provide a product, and I'm adding value to the world. And I do it with love. The other principle here in terms of working hard and smart is that we are to choose a path in terms of work that will lead to most generosity. Most glorify God, and we do that through generosity. Here's where I get it, Ephesians 4:28, talking about a thief, let the thief steal no longer. Thief was a pagan, thief converts to Christianity, becomes a Christian, transformed from taker to giver. Now, how do you disciple the thief? You tell him, "Don't steal, that's a commandment." But you also say, "Work." Rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands, but you don't even stop there. Like, yeah, provide for your needs, provide for your household. Don't stop there so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. As we mature in the faith, we're to grow as givers. Work hard for a good profit. I'll just mention this, I've always heard all the money in the world is God's, and it doesn't really matter how people make the money. Don't ask where they got this money, it's all God's anyway. No, there's bad profit, profit made at the expense of people. And there's good profit, profit made as a byproduct of serving the needs of others well. The common view is make as much as you can, to give as much as you can. And the end justifies the means. But Holy scripture says no. Deuteronomy 23:18, there's this principle embedded in Holy scripture, "You shall bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog,: which is a male prostitute, "into the house of the Lord your God in payment for any vow for both of these are in abomination to the Lord your God." This also has to inform the way that we invest. We are to invest in companies that create blessing and avoid companies that cause harm. Avoid investing in companies that engage in predatory behavior and profit at all costs. Point number three is live below your means, kind of common sense, but it's in scripture so I'll mention it. Proverbs 13:11, "Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it." So the second part of the assumption there is that we are to gather little by little. How do we gather, how do we save? Well, we live under our means. So no faithful Christian, and this is what we're striving for, no faithful Christian lives as comfortably as they could. So I could have nicer clothing, I could have a nicer wardrobe and now go to T.J. Maxx. My kids could have nicer clothing. My philosophy about spending money on kids is, you know how much kids cost? As much as you spend on them, that's how much they cost. We got four daughters, and my youngest, we haven't purchased one article of clothing for her, only diapers. That's the only thing. She has no idea, it's all brand new to her. I could spend more money on that, but she's not even going to remember. I could have a nicer car, I could have a nicer home, especially if I didn't live in Boston. I could go on more lavish vacations, but I understand that God has called me to be a giver. Therefore, when my needs are met, I set money aside to be generous. Before making a purchase, ask, do I need this? Do I need this? That's a great question. Why am I thinking of making this purchase? Am I thinking of the taker mentality or the giver mentality? And then Proverbs 13:7 ... By the way, all of these principles are to be held in tension. It's like buoys that keep you financially afloat, so just think about it like that. Proverbs 13:7, "One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing. Another pretends to be poor yet has great wealth." I'd rather be the latter than the former. And not in the terms of I want to trick you, but in terms of this is the lifestyle that I'm content with. And I'm living under my means to be more generous. Four, steward wisely. The idea of stewardship is that obsolete everything belongs to God, everything, and he gives us good gifts. He entrusts things to us so that we work as wise trustees and that we manage everything he's given us well. If you brought in someone, a financial consultant, if you brought them in and say, "Hey, can you help me manage my finances?" What would they say? Write that down, do that. They'd say something like, "Do you have a budget? Is that in the Bible? Scripture says, "Keep well, "Proverbs 27:23, "keep well the condition of your flocks, give attention to your herds." Obviously, we don't have flocks and herds, but he's talking about your wealth. Do you know how much you're bringing in and how much you're spending? Are you keeping track of your stuff? Are you taking care of everything God has given you? Luke 14 talks about don't build a tower without calculating assumption that we calculate. Proverbs 23:3-4 says, "By wisdom, a house is built and by understanding it is established. By knowledge, the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches." We are to think strategically about our finances, and that assumes, stewardship assumes priorities. What are my financial priorities? If I look at my finances, do they reflect, does my spending, does my investing, does all of that reflect my values? If I say that I love God with all of my heart, soul, strength, and mind, if I love neighbor as myself, do my finances reflect that? And so the priority number one is obviously God, it's obviously people. But then practically, scripture talks about investing in prioritization. Proverbs 24:27, "Prepare your work outside, get everything ready for yourself in the field. And after that, build your house." It's a powerful principle. Like don't invest in a house before you invest in a career, the way that you make money. If you don't have money to pay the bills, then don't buy new stuff, pay your bills first. The prioritization, steward your prioritization. What good is it to build a beautiful house and then you don't have money to carry that cost. And then there's no food on the table. And also we are to steward our financial reputation. Financial reputation is important. Credit score is important. But also in terms of financial reputation, I'll add what do your friends think about your financial decisions? They obviously think something, so ask them what they think. Sit down with your friends, people who know you best, Christians in your life and say, "Hey, what do you think about my finances? Where do you see folly in my decisions?" If you gave me that kind of openness, I've got all kinds of advice for you because this is what greed does. It blinds us to that reality. So that's important. Proverbs 22:1, "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold." What's your financial reputation? Steward it well. Five, save wisely. Proverbs 21:20, precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it. Another translation says, the wise man saves for the future, the fool spends everything they get. you're trapped in this paycheck to paycheck, work, spend, work cycle. and we are to save. We are to have some kind of contingency fund, financial advisors say three to six months of expenses set aside. Proverbs 22:3, "The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it." We are to think, "Okay, this is what the future might bring, I don't know, God is sovereign. But he's given me an intellect, He's given me reason. I should set money aside just in case, I should set money aside for retirement." It's wise to save so that we continue to be in position of givers not takers. Building wealth is wise according to scripture. Proverbs 14:24, "The crown of the wise is their wealth, but the folly of fools brings folly." And again why we're not hoarding up stores of treasures for ourselves is so that we can be even more generous than we are now continuing to grow in generosity. Examples of incredibly wealthy people in scripture, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, David, Solomon, Job. These people gave generously in their life as they built up wealth and then gave even more generously later on. If you calculate how much David gave to build the temple in Israel, we're talking about over $100 billion, massive amounts of money. Abraham was incredibly wealthy and even before the law came, he tithes to Melchizedek. Why? Because he had saved up, and then he gives to God's work. Jacob promises to God, "If you bless me, I'll give you a 10th." So we see that principle. Saving also doesn't contradict Matthew 6:19-20. Matthew 6:19-21 says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal." Don't lay up treasures for yourself here, lay up treasures for yourself in heaven. But one of the ways we do that is by taking earthly treasures and generously giving, generously sacrificing. In Luke 16, it talks about be generous financially, make friends with finances in order like these people, if they get converted, when they see your generosity because that points to the generosity of Jesus Christ in the Gospel, they go to heaven. And in heaven, you have an internal relationship. And verse 21, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." It doesn't say where your heart is, that's where your treasure will be, although that's true too. It says where your treasure is, that's where your heart will be also. Meaning your treasures shape your heart, they shape your affections. Where your money goes, that's where your heart follows. If you invest in a company and you're checking your stock every day, and it's like. Or, "Yeah." It does something to your heart. So invest in eternal things, that's what he's saying. We are to invest in save ... Practically, we see this Joseph, God puts him in number two spot in the kingdom of Egypt. And they save for seven years, seven years of plenty in order to store up an emergency fund for seven years of hunger. And Proverbs talks about learning from the aunt that stores food in the summer for the winter. One thing I will say, don't save out of fear, don't save out of greed. And don't save out of a desire to be financially independent from God. We will never get to a point where we are independent from God. Revelation 3:17, "For you say I am rich, I've prospered, I need nothing." That's a false statement, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. And six says invest wisely. We see the principle of investment in scripture in parable of talents, talks about investing. Matthew 25:27, "Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers. And at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest." In Proverbs 31, "The wise woman invests in real estate, invests in business." Ecclesiastes 11 talks about cast your bread upon the waters. And the idea is invest in seven to eight ventures because you don't know what kind of disaster will come, it talks about diversification. And God has weaved this principle of sowing and reaping into the universe spiritually and physically. Second Corinthians 9:6, the point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. In Matthew 13, Jesus gives us two little parables. And he says, "The kingdom of God is like this." And the reason why it's such a powerful parable is because they're based on genuine financial principles. And it goes like this. Matthew 13:44, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." Back before there were banks, secure finances, people sometimes saved treasure in fields. And this guy is just digging all of a sudden, oh wow. And then he goes and he's like, "It's not my field." And he goes and sells everything, liquidates everything to invest in this one field because of the treasure inside. And the spiritual principle is Jesus is our greatest treasure, therefore he's worth giving up everything to get him. But the financial principle is we are to invest in a potential that we see. In verse 45, "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of the find pearls who on finding one pearl of great value went and sold all that he had and bought it." And why do we invest again? It's to be as generous as we can be in the future as well. The good Samaritan sees a person in need and can respond immediately to that need which took finances because he had the finances at hand. Start as early as you can in terms of investment. Why? Because of the eighth wonder of the world. This is what Einstein called, compound interest. Eighth wonder of the world where your interest off the money that you invested begins to make interest. You're making money off the money, it's a potent force. And then as what we have been entrusted by God, as it grows, we can be more generous. Proverbs 3:27, "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to do it." Proverbs 13:22, "A good man leaves inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous." Actually, I called my dad yesterday and I was like, "Hey, pops, what are you thinking about a will?" I'm like, "I've been writing a sermon on finances." He's like, "Oh, that's a good idea." And this is the way he's been thinking. It's like, yeah, inheritance, not just for your kids, but for the ... Not just for the next generation, I'm thinking about the one after that. And it's not just in terms of money, and we'll talk about this in the final sermon of the series, leaving a legacy. But incredible legacy, like I am investing into the next generation both spiritually and physically so that it continues to bring a return on investment. The other thing I'll mention here is that we are to reduce risk as we age. We get this from Ecclesiastes 5:13, "There is a grievous evil that I've seen under the sun, riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is a father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand." And point seven is stay out of debt. Scripture talks about debt as a trap, that it can be debilitating almost in a sense that we handcuff ourselves with golden handcuffs. Scripture doesn't forbid, prohibit debt, but it characterizes debt as a form of bondage because that comes at a cost. You gotta pay interest on that debt in order to service that debt. And whatever that interest is, that's time of your life that you have given to another entity. I understand there's good debt and bad debt. First of all, be careful, stay out of bad debt. And if you get in debt, you're going to make a plan to get out as quickly as possible because the righteous persons, Psalm 37:21 says the wicked borrows but does not pay back. But the righteous is generous and gives. We are to pay whatever debts we take out. Proverbs 22:7, the rich rules over the poor and the borrower is a slave to the lender. And then also scripture talks about to the best of your ability, stay away from co-signing because you're taking on the debt of another person. Romans 13:7-8, pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything except to love each other for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. And this also has to do with working honestly at your job. Don't steal time from your bosses. And also has to do with honest pay that bosses are to pay employees what they are worth. Leviticus 19:13 says, "You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning." James 5:4, "Behold the wages are the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts." First Timothy 5:17-18, "Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching," preaching as a labor, "and teaching for the scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain and the laborer deserves his wages." So we have to pay people what they are worth. All of that to say lion your finances. Why? Again, the end goal is we live to give so that we can be as generous as we possibly can be toward God, toward family, and toward people. So first of all, give to the Lord. The Lord has given us everything, he's given us Christ. We are bought at a precious price, it cost him his life and his blood. So we are to give to God. In the Old Testament, God does give us the principle of the tithe that we are to give 10% of everything God gives us, why? Deuteronomy 14:23, "That you may learn to fear the Lord your God always." That we learn by giving to God a portion proportionately of what he's given us, it deepens our reverence for God. We're saying, God, you've given me everything. This is a reminder that everything is yours, and I'm giving you a portion of it back. Proverbs 3:9, "Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce." It's all God's before it's uncle Sam's, first portion to the Lord. And Lord, why do you? He doesn't need our money. But first of all, what this does is it blesses us because spiritually we're reminded it's more blessed to give than to receive. We honor the Lord in obedience. And then also this is God's incredible plan of getting the Gospel out where he saves people, turns them through the Gospel from takers to givers. And then they give in order for other takers to become givers. Why do we give? God doesn't need, but God chooses to use this system in order to get the truth out. My youngest daughter, and I talk about taker to giver, it's a process of maturity. That's why I want my kids to learn that they are not the center of the universe, but they're takers. I remember the first time I really realized how much my parents invested in me was when I moved out of college and I moved down to DC, and I was working at my first job. For the very first time in my life, I bought my own groceries and I remember how painful that was, "What, $56 on groceries?" And only then did I begin, "Oh, someone's been paying for my groceries for 22 years." I try to teach my daughters this, my daughter Milana, she is two and five months. I gave her a lollipop this week. I gave her a lollipop, and she's loving that lolli. She takes it, and I said, "Can I have some lollipop? Can I have a lick?" And she says, "No, mine." And I was like, "Technically, no. I just bought that, it's actually mine." She don't understand that part. Then I said, "Oh, so you don't love me?" And then she's like, she comes up to me and she's like. Meaning I do love you but not enough to tithe the lollipop. So we sing worship songs to God, "God, I love you, I love you." Scripture says they honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. And this is like, do I really love God when a portion of your finances you give to him? Scripture talks about in Second Corinthians 8:9, talks about giving joyfully because God has lavished his grace. We want to give to God joyfully not under compulsion. I'm not giving because I have to, I'm giving you because I get to. And we do it sacrificially or proportionately. And we do it as a response to the spiritual blessings he's given us. First Corinthians 9:11, "If you have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap spiritual things from you?" So we have to invest in particular in Gospel ministries that bless us and others. Here's how I think about, you're to give to things that you're invested, that you believe in, your spiritually invested in. Here's how I think about my giving. I believe that the number one way to impact eternity is Gospel ministry where people meet Jesus and for eternity as they will spend with God. So I believe in that. And I believe that strategically, there's strategic ways of getting the Gospel out in an enduring way. And the most effective way of reaching people, enduring way is planting churches. Gospel is proclaimed through churches, the churches remain the root. And then they plant other churches so that ... This is why I give to church, this is why I give to this church. It's hard to make a case you have to give this amount to the local church. But we are as God's kids, we are called to give to build his kingdom here. Here's why I say this, professing Christians in the United States have an annual income of 2.5 trillion. You know how much we give of that as professing Christians in the United States on average? We give 2.5%. Giving among non-Christians to charitable giving in the United States, 2.5%. And this is all to say that if our hearts have been transformed by God, if we have received the greatest gift that there is, then how are we not more generous than other people? And there's two false extremes when it comes to the tithe. One extreme is I'm going to give 10%, the rest of the money is mine, I can do whatever I want. Within scripture, it says, "No, we are to continue growing in generosity." The other extreme is I'm going to live on necessities, give everything away. And my question is, when does that stop? Do I give away my shower every day? No, definitely not. Am I giving away my coffee? I'm not. Early on in my ministry, I was like, "If you buy a cup of coffee everyday, this is how much money you waste." It makes me more productive. And more productive makes everything better. God does want us to enjoy life. It brings God pleasure when we enjoy his gifts, and he gives us richly to be enjoyed. John 2, Jesus comes to a wedding and they run out of wine. And he's like, "No, we're not going to waste any more money on wine like that, we're going to give everything away to missions." He's like, "No, fill it up with water." Best wine ever. And if you're a Baptist, grape juice, best grape juice. Nehemiah 8 says, "When we celebrate, eat the fat, drink the wine." John 12, Judas objects, a woman comes in and pours out perfume on Jesus that cost $25,000, and it seems what a waste. And Jesus says, "She will be remembered for all of eternity." First Timothy 6:17-19, it says, "God richly provides us with everything to enjoy," so we're going to keep that in balance. Number two, we are to provide for our households. First Timothy 5:8, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." So we are to provide for our family because if we don't then someone else has to. So this is the way I think about it, I provide for my kids but I want them to grow into givers. And I think about, okay, I provide for them now, I also got to provide for their education so that they can be givers and grow generosity in the future. Point three is give generously. And this is the final point, the final purpose of why God has given us money is to give. Luke 6:38, "Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap for with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you." So we are to give to other people. And one of the ways that we give, and this is for the entrepreneurs and the business owners in the community, one of the ways that we give is building businesses in order to provide jobs for other people. And I get this from Deuteronomy 24:19, "When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it, it shall be for the sojourner, that's the immigrant, the fatherless, the orphan, the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you and all the work of your hands." So he's saying to business owners who've invested, who've taken all the risk, don't maximize profits. You create opportunities to work for the immigrant, the widow, the orphan. So you're giving them not just money for their needs, but opportunity for work. So the gleaning laws as they are called, they required work from the marginalized and provided jobs for them. Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup says 60 years into our global data collection effort, we may have already found the single most searing, clarifying, helpful world altering fact. What the whole wants is a good job. This is one of the most important discoveries Gallup has ever made, found. Like one of the ways that we grow in generosity is by creating opportunities. So we need to ask if you are a business owner, have I squeezed all the profit out of my proverbial field? Am I treating the employees in my company as labor costs to be controlled or as human beings to be cared for? And where do we get the wisdom and the power to live like this, live generously, lining our finances and lambing with generosity? We get it from Jesus Christ who gave himself completely. He didn't tithe this blood but gave everything. And that lavish grace empowers us to give. Here at the end, I'll just say this, no one can really tell you exactly what to do in your personal situation. That's why we're so thankful for the Holy Spirit. And when we ask God, God, what would you have, which area in my life do I need to work on so that I can grow in generosity? God gives us that. Brad Hewitt, CEO of Thrivent Financial said, "I describe money as love or service in storable or transferable form." That's what money is, money is a tool to demonstrate love and to serve other people. Proverbs 11:25, "Whoever brings blessing will be enriched. And the one who waters will himself be watered." Why do we do everything we do motivated by love? First Corinthians 13:3, "If I give away all I have and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing." The points real quick, if you missed any line in your finances, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and lamb your finances. Give to the Lord, provide for your household, and give generously. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the Gospel. We thank you that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ who gave himself for takers, takers can be transformed into givers. And I pray that you continue to grow us and generosity as you pour grace upon grace on each one of us. And I pray this in Christ's name, Amen.
