the merge

The Life of Jesus: All the Small Things Mark 3:20-34 and Mark 6:1-6

2012-01-30T09:42:00.002-05:00

Have you ever noticed that is it easy to miss something right under you nose? That pair of glasses sitting on your head, the keys jingling in your pocket, or the cellphone you are actually talking on? I have done that more times than I would like to admit.

We all seem to miss things we shouldn’t. I find that phrase interesting...right under your nose. It reminds us that we miss plain and obvious things so often we had to create a cliche to describe it. For some reason our brains don’t click or our eyes skip over what we are looking for, and we’re not able to see or comprehend something...that is right under our nose

This happened a lot with Jesus. People were constantly missing what was right under their noses. But sometimes Jesus seems to be doing it intentionally. Throughout the Gospel of Mark, Jesus seems to make it easier for people to misunderstand. He goes about teaching and healing, but never actually saying who He is...instead he allows others to make up their own mind. He gives them just enough evidence, but expects them, and us, to draw the conclusion.

When we started this series I said that in the Gospel of Mark Jesus repeatedly asks the question, either directly or with his actions and teaching, “Who do people say that I am? Who do you say that I am?”

That is the million dollar question, “Who do you say that I am?” And we are only able to answer that question by being attentive to the things right under our noses. It is the small things that when we put them together help us answer that question. And today we are looking at some people who were not able to do that. They weren’t able to process what was under their noses and come to a proper conclusion.

We are looking at two different passages of Scripture today.

Our first passage is Mark 3:20-34

20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”

23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. 28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”

30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”

31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!

Our second passage is Mark 6:1-6

1 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.

We see in these two or three stories, depending on how you want to talk about it...a common themes People who were close to Jesus...didn’t understand him.

Family members who were around Jesus all the time, religious teachers who were listening and watching, and neighbors who had watched him grow up...none of them understood who Jesus was or what He came to do. They should have been the first, but they weren’t. They missed it.

His family and neighbors couldn’t accept Him as the Messiah because this was little Jesus who used to run through the village streets playing with the other kids. This was Jesus who worked in the town carpentry shop for most of His life. He played back-up quarterback and ran the hurdles for Nazareth High. He had some insightful teaching and did some amazing miracles, but we know where He really comes from...and hidden in there was a little bit of a dig...because this was Jesus whom everyone knew was born from an out-of-wedlock union and God would certainly not honor that. So his closest family assumed He was out of His mind, and His village (in Mark 6) took offense and refused to put their faith in Him.

For the religious teachers, Jesus was the guy who came from nowhere-ville Nazareth. He broke rules and challenged their authority. He wasn’t even trained by a rabbi, and He certainly didn’t fit their idea of what a Messiah should be...so obviously he was possessed by a demon. Because only a demon possessed man would say the things Jesus was saying.

And in these stories we see the reality of something we have another cliche for...

Familiarity breeds contempt...

Let’s get in our Delorean, accelerate to 88 mph, and go back to the early 1990’s. Do you remember the actor Luke Perry from the 90’s show 90210? He is from a small town named Fredericktown, Ohio. It is just outside where I went to college in Mt. Vernon, Ohio.

While in college I worked third shift at Walmart with a guy who attended high school with him. So one night I asked this guy about him. He said something along the lines of...He was always telling us how he was going to go to Hollywood and be some big-shot actor...acting like he was better than everyone else...what a jerk! We never believed him.

The saddest part is that last statement wasn’t made in a we-are-sorry-we-were-wrong way. It was said with bitterness and anger...because they were wrong. Luke Perry actually made it out of Fredericktown and acted in the most popular show on television from 1990-2000...they could probably gloat over his career since then, but that’s another story.

They knew Luke Perry. They went to school with Luke Perry. They never imagined he would become Luke Perry of 90210 fame...and His success was somehow a critique of their life. Familiarity bred contempt.

Jesus’ family and neighbors are impressed by his teaching, and they want Him to do miracles there like he does everywhere else, but they couldn’t really accept the teaching from Jesus the carpenter because they knew Him. They started out by asking a good question, “Where did He get these things?” It is a legitimate question. But instead of seeing the divine origin, they could only look to Jesus’ earthly origins, and it made it easier to reject Him.

And here is something we should all take note of...it was easier for them to see Jesus as insane, possessed by a demon, or disregard him because of where he came from...than it was for them to actually think about the truth and impact of His message and actions. It was so easy for them to write Jesus off because it meant they didn’t have to do anything in response to His message.

And because of this...contempt came easy.

We can see it in the response of the religious leaders... “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” You can hear it in the response of the family and neighbors...“Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?”

You can hear their contempt. And because of this contempt they were unable to really hear Jesus’ message or experience His miracles...and they missed the Messiah. He was right there under their noses, and they missed him because their familiarity bred contempt.

One of the other symptoms of familiarity, though is that...

Familiarity creates blindness...

Have you ever been working on a puzzle...you are looking for that one piece or any piece that will fit, but you just can’t find it. Then you get up, go to the refrigerator for a drink, you walk around for a minute, and when you return to the puzzle...Blamo! Right there in front of you! Why didn’t you see it before?

It is because familiarity will create blindness. When you are around something for a long time, you become blind to it. One of the hardest parts of preaching or doing devotions out of a common passage of Scripture is that you have seen it so many times it is hard to approach it with fresh eyes.

Or maybe, wives, you have had this experience...you keep telling him something, over and over, but he just doesn’t seem to be able to hear you. But then someone else says the exact same thing to him, and it is like a lightbulb lights up, and he finally gets it! Familiarity creates blindness.

There were some who were filled with contempt and anger at Jesus’ teaching and miracles...but there were some who were simply blind and indifferent to what He was doing. I think we see that is Jesus’ closest family members. They didn’t hate him. They weren’t filled with contempt. They loved Him and just felt sorry for their brother who had gone off the deep end.

They were blind to what Jesus was teaching and doing. They just couldn’t see it.

We have to be careful with familiarity, and we have to be aware of the things that are right under our noses.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani when asked how he made such dramatic changes in New York City said, "If you want to change big things, you pay attention to small things." There is another way of saying that...the devil is in the details. The small things make a big difference. This is true of both us as a church and us as individuals as we follow Christ. As a church we want to change the world for Jesus Christ. As individuals we want to continually take steps closer to God. And it will only happen as we pay attention to the small things.

Our lives are not usually the result of 1 or 2 big decisions. We are where we are in lives because of thousands of small decisions. Things that are right under our noses and yet we pay no attention to them usually because they are so familiar and run-of-the-mill.

It is easy to take our simple acts of service for granted...to disregard them as small things. The Cincinnati Vineyard has a saying that we have stolen...I mean borrowed, “Small things done with great love will change the world.” This morning I get to brag on Carrie a little bit. We have been doing our 1,000 Acts of Kindness emphasis. So a couple of weeks ago, Carrie takes the kids out, buys some Kroger gift cards, and then chases people around the parking lot giving them the gift cards as an act of kindness. That one act of kindness led a lady to use the card and then talk about it with her mother. The mother was so impressed a church would do something like that she told her friends about it that night and showed them our card. Then on Tuesday, she is my waitress at The Heights Cafe, we start a discussion and yesterday she let us do our outreach right there at the coffee shop! All from one act of kindness to a stranger.

Another small thing for us as a church is our children’s ministry. Over the past few months our children’s area has been growing in numbers, and it would be easy to think, “These are just children. We can let them play” But, as a church, we want to take seriously the spiritual development of our little ones. These are people who need to hear about God, know that He loves them, and begin to follow Jesus. We need people to join our children’s ministry who are willing to say, “I want to invest in our children!” This may seem like a small thing, but it isn’t. If we want to build the church that will carry on into the next generation, we do the “small things” now and invest in our children.

We want to help people take their next step closer to God. This is a question of helping people grow into mature followers of Christ. If you want to grow in your spiritual life...you do the small things. You read the Bible, you pray, you meet with other Christians, you serve. It is easy to get into a rut with these things and go looking for something bigger and more spectacular...that magic bullet that will make us mature Christians. But growth happens each day as we go through our spiritual practices...as we do the small things.

We believe strongly in evangelism and helping people follow Jesus. If we want to introduce our family and friends to Christ...it starts with the small thing of acting like a follower of Jesus and then the other small thing of simply talking about what God is doing in our life. Most people don’t want or need a well-oiled presentation of the Gospel...they need your friendship, they need to see a life-giving faith practiced in your life, and they need to hear that it is real for you.

Anyone of these “small things” could be overlooked and disregarded...better churches and Christians than us have done so and found out the hard way. We have to resist the blindness or contemptuousness of familiarity and pay attention to the things right under our noses both as a church and as individuals pursuing God. There are so many things that will make a difference in our lives if we just pay attention to them...if we simply invest in doing the small things.

What are some small things that, if you started paying attention today, would make a huge difference in your life?

The people of Jesus’ time missed him because they were looking for something else. They weren’t looking for the carpenter down the street. They weren’t looking for the untrained teacher who had not studied under a rabbi. They weren’t looking for it to be their brother or son.

Let’s not miss out on the great things God has for us because we are blind to the small things right under our noses.

Life of Jesus: The Sabbath Mark 2:23-3:6

2012-01-23T08:35:00.003-05:00

We are in a series on the Life of Jesus and working our way through the Gospel of Mark. We aren’t able to touch on every passage, but we are hitting some of the highlights. Within our series there are going to be smaller, mini-series. Passages that fit along the same thematic line. We took two weeks and looked at the role of the desert in Jesus’ ministry. First as a place of loneliness and temptation, and then as a place of silence, solitude, and the presence of God. Right now, we are looking at few passages dealing with things that hinder our understanding of who Jesus is and what he calls us to do.

Last week we looked at a passage about Jesus eating with “Tax collectors and sinners” and how the Pharisees’ religious rejection of those kinds of people stood in the way of welcoming them into God’s presence. This carries over into our lives. Because how we perceive others will stand in the way of our being able to interact with certain groups, and let them know how much God cares for them and loves them.

I showed a video last week, that I want to show again, but this time spend a little time talking about because it really applies to what we are talking about.

See video here.

This video has created quite a stir on the Internet, and the biggest part comes from Jefferson Bethke’s use of the word “Religion.” With any word we use there are two ways to understand it. We have the literal, dictionary definition, and we have the connotation or the meaning we give based on feelings or ideas the word provokes apart from its literal meaning.