Being Trustworthy
October 13, 2019 • Shane Sikkema • 2 Timothy 3:1–12
Summary: The question we’re going to wrestle with this week is, “why is trust something that needs to be built at all?” Why is trust so hard to gain, and so easy to lose? More importantly, how can we master the art of not just creating the perception of trust, but actually being stable, reliable, trustworthy and likable people ourselves? How can we, as follower of Jesus, become the kind of people that others like to be with, and want to be like? Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Good morning and welcome again to Mosaic. It's good to see you and if you're new, welcome. So glad you're here. My name is Shane. I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic and we'd love to connect you. The way we do that officially is through that little Connection Card in your worship guide. We'd love it if you could fill that out for us and just drop those in the offering baskets later on, or if you turn them in at the Welcome Center out front, we have a little gift we'd love to give to you this morning, as well as some more information about the church. Just a couple of announcements before we get started. Pastor Jan already mentioned it, but in case you came in late, for the members of Mosaic, there is a members meeting next week and it's a really important one: we're going to be voting on Andy Hoot, our pastoral resident, he's actually completed his residency, but we're going to be voting on him to become a pastor here at Mosaic, and so definitely come and show your support for that. But not only is this a members meeting, it's also a potluck. So make sure you bring something good to eat to share with some people as well. And then, if you've been coming to Mosaic for a few weeks now and we understand the ebb and flow of the city. A lot of people move here and a lot of people move around, especially throughout the summer and during September, and if you've been coming to Mosaic for a little while and you're looking to get more meaningfully connected, we want to help you with that and the best way to do that is through our community groups. We have a lot of great groups that meet all over the city, throughout the week, in people's homes. We even have a couple groups that meet on Sunday afternoons here at the temple, in case your weekday schedule is just too packed. But it's just a smaller, more intimate environment where you can really begin to build some meaningful relationships with people in the church. We actually have a bunch of new groups starting up, and so we have groups all over the city and we've got a few new ones starting up. Watertown, Newton, Brighton, here in Brookline, Mission Hill, we've got a group starting even in Medford and Wellesley, so if you're living a little bit farther out from our location here, but definitely check those out and I encourage you to get plugged in. All right. I'm going to pray for us and then we'll jump into the sermon this morning. God, we need you. Apart from you, we are all treading water in an endless sea. And yet, with you, you give us the only foundation on which we can plant our feet. You are the rock that we stand on. You are the anchor for our soul. We thank you that you are trustworthy and true. You are faithful. And you've promised to always be with us and for us, to never leave us or forsake us, and Lord, we ask that as your people that you would make us a people like you. That you would make us a people who are trustworthy, true, a people who are reliable and stable. We pray right now that you come right now and just through your word, speak to us what we need to hear. If we need encouragement, I pray you would give us encouragement. If we need conviction, I pray that you would give us conviction, Lord, and that you would minister to us by the power of your Spirit and shape us, form us more into the image of your son, Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray, amen. So this fall, we are going through a sermon series called Tough and Tender: Developing Resilience for Life. And what we're doing is we're taking a look and we're applying this theme that we see throughout scripture to different practical areas of our life, and it's this theme that God is both/and. He is both just and merciful. He is both truth and love, that Jesus is the lion and the lamb; that is he confident and humble, that he is tough and tender. And when you look at the life of Jesus Christ, you see that he had this amazing stability and resilience that was extremely, profoundly attractive in his time and yet, if we're honest, it's majorly, majorly lacking in ours. That Jesus had a tough mind. He had thick skin and yet, he also had a tender heart. So we see that he did hard things and he spoke hard truths and he faced hard opposition, and through it all, he also loved hard people. And as we're going through this series, this is what we want to do: is how can we become more like him? How can we become more like that? What would happen in our church, in our city, in our culture, if more people were tough and tender like Jesus Christ? And so today, we're going to be looking at a certain quality that tough and tender people have, it's a quality that Jesus had and it's the quality of being reliable, of being trustworthy. Are you a trustworthy person? We live in a culture where trust is hard to come by and it's actually on the decline. On a broad level, the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer reported sharp declines in trust toward major institutions. That right now, only about one third of Americans trust their government to do what is right. Only about 42% trust what they hear from the media. And now, on a more personal level, we don't need some massive report and statistics to tell us that people are hard to trust. Trust is not our default, when we begin a relationship. Trust is not our baseline. It's something that needs to be earned; it needs to be kept. It's hard to get and it's easy to lose. And Scripture actually talks about this from the beginning. That in the beginning, trust was the baseline. You read the description of Adam and Eve in the Garden and what it tells us about them is that they were naked but not ashamed. Now, naked, obviously it's talking about something deeper than just physically, that they were emotionally, factually ... spiritually, they were completely open and vulnerable with one another and yet not afraid. They had no reason to be afraid. Apart from sin, and in the presence of God, they were free. They were free to just fully trust and fully love without fear and then Genesis 3 happens and all of that is lost. Genesis 3, sin enters the Garden and trust leaves the Garden. All of a sudden, there is reason to fear, and the first thing we see Adam and Eve do is what? They begin sewing leaves together to create garments to cover their nakedness. I'm afraid to let you see me for who I really am, because I don't like who I really am and if you find out who I really am, you're not going to like me, either. They covered themselves. The next thing they do is they not only do that, but then they run and hide from God. They feel the guilt before this holy God and they're afraid and they know what their sin deserves, so they run and they had and then ultimately, they begin to turn against one another. They begin to blame one another, and in order to build themselves up, they start tearing one another down. They've lost the freedom that came with their innocence. And in its place is this guilt, is this shame that their trust was replaced with suspicious and with contention and they begin competing with one another for justification. So this is where we are, this is the world that we live in. We're not able to trust without taking risks. Right? In order to trust someone, you're taking the risk that they might hurt you; that they might let you down. In order to trust someone, you're taking the risk that they might find out who you really are, find you out and reject you. And we all want to be close to people. We want people in our lives who are stable, who are reliable, who are trustworthy, but who can we trust? That's one question to ask. But I think a more important question to ask is this: how can we become the kind of people who can be trusted? How can we become the kind of people that other people actually just like to be with and want to be like because they see that we're reliable, steadfast, trustworthy people? And just imagine what could happen. Imagine if a church full of trustworthy, reliable, likable people, just saturated the city like Boston. That's kind of what we're going to be talking about today. So, as we do, we're going to be looking at Paul's second letter to his disciple Timothy. 2 Timothy 3, if you want to follow along in your Bibles. And as we do, we've got three points framing up our time. Point number one: afraid to trust. Two: a friend to trust. And then three: a formative trust. And we're going to start by looking at 2 Timothy 3:1-5, and then also verses 10 and 11. So Paul writing to Timothy, he says this. He says: "But understand this: that in the last days, there will comes times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power. Avoid such people." And going on to verse 10, he says: "But you, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness. My persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured, yet from them all, the Lord rescued me." This is God's holy word for us this morning. Point number one: afraid to trust. When you look at the first four verses of this chapter, you see this long list of just unstable, unlikable, untrustworthy people. That these are the kind of people that you don't like to be with and you don't want to be like. And in the context of 1 and 2 Timothy, what's going on is Paul is giving this young man Timothy instructions for how to be a good pastor. And as a pastor of his church, Timothy's job is not to do all the work of the ministry on behalf of the church. He's not a hired gun, which is a common misconception in a lot of churches today, but Timothy's job was instead to equip the church for the work of the ministry, to equip the saints. In other words, Timothy, as the pastor, he needed to recruit and assess and train and develop people in the church in order to entrust them with the responsibility for the ministry. So his job was to equip and to entrust the church but he was also called to shepherd the church. And what this means is that Timothy also had the responsibility to guard and to protect the church. And specifically, he needed to guard and protect from false teachers and from false teachings and so as Paul is telling Timothy, "Listen, you need to raise people up and entrust them with ministry, but you need to do so carefully. You need to do so cautiously. You need to use wisdom and discernment, because not everyone is going to be deserving of that trust." Now, he even says that some are going to have the appearance of godliness but deny its power. There's going to be imposters. There's going to be hypocrites who pose a danger to the church and so even if things look good on the outside, that's not always a good indication of what's going on inside. It's not always a good indication of what is going on behind closed doors, so you need to be cautious. You need to be careful. He begins by using this phrase 'in the last days.' When we think about that, it might be tempting to be like, "Okay, well, he's talking about something later on in the future and so this doesn't really apply to us right now." But that's now how Scripture uses that phrase. Actually, when Scripture uses this phrase, it's describing the entire period of time between Jesus's resurrection and his return. And so, in some ways, it does refer to future events, but it does so in a way that also refers to present reality. And it does it with the implications of the way things are right now, things are going to ebb and flow throughout human history, but right before Jesus returns, there's going to be this intensification. Things are going to become a little more extreme, and so yeah, Paul's talking about something in the future, but he's also talking about something that was practically relevant to Timothy at the time. And if we're honest with ourselves, right? If we read this description carefully, thoughtfully, he's talking about us, as well. Every single one of us finds ourself on this list somewhere. No, we're not going those qualities up on our LinkedIn, but let's be honest, like ... Okay, let's see how far we get. Number one, lovers of self. I failed already. Why'd you have to start there, Paul? Couldn't you start with murderer or something, like? Lovers of money. This is not looking good. Proud. Arrogant. Abusive. It goes on and on. And I said earlier, this is a list of people that we don't like to be with and that we don't want to be like. It's too late; we are like this. We're with people like this every day. And so here's the point. It's not enough to say that other people are hard to trust. I can't even trust myself. I don't even fully know or understand myself. I question my motives. I'm suspicious of my own desires; I can't trust my own heart because I know that it's broken and sick with sin. Jeremiah 17:9 says that, "The heart is deceitful is above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?" Next time someone says just follow your heart, you just quote that verse back to them. Not a good idea. Paul wrestles with this himself in Romans 7:18 when he says this, he says, "I know that nothing good dwells in me. That is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing, wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death?" And he says in verse 25, "But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord." If we can't trust others and we can't even trust ourselves, well then who's left to trust? Who can we trust? Who can deliver us from this body of death, there is only one. There's only one person to have ever lived who did not make this list of vices that Paul gives us at the beginning of Chapter 3. And actually, if you look at his life, his life was the antithesis of this list. You take this list, you flip it upside down, you read it through the opposite lens and what you begin to see is Jesus Christ. Jesus was not a lover of self, a lover of money. He perfectly loved others. He was generous. He was humble. He was meek. He was compassionate. He honored his earthly parents and his heavenly Father. He was always grateful, holy, tenderhearted, content with what he had. He spoke the truth and he spoke it with love. He practiced self-control. He was gentle. He loved what is good. He was trustworthy, responsible, eager to serve others, he loved God more than worldly comforts or pleasures and had a deep, abiding godliness that he attributed to the power of the Holy Spirit. And this brings us to point two, that Jesus Christ is the friend that we can trust and he's the friend that we need. Paul begins his list in verse two saying that people will be lovers of self, but then he ends in verse four by saying, "And they will not be lovers of God," and this is the root of the problem. Our biggest problem is not a behavior problem; our biggest problem is a heart problem. It is a problem of disordered loves and idolatry. That everything listed between the start of verse two and the end of verse four is merely symptomatic of this problem that we don't love others because we don't love God and we don't love God because we're scared. We're running from fear because we know that we stand guilty before a holy God. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, "This is the judgment." Verse 19: "That the light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his work should be exposed." This part's not nearly as famous as John 3:16, that Jesus said a little bit earlier, but it's true. Adam and Eve ran and hid from God in the Garden and we're still running and hiding from him today. And this is the question that we need to ask is, well then how and why should we trust and love a God whose justice and law has rightly judged us guilty and deserving of death? Now, this is where it is helpful to back up to John 3:16, because just a few verses earlier, Jesus also said this. He said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him." The reason that we should love God is because he first loved us. The reason that we should trust God is Jesus Christ. And so, how can we trust a God whose justice rightly demands that we die? It is only by understanding that his love desires that we live, that his love desires that he somehow show us mercy and that even while we were dead in our sins and enemies of God and running and hiding from him, his love compelled him to send his Son, to seek and to save the lost, to mercifully lay down everything in order to give us life. So the secret to loving God is to acknowledge that you can't love God, that you don't love God and you won't love God until you accept that he first loved you. This is what John tells us in 1 John, Chapter Four, he says, "And this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. By this is love perfected in us, so that we may have confidence, no longer fear, but confidence for the day of judgment because as he is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us." Jesus Christ, through his atonement on the cross became the propitiation for our sins, and what that means is that he appeased God's righteous anger toward our sin so that we no longer need to run from him in fear but can run to him for mercy. That Jesus Christ took our sentence, he took our penalty, our punishment, upon himself. He paid the debt and he settled our account. He takes our guilt, he exchanges it for his righteousness. And this is amazing. What this means is that God in his infinite, eternal wisdom has made a way to show guilty people mercy, without compromising his own holiness or justice. That he remains just and yet, becomes the justifier of all who repent and put their faith in Christ. And this is what Paul tells us in Romans, Chapter 3. Verse 21: "That now the righteousness of God has been manifest apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believed. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, who God put forward as propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins, he was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." This changes everything. When you understand that you are so bad that the only possible solution to your badness is that Jesus Christ, the perfect son of God would come and die for you? That leaves you incredibly contrite, repentant, and humble. It kills your pride and it makes you tender. But when you also understand that you are so loved by God and that he, in his divine character is so merciful that he willingly did that for you? That gives you an unshakeable boldness and confidence and courage as a child of God. That his perfect loves drives out fear and it leaves with you with this lion-like toughness, this confidence. This is what makes Jesus the friend that we can trust. It's not just that he loves us. It's that he fully knows us and he still chooses to love us. We didn't earn it; we can't lose it, and therefore, we should never doubt it. We should never doubt his faithfulness or love. Jesus is the sure, solid, unshakeable foundation. And when we build our lives on him, his stability begins to add stability to every other aspect of our lives. Romans 8, one of the most beautiful passages in Scripture. Like, this is one of those passages every Christian should just memorize. But in it, Paul writes this. He says that: "We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Those whom he predestined, he also called and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then, shall we say to these things? For if God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love Christ?" "Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it's written, for your sake, we're being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our lord." Proverbs 18:24 says that, "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." In our world of many companions, Jesus is the true friend. He is the true big brother that our hearts long for and need. He knows us completely. Yet, he loves us sacrificially and the good work that he began in us at the moment of our justification, he is guaranteed to continue on to completion until the moment of our glorification. And this brings us to point three, that when we put our faith and trust, that when we build our life on him, that trust is a formative trust. It begins to add stability to the rest of our lives as well. Psalm 25:9 says, "He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humbles his ways. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose." The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him and he makes known to them his covenant, that the faithfulness and the friendship of Jesus Christ, this should have a formative effect in our lives that makes us faithful, steadfast, trustworthy people as well. So Paul begins 2 Timothy 3, and he's got this list of like, really vicious people to avoid, but then in verse 10 and 11, he shows us another way. He shows us how we as followers of Jesus can live instead. And so, 2 Timothy 3:1, he starts out, he says, "Understand this. In the last days, there will come times of difficulty for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive," he goes on and on, but then he gets down to verse 10. And he says, "But you, Timothy, you however, you followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness. My persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch and Iconium and Lystra, which persecutions I endured yet from them all, the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from who you learned it and how from childhood, you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able make to wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." How do you live in a world full of faithless people? How do you live in a world where there's just people you can't trust? Well, Paul's advice to Timothy is not so much about them, it's about him. It's about you, Timothy. You, Timothy, embody the change that you want to see in others and then continue in that no matter what it may cost. And so, you Timothy, and to us, as disciples of Jesus, what this means is that we need to become the kind of people that are worthy of others' trust. We need to become the kind of people that other people just like to be with and they want to be like because we're reliable, we're stable, we're steadfast. Become the humble, confident, lion/lamb, tough/tender people that we've been called to be in Christ. And here in this last section, I just want to break down verses 10 through 13 and as I do, I borrowed some wisdom from Pastor Jan. I'm gong to give you 10 marks of a trustworthy person. I don't know if this is going to be a common theme throughout this season, but point three has 10 sub points, some of those points have dove points and so, we're going to rapid, rapid fire. Really quick through this. But 10 marks of a trustworthy person, as we go through these, this is what we need to ask ourselves. Number one, do I have these qualities in myself and if so, do I have a lion-like toughness to stand firm in them and not waver, no matter what circumstances I might go through in life? And then, number two: am I also growing in these qualities? Do I have a lamb-like tenderness and teachability in order to continue developing in these areas, because we're never going to be perfect in any of them, at least not in this lifetime. So those are the questions to ask we go. 10 marks of a trustworthy person. The first one is so intuitive, so you know, obvious that it might seem cliché, but a trustworthy person has integrity. And Paul begins verse 10, he says to his disciple Timothy that, "You have followed my example," in what? "In teaching and in conduct." That Paul talked the talk but he also walked the walk and the things that he taught were integrated, with his lifestyle. He was a man of integrity. And trustworthy people, they need to strive to be people of integrity. Number two is intention. He says, "You followed me in my aim in life," that Paul was upfront about his motives. His aim was clear. He didn't have a hidden agenda, right? He had a clear mission, a clear purpose and he wore it on his sleeve. People knew what he was about and they knew what he was doing and why he was doing it. And trustworthy people, they make their intentions, their motives clear and they stick to them. And number three is faith. Paul says, "You followed my example in faith," and Paul's faith was exemplary, actually in a few different ways. First of all, Paul's faith meant that he was a man who was securely anchored. Right? Paul was not a loose cannon. He was not a ship being tossed about in the waves of doubt. He wasn't double-minded. He wasn't one person one day and another person the next. He had this strong faith that kept him anchored. He was unwavering in his convictions and he wasn't swayed by the opinions of others. He wasn't swayed by his own emotions or even by his circumstance. And so, he was securely anchored. Secondly though, he was also boldly optimistic. Paul was not a cynical or pessimistic person, although we might look at his life and say that he had reason to be. But he boldly trusted God's goodness and sovereignty, even through the suffering and persecution that he faced. He still had hope; he had peace and he had joy because he trusted that God was working it all together for his good. He was boldly optimistic. And thirdly, he was also courageously ambitious. He set great goals and he attempted great things for God, even when it came at great cost to himself. And Pastor Jan preached an entire sermon last week you can go back and listen to about setting godly goals, but Paul was a man who had a godly ambition. He wasn't fearful. He wasn't timid. He didn't procrastinate. He had confidence. He set those goals and he worked hard toward them. Number four is patience. Paul said, "You followed my example in patience." Trustworthy people don't freak out and fly off the handle as soon as things don't go according to plan. Right? Instead, they give stability to everyone else who's freaking out as things don't go according to plan. Patient people are slow to be anxious. Patient people are not quick to take offense; they don't take things personally. They're not quick to judge; they give people the benefit of the doubt. They don't lose their temper. They're quick to forgive. Things can roll off their back. They keep their emotions in check. They set reasonable expectations for others. They don't honk as soon as the light turns green, they wait a few seconds and then, you tap it. Politely. That's how you do it. Life skills, Boston. But they live by the Golden Rule. They treat people the way they would want to be treated. Patiently. Number five is love. You followed my example in love, and trustworthy people don't love, they love and there's a difference and Paul's using a specific word for love here that I think our culture really needs. It's the word 'agape,' it's not a love that's marked by feelings and sentiment. It's a mark, it's a love that's marked by commitment and sacrifice. Our world loves love but the love that they love, it's a phony love. It's a shallow love. Our love expects us to muster up these sentimental feelings about things and then act on them before those feelings run out but agape love says, "I'm