Take the words “thin” these are all considered to have the same basic meaning: beanpole, bony, delicate, emaciated, fragile, haggard, lean, puny, rickety, scrawny, shriveled, skeletal, skinny, slight, slim, small, and undernourished. The difference between definition and connotation is the word you would choose to describe your wife guys. Thin, slim, skinny...those are good. Bony, puny, scrawny, emaciated...those are bad...because of their connotation. They evoke feelings or ideas that are not necessarily part of their standard definition.

Let’s do this another way...anyone have an ex boyfriend or girlfriend whom you don’t like? Are you willing to name your child the same name as that ex? No...most of us won’t. Not because the name itself is bad, but because of all the feelings and sometimes murderous ideas the name provokes from us.

That is what is happening in this video. Jefferson is using the word religion not in its literal, dictionary definition. The definition of the word “Religion” is: “1. The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods. 2. Details of belief as taught or discussed.”

So some think...why would a church show that video? Churches and Christianity are part of a religion. It is a belief in God. It has beliefs that are taught and discussed. This is not the religion Jesus came to abolish; as Jefferson pointed out. Jesus was a Jew. He had a belief in God. He had regular practices of prayer, giving, serving, worshipping, and synagogue attendance as part of the Jewish religion.

But this is where the idea of connotation comes into play because that word religion evokes certain feelings and ideas inside of us when we hear it. For Jefferson, as it for some of us, when we think of religion...we think of stuffy services. We think of guilt trips and drawn out altar calls. We think of legalistic practices and rules demanded more out of conformity than obedience. For many, the word religion evokes feelings and ideas that have nothing to do with a relationship with God. Rather they are just legalism, rules, and man-made structures that push God away.

That is where we need to be careful as we think about last week’s passage and especially as we look at today’s passage. Jesus is about to confront one of the biggest religious ideas of Judaism...the Sabbath.

Let’s read the passage together, and the discuss it...

Mark 2:23-3:6

23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

1 Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

The Sabbath

To say the Sabbath or Shabbat is a big part of the Jewish religion is really an understatement. Along with their strong belief that there was only one true God, Shabbat was THE religious practice that set them apart. The Romans regarded the Jews as atheists because they did not have a stone idol or something to represent their deity...they worshipped and invisible God. They also regarded the Jews as lazy. The Romans worked hard all seven days, as did most other cultures during this time, and the Jews were considered lazy because they wouldn’t work all 7 days, and wanted to have one day set apart to worship and do no work.

But the Sabbath wasn’t meant to be a legalistic, confining thing...some of the rules may make it seem so to us, but it was meant to be a beautiful gift given by God to His people. The Judaism 101 website is an invaluable resource. It says, “Shabbat...is a precious gift from God, a day of great joy eagerly awaited throughout the week, a time when we can set aside all of our weekday concerns and devote ourselves to higher pursuits.”

The Sabbath was to be a day of rest from work...or in the original Hebrew Melachah. Melachah, while translated as “work,” does not necessarily mean the same thing we mean when we say work. We would say that the Rabbi was working on Sabbath and therefore in the wrong...they would say you don’t understand melachah. This word refers to the kind of work that is creative or that exercises control or dominion or power over your environment. So they wouldn’t light a fire or cook or sow or plow a field...those were all melachah or exerting a control over the world around them.

Jesus and the Sabbath

As we look at these passages from Mark we see that Jesus and his disciples are definitely breaking Melachah. They are exerting control over their environment by rubbing the grain of the field between their hands and healing the man in the synagogue, and this brings them into sharp contention with the religious leaders of the day.

So let’s look quickly at these passages...there are two quick stories and three important concepts for us here today.

In the Fields

In the first story, Jesus and his disciples are walking through a field on the Sabbath. The disciples are hungry so they pick some of the heads of grain, and rub their hands together to free the wheat from the chaff...much like liberating a peanut from its shell. On any other day this was a perfectly legal activity. According to Jewish law a person was free to graze a few heads of wheat from some-one's field as they passed through.

But not on the Sabbath. The disciples were committing melachah...by rubbing their hands together to work the husk free they were exerting dominion over their environment...so the Defenders of the Sabbath...the Pharisees...confronted Jesus with a question, “Why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

Jesus responds with a story of King David and his men eating bread from the tabernacle that they were forbidden to eat. Jewish law prohibited what David and his men were doing just as Jewish law prohibited what Jesus’ disciples were doing...and yet God had not condemned David and his men for their actions.

So Jesus helps them make the connection to the current situation. Look at Mark 2:27-28, “27 Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.’”

These are two very important statements by Jesus.

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

The first statement reminds us that God is on our side. Even when obedience to His will is questioned by us...we need never doubt that God is on our side. And when we look at things like the Sabbath regulation...it not meant to be a burden, but rather a gift.

I don’t know about you, but I consider a day off with God’s permission a blessing...a gift. It is amazing to know He intends it not to be a crippling act of legalism, but something made for our pleasure and our enjoyment. To give us a break from the regular ebb and flow of life. To help us regain perspective on what really matters...and more importantly who is really in charge.

That leads us to the second statement Jesus makes...The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. He is the one who gets to decide and judge what is appropriate; not the Pharisees.

When we talk about leadership and what it means to be a leader here at Crossroads Vineyard I have a few statements that I make often. One of them is this: Bible Knowledge and church involvement are not a replacement for Christian character & maturity.

Have you ever noticed, for some people not all, that Bible knowledge and the amount of time they spend doing church things makes them meaner? For those of us who grew up in a legalistic church setting...there were always those who thought they were the defenders of the faith.

Here is what I realize...I am not the judge and neither are you. As a pastor I am called to make judgements and lead, but I don’t have the right to make any final judgments about who does and does not get into the kingdom. I don’t get to judge whether someone does or does not pray enough. I do not get to judge whether someone’s skirt is long enough, they are wearing the right clothes for church or they are allowed to see a particular movie. There are some things that are definitely sinful and disqualifies a person from leadership...but even then we are not shunning and turning our backs on a person.

Jesus tells the Pharisees...this special day is a gift to mankind from God for His benefit...not a jail. And not only that...you don’t get to judge who is and is not doing it right...only I get to do that!

Healing on the Sabbath

The second story is another confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus goes into the synagogue on the Sabbath to worship when He sees a man with a crippled hand. Jesus is moved with compassion to heal the man, but the Pharisees, rather than expectantly looking forward to this man’s healing...are looking for a reason to accuse Jesus.

So Jesus deliberately creates a confrontation. He says to the man, “Stand up in front of everyone!” Then he looks at the pretentious Pharisees and says, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil?”

And they refused to speak. They refused because they knew what they believed and what Jesus was going to do, and this was their chance to set him up.

So Jesus healed the man.
I said there were Two stories...the disciples walking through the field and Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath. And there are three statements...

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
Is it lawful to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?

The Sabbath was made for man...it is a gift. Jesus is the one in charge of the Sabbath. And, now, doing good and saving a life trumps the letter of the law.

Imagine you are walking beside a lake when you hear someone shouting, “HELP! HELP me I’m drowning!” You take off in the direction of the yell, and you see someone about 20 to 30 feet out. You are a good swimmer with a life-saving class under your belt so you start to head out into the water. But then you see the sign, “No Swimming Allowed” with a big cross through a stick figure swimming in water. So you yell out to the drowning person, “I’m so sorry. I can and could rescue you, but the sign clearly says, ‘No Swimming!’”

That sounds ridiculous doesn’t it...but that is what the Pharisees would have Jesus do. They know Jesus can heal this man, and they sit there expecting their rule about Sabbath keeping to trump Jesus’ compassion for this man. So Jesus’ challenge focuses on whether doing good should trump a rule, and we see in this story where Jesus stands.

Conclusion

Most of us do not need reminded that we don’t live by a strict observance of Sabbath. In fact, we might need the opposite lesson...that some of us need to set aside a day where do not work, but rather focus on resting and celebrating in the presence of God for an entire day. For you, you need to hear that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, and while he has given it as a gift for mankind...in neither of these stories does Jesus do away with the expectation that we should have a Sabbath.

But on a broader level, we can see in these stories how to handle issues of legalism and religious rules.

1. Jesus is the Lord and judge...not us. We don’t get to judge and determine what is or is not God’s will. We can make definite statements where the Bible clearly says something is right or wrong...but there have been times when the church has made definitive statements about things...as though it were God, and they were not definite things. There is also a big difference between God’s mandates...and man’s traditions. God’s laws, properly understood are never to be broken. Man’s tradition, while breaking them they may tick some people off, are not on the same level as God’s laws.

2. God’s mandates are gifts, not prisons. If God requires something of us, you better believe He has our best interests at heart. In all my years of serving Him, I have never found Him arbitrary. So when He asks us to take a Sabbath...He is doing so for our own good. He won’t force us to do what He has said...but He will allow us to suffer the consequences if we persist in disobedience. Like the parent who warns their child, “If you wear those shoes, you will get blisters!” There are two ways to handle that. One, you can fight and maybe eventually get them to change their shoes. Or, you can let them wear the shoes and suffer the consequences. God does not force us to do as He says. That wouldn’t be obedience. He allows us to follow.

3. It is always right to do good for others. I will break any tradition out there if in doing so it accomplishes good. I think this is the difference between God’s laws and man’s traditions. God’s laws if broken never bring about good...only heartache and sadness. But there are religious traditions and rules that may be good most of the time, but at other times they can stand in the way of doing good. For years, musical preference was a tradition that kept many from even checking out the church...dress codes, coffee in the sanctuary...these are traditions, and while they can be good, traditions are not on the same level as God’s laws.

Some of us have come from legalistic backgrounds, and it can be difficult to experience a life giving relationship with Jesus Christ because of all the baggage we carry. A couple weeks ago we sent out a flyer that simply said, “Faith is a journey, not a guilt trip.” For far too long we have been held captive by well-meaning traditions that have seen their day come and go or have been set on par with the will of God, and rather than foster a closer relationship with God...they have stood in the way.

This morning, I want to invite you to leave that baggage behind. Set it down. Jesus has accomplished all that needs to be accomplished for our salvation. The praying, serving, Bible reading, and obedience...should come out of a desire for relationship as a response of love...not because we have to. And the long list of don’ts should be reduced to those things that are from God...not a man-made list to be followed. Lay that baggage down. Enjoy the gifts of God.

Check out Crossroads Vineyard online here.