going to take action. I'm going to do the right thing, regardless of how I feel." Agape love says that I'm not going to do things just because they feel good but because they actually do good. And this is where you begin to see that agape love doesn't always feel like love on the surface. We talked a few weeks ago on the importance of speaking the truth in love. That if you really care about things, sometimes you have to speak truths, things that are hard for people to hear, but you do so motivated by love. And this is the mark of a trustworthy person, because nobody trusts a yes man. Nobody trusts the person who always is ready to tell you what you want to hear. Now at the same time, nobody likes a critic, but when you have someone who can come to you and offer you constructive, heartfelt criticism, not gossiping behind your back, but actually one-on-one to your face because they genuinely care about you? That's a true friend; that's a person that you can trust. Trustworthy people love. Number six is steadfastness. You followed my example in being steadfast. Trustworthy people, they're people that you can rely on. If they say they're going to do something; they do it. If they make a promise, they keep it. Their word is their bond. Right? If they make an appointment, they show up ready and on time. This is a life hack, but in Boston, what that means, is that you always leave five minutes earlier than you think you have. Because the T's always going to be late; traffic's always going to be bad. There's always going to be a million excuses, but when that happens, it communicates something to that other person. If you're the person who's always late, who's never prepared. It's non-verbally telling other people, "My time is more valuable than yours." But when you're consistent, when you show up when you say you're going to show up and you show up ready to go, it communicates like, "I care about you and I value your time." And that creates trust in people. Steadfast people, they're not afraid of commitment and they're also not fools with commitment, and so what that means is that they count the cost before starting something and then, once they do start something, they carry it on to completion, that they're faithful. They follow through. And in order to do this, we need to be a people who use our yes and our and meaningfully and thoughtfully and intentionally. Jesus told his disciples that you should let your yes be yes and your no be no and that anything beyond this comes from the evil one, but steadfast people, when they say yes to something, they mean it. And they also have the courage and the wisdom and the humility to know when they need to say no. And listen, every time you say yes to something, you are automatically saying no to something else. So, are you doing that intentionally? Are you doing that with wisdom? If you're going to say yes to great things in life, you're going to be required to say no to a whole lot of, a 100 million little good things that want to take you and pull you away from that. But if we're going to be the people that make commitments and follow through on them, that's what we need to do. And so this is a discipline that steadfast people learn. Number seven is persecution. This one might seem strange to be on the list, but when you think about it, it makes sense. Paul says, "You followed my example in persecution." If a person actually has integrity and convictions, a clear purpose, if they hold fast to what they believe, in general, that's going to make them more trustworthy and likable. But it's also going to mean there's always going to be a certain group of people that hate them for it. This is Jesus. Jesus is the most trustworthy, likable person to have ever lived, but much of what made him so also got him crucified because people who are trustworthy, they're often marked by persecution because these are the people who are willing to do the right thing even when it's no longer the popular thing. These are the ones who stand up to the bullies on the playground. These are the ones who refuse to compromise their integrity under the pressure of their peers. And people aren't always going to like that. Paul actually tells Timothy, "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted." And number eight is similar, but a little bit different. He says, "You followed my example in suffering," as well. It's hard to trust a person who's lived a really cushy life. It's hard to trust a person who's never suffered, because you really don't know the true content of a person's character until you see it tested by the fires of hardship and pain. Now on the flip side, there are a few things more admirable than watching a person walk through difficulty, walk through suffering, but do so with hope, do so with joy, do so with grace, and this is what Paul did. Paul, you read his life. He lived a life of tremendous suffering for the Gospel. And yet, he was never grumbling, he was never complaining, he wasn't lashing out at people. What was he doing? He was always rejoicing. He was always trusting that God was in control, that he was sovereignly working all things together for his good, and so he walked faithfully through suffering. Number nine is endurance. Trustworthy people don't just have bursts of stability in life, they have enduring stability over the long haul, over time and over space. Right? There's a proven track record that they're not just faithful in certain areas of life for certain periods of time. They're faithful across multiple areas of life for long periods of time. And then number 10, most importantly, is humility. Trustworthy people are humble. And it might not seem so at the surface, when Paul is like, "You have followed my example," and that you should follow my example. It might not sound like an incredibly humble thing to do, that you should imitate me. But Paul does so and then in the end, he gives all the glory to Jesus Christ. That Jesus is the one who rescued me, that Jesus is the one who's saved me, and 1 Corinthians 11:1 he says, "Be imitators of me as I am of Christ." It's all about Jesus. And he makes this even more clear a few chapters later in Chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. He says, "It's only by the grace of God that I am what I am. And his grace for me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me." It's the humility to say yeah, I have grown in my walk with Jesus Christ. There are things about me that are worth imitating and yet, at the end of the day, it's all Jesus. It's him working in me. I look at this list of characteristics and in the flesh, I am overwhelmed. In the flesh, being a person marked by these qualities, I'm already exhausted. I'm already tired. Like, just thinking about it. In the spirit, though, this is exhilarating. Because like, imagine what could happen if just one person started living this way perfectly. Well, it did happen. That was Jesus Christ. We've already begun to see and to experience what could happen; it changes the whole world. Now, just imagine if we all started to live this world. Imagine if we had a community of reliable, tough, tender, humble, confident, likable, trustworthy people saturating our city. Imagine if the streets of Boston were filled with people of integrity, purpose, faith, patience, humility and an enduring love that was steadfast, even in the face of suffering, even in the face of persecution. Now, this is who Christ is and this is who he's called us to be and this is who, by the power of his Spirit, we are to become and when that happens, when that becomes evident in your life, people are going to ask question. People are going to want to know, like, they're going to see the patience. They're going to see the peace. They're going to see the joy and wonder, "Where does that come from?" Like sooner or later, they're going to come and then they'll say, why don't you join us in the break room when we're all gossiping behind other people's backs? Why aren't you always trash-talking the boss with the rest of us when he's not in the room? Why does there seem to be so little drama in your personal relationships? Why don't you freak out with the rest of us when the rest of us are freaking out? Where do you get this stability in your life to stay so level-headed? And this is something we need to be prepared to give an answer for. And this is exactly what Peter, he tells us this in 1 Peter, Chapter 3. In verse eight he says, "All of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil, reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing. For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Now, who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness's sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them or be troubled, but in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you, for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet, do it with gentleness and respect, having good conscience so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame." God has gathered us here in this place at this time in this city to be faithful, trustworthy witnesses to his Gospel and the thing that we need to be asking ourselves is when the storms of life hits, when things get crazy, when people's stability is shattered, are they going to come to us? And if they do, are we going to have enough lion-like stability in our lives to help them? Are we going to have enough lamb-like humility to show them that any stability that they might see in us, it all comes from Jesus Christ, that he is the rock, he is the anchor for our souls? If you're lacking that stability, just look to the cross. Look to the one who knows you completely and yet loves you sacrificially. He chooses to love you with an unfailing love. If you're not a Christian, like we would love for you to change that today. We would love for you to become a follower of Jesus today and you do that simply by repenting and putting your faith in him. Repenting is turning from away from sin. Stop trying to build life on your own foundations and instead, trust in Jesus. Build your life on the foundation of who he is. And if you are a Christian, for those of us who are Christians, we need to ask ourselves a couple of questions. First of all, how is your stability? Like, are you a stable, trustworthy person? Are you feeling like a leaf blowing around in the wind? This is important, because the second question is has God put people in your life who perhaps could benefit from that stability, if you have it? People that you can love, people that you can serve and people that you can point to the source of your stability so that they can find it themselves. I'm going to close by reading from Hebrews 13:7-8 and then we'll pray together before we continue in worship. "Remember your leaders. Those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Praise God." Let's pray. Jesus, you have sent us on a mission to proclaim your good news to the ends of the earth and you've also promised to be with us and for us until the end of the age. And we thank you that there is no shadow of turning in you but that you are trustworthy, reliable, steadfast. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. God, give us faith to never doubt your power, your goodness, your love, your grace. But grow us to be a people with a magnetic stability, a trustworthy people, a people of intriguing likability, not because of us but because people see you in us. They see the confidence and humility of Christ reflected through our conduct and faith. Jesus, we praise you. We thank you for being the propitiation for our sins, being the reason that we can have confidence to draw near the throne of God, no longer running in fear of the punishment we deserve but receiving the unfathomable mercy that you have attained for us by your blood shed on the cross. Father, we thank you for sending your son so that you could be just and the justifier of those who have faith in him, who trust in his name, and to you be all glory and power and honor forever and ever, we pray. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Setting Goals
October 6, 2019 • Proverbs 16:1–9
Audio Transcript: You're listening to audio from Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Heavenly Father, we thank you that are a god who loves us so much that you gave your son, Jesus Christ, for us. Jesus, we thank you that you were the most goal oriented person who has ever lived. You came with the goal to save us, to transform us, to redeem us from our sins. We thank you for your substitutionary atonement on the cross in our place, bearing the wrath of god for the wickedness and the sin that each one of us commits, sins of omission, sins of commission. We thank you for that, Jesus. We thank you for the gospel, that by grace through faith, your righteousness is transferred to us. We thank you for that. We thank you Holy Spirit, that you have come and you empower us when we ask for strength, when we ask for a filling, you come and you lead, you guide, you infuse us with wisdom and love. We pray that you continue to do that. Continue to build your church, Jesus. This is your church, not ours. Continue to use us as well to build your kingdom. Today, remind us that you have a purpose for us, that you have goals for us. The primary goal is to live for the glory of God, and show us how that can practically work itself out in our lives today as we turn our attention to the holy scriptures. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen. We're in a sermon series that we're calling Tough and Tender: Developing Resilience For Life. Why this sermon series? First of all, because we are weak. In and of ourselves, we are weak. In particular when it comes to spiritual life. Holy scripture talks about spiritual life as a fight, fight that good fight of faith. We can't do that in and of ourselves, by our own strength or resources. We need strength from the Lord. That's number one. The second reason why we chose to do this series is because we live in a culture that has, it's grown weak. It's a weak sauce culture. Back in the day, when life was hard, like, before indoor plumbing and electricity, the philosophy of the day was stoicism. The philosophy of the day today is what I affectionately call snowicism. We melt under the so-called pressures of life. I can't even. Just even coming in a space like this, where it's like, "What's the WiFi password?" We're not telling you. No WiFi. The only invisible force that we connect with us God. That's why we're here. That's why we're doing the sermon series, to develop this resilience for life that we need because we live in a broken world as broken people. We need the strength of God. Week one, we talked about the lion-lamb paradox, that Jesus Christ is both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God. When we worship him, we become more like him, both tough and tender simultaneously. The second week we talked about taking responsibility for ourselves, our lives, our calling. Because we will give an account to God for absolutely everything. Last week, we talked about speaking and receiving truth in love. Today we're talking about goals. In a very important way, our lives are the sum of the decisions we make. Are you living by design, or are you living by default? Holy scripture says be careful. Pay attention to what you have received, what you have heard, lest we drift away, lest we coast through life. The question before us today is should Christians set goals? The answer is yes, but. We are to set goals with a lion-like confidence, set them and pursue them, and simultaneously with a lamb-like humility, because we are not ultimately in control. We are responsible to do everything we possibly can to attain the goals that God has for us, and simultaneously we trust God to do the impossible. To focus our attention, today we'll look at Proverbs 16:1-9. Would you look at the text with me? "The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit. Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished. By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil. When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." This is the reading of God's holy and infallible authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Four points to frame our time together. First we'll look at the lion-lamb paradox of goals. Then we'll look at pursuing goals like a lion. Then pursuing goals like a lamb. And finally, pursuing lion-lamb goals. Number one, the lion-lamb paradox of goals. Life is paradoxical. It's not dualistic, but it is paradoxical. There are tensions in life and tensions in faith, not to be ironed out, but be embraced. Was Jesus Christ fully man or fully God? Yes. Are the holy scriptures written by people, or was it written by the Holy Spirit? Yes. Is the Church of God comprised of people, or is it the body of Christ? Yes. There are tensions. Is God in control, or are we responsible? Is God sovereign, or do we have jobs to do? Yes. For example, you see this tension in scripture. When it comes to making plans for our lives, Luke 14:28. The words of Jesus, "For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down, count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?" There, Jesus is saying, if you are going to build something, you should sit down and think about not just the end product, but how you're going to get the resources you'll need. So you've got to plan. Then Matthew 6:34 also says, "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself, sufficient for the day as its own trouble." Are we to plan for tomorrow, or are we not to be anxious about tomorrow? Yes. Plan, but plan in a way that's not anxiety riddled. Plan in a way that you were completely relying on God. It's a paradoxical tension. We make plans and we know that the outcome is ultimately up to the Lord. You see this in Proverbs 16:1. The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. We're absolutely free to plan in our hearts, but everything is determined at the same time. Proverbs 16:3. Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established by whom? By the Lord. Which is clarified in verse nine, "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." Your plans are yours. We are to make plans. No one's forcing you. But the actual result of those plans, what will be accomplished, is totally controlled, totally set, totally planned, fixed, both at the same time. It's not deterministic, it's not fatalistic. It's not just destiny, whatever happens to me, God's already sovereign, I don't have to do anything. We are responsible. It's completely up to the Lord. This is absolutely incredible, that God is absolutely sovereign, and he gives us freedom to make decisions that actually have real life implications, real eternal implications. On the one hand, praise God for his control. Some of the most important decisions in your life you make as a teenager. Some of the most important decisions of your life you make in high school, you make in your early 20s. Decisions that impact the rest of your life. If I look back to my early 20s, I had plans for my life. Of those plans, I was probably wrong about 90% of them. In terms of career, in terms of relationships, in term of finances, 90%. But God guides. I look back, I see the Lord guide there, guide there, guide there, guide there. And I'm so thankful to God, because even today, as we make decisions, if I was wrong about 90% back then, well, what's the percentage today? 50? I don't know. I have no idea. We make plans, and we give them to the Lord. God relates your choices partially to your destiny, but he is the one who sets everything. God is sovereign, we are responsible. You are responsible, and yet, you can relax. I live my life like an Arminian and I sleep like a Calvinist. I do everything I possibly can. But I give it up to the Lord. God's in control. How can I make sure that the Lord establishes my plans in a way that is beneficial to me? In a way where I am blessed? We want the Lord to bless us. We want God's best for our lives. Well, the first step, the first step is you need to be reconciled with Christ. That's the ultimate goal. That we all have fallen short of the glory of God. We have all made plans and made decisions that didn't even have God in the equation. We need to be redeemed from that. I'll just show you here from Proverbs 16:4-7, about in the context of making plans and fulfilling. Verse four says, "The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble." How does that sit with you? Whenever I read a passage, I'm like, I don't want to be in that category. God gives us verses like this to awaken us from the spiritual stupor, to make us ask ourselves, are we in that category of wicked? Scripture says if you are not in Christ, you're in that category. How do you get in Christ? You accept his atonement for your sin, for your pride, for yourself, for your goal making, life planning apart from him. This is verse five. "Everyone who is arrogant in heart," that's the pride, I'm in control of my life. "Everyone is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished." I love that the next verse is connected to this idea, "By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for." This right here, this is a prophecy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Who's the only one who was completely faithful? The only one who was completely steadfast in love? The only one who could atone for our iniquities? Jesus Christ. By faith in Christ, through repentance, our sin is transferred to Christ on the cross. His righteousness is transferred to us. This is how salvation happens. This is how transformation happens. Iniquity is atoned for. The first step in thinking about any life goals from a biblical perspective is, goal number one, where do I stand before God? Am I righteous before God, through the righteousness of Christ, or am I wicked? I don't want to be the wicked. Christ paid for my sin on the cross. I want to be in him. I want to be covered in his righteousness. Once you're in, God has plans for you, to bless you, to keep you and protect you, plans for you to glorify him with every ounce of your being. Psalm 37:23, "The steps of the man are established by the Lord when he delights in his way." I want to be a person, when the Lord looks at my life, he delights in my way, because I am in Christ, abiding in Christ by grace through faith. That's point number one. If you're not a Christian, the way that you get right with God is just in prayer, asking God, "God, forgive me. Forgive me for living in such a way where I haven't even thought about incorporating you in my plans. Living in such a way where basically God doesn't exist, I've ignored God, been absolutely indifferent to him. Grace through faith. That's point one. Point two is pursue goals like a lion. Once you're in the Lord, once you're walking with God, God does give us goals to achieve for his glory, for our joy. This has to do with spiritual goals, but also really practical goals. We are to be a productive people for the glory of God. If you aim at nothing, you will hit it with amazing consistency. It's just common sense. If you want your life to be productive, you've got to set goals. The common sense part, I think some Christians lose the common sense part, because we begin to over-spiritualize everything. Like, you get up in the morning, you're like, "Holy Spirit, should I brush your teeth," yes, it's common sense. "Should I go to my job?" Yeah, go to your job. You got bills to pay. The Holy Spirit does guide, but God also gives us an intellect and free will to make decisions. The Holy Spirit leads, but not only spontaneously. I think by over-spiritualizing, we often, we use that as an excuse to cover our laziness. Laziness is a sin. Slothfulness is a sin. In the Parable of the Talents, Matthew says to the lazy, the lazy servant, the one who didn't do anything within the talent, he said, "You wicked and slothful servant." It's a sin. Proverbs 6:6-11, talking about setting goals and productivity. "Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer, gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to eat, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man." Talking of the person who doesn't have goals, in particular during windows of opportunity. In the summer, the ant prepares for the winter, it's a window of opportunity. We need to plan ahead. A failure to plan ahead leads to poverty in all senses of that word. For some of you, you've got to ask yourself the question, is laziness, slothfulness keeping me from setting goals that God would have for me? Proverbs 26:13-16, "The sluggard says, There is a lion in the road! There's a lion in the streets!" Excuse. I want to stay in bed, I want to keep sleeping. There's too much risk out there. If I set goals, I might not attain them. There might be some kind of risk. Verse 14, "AS a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard in his bed." Lion out there, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to keep sleeping. "The sluggard buries his hand in the disk, and wears himself out to bring it back to his mouth." You see this progression, where it's like, excuses out there. I'm going to sleep. Oh, I'm hungry. He takes a dish and literally too lazy to feed himself. It's literally the Uber Eats of Proverbs. It's a business opportunity. I'm too lazy to walk down the street to get food. "The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly." We have to recognize that there is this simple proclivity in Christians, the flesh that doesn't want to work. Sometimes that's the reason why we don't set goals. Perhaps though it's a lack of vision that keeps you from setting new goals. Perhaps you've achieved everything you've set your mind to, and now you're like, "What's next?" I don't know. I've been in seasons like this. Okay, you get the degree. Now, what's next? Okay, I've got to set new goals. Sometimes it's a season of suffering. This pain came out of nowhere, and I'm trying to get through life. I can't imagine doing anything more than just getting through. One example of this is Job 6:11. "What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?" What is my end? He's saying, I have nothing to live for. I don't have a good goal to carry me through. If we go to the Lord in that season, one of the things the Lord might say to us is, your goal in this season of suffering is to not waste the suffering, to continue glorifying God through the pain despite the pain. That right there communicates volumes to an unbelieving world. The unbelieving world, it makes sense to them that you worship God because he gives you good things. It doesn't make sense to the world that, hey, even in your suffering, your greatest thing is God. That right there might be the fresh goal that we need, the new vision that we need. I'm going to glorify God despite the suffering. If you're discouraged, maybe you need to take that to the Lord and say, "Lord, what would you have for me in this season?" Proverbs 21:5, "The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes into poverty." Proverbs 11:27, "Whoever diligently seeks good," whoever sets good goals is another translation, says, "will be honored, but evil comes to him who searches for it." Perhaps you're not setting goals, just goals in general, because there's a lack of faith. "This isn't possible for me, I can't attain that." The scripture says all things are possible for the one who believes. Because what are goals? Goals are statements of faith. Lord, if you don't show up, if you don't give