Life of Jesus: Hanging Out with Disreputable People Mark 2:13-17

2012-01-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

A few years ago I was sitting in my favorite Vietnamese restaurant having what is one of my favorite meals. I had been there often enough that the owner recognized me, and since there was no one else in the restaurant she started a conversation with me. She pointed at a book I had laying on the table beside me and said, “Are you a student?”

I told her I wasn’t, and she said, “Oh, you look so young. I thought you were a student!”

“I’m about 10 years out of my Master’s degree...so I’m not so young,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I’m sorry for the mistake. I assured her it was a mistake I didn’t mind her making. Then she asked, “What do you do?”

“I’m a pastor.”

“You don’t look like a pastor!” she said. “You don’t look like any pastor I have ever seen!”

After a few more minutes of saying, “Yes, I’m a pastor.” She finally said, “I can’t believe you are a pastor. You are proof Jesus looks at the heart.”

I wasn’t sure how to take that last statement...a compliment...maybe?

Do you know what I like most about Jesus? I like that that lady is right. Jesus looks at the heart. He cares for everybody. In fact, our passage today is a great illustration of how Jesus’ mission included reaching everyone...even those whom people hated or thought were beyond God’s ability to reach.

Let’s read Mark 2:13-17
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Have you ever noticed there are people whom you just don’t like to be around? Maybe it is a group of people you find unbearable? Most people won’t admit it openly, but there are some groups we would just rather not be around. Maybe it’s the members of that OTHER political party or that other nationality or that think that way or who dress that way or come from that area. For the Pharisees in Jesus day the people they despised went by a simple and clear label that fully explained why you should stay away from them. They were called, “tax collectors and sinners.”

These were the people whom good Jewish boys and girls were to stay as far away from as they could.

Tax collectors were Jewish men who had sided with the Romans...traitors...who collected taxes from their fellow Jews. They were despised because they regularly hung around with Gentiles, they worked for the Romans, and they were notoriously dishonest. In the Mishnah and Babylonian Talmud, two of the religious documents of early Judaism, tax collecting was listed as a “despised trade;” meaning you could not worship God as a Jew and work in this field.

The other group lumped in here are called “sinners.” These are the people that don’t fit with decent society and will not obey the religious standards of the day. They were often immoral and refused to obey the ritual laws the religious leaders had established. Sometimes, though, they were people who because of their poverty or a disease were seen as unclean and not allowed to participate with the rest of decent society.

The Pharisees believed a person became ritually as well as morally defiled by spending any time with these people...so they avoided them and forbid others to spend time with them. These tax collectors and sinners were banned from the Temple; which was the only place they could be in the presence of God. These men and women labeled as “tax collectors and sinners” were outcasts and rejected. The tax collectors were rejected for political and ethical reasons, and the sinners for religious and moral reasons.

So when the Pharisees see this massive dinner party, and Jesus reclining at the table with tax collectors and sinners they are appalled. here is Jesus is reclining at the dinner table with these people, and everyone knew dinner was not just dinner in this culture. In today’s culture we will have dinner with just about anyone, but not so in Jesus day. Dinner was a special time reserved for friends, family, and respectable people.

One scholar, Jeremias, says,

“[Eating with these people] was an offer of peace, trust, brotherhood and forgiveness; in short, sharing a table meant sharing life.”

This only further demonstrates to the Pharisees that Jesus is not worthy to be a religious teacher. How could he, if he had any understanding of God, sit at a table with these people knowing what they were like? He had to know their lifestyle. No self-respecting rabbi in Judaism would lower himself to be near these people, much-less eat with them.

Jesus is dangerous simply by his presence at a dinner table because he is declaring to the world God loves these people whom others consider outcasts and rejects. He loves them just as much they thought he loved the “respectable people.”

But not only is Jesus eating with the tax collectors and sinners, he is even willing to call them to be His disciple. Mark 2:14 says, “As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.” Mark uses the exact same Greek structuring for this passage where Jesus called Levi, the tax collector, to follow Him as he does when Jesus calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John the chapter before. So not only is Jesus willing to eat with them, but he is willing to have them follow him as disciples too.

The Pharisees couldn’t restrain themselves any longer. They approach the disciples and ask, “Do you really want to follow someone like this? Someone who would allow these kind of people to follow Him? Someone who would eat with these kinds of people?”

We too have to ask, “What is it that caused Jesus to associate with these kinds of people? Why would he accept and eat with the people others are rejecting and turning from?”

It is because of the amazing, wonderful, scandalous thing known as grace. Mark 2:17 says, “Jesus said to [the pharisees], ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”

You see Jesus didn’t come to call healthy people to himself...because healthy people don’t need a doctor. And those who think they are healthy can’t follow him because they think they already have things figured out. Jesus calls to those of us who recognize we don’t have it all together.

Many of us have had the experience in the church where people have put on a facade, a mask to the world around them that says, “I have it all together, and you should too!” and we know they don’t. But here we see Jesus saying, “Just when you think you have it all together...you don’t!”

We don’t have it all together. We are broken, hurting, scarred people who need God’s grace and salvation just like everyone else.

Levi recognized this while sitting at his desk. He was despised and rejected, and if he fit the typical understanding of a tax collector, he was a cheat and liar. He regularly charged people more than they actually owed to line his own pockets. So when this rabbi Jesus simply says, “Follow me,” he gets up from his table and follows Him. Something happens in that moment, and Levi recognizes that his old way of life is empty and leading nowhere. He gets up from his table, and steps into this wonderful thing known as grace.

A grace so amazing, Levi couldn’t stop with just receiving it...he calls all his friends together because he wants them to experience this wonderful thing he has experienced! He wants all of his friends to meet Jesus because here is a man who is willing to hang out with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus opened the door for these men and women, outcasts and rejects, to be in the presence of God.

One of my favorite verses is Hebrews 1:3, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” What that verse means is that if we want to know what God is like, how God would act, and what God would do in our world...all we have to do is look at Jesus. And here in this passage we see Jesus caring for those who are on the “outside.”

Our world has its own version of those who are on the outside...the tax collectors and sinners...those people whom the upstanding members of the church wouldn’t be caught dead with...and Jesus reminds us that he wouldn’t be having dinner at our house if he were here today...he would have dinner with THOSE people...

Anne Lamott in her book Traveling Mercies reminds us, “You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” Far too often the church creates a “list,” not a literal list, but an understanding of who good Christians should and should not hang around...and Jesus challenges our religiosity by reminding us, “I came for everyone!”

Welcoming today’s tax collectors and sinners into our gathering means church should be a messy place filled with imperfect people...because God is still working in people’s lives.

There was a young college student named Bill. He had wild hair, torn jeans, flip-flops, a Marilyn Manson T-shirt, but he had just recently become interested in Jesus Christ.

One Sunday he decided to go to church some place other than the college small group he had been hanging around; so he goes to the church across the street from campus. It was a conservative church with well-dressed and respectable people.

Picture the scene as Bill enters. He is wearing flip-flops, torn jeans, T-shirt, and sporting that wild hair. The service has already started, so Bill makes his way down the aisle looking for a seat. The pews are full, so he keeps walking. By now, people are a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. He continues looking for a seat, but finds only confused and uncomfortable gazes. When he realizes there are no seats, he simply squats down on the floor at the front. In the small group at his college fellowship this is perfectly acceptable, but no one had ever done it at this church.

The people became nervous, and you could cut the tension in the room with a knife. Just then a deacon gets up from his seat and walks slowly toward Bill. This deacon is in his eighties, and is wearing a three piece suit. He is known as a dignified and godly man. As he approaches Bill some people are thinking to themselves, “You can’t blame him for what he’s going to do. We can’t just let people come to church dressed however they want and sit on the floor like that!”

Silence fell over the church, and everyone’s eyes are on this deacon. When he reaches Bill the man drops his cane to the floor, and with a quite a bit of trouble and grunting he gets down on the floor next to Bill and just sits there.

When the pastor regained the ability to speak, he said, “What I am about to preach you may never remember, but what you have just seen I hope you never forget.”

About part way through that story...I bet you thought you knew what was going to happen didn’t you? As I read that story for the first time, I know what I thought was going to happen. I thought the deacon was going to ask the young man to find a more appropriate seat or, worse, ask him to leave. I don’t know if the story is true or not, but I certainly hope it is...I hope it is true, if not in fact, then in principle. That no matter how cleaned up we think we are...we are willing to say to people, “Come as you are you will be loved!”

Our vision as a church is to be a place that welcomes everyone on the journey of faith...that invites people to seek out this scandalous grace of God that is willing to associate with tax collectors and sinners...and with us. Our mission as a church is to help people take their next step closer to God...we say that because everyone of us has a next step...none of, if we are honest with ourselves, has it all together. And only when we realize just how much we need Jesus are we able to hear Him say, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” and then realize that he means you and me...that we are the ones who are sick...we are the sinners who need God’s grace.

For more information about Crossroads Vineyard Church in Huber Heights, Ohio check us out online at www.daytoncrossroads.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/daytoncrossroads

Life of Jesus: The Desert as a Place to Hear God's Voice Mark 1:35-38

2012-01-09T16:03:00.000-05:00

We are working our way through a message series called the Life of Jesus. Last week we talked about Jesus’ baptism and his temptation in the desert. We looked at the desert as a place or time of trial, testing, and temptation. A dry and lonely place where our character and resolve are tested. But that is not the only metaphor for which the desert was used. The desert was also viewed as a place of silence, solitude, and strength-gathering. It was a symbol of separation from all the normal busyness to gain insight and to hear God’s voice.

In the Old Testament, Moses, shepherding a flock in the silence of the desert, saw a burning bush and experienced the presence of God. In the desert, the Israelites learned to follow and depend on the sustaining presence of God. Following his defeat of the 450 false prophets of Baal, the depressed Prophet Elijah fled to the desert to hear the still, quiet whisper of God’s voice. In the desert, the young shepherd David developed the skills of prayer and worship that sustained a kingdom.

The desert was seen not just as a place of trial and testing...it was also a place of rest and God’s presence. It was a place where people were surrounded by silence allowing them to hear the voice of God in a way they couldn’t in the midst of their busy lives.

There are some messages I get the privilege to preach where I have studied, lived out, and by the grace of God am making headway in living an obedient life in regards to what I’m teaching. There are many more where I am just a traveler on the path alongside everyone else trying to figure out how to live with what God is saying in the passage. And then there are messages like today’s, more than I would like to admit, where I am a complete and utter failure.