me power, I can't attain this. Some of you perhaps, you live so comfortably you don't even need faith. If that's the case, you need new goals. Because without faith, it's impossible to please God. We need to set goals. Is fear keeping you from setting goals? I'll give you one example. Psalm 3, King David has just lost his kingdom to his son Absalom, and he's sitting down and he's crying out to the Lord, "What do I do? I've lost everything I've worked for." Psalm 3:1, "O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, There is no salvation for him in God." He's gotten to this place where he's like, people around him are saying, "Why are you a Christian? Why are you a follower of God. He's not providing for you." People are attacking his identity. There is no salvation for him. As they're attacking his identity, he's reminded of his true identity. That's verse three. "But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head." What's he doing right here? Commentaries say the reason why he's reminding himself, that's what he's doing, he's reminding himself that his glory is not in his kingdom. That his salvation is not in his kingdom. This identity isn't in his kingdom. His protection, security isn't in his kingdom. It's in God. "You, O Lord, are a shield about me." His identity is secure in God. Meaning, that's his greatest asset. His greatest asset is that he is saved, he has salvation from the Lord. He has God. He is protected by the shield of God. God is his glory. So, the point is, he's reminding himself, I've lost everything, but I have everything. There's no real risk to his most real assets. The greatest asset that he has is his relationship with the Lord. Things can come, things can go. There's nothing to fear. That informs our understanding of risk, of volatility. No matter what happens, the Lord is with me. He continues in verse four, "I cried aloud to the Lord, he answered me from the holy hill. I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people." Perhaps sin is keeping you from pursuing godly goals, goals that God would have for you. This is Proverbs 28:1, "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as lions." What sin does, is it causes fear. You see this correlation between wickedness and fear here in general. The correlation of wickedness and fear, and righteousness and boldness. He's talking about boldness in terms of justice. If you are in Christ, you are covered by the righteousness of Christ, you're ensconced, enveloped of the presence of God. If there is sin in your life, habitual sin, unrepented sin, take it to the Lord. Repent of that sin. Perhaps it's that sin that's pulling you away. Nothing so ennobles, nothing so fortifies a person as being in the Lord, abiding in Christ, for the person committed to Christ. Lord, no matter what, I know I'm weak, I know I'm a sinner, but I'm believing in Christ, I'm repenting of sin. You're in Christ, and you're clothed in the assurance that God is with you. Pursue goals like a lion. But pursue goals also like a lamb. Meaning, the goals that we set, lion-like goals, are to be set humbly under the guidance of the Good Shepherd. What are the goals that the Good Shepherd has for me? It's goals set in accordance with God's will, under his leadership, in submission to him. We get an example of this in Philippians 3:12-14. Saint Paul is saying, I've got one goal. My goal is to be faithful to Christ, I'm going to be faithful to the end. I'm going to pursue this on a daily basis, because I want everything in my life, every single ounce of my energy yielded to Christ. He says, "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own." He said, my ultimate goal is to be faithful to Christ. I don't have any righteousness of my own. Christ is my righteousness. But because Christ is my righteousness, I want to be righteous, so I'm going to do everything I can to do that. He says, "Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind, straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." I've got a goal. I've got one goal. This one thing I do, I'm straining forward. I'm agonizing for it. He had many goals, multiple goals. He said, but all of my goals are in submission to the one goal of, I want to be faithful to God, I want to glorify God with everything that I have. That goal gives you energy when you're sad. It gives you hope when you're lacking. It gives you inspiration. It gives you the power to endure. They build your character. So whatever the goal is, Lord, help me. I want to glorify you through this means. As we're working on those goals, God's working on you, because for God, faithfulness is more important than fruitfulness. Saint Paul didn't say, "I have this one goal. I'm going to plant churches all over the Roman Empire." He said, "No, I have this one goal. I want to be faithful to the Lord. As we're faithful to the Lord, he makes us fruitful." That's number one. Then number two, for the overly rigid goal setters, some of you are overly rigid. You've got your whole life reverse engineered. You have like a detailed business plan for your life. This is where humility comes in. I am just a little lamb following the Good Shepherd. James 4:13-17, "Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit." This is to us. I'm going to go to Boston for a year, maybe two years. I'm going to get the degree. I'm going to get the experience. Then I'm out. "Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." You see the balance? You've still got to plan, if the Lord wills. Is this God's will? I'm recognizing, if God gives me more time. If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. "As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." So yeah. Goals, lion goals, but lamb-like, because it's under Christ and humility, if the Lord wills. James isn't saying, do it, but you do it in submission to the Lord. Sometimes we have great godly goals for ministry. God sometimes stops and says, "No, that's not my will." One example of this is Acts 16:6-7. "And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia." That's fascinating. Doesn't God want the word of God spoken everywhere? It wasn't the time. It's forbidden by the Holy Spirit. "And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them." Again, no. Good goals, I've got a better goal for you. Humbly surrender your agendas, your ambitions, your plans to God, and God, this open hand, if this is yours, but in whatever I do, I'm going to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, asking for God's wisdom. And as we do, God gives it to us generously.Proverbs 16:9, "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." Finally, point four, pursuing lion-lamb goals. I'm going to give you 10 really practical specific ways that we can use to think through our goal making, goal attaining. Number one, start with prayer. By the way, point four has 10 points. I don't want to scare you. 10 really practical and rapid fire... Number one, start with prayer. Go to the Lord. Say, "Lord, I'm humbly coming to you. I have this desire in my heart, I have this goal, but I'm bringing it to you." What prayer does is, it sifts through our goals. What prayer does, it doesn't just move the hand of God, it does that, but it also shapes our heart. It moves our heart. Will this goal honor God? Will this goal increase my faith? Will this goal make me love God more, enlarge my heart, allow me to love people more? It keeps you from planning unrealistically, irresponsibly, and it keeps you focused on the most important goals, which is to honor God, glorify God. Hebrews 13:20-21, "Now may the God of peace who brought from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of his eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." This is a great prayer to pray in terms of discerning goals. Psalm 25:4-5, "Make me know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long." Psalm 32:8, this is the response of the Lord when we pray like that. "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you." Psalm 37:3-6, "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday." Number one, pray. Number two, check your heart. Check your motivations. What's motivating me in setting these goals? Are these goals motivated by love? God doesn't bless goals that are motivated by greed, by envy, by fear, by worry, by anxiety, et cetera. He does bless goals motivated by love. 1 Corinthians 16:14, "Let all that you do be done in love." 1 Corinthians 14:1, "Pursue love." Another translation says, "Love should be your greatest goal." Number three, categorize goals. This is really practical. You have the one goal as a Christian, to be faithful to God, glorify God. Now how does that work itself out practically? Here's the categories that you might have. This is how I think through things in terms of priorities. Of all my goals, there's got to be spiritual underpinnings obviously. So I have spiritual goals. I need to set a plan for how much time I'm going to spend with God, quantity time, and when I set quantity time, quality time happens. I'm very regimented when it comes to how much scripture intake and times I block off to be with the Lord. Why? Because all of my other goals have spiritual underpinnings. I have goals when it comes to worshiping God by myself, but worshiping God corporately, I have goals to attend worship services. I have a goal every single Sunday, I'm going to be at a worship services at Mosaic. Not just because I have to. This is really important. I meet a lot of Christians who take vacations from God, from church. There's a commandment, remember the Lord, your God, and remember the Sabbath day. You take a day. I'm going to be with the Lord. I see this in particular to the 11:15 service. No offense if you were here last week at the 9:30 service. We had one service last week, and attendance dropped by 150. You know what that communicated to me? That communicated to me there's a lot of people who just go when it's convenient. This is the coach pep talk, Pastor Jan Bill Belichick talk. I have a commitment to the Lord. I'm going to worship God every Sunday. I have a commitment to communion groups. I'm going to be in the communion because I need Christians in my life to hold me accountable, and I need to serve other Christians as well. Spiritual underpinnings, then the other categories I have. God is number one, serving the Lord. Number two, family. Family, church, friends, work, financial, health. Family, that's a category in my life. I have a goal for my family. I want to have a healthy family life. I want to honor God with my family. Tanya and I have been married 13 and change, 13 years and change, praise God. I have a goal to be married until death do us part. That's our goal. That's her goal too I hope. I plan, we plan how we are going to invest in our relationship to make it. We have four daughters. I have goals for my daughters. I want them to be ferocious women of God, godly women, to make an impact in the world for the Kingdom of God. There's a guy in the Book of Acts, Philip, he had four daughters, and they were prophets. They would prophesy. That's my goal for my daughters. I want them to know the word of God, just walking around prophesying left and right. My youngest is the best one right now because she's so loud. I've got goals. Church I already talked about. I've got church goals. Yes, I'm going to plan my faithfulness. I'm going to plan being faithful to God in the future. You do that through commitment. Friends, always need godly friends. You've got to invest in some godly people who know the Lord and they know you. Work, financial, health. Work, I have goals to work. I work a lot. I work as hard as I possibly can. If you're new to Mosaic, you think I just get up here and I ramble, that's part of the time. There's a lot of work that goes into preaching. There's a lot of work that goes into pastoring. But there's goals. I want to be the best pastor I possibly can be. I'm always thinking about leveling up. What's the next book I've got to read? What's the next conference? So have goals. Financial, I have goals to be generous. We are to be generous people. To be generous, I need to make enough to be generous, and we're going to have a sermon on the finances in two weeks. Health. I want to be as energetic as possible for as many days as the Lord gives me. If the Lord gives me another 40 years, I want to be as energetic as I possibly can as a 66 year old, 76 year old. Second service, 36. 76 year old. Yeah. I want to be the most energetic 76 year old I possibly can be. I'm going to keep deadlifting until I'm dead. That's my goals. All spiritual underpinnings. This has to do with health, it has to do with taking care of yourself. Why? Because glorify God. Number four, ASAP. As specific as possible. There it is. As specific as possible. God honors specificity. God honors specific prayers, specific goals. Saint Paul says, "This one thing I do," focuses his time, focuses his energy. Light is powerful, but if it's diffused, it doesn't have as much power. Magnifying glass focuses light, and you can actually start a fire. You focus the light even more, you get a laser. Same thing with our time, same thing with our energy. We live in a world of distractions. We are to be a people that don't spend our time or waste our time. We are to be a people that invest our time, invest our lives, so be specific. Saint Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things," meaning, says no to many things. "They do it to receive a perishable wrath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly," goallessly, I have a goal, he says, I'm pursuing that goal. "I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." Number five, write it down. There's something powerful that happens when you verbalize a goal. When you get it in writing. When you get it in front of you. God speaks, but God is also a God that writes things down. God gave us commandments that he wrote with the tip of his finger, scripture tells us, so we have to verbalize our goals, and the verbalization is an act of faith. Number six, find accountability. Goals are relational glue, and it's just easier when you have people holding you accountable. Proverbs 12:15, "The way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice." Ecclesiastes 4:12, "And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken." A great example of this is the Great Commission. The Lord gives his disciples the Great Commission, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to do everything I tell you. That unites them, and they go, they bring other people in, and it keeps them accountable. One quick example, a study I came across, Gail Matthews, Professor Gail Matthews from Dominican University, she did this study where she wanted to gauge what impacts goal attainment or achievement more than not. She had five categories of people. Number one were people that just thought about their goals. Here's my thoughts. Number two, people who wrote the goals down. Number three, people who wrote down action steps, so specific. Then the fourth group were action steps, and then these people found supportive friends. The fifth group did all of that, but they sent out weekly progress reports to their friends. Obviously, the fifth group was the most effective in achieving their goals. It's common sense. Whatever your goals are, get people, get brothers and sisters, get Christians to hold you accountable. Get in group chats. There's something about group chats, especially if you're good at memes. There's something about it, it just fires you up. Even if your friend has an Android phone, even with the green bubbles, you still love them, you still get them in there. Number seven, celebrate on the way. We got balloons today. Celebrating Mosaic's birthday, we got balloons. You know why? There's something about balloons. We're celebrating. Back in the day, we used to do cake, but sugar is bad for you, so we cut that out. We have birthday bagels. There's something about celebrating, and biblically speaking, there's this one example in 1 Samuel 7:12, and the passages in that context, Israel lost to the Philistines, they just got wiped out. Then Samuel pleads with God and repent. Then God gives him a victory. Then Samuel, he takes up a stone. "Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer." You know that song we sing, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, and there's, here I raise my Ebenezer, and all of us sing, we're like, "What's an Ebenezer? Like, Ebenezer Scrooge?" No one has any idea, you just keep singing. It's from the Hebrew, it means, until now, the Lord has helped us. Why? Why are we doing it? God has been faithful, and that reminds me that God will be faithful today, and he will be faithful in the future. So celebrate. How? I don't know. Think about it, pray about it. If you attain a goal, I don't know, go out to dinner. Get that really expensive steak that you've been eyeing at Whole Foods, you know, grass-fed. Birthday steak, not birthday cake. Number eight, play the long game. This is so important. Play the long game. Set goals, not just for this year, obviously humbly. We overestimate what we can accomplish in one year, especially when you're younger, you overestimate what you can accomplish in one year, and we underestimate what we can accomplish in 10 years. Where do you want to be in 10 years? Write it out. Ephesians 3:20-21, "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." God is able to do more than our wildest imaginations for his glory and for our joy. So whatever the size of our goal is, there needs to be this X factor, that unless God shows up, unless God's power is coursing through me, unless God gives me, I can't do it. We need to start dreaming about God-sized goals. I moved to Boston with my wife and Sophia when I was 26 years old. I had goals for 10 years. I heard this line about overestimate, and God's fulfilled it. But also, I didn't just have a 10 year plan. I also have goals like for four years. For the next 30 years. Why? Because I was 26 at that time, so 66, I'm not going to retire, because I don't believe in that. There's no biblical word for retirement. We don't retire. We serve God until the rest of our days. But when you start dreaming like that, what can God, God's done amazing things through Mosaic, but imagine what more he can do. Imagine the impact globally that God has in store potentially for us. William Carey says, "Expect great things from God, and attempt great things for God." God is sovereign, we're still responsible. You've got to believe. There's this interplay where God wants us to believe, and the great faith goal is honor God. Matthew 9:27-31, this example, "As Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, Have mercy on us, Son of David. When he entered the house, the blind men came to him and said to him, Do you believe that I am able to do this?" Why are you even asking? Why not just heal them? Well, he wants us to participate. We participate through our faith. They say, "Yes, Lord. Then he touched their eyes saying, According to your faith be it done to you. And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, See that no one knows about it. But they went away and spread his fame through all that district." According to your faith, according to your faith be it done to you. We believe that God saves people. The same way that Jesus gave physical sight, we believe that God gives spiritual sight, so we believe. We follow Jesus, the ultimate goal setter. No one set goals as great as Jesus set. Jesus literally set out to change the world. I'm going to save the whole world. It took a sacrifice, scripture says that he set his face like flint. Luke 13:32, talking about King Herod, says, "Go tell that fox, Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day, I'm going to finish my course." His goal is to accomplish the will of the Father in joint mission with the Holy Spirit. That brings us to point nine, depend on God's spirit. By the way, I hope you noticed, they're not in order of importance, these points. The most important ones are towards the end. We started with prayer. Holy Spirit, here's what's interesting. In the Old Testament, they had this thing, to discern God's will, they had these two stones, the Urim and Thummim. There was also this thing of casting lots. Like, we need to figure out what God wants us to do. We're going to cast lots. Whatever it tells us, that's what we're going to... and the last time lots were cast in the Bible is Acts 1, where Judas hangs himself, and the apostles, they decide to replace Judas' place with either Joseph or Matthias. They cast lots. What happens in Acts 2? The Holy Spirit comes. After the Holy Spirit comes, no more lots. The way that we discern what God's goals are for us, God's plan is for us, God's will for us, we rely on the Holy Spirit. A. W. Tozer said, "God is looking for those with whom he can do the impossible. What a pity that we plan only the things that we can do by ourselves." Zechariah 4:6, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by my might, nor by my power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts." We won't succeed, we won't have success by our own strengths or power, but by the Spirit of God. Then point 10, be guided by God's word. Joshua 1:8, "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." Another translation says, "Then you will successfully attain your goals." Goals keep us going, in particular when it gets hard. In particular when we need to sacrifice. In particular when it hurts. We look to Jesus Christ, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12:1-2, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him," that's the joy. The joy that he gets when he saves us, "for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." He endured. That goal kept him going, even when his feelings said no. Did that ever happen? Yes. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus sees, as he's praying, he sees what he's about to endure in absorbing the wrath of God for our sins. He says this, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Jesus didn't say, I don't have peace about this. He didn't say, I don't feel like doing this. He had the goal of saving us, and he was motivated by love for us, and that compelled him to sacrifice himself, and that's what love in essence is. It's sacrifice. We as Christians, we're deeply aware of what Christ has done for us, and that motivates us to set godly goals, to glorify him, and to fulfill the mission that he has for us. We're deeply aware that we are not to squander the time that he has given us, and we are to do everything we possibly can. To glorify him by seeing brothers and sisters grow in the faith, and new people become brothers and sisters. Scripture says, "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" At this time, we're going to transition to holy communion. We celebrate holy communion the first Sunday of every month. The way that we celebrate holy communion is through the cup and the bread. The cup symbolizes the blood of Christ that was shed for us to cleanse us from sin. The bread symbolizes the body of Christ, that was broken for us, to heal us from the inside out. The way that we celebrate at Mosaic is the usher is going to hand out the cup and the bread. Hold on to the elements until everyone has received them. Then we'll partake together. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time in the holy scriptures. We thank you for the gospel. We thank you, Lord, that though we are wicked, you choose to save us through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus, we thank you that you fulfilled your mission, you fulfilled your goal. You attained it. I pray that you make us a people who live in a manner worthy of this gospel of Christ. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
Speaking Truth In Love
September 29, 2019 • Ephesians 4:11–16
Summary: Why are words as powerful as they are? What is it about a turn of a phrase that can make us laugh or cry? Why can some words start families and other words spark wars? Words have the power to create life and inflict death. Words are immaterial, yet contain the power to create and shape material reality. Perhaps this begins to scratch the surface of why Jesus is the Word. Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Good morning, welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan, I’m one of the pastors here at Mosaic, and if you're new or if you're visiting, welcome, we're so glad you're here, we'd love to connect with you. If you'd like to connect with us, we do that officially through the connection card in the worship guide. If you fill it out legibly, you can toss it in the offering basket afterwards, or redeem it at the Welcome Center for a gift that we've lovingly, lovingly prepared for you. I'm really excited about today, first of all because we have one service, we can gather together as a body, and second of all, there's no time limit on this service, so I can preach for as long as I want. I don't usually get that, so we'll see how the Spirit leads. Would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's Holy Word? Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for the fact that you, a holy God, did not reject us when we turned from you, when we rebelled from you, when we sought our own ways, when we sought to be our own gods. But Lord, you created a way for us to be redeemed from the evil that is deep within. We thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, who didn't just come to proclaim the way and the truth, but he is the way, the way to meaning and purpose and satisfaction in life. And Jesus, you are truth. We can't make sense of ourselves, we can't make sense of this world apart from you, apart from your person, apart from your work. So, Lord, I pray today, give us the Word, speak to us, speak in a way that we are transformed, that we can't but be transformed because we have met with the living God. Holy Spirit, we welcome you into this place. Minister to us. Reveal in our hearts where there's sin and pride and selfishness and evil, and show us that apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ, apart from Christ on the cross crucified for our sins, there is no salvation, that we need to be saved from ourselves, from our sin, from the wrath of God. We pray today, show us that you call us to be a people with tough minds and tender hearts, just like Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. One of the things that we do here at Mosaic is every single Sunday, we do something extremely countercultural. Someone gets up here and proclaims that there is truth, with a capital T, Truth. Not my truth, not our truth, but the Truth. And in our post-truth culture, talking of something as being true is passé. We live in a culture that doesn't want to accept that there are ultimate truths about ultimate things, and one of the things that we have done as a culture is we have relegated truth, and truth has been relegated to preference. Preference has been promoted over truth. So if you tell someone, "I'm a Christian," "Oh, that's great. That's a great hobby that you have, that you follow God. What a great hobby that you have. I do yoga," or "I jog," or "I watch the NFL," or "I'm in a..." What have you. "I do karaoke." I found out there are 13 karaoke bars just in Boston itself. It's a hobby. Christianity is a hobby. But we can't get away from the fact that there are ultimate truths. That we exist, that's a truth. That we will die, that's a truth. That we all seek satisfaction in life, that's a truth. That deep inside, there is something missing, that's a truth. And truth has been thrown out the window, it's been jettisoned, and we've replaced the idea of truth with a non-truth, and we redefine the truth. But without truth, we don't know who we are. And along with a lack of truth, we haven't just lost facts about the world, we've lost something else, we've lost true love. Without truth, without honesty, without trust, there can't be love. And it feels like the animosity in our culture is at a fever pitch, that if you disagree with my truth, we're not just in disagreement, but we hate each other, we're enemies of one another. And by the way, this is the pattern of the Evil One from the very beginning. Satan comes to our foreparents, Adam and Eve, and the first thing he says is, "Did God really say?" Sows doubt, undermines truth, and what happens after? Adam and Eve lose their relationship with God. They lose that love, they lose the relationship with one another. Satan attacks with lies, which always leads to a loss of love. And lies soften the brain. We don't have a foundation in our mind for a worldview. Our brains are softened by lies and our hearts are hardened. Fragile minds, fragile hearts, that's our culture. Too many people are soft-minded and hard-hearted, and that's why you look around, and people are nasty with those people with whom they disagree. But the way of Jesus is different. Jesus Christ comes, and he has a tough mind and a tender heart. He resists evil with truth, but he does it in a way that's merciful. He gives truth, and he also extends grace and mercy for those who say, "Yes, that is truth. Yes, I am a sinner. Yes, I need salvation. Lord, save me. Lord, help me." And when we do that, we receive grace, and we receive mercy, we receive the love of God. So today, we're going to talk about how we as a people can receive God's truth, receive God's grace, and then speak truth in love to ourselves and to our neighbors in a way that really transforms the world. We're going to look at Ephesians 4:11 through 16, Ephesians 4:11 through 16. The text will be on the screen. You can follow along either there or in your Bible or on your app. "And he," Christ, "gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time. First, we look at God's Word of truth and grace. What are we to do with it? We're to receive the words of truth and grace, and three, we are to counsel one another with words of truth and grace. So, first of all, God's Word of truth and grace. One of the questions that we ask ourselves often is, "Am I the person that I am supposed to be? How can I become the person that I'm supposed to be? How can I become the person I was created to be?" In self-help circles, it's "How do I become the best version of myself? How do I level up?" And people making millions of dollars on becoming gurus and motivational speakers and life coaches. Well, Scripture comes in and says there is actually a standard of perfection, there is of truth, there is one perfect person who lived, and his name is Jesus Christ. And we grow into the best versions of ourselves by resembling Christ in character and in spirit, and in the way that he lived. This is what's going on in Ephesians 4:11 through 16, that Jesus calls a particular people to minister to one another. That we, as God's followers, are given the prophets, the priests, the pastors, the shepherds, and they are to equip us for the work of the ministry. And what is that work? That work is to be united in faith, to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and we do that by speaking to each other, speaking truth and love, which is courageous and compassionate. And so we grow together in the knowledge of the Son of God. Why speaking? Why are words so powerful? Why, in Christianity, in faithful churches, why is the sermon at the center of what we do? Why is the Bible at the center of our faith? A book with words, 66 individual books brought together, over 40-plus authors, written over 1,500 years in three-plus languages, in three continents, and we say this is God's Word. Why? Why, God, would you choose to reveal yourself like this, in the Word? Because words are powerful. Why are words as powerful as they are? I love words, I've always loved words. I grew up speaking Russian at home, and people ask me all the time, "Hey, where'd you learn Russian?" Because I grew up here since I was age six, people ask, "How did you not forget Russian?" I didn't not forget, I had to learn it here, and people are like, "Who taught you?" And honestly, I fell in love with the language. I fell in love with the going back and forth between English and Russian. I fell in love with Russian literature, Russian poetry. I fell in love with Russian rap, and one of my favorite things to do is to pump myself up with Russian rap. My wife says, "You got to stop doing that." I say, "It gets me going, baby. It gets me ready to preach God's Word." I love that there's power in words. I love comedy, the turn of the phrase actually makes people laugh, and sometimes makes people laugh so hard that they cry. That's really the... Why are words so powerful? The philosopher Heidegger said that words are houses of concepts, that these words bring together concepts, they're full of a concept, and the concept is what shapes reality. So how is it that something immaterial, words, shapes reality, shapes a material reality? People speak, and things happen. Families are created through words: "I do." Wars are started with words. Why are they so powerful? How is something immaterial able to shape that which is material? And we really begin to understand this by understanding how everything was created, that the immaterial God created the material word. How did he do it? By speaking. God speaks, and things happen, things are created through the immaterial. In Genesis chapter 1, the phrase "God spoke," and things were created, 10 times in chapter 1, "God said," and it happened. Psalm 33:6, it says, "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host." So God reveals himself in creation by creating through his Word, and then God's Word is also associated with deliverance, salvation, redemption. The world is fallen, so God needs to send his Word to redeem, to re-create, to transform. Psalm 107:20, "He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction." The Word goes, the Word heals. That's why, when we see that Jesus Christ is revealed in the Gospel of John... And by the way, if you are not a Christian or you're just looking into Christianity, exploring Christianity, there is no better book to start off with than the Gospel of John. Read the Gospel of John, meditate on the Gospel of John with an open mind and an open heart, and see, see if these words are living. In John 1, how is Jesus revealed? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." This is Jesus Christ. He is the Word. So when God was creating, when God was speaking, Scripture says that Jesus was there with him, and that all things were created through him, that Jesus is the very Word of God, the extension of God himself. Jesus didn't just come speak words, he embodies words of truth. Why is that the way that God reshapes the word? Because Satan lies, and the lies destroy love, and Jesus comes, and he embodies both truth and love. So his coming, his working, his teaching, his dying, this is the final decisive message of God that God articulates himself through Christ, through what he said, through what he did, through what he was. That's why in John 8:31, Jesus says, "If you abide in my word," in the very words of the Word, the written Word of God, the living Word of God as attested to in the written Word of God, he says, "you are truly my disciples." And then he says in John 15:7, parallel, "Abide in me." Abide in the Word, abide in me. Hebrews 1:1 through 2 says, "Long ago, at many times, in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world." So Jesus isn't just deed; deeds can be ambiguous. Jesus isn't just a thought; thoughts can be discombobulated. Jesus isn't just a feeling, because feelings are misleading. Jesus is Word, Jesus is Truth. In John 1:14 through 18, that same chapter of John 1, it says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." The immaterial becomes material. "And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him, and cried out, 'This was he of whom I said, "He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me."' For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known." Jesus came, the Word embodied, and he's full of what? He's full of grace and truth. And he comes, and he proclaims this message of the gospel, so we are to listen to him. If we are to develop tough minds and tender hearts, we are to listen to him. Jesus would often say, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." We change by listening, not talking. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes from the Word of God. Grace and truth. God speaks tough truths with a tender heart. When God speaks, sometimes he speaks blessings, and he often speaks of curses. Those who reject him are under a curse. He speaks words that give life, and he speaks words that actually destroy. He speaks the law at Sinai, and he speaks the gospel from Golgotha. He speaks truth, and he speaks grace. Tough and tender speech flows out of God's tough and tender character. Romans 11:22, "Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off." So what are we to do with this truth, this tough truth and this tender love that God offers us, truth and grace? We're to receive the words of truth and grace. How do we do that? We set up the theology; now, how do we do that practically? What are we to do with this teaching? I'm going to set up point two, point two is "Receive the words of truth and grace," with a quote from Richard Sibbes, who was a phenomenal preacher and theologian, and about 400 years ago, he wrote The Soul's Conflict and Victory Over Itself by Faith. And he says this: "If it were an easy thing to be a Christian, if religion stood only in a few outward works and duties, but to take the soul to task, and to deal roundly with our own hearts, and to let conscience have its full work, and to bring the soul into spiritual subjection unto God, this is not so easy a matter, because the soul out of self-love is loath to enter into itself. Because the soul out of self-love is loath to enter into itself, lest it should have other thoughts of itself than it would have." What's he saying? He's saying we don't want to look deep inside of our souls. We don't want to acknowledge what's within. That we all have a tendency of self-hiding, self-blinding. We don't want to come face-to-face with our own sin, with our own evil. Do you recognize this resistance within? And only when you recognize that there is this resistance, that we don't want to look into our sin, acknowledge our sin, until we see that, there is no hope for us. Until we become spiritually aware that we are deeply broken inside, and that we are responsible for that brokenness. Until we awake to the fact that our nature is evil, that there is a darkness inside that we are deathly afraid to look at. Until we realize that your trouble is that you yourself are wrong, there's something wrong with us. Until we realize this, that we need a Savior from the evil within, that Jesus is not just a counselor, he's not just an advisor, he's not just a comforter, he's not just a consultant to make your life better, that Jesus Christ is a Savior, and that we need salvation. Until you realize that, you won't understand yourself, you won't understand the world. Modern secular thought from the 19th century or the early 20th century and even today, what they've been doing is probing our resistance to knowing ourselves accurately. Nietzsche, Marx, the psychodynamic psychologists Freud, Jung, Adler, the existentialists, they all agreed that we resist looking in the mirror, we resist knowing our true selves. And they could never agree on what we are avoiding or what the alternative is. What do we avoid when we avoid looking deep within? Is it perverse sexual impulses? Is it murderous hostilities, a cosmic dark side to our souls, craving for power and superiority? A fear of death, perhaps? And each of them is partly correct, and all these things fester within our souls, but Scripture calls a spade a spade and says there is a truth about us that we need to come face to face with if we are to be saved. Ecclesiastes 9:3 gives us a great explanation of what's going on. Solomon, the great philosopher, Ecclesiastes says, "This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead." There's an evil deep within our hearts. We fiercely resist seeing ourselves as God sees us, because then, we begin to understand that we're helpless. We can't do anything about that evil, and we fiercely resist seeing God as he is, that God is holy, that God is totally other, that there's nothing evil with him. That he, by his nature, resists evil because he loves so much. He loves you so much that he resists anything that would destroy you. If you've ever had a loved one who's battling with an addiction, you understand just how angry that is to see this person whom you love killing themselves. In the same way, God's wrath resists the evil within ourselves and the evil that's done to us. People often ask, "If God is good and if God is great, why doesn't he just destroy the evil in the world?" Well, let me ask you a question: If God is to destroy the evil in the world by pressing a magic button, would any of us be here a second after? No. We've all sinned. That's why we have this anti-God bias, because we understand that we are guilty before a holy God. Matthew 12:33 through 37, the words of Jesus Christ: "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." All these philosophers that we mentioned, every theory about what's wrong with us, why we resist looking inside, every theory tries to propose a way to make right. Either gain insight into personal history with psychodynamics, undergo a reeducation experience, parenting, owning your dark side, make authentic choices. Problem is, every single one of them gives the same exact solution: You got to save yourself. That you can save yourself, that you can do something to make yourself acceptable before God. And this is where Christianity comes in and says, "No, the truth is that we are all evil, but there's a greater truth than that. The God of the universe is offering grace to every single one of us." We got ourselves into this mess, and we can't get ourselves out. That's why we need Jesus Christ. One last thing, when we talk about the philosophers, we talk about the psychologists, I was listening to Elon Musk this week, and Elon Musk was asked, "What would you tell millennials, millennials who want to transform the world, which field should they go in?" And he said this, he said, "We need to figure out a way to connect our brains to the cloud." To transmit our thoughts to the cloud, our dreams, everything that's going on inside. He said, "We got to figure out a way of recording it." And he said, "That way, we will never forget anything." I'm like, that's trippy, on the one hand. On the other hand, that's ludicrous. Like, that's already happening with the Internet, where people are just like, "These are my thoughts," in 140 characters, in 280... I'm like, "Ah, that's terrifying." I don't want to read that. I don't want to see these images. Imagine if everything is out there. Imagine if everything is recorded. But it is. It's already connected, not to the cloud, but to God. God sees everything, every thought, every intention, every inclination, every dream, everything. I shudder at the idea of anyone even getting a glimpse, a glimpse of what goes on in here, and I'm a professional Christian. I read the Bible all the time. That's my job. You look and say, "Ooh, no, let's not talk about that." And this is why I love Christianity. Christianity calls a spade a spade. This is who we are. We're evil. But there's salvation, there's grace that is offered because of Jesus Christ, because of the work of Christ on the cross, that God becomes flesh, that God lives the life that we were supposed to live in Jesus Christ: Perfect love toward God, perfect love toward neighbor, never a sinful thought, never a sinful inclination, never a sinful word. And he does that as a substitute for us, fully God, fully man. He goes to the cross, he's crucified, excruciating pain. And that's the crux of Christianity, that God's mercy and God's justice come together, that Christ absorbs the penalty that we deserve to pay for our sin. He absorbs the wrath of God, God's resistance to evil in the world. He takes it all upon himself. He who knew no sin became sin, became our evil on the cross, so that we might become the righteousness of God. And we, my friends, we can look into the evil within our hearts, and we can be honest before God about the evil in our hearts, about the sin in our lives, because there is grace. Because God is saying, "I already know. Now receive the grace. Receive the mercy, receive the forgiveness. Become a child of God." There are tough truths in Scripture, that apart from God, apart from the sacrifice of Christ, apart from grace, that we will bear the penalty for our evil for all of eternity. That's truth. A tough truth in Scripture is that not one person is a child of God in their nature. We're creation of God, but we are not children of God until we are adopted into the family of God by grace and faith. All it takes is receiving the gospel. All it takes is believing, "Yes, God, I am a sinner. Yes, God, I repent of my sin, I turn from my sin, I turn to Christ. Jesus, save me, and Jesus, I give my life completely to you." Once you do, you become a Christian. That's all it takes. All you need is to recognize your need. That's all it takes. And then there are these incredible promises that work themselves out, that God is for us. This is Romans 8:31 through 34. "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us." So stop running. Stop running from Christ, stop running from God, and accept the grace that he gives you to face life fearlessly. See yourself in the mirror, and then see God's gaze and God's grace. You don't have to keep denying, you don't have to keep resisting or wallowing. God is with us. And God is also in us, that God gives us this incredible power. Some of you don't want to become a Christian because you're like, "I don't have the power to not sin." In whatever sphere, probably one of the biggest ones that keeps people away from God is, honestly, sexual sin. People are like, "I can't become a Christian because I don't want to give that up." And God says, "Not only do I forgive you, but I give you power to live the life that I've called you to live, a life of freedom, a life of satisfaction, a life of joy." God gives us the Holy Spirit, Romans 5:5, "and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Why do I believe that Christianity is true? Why do I believe that this... Yes, the objective truth of holy Scripture, the objective truth of the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you can study it, there's incredible... There's so much proof. But also, I talked to God this morning. I experienced God today. I experienced the Holy Spirit. I feel God's power coursing through me. He speaks to me. I commune with him, I experience his presence. God is real, he is in us. That's why in Ephesians, up to this text, over and over, the text tells that there's "surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe in accordance with the strength of his might, strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might." There's wisdom for the asking to the one that says, "God, I am a fool." There's healing to the asking of the one that says, "God, I need you to intervene." God gives good gifts to those who ask. He says if you ask, if you receive, you will receive good gifts from the Lord. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. And also, the grace of God promises that he will come to us. He will finally make all the wrongs in this world right. 1 John 3:2, "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." The Good News isn't just past and present, it's also future, that once you accept Christ, God promises you eternal life that begins now, and you will live forever. This is what Jesus will do, and what he will do reshapes what we are to do. 1 Peter bases the transformational power of God's presence in our lives based on what will happen in the future. 1 Peter 1:13, "Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance." God's grace also applies to our lives when we recognize that we still are broken people, still living in a broken world, and we need God to come and to give us mercy. Jesus dies for the wicked, but he also defends the innocent. He feeds the hungry, he gives refuge to the broken, he heals the sick. And when we do experience anxiety, when we are in the depths of depression, what we are to do is to cry out to him, and as we do, he hears. You know how you know that you have experienced the truth and grace of Jesus Christ? This is the ultimate test that you have experienced regeneration, that you are a Christian, that you have a relationship with God. This is the primary test, I'll tell you: It's that you talk to God. You have honest conversations with God directly. You no longer just talk about God, you don't talk to people who know God about God as if God is a friend of a friend, so when you're hanging out with Christians who know God, you can talk about God. When it's you and God, one on one, in silence, you got nothing to say. That means you don't have a true relationship yet. Do you talk to God? The greatest example of this, and I challenge you to study this chapter this week, Psalm 119. You know Psalm 119? It's the longest chapter in the Bible. It's like when you're reading through Scripture, this is the chapter that you always skip. Like, "Yeah, it's not for me. Too long." It's longer than some books of the Bible. But it's one of the greatest articulations of someone's conversation with God. And by the way, if you study the structure of it, it's a tightly structured acrostic. It has got 22 sections; each section begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and every one of the sections has eight lines, and every single one of those lines begins with that letter. And Psalm 119, it begins with three verses about people in general, about God in general. The fourth verse begins to personalize things, that we stand accountable to God. And then, for 172 verses, it's just a person having an honest conversation with God. "I, God, your servant, I'm talking to you. Lord, the God who speaks and acts, God whom I need, God whom I love." It's not a person talking about God, it's a person talking to God, because they have experienced the Word of God being planted in their life, and then it's an outpouring of what happens when that Word is planted. It's real talk about how real life meets the real God. Have you had that honest conversation with God? If not, today, today's the day of salvation. Have a conversation with God. "God, I don't know what it is, but I haven't talked to you. I don't know what's keeping me from having a conversation with you." Have that conversation. Truly face yourself, your circumstances, your sin, God, your Savior, and cry out, plead for God's help in life's fundamental troubles, and assert who you are in him, affirm the identity that he has given you. And point three is that we are then to counsel with words of truth and grace. Because Jesus is full of truth and grace, it's possible to form a community of people who are growing ever more in truth and grace. Ephesians 4:11 and 12, "He," Christ, "gives the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, the teachers." Who are these? These are people, equippers of the truth. Apostles are foundational to wake a person up, to build a foundation for the truth. The prophets come in and call people to repentance with hard truth. Evangelists come in, they share the Good News, the tender love of Christ. Pastors and teachers take the truth and feed and protect the flock. But the job of these truth-tellers and love-bringers isn't to do the ministry, it's to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. This is verse 12, "to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ." Who are the saints? That's every single person who accepted the grace of God. It's a sinner who becomes a saint; you've been set apart for God's work. This is why church is so important. We don't just gather as a group of strangers to accept a word, and then go live our lives individually; that we are a people to accept the Word and do something with it, and what we do with it is, in verse 15, we speak the truth in love to one another. "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ." So, if you are a Christian, and you are not connected to a body of believers, I'll submit to you, that's exactly why you are not growing in your faith. This is God's plan for growth. "We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." We speak the truth in love to one another. That takes work. It's actually... It's super countercultural, because when we see people, even Christians in our lives, who are making foolish decisions, who are not submitting to the truth of God, the natural reaction is, "Who am I to meddle? I don't want to get into that." But Christ says that we are to love one another so much, and this is the word love, "speak the truth in love," it's agape, it's a self-sacrificial love, it's hard. And we are to practically speak the truth in love, and have hard conversations with one another when we see that a person is walking away from the Lord. Something like, "I love you and respect you as a person, and I want what's best for you, but you are destroying yourself with what you believe and how you are living." "I love you, and I have to speak truth to you." It's both. And you do it in a way that's true and loving and personal and appropriate, because that's what God does for us. Here at Mosaic, we talk about creating a culture of congregational care, and most people's... And if you're new to Mosaic and you come from another church background, for a lot of people, this is really alien, because they haven't experienced the idea of congregational care. Most people's church experience rarely aligns with this description from Ephesians 4. This very idea that we are to mutually counsel one another, it's just alien, because a lot of people think that counseling is something you leave to the professionals, so to say that the church has a primary counseling responsibility is to say something like, "The church has a primary brain surgeon responsibility." "No, you do that to... Those are the professionals. We're not going to speak to... We're not going to speak truth, we're not going to counsel one another." But this is how Jesus teaches that we are to be so closely intertwined with one another that we do speak truth, and we are counselors, because we are a kingdom of priests who minister to one another. Now, the question is, are we wise priests or foolish priests? And the example is Jesus Christ himself, that he didn't just preach the gospel, but through interpersonal relationships, he had conversations in which he pointed out sin, and extended grace, and just did that over and over. Hebrews 4:15, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." So these are the conversations that Jesus had with people. "What do you live for? What are you living for?" Told a parable of the foolish rich man who just keeps living for money, keeps living for money, had a huge harvest, and just stores himself treasures for himself, just living for himself. What are you living for? Is that making you happy? Where do you try to find your identity? Who are you? How do you explain to someone, who are you? Your essence, the foundation for your life. How do you treat other people? Honestly, how do you treat other people? Not how would you like to treat; how do you treat them? What do you do with Jesus himself, the most influential person who has ever lived? And if you're not a Christian, it would just be irresponsible not to study the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, who's impacted the world like nobody else. And he conquered the world, he's got a kingdom, not a kingdom of force, but a kingdom of love. What do you do with your anger, your anxiety, your indifference, your passion, your depression? Where do you turn when life is hard? What do you want? What do you want more than anything in the world? Why do you want that? What do you fear? What do you trust? What do you love? And then Jesus would counsel with Scripture, he would counsel with the Word of God. The most frequent topic in the book of Proverbs, which is the book of... It's a guide of wisdom, and the most frequent topic is how we talk. It talks about money and sex and work and food and drink, but more than any other topic, it's how we talk, and that wise people grow in wisdom by spending time with wise people. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another, and it's difficult. Like, when iron strikes iron, what happens? Sparks fly, but you get sharper. Something changes. So, how do we... How does this practically look in our church? The vision is that we have conversations with one another about God. Like, it's cool to talk about how great the Patriots are this year, that's great, we can start there. It's cool to talk about the weather, it's cool to talk about how wonderful autumn is in Boston, it's cool to talk about the... You know, all this stuff. But as Christians, do we talk about Christian things? Do we have, just even in casual conversation, do we talk about Christ? And yeah, in the church, but also in your families. Husbands, do you talk about God with your wife? Do you talk about the gospel, do you talk about pursuing the mission of God? Do you talk about the things of God? Because you always talk about what your heart is filled with, and God says, "I want your heart filled with the presence of God, the truth of God, and speak truth with one another, and connect it to the lives of one another." 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof." Sometimes speaking about God has to include reproof, which just means rebuke. "For correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." So, dear Christian, when you hear another Christian, perhaps in community group or in a conversation, spout heresy, just false, our job is to say, "I hear what you're saying, and you're wrong. You're absolutely wrong. I love you, but you're wrong. That's not true." We're commissioned by God to do that, to correct one another. And because there is love, and because there is humility, that allows us to say, "You know what? Yeah, you're right, I am wrong. I am in sin." I accept that reproof, I accept that rebuke. This is what it means to be tough-minded and tender-hearted. "I know you love me, you want the best thing for me, you want me to know God as he is, you want me to live the life that God has called me to live, so thank you for correcting me." Welcome correction of wise Christians into your life. "Please speak into me. What do you see that I'm not seeing? Where are my blind spots?" And then, when they do, do it with love. Ephesians 4:29 through 32 says, "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." Colossians 4:6, "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." Seasoned with salt, what does that mean? I'm not talking about, like, New England salty, like, "Ooh, this person's really..." What it's talking about is like, it's flavorful. It's flavorful. If you're new to Mosaic, I am... I love steak, I just do. I couldn't preach this sermon, historic sermon, without mentioning steak. But you know what makes... Steak in and of itself is phenomenal. You know what makes steak even better? Salt. Just a little salt, just a little pepper. It's flavorful. Christians who know God are salt. You are salt and light, meaning you're flavorful. It's interesting to be with you, because you speak truth. Nobody does that. In our culture, people speak truth about each other behind their back, to other people. That's our culture. And Christians are saying, "No, no, no, I'm not going to... No, I'm not going to do that behind your back. I'm going to do that to your face, because I love you." It really is, it's absolutely radical, and if you have those people in your life, man, hold on to those people and become like those people. 1 Corinthians 13:6 says, "Love rejoices with the truth." Now, I'm going to close with this. If you're not a Christian, if you're not a Christian, we, we want you to become a Christian. Like, we are proselytizing you. You know what that means? We're trying to convert you, that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to get you to join. That's basically why we exist. And not because we just need more people on the team, it's because this is true. This is the best thing for you. Why would you want to live this life apart from God? Why would you want to live this life apart from the power of God? Why wouldn't you want your sins forgiven? Why wouldn't you love to... Why wouldn't you want to accept the love of God? 1 Peter 3:15, "But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that's in you; yet do this with gentleness and respect." We have this hope, and this hope is Jesus Christ. What's the reason for the hope that's in me? Thanks to Jesus, the Word of God, who's full of grace and truth, I am fully known, and yet I'm fully loved, and you are too. If you today receive that truth that, "God, yes, I am a sinner, there is evil festering deep within, and I accept the grace," and then that makes the people that extend truth and grace. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this time you've given us in the Holy Word. We thank you, Lord, that you speak tough truths to us, which soften our hearts, tenderize our hearts. Make us a people who speak truth in love to ourselves and to our neighbors. I pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
Taking Responsibility
September 22, 2019 • Genesis 3:1–13
Summary: Though we shirk our responsibility to live God-honoring lives, Jesus takes responsibility for us. Our sin wasn't His fault, but He took responsibility. Once we receive His free gift of grace, Jesus entrusts us with the responsibility to use our time, talent, and treasure to love God and people. Transcript: You're listening to audio from Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Heavenly Father, we thank you, that you, the great God of the universe, created us. We thank you for the gift of life. And we thank you, Lord, that you did not leave us in our sinful state we shirked our responsibility of obeying you, of living in a manner worthy of the God who gave us life. Often we live as if we gave ourselves life, as if we sustain our life and we do not. You sustain us every single second of every single day. And we thank you, Lord, that you did not leave us in our rebellion against you, but you gave your son Jesus Christ who took responsibility for our sins. Jesus, you came and you lived the most loving life of anyone who's ever lived, and you embodied that love by sacrificing yourself on the cross to bear the penalty for our law breaking, for our rebellion. We thank you, Lord, that you provide a means for us to be reconciled with you. And Lord, remind us that once we're reconciled with you, we have a duty, we have an obligation, we have the responsibility, and show us how that plays out in life. Send us the Holy Spirit now and speak to us Lord. We don't just want to talk about you, we want to experience you, the true God of the universe. And we pray all this in Jesus' name, amen. So we're in a sermon series that we're calling, Tough and Tender: Developing Resilience for Life. Last week, we talked about Jesus Christ who is lion and lamb. We talked about the lion lamb paradox, that he is both tough and tender. He embodies both of these seemingly diametrically opposed qualities and sets of qualities. Today we're going to start talking about how to develop toughness with ourselves to fulfill the responsibility that God has for us, the purpose that he has for us. Today we are talking about how to fight hypengyophobia. Hypengyophobia as you well know of course. Let's do linguistic analysis. Phobia, you're scared of something. Hypen, you're really scared of something. What's the word in the middle? Guy. Hypengyophobia. What are guys most scared of? I tried this out twice this morning and both people said, "Women." Close. Responsibility. Hypengyophobia is the fear of responsibility. We live in an age of passivity. We live in an age of victimhood. People want to pass off all the wrong things in life to someone else. "It's not my fault that I had the parents I had. It's not my fault I grew up the neighborhood I grew up in. It's not my fault I went to the schools that I went to. No one taught me." So that's on the one side is passing off this passivity. On the flip side, it's just the idea that we live in a free country, "I'm free to do whatever I want." There's a problem with the idea that we can have unbridled freedom. And if we live like that, it does lead to irresponsible behavior. Victor E. Franco, who was a Holocaust survivor, he is the Viennese psychiatrist, existential philosopher. He came to the United States, loved the US, but he warned that this freedom, this idea of freedom, unless it's balanced out with responsibility, it threatens to degenerate into license and arbitrariness. This is his quote. "Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented with a statue of responsibility on the West Coast." Love the sentiment, Dr. Franco. I don't think you've ever been to the West Coast. I don't think they're gonna welcome that statue. But you get the idea. We need both. For freedom to be true freedom, it has to be curbed with responsibility. It's a very biblical idea that freedom isn't a lack of boundaries, throwing off all of the laws. True freedom is knowing the laws that you were designed to live on, to live by, to be curbed by so that you can flourish the most. There has to be a responsibility. So today we're looking at Genesis 3:1-13. The story of the fall when Adam and Eve shirked the responsibility that God had given, advocated that responsibility. And we'll talk about that. Please look at the text with me either in your Bible or on your phone or on the screen, Genesis 3:1. "Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?' And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" "But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden." "But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, 'Where are you?' And he said, 'I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I naked and I hid myself.' He said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?' And the man said, 'The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.' Then the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this that you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'" This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time together. First, we reject responsibility. Second, Jesus takes responsibility. And three, Jesus gives responsibility. First, we reject responsibility. When God created humankind, he entrusted us individually and collectively with responsibility, the responsibility of life therefore, we are answerable to God. He gave us a job, Genesis 1:28, "God blessed them ..." And this is a blessing. "God blessed them and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'" It's a blessing to live fruitful, productive lives for the glory of God. Genesis 2, 5 and 7, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden, to work it and to keep it." He gives us jobs to do and we are to keep the garden, the garden that we've been given dominion over. "And the Lord God commanded the man saying, 'You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.'" He entrusts existence to them, he entrusts a purpose to them, and he also entrusts his word to them. He reveals his will for them. And we'll give account for our life, we'll give account for our work, and we'll give account for the revelation. And the revelation was, God says, "I have created you to exercise dominion, to have authority over the world." And the greater this privilege, the greater the responsibility. That's not just Spider Man, that's actually Jesus Christ, Spider Man stole that from Jesus. Luke 12:48, "Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required. And from him to whom they entrusted much they will demand the more." And theology responsibility is you are not your own. I'm not my own. God has given us life and we are to live our life according to the purpose that he has for us. And Adam and Eve ceded this authority, the authority over their lives, the authority over their work, they ceded the authority over to Satan. They said, "We're going to reject God's word, we're going to reject God's will." And as they did, they didn't just reject God's authority over them and get just freedom, they replaced God's authority with satanic authority. That's what passivity led to. And verse 12, what's their reaction? God comes to Adam and says, "Adam, where are you?" God's not asking the question to get information. God's omniscient. He's asking the question to give Adam an opportunity to repent. To confess, to repent, to turn from sin. Instead, Adam does not take responsibility for his sin. He says, "The woman whom you gave to be with me ..." Blames the woman and God in one fell swoop. "She gave me fruit of the tree and I ate." And then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me and I ate." Adam shirks responsibility, Eve abdicates responsibility, and we see this pattern over and over throughout all of scripture. Cain kills his brother, Abel. God comes to him, he says, "Where's your brother?" Cain says, "Am I my brother's keeper?" The answer is yes you are. You have responsibility over ... Sarah becomes upset because she told Abraham, "Hey, have a child with Hagar." And he does, follows her advice, and then she becomes upset, blames him. Esau complains that Jacob deceived him in taking the birthright though Esau gave it him. Aaron makes the Israelites a golden calf to worship and then blames them for it. Pilate washes his hands of Jesus's death. You see this over and over and over. All throughout Scripture, nobody wants to take responsibility. In our culture, nobody wants to take responsibility. We want to accuse others, it's their fault. And we want to excuse our own issues, it's not my fault. There's a rights mentality, I demand my rights. There's a victimhood mentality, it's not my fault. And an entitlement mentality, I deserve better. The world owes me responsibility. We have a problem with responsibility. We've had a problem with responsibility from the very beginning. For Christians as well. This is probably one of the biggest sins that we just allow to fester in our lives. Complaining that the lot in life that God has given us isn't the one we deserve. We complain, "God, why is this person living a better life than I am? This person got better talents than I got?" And what we're basically saying is, "God, you gave me a raw deal. I can't do anything with the circumstances that you've given me, with the life that you have given me. I would do a better job at being God than you." This is actually the issue with the Israelites when God leads them out of captivity. For 40 years, they walk around in circles in the desert. For what? Because of their grumbling, seven times, and the scripture says they murmured. They murmured. Every single one of us, we have this inclination, this proclivity to reject the responsibility that God has for us. That's basically what sin is. Sin is rebel ... "God, I don't want to submit to you. God, I don't want responsibility over the burden of existence that I didn't ask for." And we shirk the responsibility. The first time I wrote this sermon, I basically ... It was point one, and then it was point three. That was my initial sermon. And point three, I looked at it as a fire. It was like 10 things you got to do, you got to take responsibility for yourself, you got to take responsibility for your soul, for your mind, for your heart, for your ... Like you got to take responsible for your job. And then I was like, it's kind of missing something. It seems like a self-help sermon. Basically just motivational. It was missing the gospel. Now, whoa, whoa, hold on. Jesus has to be in here somehow. Apart from the gospel ... We'll get to the practical parts of our ... Apart from the gospel, it just doesn't make any sense. Apart from the gospel, this is every single one of us we're trying to make up for the fact that we've shirked responsibility, and we're trying to fix ourselves. We're trying to fix our lives, and we don't have the power to do it. Where do we get the power? It's not just from Jesus' example, it's from Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. So this is point two, that Jesus takes responsibility. This is what makes Christianity different than any other world religion. Any other world religion and any other worldview is that, you need to fix yourself, you need to fix your life, you've made mistakes, stop doing that, stop complaining and make everything better. You need to work for your salvation. That's every other religion. You do to be accepted by God. And scripture says you can't do anything to be accepted by God. You are an enemy of God. You are under God's wrath. That's where scripture starts. But God has provided a way for you to enter into the acceptance of God. God has given his son Jesus Christ. Jesus has come, and he said, "It's not my fault. Your sins are not my fault." He lives an absolutely sinless holy life, righteous in every respect. And then goes to the cross to bear the penalty that we deserve for our rebellion. And then he comes back from the dead, and this is the heart of Christianity. Is when you place your faith in Jesus Christ, when you accept the work that he's done for you, God forgives all of your sins. Jesus says, "I take responsibility for all of your sins." It's the double imputation of when we trust in Christ, all of our sins go to him, all of his righteousness goes to us. He takes complete responsibility for our sins. Adam gave up dominion of the earth to Lucifer. There's nothing that we could have done to fix that. So we needed someone to come into our domain who's also outside of the domain, and that's Jesus. Fully God, fully human, did everything by God's authority, fulfilled God's will 100%. And this is why at the start of Jesus' ministry, Satan understood that Jesus came as a threat to his system, as a threat to his hold on the world. What did he promise Jesus in the first temptation? What did he tempt Christ with? This is in Matthew 4:8. "Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, 'All these, I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Be gone Satan, for it's written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'" Satan comes, and he tempts Jesus Christ with the same thing that he tempted Adam and Eve with. You don't need to obey God. You can be your own God. That's the temptation, "You don't need to be responsible to God. You can be your own God. And Jesus says, no. Because that right there, that's idea of worship. So Jesus submits to God the Father and worships God the Father completely. If Jesus had taken up Satan on the offer, Satan would still hold dominion over us, over the world. But Jesus didn't. He submitted to God, fulfilled the responsibility given to him by the Father. He is the true Adam. This is why Jesus Christ is different from Adam. Adam abdicated his responsibility. Jesus fulfilled it completely for us, took our sin upon himself. He dies, he's risen on the third day, and after he's risen, he sits down, meets with the disciples, and he gives them the Great Commission. He says, "All authority on earth and heaven is given unto me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations." Jesus Christ is the true king who submits, who serves in order to save us. Every single one of us. That's the heart of Christianity. Jesus took responsibility for your sins, accept that responsibility. Jesus served you, allow him to take the sins. And once you understand that, that Jesus paid it all, he gave you every ... Once you understand that's the heart of the gospel, that's the heart of Christianity, that right there is the reason why we are to take responsibility for our lives. God created you, we rebelled, Jesus took responsibility for you. Now we as Christians, we are doubly God's. Not only are you God's because you are his creation, you're God's because he bought you with the price, the price of his blood. Jesus Christ. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Have you seen The Lion King, the new Lion King? Since we're talking about my lion and lamb, I'll bring this in. This has nothing to do with the sermon but I'll just share it. The first movie I've ever watched was The Lion King with my dad. In the theaters. The first movie we went to see as a family because I come from an immigrant background. I was like 12 when it came out. No movies ever, and my dad said finally, "I'll take you guys to the movie theater but no snacks." So we like smuggled in tangerines. I don't even remember the movie, all I remember is the tangerine. Like, "This tastes so good, forbidden fruit." But in the new Lion King, Mufasa has this conversation with Simba. Simba is his son and Simba avoids the responsibility of restoring Pride Rock. This is a quote of Mufasa, and it just rings true. "Everything you see," he says, "exists together in delicate balance. While others search for what they can take, a true king searches for what he can give." There's a reason why that connects so deeply. It connects at the soul level. Yes, that's what a true king does. A true king gives. Why is that in my soul, though I have never seen it in world history? I have never seen a king like that. I've never seen a ruler of a people like that. Has authority, and uses the authority to serve. Why? Because that's Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate king that comes, and he serves us, takes responsibility for us, for our sins. And because he's such a great king, he gives responsibility to us under his authority. So that's point three, that Jesus gives us responsibility. Are we on point three already? Yes. But this is the long one. So brace yourselves. Point three, explain the theology why are we taking responsibility not to save ourselves? Because Jesus has saved us, now he gives us responsibility, including responsibility for yourself. We are to take responsibility for ourselves, and the theology behind this is that Jesus calls us sheep. He says, "I am the good shepherd, my sheep follow my voice." And if you grew up in church, and you're like, "Oh, yeah, Jesus is the shepherd, I'm sheep." You just you become so accustomed to it and you don't really feel the offense of what Jesus is doing. Jesus is explaining to us that you're not just cute and cuddly and fluffy. He's saying like, sheep are dumb, and we're dumb. Sheep are helpless, and you're helpless. Like if you knock a sheep over it can't even get up. There's no such thing as wild sheep. Sheep just die. There's no feral sheep. They're dumb. There's an idea of sheeple, where it's like dumb people who just follow a dumb ... And Jesus is saying, yes that's us in and of ourselves. We are not rational beings. We get this idea from the enlightenment, that we are ... No. Look at all of the mistakes in your life. Look at all the bad decisions in your life. You know who was present for every single one of the bad decisions in your life? You were. I was. Not in your own, in my life. The only constant of all the bad decisions in our life is you. It's us. So when Jesus say, you're a sheep, he's saying, you need a shepard. You need someone to say no little sheep, that's not the way to go. No little sheep, there's danger there. Now what's the idea of responsibility? So a lot of Christians miss this and a lot of people miss this. Yes, Jesus is my shepherd, and I am the sheep, but I do have a responsibility to tell my sheep self to follow Jesus. Jesus is shepherd, I'm a sheep. But I have a responsibility to tell me sheep self, little sheep ... This is the lion's side. You have to have a ... Christian, you need to toughen up, have a lion side where you tell your sheep side, follow Jesus Christ. You see this all in the psalms. They talk to themselves. Like David as he writes psalms he talk ... Why are you so downcast oh my soul? What's he doing? He's talking to his soul. Soul, look to the lord. Soul, follow the shepherd. I've got four daughters. By God's grace I'm growing in being a good dad. But I like to think ... My daughter Sophia on my birthday, she wrote me a card and said, "Daddy, I really did win the daddy lottery." I was like yeah. The brainwashing worked. But I realized, the way that I care for them, for my little ones, especially my two year old, the way I care for her, there's a sense where I need to care for myself like that. I need to lead myself like that. Like, I need to parent myself. It's time to go to bed Jan. That's enough screen time little Jan. Eat this, don't eat this. It's time for a workout. You need to read your bible little Jan. Do you have a ... You're taking responsibility for yourself. And the fact that God is sovereign does not contradict that. God is sovereign over everything, but he still tells us what to do. He's sovereign over telling us what to do so we are accountable, we are responsible. Moments in your life where you have the most meaning are the moments in your life that have been the most pivotal, where you look back and say, that changed my life. I guarantee you those moments are the moments that you took responsibility for something. I'm taking responsibility to apply for this job. I'm taking responsibility to start this business. I'm taking responsibility to start this relation. I'm taking responsibility. So we are to lead ourselves. You are the most influential person in your life. You don't listen to any other person more than you listen to yourself. So if we are to grow in our spiritual lives, if we are to grow in our relationship with Christ, if we are to grow in any aspect of life, practical aspects of life, we need to understand that you won't change if you're always blaming someone. So the first step to growth is taking responsibility. Spiritually and physically, financially. Got to take responsibility. The book of proverbs is so helpful here, talking about financial wisdom. How to make smart financial decisions. By the way, our culture desperately need this. A Forbes article came out in 2018, Four stats that reveal how badly America is failing at financial literacy. 44% of Americans don't have enough cash to cover a $400 emergency. 