This past week is a shining example of how my failure to create margins and times of silence, solitude, and rest plays itself out in my life.

From Monday afternoon until Friday evening, I was confined to the same few feet of couch space with a 100+ degree fever, aches, and coughing...pure miserableness! Except for a few things that had to be done, I never left the couch. And yes, Jason, a shower was one of those things. Literally everything in my life came to a screeching halt this week. I couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything except lay there.

Anyone who knows me knows that that is the hardest part...laying there. I don’t stand in the same spot for four minutes much less on a couch for four days! But this week my body reclaimed much of the rest it has been denied for quite some time because I have not done a good job of creating margins in my life. I haven’t created that time for rest and gathering strength. I have allowed busyness to win.

And our passage today has a lot to say to me, but I don’t think I’m alone. I don’t think I’m the only one with this problem. We live in a busy society that expects us to be just as busy as it is. It is as though our importance is based upon how busy we are.

How are you today? Busy! Swamped! Running Ragged!

And it is easy for us to condone and make excuses for all we have to do, isn’t it? We have a responsibility to get this thing done; an obligation. Someone will be disappointed if we don’t. I have to push this out of my schedule because when else is it going to get done. We run from one thing to the next packing our schedules with successive appointments, and eventually what gets shortchanged is the margin, the times for rest and quiet reflection in our lives.

On a spiritual level we begin to wonder why we haven’t heard God’s voice or felt His leading.

Mark chapter 1:14-34 gives us a glimpse into the average day of Jesus. He is walking along the banks of the Sea of Galilee and calls four men to leave all they have built their lives around and follow him into an unknown future. Then in Capernaum, Jesus begins to teach the crowds, and people are amazed and flock to him. He heals people with evil spirits and physical disabilities, and before the day is done, verse 33-34 says, “The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons...”

That sounds like a pretty full day. He is a busy man.

But then we find this gentle and unpleasant reminder in Mark 1:35-38, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: ‘Everyone is looking for you!’ Jesus replied, ‘Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.’”

In today’s world, Jesus has just made it! He has hit the big time. It is time for him to hire a publicist, a couple of bodyguards, and a manager to book all the healing and teaching gigs that will come pouring in. His books and DVDs will soon be flying off the shelves. He is expected to make some guest appearances on the talk shows. Videos of his healing and teaching ministry have now gone viral on Youtube.

This is exciting stuff for his disciples. They have no sooner left their obscure fishing careers than they are thrust into the spotlight with the most popular rabbi in the area. “Everyone is looking for you!” Peter exclaims. You can almost sense the giddiness in his voice. But I’m pretty sure Peter didn’t expect the response Jesus gave him. “Let’s go somewhere else...”

Jesus is doing everything wrong by most standards. He has an adoring crowd gathering to listen to him. There are so many people who adore him. He could make a difference in people’s lives with this ability to heal and teach...and here we see him leaving it all to go to the next town.

We know the rest of the story, we know Jesus is really making the right decision. We know he is choosing the greater mission of God instead of what would be temporary fame and a greedy, self-seeking audience. We have the big picture here with Jesus, but in our own lives it is easy to lose focus in the midst of all those clamoring voices. Jesus does something very important, though, to stay grounded and focused in the will of God that we would be wise to take note of...look at Mark 1:35 again, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”

While everyone else was still asleep in bed, Jesus was seeking a solitary place to hear the voice of God. It would have been easy for him to just sleep in. Look at the day before...teaching, healing, teaching and healing some more, then casting out demons, the whole town at your door wanting you to do stuff for them...that’s a full day. He must have been worn out, and yet he awoke early to spend time alone in prayer.

And this isn’t the only time we see this in Mark. He makes a point to show Jesus going off alone to pray. In Mark 6 Jesus feeds the 5,000, and then sends the disciples off in a boat while he dismisses the crowd. After the crowd is gone, we see in Mark 6:46, “After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.” Later in Mark 14, Jesus, awaiting his betrayer and his arrest, leaves his disciples again to pray alone in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus makes it a habit to step away from the hustle and bustle and busyness to spend time praying.

Jesus understands what I so often fail to grasp...the body needs rest. The body needs time to recover strength, to regain what it has exhausted, and not just physically but spiritually as well. When things get busy or I allow myself to do just one more thing...the first thing I stop doing is creating time for rest and margin and prayer in my life.

Jesus sought out the silence of the desert because it was a place for him to rest and pray and hear God’s voice. It was a way to discover the will of God.

There are so many times when people have asked me, “How can I know God’s will for this upcoming decision?” And I find out they have not spent any real time praying. They have talked to God, sure, amidst all the busyness and clamor or their regular lives they had spoken words in God’s direction with an “amen” at the end, but they had not withdrawn to the silence and the solitude of the desert...they have not really been seeking God’s will or they would have spent more time in a place where they could listen and not just talk.

Have you ever attempted to carry on a deep conversation in a busy restaurant? It’s impossible. Everyone ends up shouting, and no one can be heard. That’s why coffee shops and patios and living rooms are important...they are places where we can speak as well as be heard, and we need those spaces in our lives.