43% of student loan borrowers are not making payments. 38% of US households have credit card debt. The average of which is $16,048 and at a 16.47 APR. If it takes you 10 years to pay off the average credit card debt, you're going to pay more in interest than actual debt. 33% of American adults have zero saved for retirement and 56% have less than $10,000. Responsibility. Here's how we use theology. Here's how a lot of people use theology to shirk responsibility for their lives. I'll give you a few examples. The phrase, everything happens for a reason. Oh, everything happens for a reason. Usually people use that in situations where you got yourself in the situation and you want to excuse yourself so you're implying that the reason for the situation is outside of you. So my wife came up to me. She comes up to me after the first sermon and she always has a list for me. She had a list today and she said, "But you got to tell people there's things that they can't control." Yes, that's another sermon. Today the sermon is, you got to take responsibility for what you can control. So for example, credit card debt. Incurring credit card debt. I understand there's situations where you can't get around it. But everything happens for a reason. Yeah, the reason was you using this credit card over and over and over. The reason why is you went on Amazon and it was way too late. You should have said to yourself, little Jan, get back ... You know what I'm saying. Don't use theology to excuse your poor decisions. I don't know what God's will is for my life. I just don't know. I need to figure out God's will. Holy scripture has 66 books of God revealing his will to your life. His will for your life is for you to obey him. To glorify him. Live for him. Read the new testament. So don't disguise ... I don't know God's will for not doing anything. It's hyper-Calvinism in the most deterministic sense where we explained all the situations in my life just by blaming it on God. There's real world negative consequences for not taking responsibility for yourself. Failed health, poor marriages, children not being parented, careers lost or not advanced. Real life consequences for poor theology, for not taking responsibility. And the whole idea of letting go and letting God or waiting on the Lord as an excuse to not do anything, that's passivity. And let me just give you one text which reveals how God feels about passivity. This is Mathew 25:24-30, where Jesus tells the parable of the talents. One guy, the talent was a million dollars. And it's a master of a house, so this is a guy who entrusts a million dollars to one guy, $5 million to another guy, $10 million to another guy. And then he says, "I want you to make investments." The guys with $10 million, he made another $10 million. 100% return. The guy with $5 million got another $5 million. 100% return. The guy with $1 million did nothing with it. And then the master returns and this is verse 24. "He also who have received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed.'" What's he doing? He's saying, I don't want you to rule over me. "'So I was afraid and then I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant.'" Laziness and wickedness together. You wicked and slothful servant. "'You knew that I reap where I have not sowed and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers at my coming. I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has 10 talents for to everyone who has will more be given and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" That's how God feels about our passivity when it comes to using what he has given us for him. That's the issue. The wicked and slothful guy, he hid the money, he did nothing with it. But I guarantee you he went and lived his life for himself, not for the master. And this is where the gospel changed everything. Because Jesus has taken responsibility for you, we are to take responsibility for what he has told us to do. I'll show you a balance between God's sovereignty and our responsibility. The interplay between these. In Philippians 2:12-13, Saint Paul writes and says, "Therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Now upon first reading, it seems as if he's saying, you got to save yourself. You need to fix yourself. But that's not what he's saying because, in verse six of chapter one in the same book he says, "I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." So God begins the work of salvation. So if you're a Christian, you didn't make yourself a Christian. God made you a Christian. He makes you a Christian and he will bring that to fruition, to completion. He will bring you to the end. He will bring you to the completion at the day of Jesus Christ. But in the meantime, we have a responsibility, back to verse 12, of working out our salvation with fear and trembling. He's not saying work for your salvation, he's saying, workout your salvation. So like when you workout your body, you're not working for a body, you're working out your body, in the same way. He says, "I've saved you, I've given you a brand new heart. Now workout your salvation." That's your job. But recognize it's God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Both to will, he gives you the desire, and to work, he gives you the energy to do it. This is why Christianity's in a different realm than any other world religion, any other self help, anything. Because Christianity says, God is calling you to do something impossible. Love God with all your heart, love your neighbor as yourself, that's impossible. And then God says, "Good, you understand that it's impossible. You need Jesus Christ. He's the only one that did it. Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior." And then once you do, you get the holy spirit. You get God's energy in you. You get God changing your heart to do what God created you to do. It changes everything. It's not just the world view, it's the presence of the living God within you. So we do have a responsibility to respond to God's ability working in us. So, there's a healthy understand ... That's the interplay between God's sovereignty and our responsibility. It's God who works in you for his good pleasure. Both the desire and the energy. He's saying, "I will empower you, I will energize you, I will give you the power to do what I've called you to do." One of my favorite verses in all of scripture that has this balance is 1st Corinthians 15:10. 1st Corinthians 15:10. I said this morning in my sermon that I want this on my tombstone. And then my wife came up to me, she's like, "That's too dark, don't say that." Fine, but I still want it on my tombstone. 1st Corinthians 15:10. "By the grace of God I am what I am." It doesn't stop there. A lot of people say, yeah, yeah, I am what I am. It is what it is. "I am what I am by the grace of God and his grace toward me was not in vain." It wasn't empty. It wasn't useless. God gave me grace and I did something with it. On the contrary he said, "I worked harder than any of them." Who's he talking about? He's talking about the other apostles. He says, "The other apostles, they work okay." Peter was crucified upside down, and Saint Paul was like, "Yeah, I worked more than that guy." But it wasn't me, but the grace of God that's in me. Grace not in vain, I worked harder than anyone, back to grace. Saint Paul, what drove you? Why did you fulfill all these responsibilities? Were you trying to earn your salvation? No. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. With every ounce of his being he wanted to glorify God as a life of gratitude for what Christ had done for him and through him. So practically taking responsibility. We've got to take responsibility for our thoughts, for our desires, for our actions. Head, heart, hands. Thoughts, desires, actions lead your mind to know Christ, know the truth. Jesus Christ is word. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Look at the pattern of how Satan tempts Adam and Eve. He comes in, and the first thing he does is he questions God's word. He comes to Eve and says in verse one of chapter three, "Did God actually say ..." What's he doing? He's sowing distrust as an air of cynicism. Yeah, did God really say that? Yeah, is that really true? This is air of cynicism. And if you're not a Christian perhaps you have this air of cynicism about Christianity. Which is fine. Every single one of us, we need to know why we believe what we believe. But what I'm saying is that air of cynicism has no substance to it. So if you are going to question Christianity like that, question the reason why you're even questioning it. And if you're like well, because I don't have ... Then why do you believe what you believe? Be cynical about your cynicism. Question your questions. You need to know exactly why you believe what you believe. Most people just ... They absorb the worldview of the day. This is what everyone around me believes, that's what I'm going to believe. This is what my parents believe, that's what I'm ... This is what my friends believe, that's what I'm going to believe. Satan comes in, he says, "Did God really say", questions God's word. We as Christians need to understand that this is where our spiritual warfare begins in the mind. It's a war of truth where we're told to take every thought captive to Jesus Christ. Jesus didn't just teach truth, he embodied truth. He never spoke a lie, never thought a lie. Not even to himself. The easiest person for you to deceive is yourself. We often lie to ourselves so it has to start with truth in the mind. And one of the truths that we need to teach ourselves as Christians is 2nd Corinthians 15:10. That we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body whether good or evil. That's just the truth. We as Christians will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And there are two judgments. The first judgment is, every single human being after death is going to stand before God and God is going to say, "What have you done with my son Jesus Christ? Did you accept him? Did you accept his sacrifice or did you reject it?" If you accepted Jesus Christ as lord and savior now, you are given passage to eternal life. You spend eternity with God. If you rejected Christ, you rejected God. But then Christian, you are going to stand before God and he's going to say, "What did you do with what I gave you? What did you do with the time, the talent and the treasure?" And that's the truth we just need to keep reminding ourselves of. When we die, God is going to hold us responsible. And then lead your heart to love Jesus. Love God's word with your mind and then love Christ with your heart. Why? Because we always do what we want to do. A lot of people think that we are rational beings, everything that we do is logical. False. That's false. If you're starting marketing, you know they market to the subconscious. Like the most effective marketing is always to the subconscious. It's always to your desires. It's always to your feelings. So you need to just discern. Hey little sheep, me, why do you want what you want? Why are you being pulled in this direction? And this is ... Satan attacks truth with the mind and then with Eve and Adam, he attacks the heart as well. Pulls the heart away from God. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, the tree was to be desired to make one wise. It was desire. Why do you want what you want? Why do we desire immediate over the ultimate? Proverbs 4:23, "Keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the springs of life." Guard your heart. And then lead your body to follow Jesus Christ. We are not called just to think about our souls, we live in embodied spirituality. We have physical bodies. And with those physical bodies we either live for the lord or we sin. And so Genesis 3:6, mind, heart, and then there's the action. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate and also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it. Any other worldview is all about behavior modification. If there's something in your life you need to change, just change it. Christianity comes in and says no, it's change of mind that leads to a change of heart that then leads to action, but the action is in the body. Saint Paul talks about imitating Christ. Be imitators of me as I am of Christ, 1st Corinthians 11:1. He's talking about imitating Christ and knowing him, loving him, but also living as Christ lived. And to do that, he disciplined his body. He had a theology of the body, not just of the soul, not just of the mind but of the body. And he talked about disciplining his body to keep it in submission to God. 1st Corinthians 9:24 and 27, and look at the analogies that he uses, included athletes. "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable, so I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified." I discipline my body, the Greek word soma. Not sarx, not flesh, he's not talking about the sinful part of our being. He's talking about his physical body. He's like there's physical things I do to keep myself disciplined. Self discipline meaning, I do things that my body does not naturally want to do. Saint Paul, what are you talking about? He's talking about, like physical things. And to get an idea of what he's talking about, you look at his life, but you also study what biblical wisdom is. In biblical wisdom, you read the book of proverbs, it has to do with things that we do in the body. So by body I mean body. Like what we eat, how we eat, how we sleep. For example, sleep. What does the scripture say about sleep? Sleep is a gift that God gives to those whom he loves. That's a bible verse. In the book of proverbs, it also says, be careful to not sleep too much. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and you're poor. That's from the bible. So getting up, getting stuff done. Limiting your sugar intake. It's a real thing. Do I have a bible verse for that? Yeah. It says, honey is sweet, enjoy it, don't eat too much or you might puke. Like physical things. Limiting entertainment. Limiting consumption. Limiting screen time. Fasting. It's a physical ... Prayer and fasting. It's a physical thing that we do when you say no, I'm going to abstain in order to spend more time with God. That's part of disciplining the body. Taking care of yourself. Taking care of your health. In the first sermon I just said, lift weights, do cardio. And my wife's like, you got explain, it's health. Because the body is a temple of the holy spirit. We are to care for our self. We have a responsibility to God. I'm sure you've heard of the famous marshmallow experiment. The experiment was, people had gotten these little kids together and they told the little kids, you can have one marshmallow now or you can have two in 15 minutes. And then they followed up with the kids after, like years after. Like how did they do in life? And this is the conclusion, the follow up studied that the children who were willing to delay gratification and waited to receive the second marshmallow ended up having higher SAT scores, lower levels of substance abuse, lower likelihood of obesity, better responses to stress, better social skills as reported by their parents and generally better scores in a range of life measures. Success they say, usually comes down to choosing the pain of discipline over the ease of distraction. That's exactly what delayed gratification's all about. It's true in life because it's a godly principle. He's wired into the universe. So we take responsibility for ourselves and then in order to be able to more successfully, more effectively, take responsibility for other people as well. All throughout the scripture, this is the great commandments. Love God and then also love your neighbor as yourself. Meaning we take responsibility for the people in our lives who need help. In particular, 1st Corinthians 10:24, "Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor." Practically, who's my neighbor? Practically I live with five females. My five female roommates. My wife and my four daughters. Those are my closest neighbors. I have a responsibility before God for my family. If you have a family, you have a responsibility before God for your family. Adam sinned after Eve sinned. Eve sinned first with taking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Then Adam does. But God doesn't come looking for Eve. He comes looking for Adam because Adam actually didn't fulfill his responsibility of protecting the garden from the evil one and he was there with his wife as the wife was being tempted by Satan. So we have a responsibility, husbands, for our wives, fathers, for your children. We have a responsibility in our families. Biblically speaking, where do you get this? Honor thy father and mother. That's a biblical commandment that there is a responsibility for our family. And then also Jesus Christ on the cross, he's dying and he's still thinking about his mother. He's on the cross being crucified and this is Mathew 9:26. "When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby. He said to his mother, 'Woman behold your son.' And then he said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother.' And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home." He was caring for his mom even as he's dying on the cross under the weight of our sin. First Timothy 5:8, "But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." If you're not physically providing for your family that whom you are responsible, we are unfaithful. And then responsibility for your church. We as Christians take responsibility for the church that God leads us to and we do that by attending regularly, praying consistently, living communally, submitting humbly, preserving unity, giving generously, serving faithfully, and pursuing holiness because Jesus Christ loved the church and gave himself up for it. And then, we are responsible for people in our lives who are in need. People who God leads into our lives who are in need. And the great parable that Jesus tells is the parable of the good Samaritan. This man gets mugged. He's lying there on the path. A Levite, a religious person walks by, sees him, says, "Not my responsibility." Keeps going. Going to church. And he says a priest walks by, looks at the guy, not my responsibility, goes to church. Then a Samaritan comes by. They were hated by the Jews. Says, "That's my responsibility." We take responsibility. Jesus took responsibility for us, so that we take responsibility for ourselves so that we are in a better position to take responsibility for others. I'll close with this. Victor Franco. In the beginning he said, "We need a statue of responsibility." Good idea, but we already have one. The greatest statue of responsibility is the cross of Jesus Christ. Where he takes responsibility for us, saves us, then commissions us to be agents of change in the world. Amen, let's pray. Lord we thank you for this time that you've given us. I pray if anyone here is not yet a Christian, has not been reconciled with you, has not accepted the free gift of grace, I pray today Lord, convert them. Regenerate them. Fill them with the holy spirit and show them just how incredible it was that you the God of the universe took responsibility for our sins. And continue to empower us to live the lives that you've called us to live. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.
Lion and Lamb
September 15, 2019 • Revelation 5
Summary: In Matthew 10:16, Jesus said, "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." Jesus often mixed metaphors to describe the nuanced profundity of the Truth. Jesus calls Christians to live like sheep who follow the Good Shepherd, which in turn, makes us a special sort of sheep. Sheep are proverbially stupid, yet Jesus calls us to be wise as serpents. Christians are to develop a dove-like innocence, and snake-like intelligence. What kind of sheep is this? We are to be sheep like Jesus, the Lamb of God, who is also the Lion of Judah. Jesus is a Lion-like Lamb, and by worshipping Him, we begin to resemble Him, because as G.K. Beale writes, "What people revere, they resemble, either for ruin or restoration." Worshipping Jesus is the key to becoming like Jesus, the Lion-like Lamb. Transcript: You're listening to audio for Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosiacboston.com. Lord, we thank you that you have created us in your image, and show us today that that image, because of sin and our rebellion, because of our pride, it has been splintered. It has been fractured. Show us that Jesus Christ, the perfect image of God, the perfect human being who had the perfect mixture of lion and lamblike qualities, that he is the perfect image. When we realize what Christ did on the cross for us, that he died for our sins, that that's what it took to save us, that humbles us, and he was willing to take it. That gives us incredible confidence that we can be clothed in the love of Christ. I pray that you'd make us a people who'd now worship Christ. As we worship him, that we are conformed to this image of perfect humility and confidence, both lion and lamblike qualities. Holy Spirit, come to this place. Prepare us to hear from you, hear your words, apply it to our lives. We pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen. We're really excited. We're starting a brand new sermon series today that we are calling Tough and Tender: Developing Resilience for Life. Why resilience? Life is hard. I don't need to make the case of why life is hard. As you grow older, it just gets harder. I was always under the impression that if I just graduated, if I get this degree, if I get into this next stage of life, it just gets easier and gets easier. It does not, especially if you have kids and especially if you keep having kids. Life is hard. Life in this area is hard. Being a Christian is hard. Now can you take one of two paths. You can have one of two responses. It's either you grow harder, tougher, just toughen up. You just grit your teeth, white-knuckle it, and you get through. You power through or you soften up. You're just overwhelmed with everything. There's a victimhood mentality. Then, you turn to coping mechanisms, maybe substance abuse. Sometimes you're tough all day in public, and then you come home, and you're in a fetal position. That's the softness. It's one of two ways. There's got to be another way. There's got to be a way that's not just too hard, not just too soft. If you're too soft, you can't make it in life. If you're too hard, you can't enjoy life. You truncate your emotion. You don't feel anything. You just keep going. That's not how we're created to live. We need a third way, and that third way is the path of resilience. What does resilience mean? It means you're looking at life eyes wide open. You realize that life is hard, but you realize there is suffering, but you adapt. You bounce back. You roll with the punches. You're knocked down. You come back stronger. Nothing can crush your spirit. You're resilient. No accident. No misstep. No trauma. You don't succumb to stress. You surmount it. There's resilience. How do we develop resilience? I'll give you this phrase, and this is a powerful phrase. It's called humble confidence. Actually, there's a lot of literature out there, secular literature, that's realized that there is power in this. This is one of the keys to success in life, developing humble confidence. The problem is, in the secular world, they can't figure out how to give you both. They'll teach you how to be humble or at least pretend to be, and they'll teach you how to be confident or at least pretend to be, pose, posture, but often they can't do both at the same time. What do we need? We need someone who's done it, someone who's the epitome of humble confidence, someone who is both a lion, fierce and toughness, and a lamb, soft and tenderness. That's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is both lion and lamb. He's both strong and compassionate. He's meek, which is not weakness. Meekness is strength under control. He's both. Humble confidence, it's not a paradox to be resolved. It's a tension to be embraced. It's the opposite to prideful insecurity, where you present this confidence, but deep inside you're deeply insecure. It's confidence that's balanced with humility, so it doesn't turn into arrogance, and it's humility that's balanced with confidence, so it doesn't turn into self-deprecation. This is what CS Lewis talked about in Mere Christianity. His famous quote is that true humility isn't thinking less of yourself. It's actually thinking of yourself less. It's a powerful, powerful idea, where humility isn't, "Oh, I'm so terrible. I'm so terrible. I'm so terrible," and you stay there, and it just turns into this self-deprecation. It actually gives you incredible confidence when you truly understand what it is. His quote is, "Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble person that he will be what most people call humble nowadays. He will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person who is always telling you that, of course, he's a nobody. Probably all you'll think about when you meet him is that he seemed cheerful and intelligent. He took a real interest in what you said. If you do dislike him, it will be because you feel a little envious of someone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility. He will not be thinking about himself at all." True humility is knowing who you are. It's knowing who God created you to be because you know whose you are. It's both humility and confidence. It's a powerful, powerful combination. To frame up our time in this study, today I'm going to do a lot of theology to present who Christ is as both lion and lamb. The reason why I'm going to do that, someone came up to me after the service, and they're like, "I wish there was some more practical application." It's coming for the next 10 weeks. Today I just want to frame up the theology of who Christ is, perfect mixture of lion and lamb, and how do we develop practically? That's a mixture by worshiping him. Then, for the next 10 or so weeks, up until Advent, we're going to talk about how this applies in every single most important area of our lives. Today, we're in Revelation five. I love the book of Revelation. Today the chapter's a glimpse into heaven. It's a glimpse into the supernatural realm. We get a picture of heaven, and heaven is real because Jesus is real. The historical Jesus is proof that this is real. Today we're in Revelation chapter five. Would you please look at the text with me? Revelation five, "Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?' And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.' And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they began a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.' Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.' And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.' And the four living creatures said, 'Amen,' and the elders fell down and worshiped." This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. What a text. I preached this once, and after, I'm like, "I just didn't do this thing justice. We need like a full-blown sermon series just on Revelation." One day. One day we'll get there. Three points to frame up our time together. We'll look at our longing for the lion, our need for the lamb, and then our need to worship the lion-like lamb. First of all, our longing for the lion. Revelation five, we get a glimpse of the revelation that God has given to John, the apostle John, as he's exiled on the island of Patmos. This is what John sees. He said, "I saw on the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals." What's the scroll? The scroll is a record of God's plan for the world. It's a plan that includes salvation and restoration but also judgment of the wicked. Everyone who receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will be saved by grace through faith. Those who reject that grace will be judged. Judgment, salvation, restoration, we see that as the scroll is opened up, history is coming to consummation. It's sealed with seven seals. Why seven? Seven is the number of completeness. The contents are completely hidden. No one has access to it. Breaking of the seals, which happens in chapter six and chapter eight and so on, brings to pass the events, meaning they don't just reveal what God's will is. It's not just a disclosure. It actually sets God's will in motion to accomplish his purposes. The scroll is written on both front and back. This is important, meaning that no one can add anything to it. God's plan is completely written. The same takes place in Ezekiel two when God gives a scroll to Ezekiel with his word, with his plan. It's written on both sides. Verse two, "And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?'" Who in all of the created order has the sovereign authority to open up God's plan of judgment and redemption? Verse three, "And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it." Why isn't anyone found to do it? Who has the sovereign authority to open up the scroll? Well, there's only one. It's God himself. Well, why doesn't God himself open the scroll? Why is he asking someone else to do it? Because as we see the scroll opened up later on, we see that God's plan for the redeemed, for the elect, for the saints, God's plan is full of such incredible blessing and privilege and bliss and happiness and rewards that it would make God unrighteous to give that level of blessing and bliss to sinners. This is what heaven is asking. God, how can you give that to them, to sinners? The end of history is so incredible, so astounding that it would be unrighteous for God to bring it to pass by himself. It's as if he doesn't care that we have trampled his glory. It's as if he doesn't care that we have swept our sin under the rug of the universe. Someone has to open it. Something has to demonstrate the righteousness of God and his justice and his mercy simultaneously. If God were to open it without a mediator, without a go-between and deal directly with sinful men, it would make him unjust, and we would be consumed by his holiness. No one can open it. That's why John is weeping. He's longing for a lion. He's longing for someone to stand between us and the justice of God, the judgment that we deserve, condemnation. Verse five, "And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.'" The Lion of Judah, this is the Messiah, messianic title from Genesis 49. He's also the Root of David, another messianic title from Isaiah 11 and Jeremiah 23. This is the Messiah King will arise from the seed of David, and he has triumphed. He has conquered. Conquered what? Satan, sin, and death, our greatest enemies. He stood in the gap. He is the mediator between us and God's wrath. We're looking for that great, mighty King. The elder says, "John, weep no more. The lion is here. Look to the lion." Throughout scripture, lions are portrayed as ferociously terrifying, 600 pounds of muscle and ferocity, utterly fearless and merciless. They never retreat. They're always advancing. They dominate everything that surrounds them. They tear victims limb from limb. Their roar can be heard five miles away. Isaiah talks about a lion approaching a group of shepherds and prowling. It's just waiting for the right moment to attack. The shepherds are trying to make noise, and they can't save themselves from this lion. Jesus Christ is presented as this lion, attacking our greatest enemies, sin and death. John, stop weeping. Look to the throne. The lion is right there, the Lion of Judah, so John looks. Verse six, "And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth." He said, "Look to the lion. Weep no more." He looks, and the lion is actually a lamb. Eugene Boring commentated on this text. He says, "This is the most mind-wrenching rebirth of images in all of literature. The reader is set up to see an image of power and might, a lion. Instead, the reader discovers a lamb that was slain." It brings us to point two, our need for the lamb. If you study a holy scripture, the cannon of scripture, the lamb is the most beloved and the most pervasive symbol of atonement, of sacrifice, mentioned about 750 times all throughout the Bible in a variety of terms. You remember Abraham and Isaac. God promises a son to Abraham. It's the son of the promise. Finally, he's given a son, and God comes to him and says, "Take your son, your only son, your beloved son, and sacrifice him." Abraham goes three days journey. He's about to do it, and the angel stops him. What does the angel say? "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering." The whole Passover holiday, you take a lamb, a lamb without blemish, and sacrifice. You paint your doorway with its blood so that the angel of death passes over. Isaiah 53, the servant of the Lord, he was a lamb led to the slaughter. John 1:29, John the Baptist said, "This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." It's important to note that the word used here for lamb, and I don't do this often. I don't throw in Greek in sermons because I remember John Piper, the patron saint of the Protestant church, John Piper said, he's like, "Don't pull rank." That's what he said, but this is really important about the Greek. The word used here is the word arnion. It's a special word for lamb. It's only used one time outside the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation, it's used 29 times. One time outside, and it's used in John 21:15 where Jesus comes to Peter and said, "Feed my lambs," arnion. The resurrected Christ used that. In the book of Revelation 28 times this word is used to describe Jesus Christ. This is important. The only other time that it's not used to describe Christ, it's used to describe Satan who comes as if he's an arnion lamb, but he's actually a wolf in sheep's clothing. This is Revelation 13:11, "Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon." Arnion. 29 times the book of Revelation. 28 times it's used to describe Jesus Christ. Peculiar choice for lamb since it's not used outside of Revelation except for once. John could have used more appropriate words like paschal. 1 Corinthians 5:7, the Saint Paul uses the word paschal, which from the Old Testament, "Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb," paschal, "has been sacrificed." John 1:29 uses amnos, which is a different word, "Behold, the Lamb of God," amnos of God, "who takes away the sin of the world." Amnos is also used in Acts 8:32, where Philip quotes Isaiah 53, "Like a sheep," probaton, "he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb," amnos, "before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth." That seems like a more appropriate fit. Amnos, you're talking about a lamb that was slain. That's the context in Isaiah. 1 Peter 1:18 and 19 uses the same word, "Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb," amnos, "without blemish or spot." Luke 10:3 uses a different word, aren, "Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs," aren, "in the midst of wolves." Any of these choices, paschal, amnos, or aren, could have been used. Obvious choices, but they're not used. Why? Because Jesus here isn't just presented as a typical lamb. This is crucial. He's presented as a lion who is the lamb. It's such a revolutionary idea they had to coin a new word. They had to bring a completely different word to explain what's going on. This is a lamb, not as a victim. He's standing. There's something different about him too. He says in Revelation 5:6, we look at this lamb standing as though it had been slain. It had been slain, but it's not crumpled over. It's standing because it had been resurrected, he, Christ, and seven horns. Seven is perfection. Horns is omnipotence, strength. It's perfect strength. He's omnipotent, and he's seven eyes. Perfect, sees everything, he's omniscience, and there's seven spirits of God sent out into the earth, the Holy Spirit here. It's John's way of speaking about the fullness of the Holy Spirit that works at the behest of this lamblike lion, lion-like lamb. 1 Corinthians 1:24, "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." He's a lamb. There's humility. He's humiliated because he was slain, but the marks of death, though visible, are not debilitating. He's come back from the dead. John hears a lion, sees a lamb, hears strength, sees weakness, hears a conqueror, sees the quintessential victim, but he's not just a victim. He's the lamb who has conquered, the lamb that destined for sacrifice but actually triumphs. This is also important, that the lion isn't temporarily a lamb. All throughout the book of Revelation now, Christ is just referred to as the lamb. When the new heavens and the new earth descend in Revelation 19, the lamb is the light of the city. When he's talking about the marriage supper, it's the marriage supper not of the lion but of the lamb. He's never again called the lion in the book of Revelation. Even when he goes to war against God's enemies, he goes to war as this omnipotent, omniscience lamb. This is Revelation 6:15, "Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves, among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us. Hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?'" It's a lamb who brings the wrath of God for all those who reject his sacrifice. It's a lamb who leads in Revelation seven. It's a lamb who's actually a general in Revelation 12 and 17. Revelation 17:14, "They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful." To the enemies, he comes as a lamb with wrath. He comes like a lion, a lamb that acts like a lion, but to the elect, to the children of God, to those who accept his sacrifice by grace through faith, he's tenderhearted. He's merciful. He's lowly. He's meek in everything he does. CS Lewis, in The Lamb... Sorry. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I ruined my punchline. The punchline is it's the only thing that I think CS Lewis ever got wrong. I was about to call him out, but you get the point. Aslan, who's actually Jesus, like he's the lion, and he's the tenderhearted, he acts like a lamb. In Revelation, it's vice versa. He comes as a lamb who's got the horns, and he conquers. It should be called The Lamb, the Witch, and the... Keep going. He's both. It's the lion and the lamb. Jesus is both. This is why I say this, because Jesus is the quintessential human being. Jesus is the perfect image of God. He's the perfect representation of God. When God says, "I want you to be perfect," he's saying, "I want you to be the perfect human being that I've created you to be." Do we have an example? Yes. It's Christ. In his personality, it's both. He's lion and lamb. There's glory, and there's humility. There's transcendence, and there's condescension. There's justice, and there's mercy. There's majesty, and there's meekness. Equality with God and yet deep reverence for God. He's all-sufficient and completely relying. He's good and yet patient when he endures evil, sovereign and yet submits, calmed the storm but would refuse to get off that cross. Infinite holiness, and he takes our sin, becomes our sin. He's the mighty captain, the tender lover. He's the rock and the pearl. He's both tough and tender. He is the conqueror because the Lion of Judah was willing to be killed as a lamb. He entered Jerusalem as a king on Palm Sunday, and then on Good Friday he was slaughtered as a lamb. He drove out the robbers from the temple like a lion, and then he gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins. Augustine said, "Who is this, both lamb and lion? He endured death as a lamb. He devoured it as a lion. Who is this, both lamb and lion, gentle and strong, lovable and terrifying, innocent and mighty, silent when he was being judged, roaring when he comes to judge?" Here's why this is important, to understand that Jesus is the fusion of both perfect harmony of this paradox, of this tension. The reason is because sometimes we lean naturally one way or the other. I naturally lean lion. I naturally, like I lean hardness. I lean truncate my emotion, keep going. I come from a Russian background, and I grew up in New England. That's why. It's a miracle I can smile ever. Some of us naturally are more tender. We're naturally more lamblike. What happens is when we read holy scripture, we sometimes read our own personalities into Christ. Someone once said, "God created us in his own image, and ever since, we've been trying to return the favor," meaning that's what we do with Christ. For me, I'm naturally drawn to lion Jesus, when Jesus walks into the temple and just starts tossing stuff. I love that Jesus. I call that a thug life Jesus. There's hug life Jesus and thug life Jesus. He actually, you read the text, he's sitting there, and he's making the whip, just cold, calculating, just making it as robust as possible with his carpenter hands. Then, he just goes in and just goes ham. I like that Jesus. I'm naturally drawn to Jesus debating, throwing it down with the Pharisees, making them look like idiots. I love that. I love Jesus coming back in Revelation at the very end where Jesus comes back in white clothing. He's about to go to war with white clothing. If you go to war, and you're dressed in white, you already know what the result's going to be. You're pretty sure of yourself. I like that Jesus, got a flaming sword. I can worship a God that can kill me. I'll worship that guy. I'll sing songs. Then, there's the tender Jesus, where he's tender with children. I think this the reason why God's given me all daughters. I've got four daughters. He's like, "You got to work on the tenderness part, more lamb." He's tender. When sinners come to him, he's gracious. He's tender. The woman caught in adultery was brought to him. He's tender with her. It's the lamblike Jesus. He meets people's practical needs. He's both. When he calls us to come to him, he calls us to become like him. Now, practically, how does that happen? It happens through worship, and this is really important. This is point three. Worship the lion-like lamb. What does the world do? What does everyone in the scene do as soon as they see the lamb who is a lion, the lion who is lamb? Revelation 5:8, "When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." After witnessing this transfer of power, that this scroll is given to the Son of God, all heaven breaks out in song. They've got musical instruments, the harpist traditionally used to praise God, and they're worshiping with song. They're worshiping with prayer. The incense is assembled for prayer. The heavenly choir breaks out in joyful song. They start worshiping him. The angels, everything in existence starts worshiping. If you're new to Christianity, some of you might be uncomfortable with the singing part of our service. The band is great, and the music is loud, and it's on purpose. Part of why, because it's very good, and we want everyone to sing, but also for those of you who can't sing that well, we just drown you out. I'm putting myself in. There's a reason why we sing. People sing when they celebrate. Even people who are not Christians, song is such an important part of being a human being. Karaoke is a thing. People go to places where they're given a mic, and they can't sing, but everyone cheers them on anyway. The Red Sox stink this year, and everyone's still singing during the seventh inning stretch. People sing. When your song comes on, your jam comes on, you sing. You go to concerts to sing. That's why we sing at church. We sing at church to celebrate God. We sing to worship God. He's worthy of our worship. We sing because God himself sings. God is a singing God. Zephaniah 3:17 says that God sings over his beloved. We're created in the image of a singing God. Therefore, we sing. You see all of heaven singing. What are they doing? They're worshiping. What does it mean to worship? Verse nine, they sing this new song, and they're saying, "Worthy are you." It's not just emotion. It's truth. It's not just a feeling. This is truth. This is what we know, not just what we feel. You're worthy. "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God." It's a done deal. You have ransomed so that people that do repent, that do follow Jesus, that do become Christians, they do so because the effective work of his ransom, of his salvific act of substitutionary atonement, ransomed people for God. What kind of people? From every tribe, every language, every people, every nation, a true mosaic, and they become a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. They're worshiping. What is worship? It's to ascribe worth. It's the first word, and they say that multiple times. Worthy is the lamb. The lamb has worth, and I'm just agree... Yes, you have worth. You are precious. You are a treasure. That's what it means to worship. The word worship comes from the word worth, to ascribe worth to something. Even if you're not a Christianity, you're still worshiping. We can't but worship. We're created by God to worship. "The opposite of Christianity is not atheism," Peter Kreeft said, "The opposite of Christianity isn't atheism. It's idolatry." What he means is that every single person alive is driven by something that they find precious. Whatever you find most precious, whatever you find most valuable, whatever you ascribe most worth to, that's what you're driven by. That's what dominates your thoughts. This is what your dreams are filled with. It can be all kinds of things, from sex, money, power, jobs, career, things, houses, parking spots, whatever it is, worship. I'll just give you a parable that Jesus tells in Matthew 13. He tells this parable, and he's like, "This is what the kingdom of God is like." He says a guy who sees a field, and it looks like an ordinary field to everyone, but this guy gets a treasure map. He understands that someone hid their treasure in this field. Whoever owns the field owns the treasure. No one sees the treasure, but this guy sees the treasure. He goes. He sells everything he has to buy this field. Everyone thinks he's crazy, "You're crazy. You're going to pay $90,000 for a parking spot. You're crazy," but he knows that underneath that parking spot is a suitcase with $1 million cash. Now he's not so crazy. Jesus says that's what it means to become a Christian. No one sees the treasure, but you see the treasure because the Holy Spirit has revealed it to your heart. You see that Christ is worthy, worthy of your life, worthy of your time, worthy of your treasure and talent, everything, because of what he has done. Why is he worthy? Because of his sacrifice, and the saints are made into a kingdom of priests. We'll get into what that means at the end here. Here's why it's important to focus on worshiping Jesus. Remember what we started with? Jesus is the lamb, and he's the lion. Together, humble confidence. How do we develop both humble confidence? Here's how. It's worship. Why? Because whatever we worship we begin to reflect, resemble. I get this from GK Beale who wrote this phenomenal work, by the way, called We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry. Phenomenal work. This is his thesis. He says, "What people revere they resemble either for ruin or for restoration." Whatever you worship, you become like that. Small example like celebrities. You don't use the word, but celebrities that you admire, and you're following them, and you're like, "I wonder what they eat. I wonder what their workout regimen is like. I wonder where do they get their clothes." Whoever you follow you begin to resemble. It starts like an early age. How many kids today in New England are named Brady? Like every other kid I meet, Brady, Brady, Brady. Why not Tom? I don't know. Brady. Back in the day, it was Michael Jordan. There's a family on my street. They had two sons, Michael and Jordan. How does that work itself out in our lives? Whatever you're driven by, you begin to look like that. Now, back to humble confidence. We want to develop humble confidence. We do that by worshiping the one who is ultimately, quintessentially humble and confident at the same time, Jesus Christ. The theology behind all this, I'll just summarize GK Beale's argument real quick. He says we're created in the image of God. Sin has splintered the image of God because we worship creature instead of creator. When we worship that, we become conformed to the image of whatever we worship. That's Romans 1:21. It's the word for image is eikṓn or icon. We get the word icon from it. "Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." You start to resemble, he's saying, you start to resemble whatever it is that you worship. How do we counter that? We start worshiping Christ, the ultimate object of our worship, and that's how we grow into being the person that we're created to be. Romans 8:28, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed," or transformed, "conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among brothers." God's going to work all things together for the good of those who what? Love him, are called to be his, love him. As we love him, what happens? We're conformed into his image. Loving Christ is how we conform to his image. 2 Corinthians 3:18, "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." How do we become transformed? We behold his glory. How do we do that? By looking at the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ, that's what shapes us to become more like Christ. It's all about the gospel. Humility and confidence. Humility, I look at the cross of Jesus Christ, and I realize the only way for God to forgive my sins, the only way for God to save me, I am so wicked that the only way for me to be redeemed is for the Son of God to die on the cross. That can't but humble you, but I'm also so loved at the same time that the Son of God was willing to take it. He's willing to go to the cross. If that doesn't give you confidence, nothing will. You are clothed in the love and acceptance and approval of God. It's both. That's what leads us to worship. How do you know that you're worshiping? I'll give you two just really practical things. Number one, you give up control. You're willing to give up control to God, who is lion. Jesus, you are my lion. I'm going to follow you. You know how you see people on the street sometimes, and they just have this massive dog, just walking around? Those people, they walk around like bosses. You got a mini horse next to you just walking. Imagine if you had a lion. You're just walking down the street, down Beacon Street, here's my lion, my pet lion. You want to start something? No, you can't not... Why wouldn't you give up control to God who is omnipotent? He is good, and he is great. Now, relinquish control. Sometimes we're like, "Yeah, God. I agree with your plans. I'm not happy with it." Relinquish control. This is what we see in Revelation 4:19. This is what they do when they see Christ, "Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 'Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.'" We give him control. You're kings. This is incredible. He says, "You're my kings. I give you authority. I confer authority to you." What do the kings do? They humble themselves before Christ. They do the same thing that Christ did, the kingdom of the universe who humbles himself. Once in all of the scripture Jesus points to one guy, and he says, "That's the greatest guy who ever lived. That's the GOAT, the greatest of all time. That's him." He said that about John the Baptist. This is in Luke 7:28, "I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John," not one. What made John so great? His whole ministry revolved around deferring glory to Christ. John 3:30, "He must increase, but I must decrease." This is incredible. He must increase. I must decrease. As we do that, what does Jesus say? That's the greatest guy ever. That's the greatest one who ever lived. In Christ's eyes, Christ esteems him as great because of his humility. This is the way that God works. Old Testament, Sarah, Rachel, Hannah, they're barren, and God uses them powerfully. David was the youngest. Moses was fearful. Jonah was hesitant. Ruth and Naomi, sorrowful. Gideon was cowardly, and God uses them powerfully because of their humility. They were humble enough to say, "God, you are in control, and I surrender myself, and I humbly surrender myself to you." Then, how does this work this work itself practically? You relinquish control, but you also begin to live as a priest and a king. This is incredible. You become a priest and a king. Priests, humble. Kings, confident. Revelation five, you get this in verse nine and 10. What does he do after he redeems them? "You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God." So much there I can't unpack it all. That's why you got to come back next week and the week after that, but you're a priest. That means you are bringing, you're ministering with the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people around you. What do priests do? They pray for people. They serve people. They care for people. They think of other people. You're priests. Incredible job, but also you're a king. What does it mean to be a king? That means you are helping submit things in the universe that have not been submitted yet to the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. Jesus is Lord over everything, but there's still chaos in the universe. We do this through our jobs. We do this through our professions. What are we doing? We're submitting every square inch of the universe to the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. We're priests and kings. You can't but be confident knowing that this is the purpose of God for you. You're so humbled that God would choose you to do this. Submitting to Jesus, the lion, makes you a lamb. Accepting Jesus the lamb makes you a lion. It's both humility and confidence, and your heart is full of joy because the gospel transforms prideful insecurity into humble confidence. If you're not yet a Christian today, we welcome you. We welcome you to come to the throne of Jesus Christ. You could do that with confidence. Hebrews 4:16, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Come with confidence, accepting the mercy, accepting the grace with humility, and the Lord gives it to you. If you are a Christian, ask the Lord, even today and through these next couple months as we study what it means to apply humble confidence in every single area of our life, ask the Holy Spirit, "Lord, where do I need to grow? Where in my life do I need to grow in being more of a lion and being more of a lamb? Where in my life do I need to grow and be more Christlike?" The Lord will give you grace to do that. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for this time that you've given us in the holy scriptures. Lord, we love the holy scriptures. They reveal who you are, they reveal your plan, they reveal the future, and they reveal our great need for you. We thank you for nourishing our souls with the word. We pray, Holy Spirit, help us to grow into the image of Christ. Give us more grace to do that. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.