If we want to know the will of God for our lives...if we want to find the spiritual strength we need to make it through...if we want to hear the voice of God...we must make time in our lives for rest and silence...we have to make room for the desert. We have to seek it out and protect those times in our schedules.

I am always challenged by a quote from the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther. If I could just just hit his first mark I would consider myself a major success not to mention the second. But I think the underlying principle holds true. He says,

“If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.”

Don’t get caught up in that two hour-three hour thing...or you will instantly feel guilty for not doing enough. Is it a good thing to spend that much time in prayer? Of course, and it may be a challenge God wants you to meet. But first our call is to recognize the principle that we must maintain the space in our lives for prayer.

We often say I’m too busy to add one more thing to my schedule, I can’t pray. But Martin Luther reminds us that the busier we are...the more we need to spend time in God’s presence.

This passage in Mark challenges us to make time for silence and solitude away from all distractions so we can hear the voice of God because Jesus did. The reality is we cannot hear God over the clamor of our lives. Cell phones ringing, notifications going off, radios and ipods...we have created a cocoon of sound around us, and then add on that all the busyness. We try squeezing prayer in in the car or at work or any number of other places, and I don’t want you to get the impression that those are wrong or are not prayer...we need those times. But they are not enough...they are not silence and we are often not really able to listen to God.

Have you ever wondered why your best ideas come while taking a shower? It’s because that is one of the few places where you are alone with little to no real noise and your mind is free to relax. Now imagine what might happen in your life if you were to step out of some of the busyness and begin to schedule regular times of quiet and solitude?

It might mean saying “No” to something that people tell you is important. It might mean getting up before everyone else or staying up a little later than everyone else. It might mean going to a quiet place for lunch. You know your life and schedule better than me. The important thing is that begin to see our need for a time of silence, solitude, and prayer and make it a priority.

As we look forward to the new year, let’s schedule in the times of rest and silence our bodies and spirits need to stay connected to God.

I believe once we make the time for silence and rest and prayer a priority...we will begin hearing the voice of God and recognizing His will more often in our lives...

Life of Jesus: The Desert as a Place of Testing Mark 1:9-15

2012-01-06T17:29:00.000-05:00

This week I heard the most depressing commercial for the New Year I have ever heard. It said something along the lines of...This year we have faced many difficulties. An earthquake caused a massive tsunami that destroyed a large part of Japan. Large storms and hurricanes destroyed part of the U.S. Joplin, Missouri was all but destroyed by a massive tornado. An earthquake shook the Eastern Seaboard causing less damage to Washington D.C. than our elected officials. Okay, that last part wasn’t in there. But after all that depressing stuff it then said in a happy and chipper voice, “Here’s hoping you have a great 2012...Happy New Year!!”

My first sarcastic thought was, What a peppy New Year’s Commercial!

No! If I were those people, I wouldn’t want to think about what the next year could bring. Look what if brought last year. Of course I’m sure there is some optimist out there, probably a former cheerleader, who is saying, “Next Year is going to be great! Great! Great!” But most people are not like that.

Then I started thinking...you know, life hasn’t been good for many people this past year. I think the commercial was a bit odd, but people have really struggled this past year. Besides the havoc caused by natural disasters, unemployment, family struggles, financial difficulties, and much more...have caused people to suffer some very tough times this past year. They have caused some of US to suffer this past year.

When tough times hit, people’s thoughts often turn to God. Some cry out for help. Others seek to lay the blame or accuse Him. Many simply see a reason to reject that God cares at all...besides if He really cared wouldn’t He do something about this mess we are all in?

We call them the “tough times” because they are tough, and how we respond in the midst of these times is very important for whether they continue to make our lives tough for many days to come or whether they are a springboard into great depths of discipleship and growth.

This morning we are going to look at a very important passage that reveals something about how we are to respond to the tough times in our lives...not just to get through them...not just to survive, although in the midst of those times we are often just hoping we will survive...but so that we CAN grow because of them.

Let’s look at today’s passage.

Mark 1:9-15
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Here we see Jesus at what is the beginning of his earthly ministry. Mark doesn’t waste time telling us about stables and angels and shepherds and mysterious magi...He jumps right into the meat of the story!

John the Baptist comes out of the desert preaching that the Kingdom of God is near...that people should repent...and that one greater than he will appear to baptize people in the power of the Holy Spirit, and immediately Jesus appears. John is fulfilling the Old Testament prophecy of Malachi and Isaiah by calling for people to prepare for the coming Messiah...and then Jesus shows up. Jesus is the one greater than John who will appear, Mark doesn’t want us to miss this connection.

So Jesus shows up to be baptized by John, and when He comes out of the water...something amazing happens. Jesus experiences this profound revelation, and Mark chooses his words very carefully throughout this section. When he says the heavens are torn open, he uses the same phrasing as that used in Isaiah 64:1 where Isaiah is crying out for God to do something about the sin of this world, and he says, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down...” Please do something about this mess we are in! So when Mark uses this phrase here he is indicating that in Jesus, God has come down to do something about our sin.

Mark then says the Spirit descended like a dove...reflecting Genesis 1:2 where the Spirit flutters across the face of the deep to bring a new creation from the darkness and turmoil of the deep. It also reminds us of Mark’s own words just a few sentences prior where John the Baptist says one will come after me baptizing people with the Holy Spirit...and voila...here is the Holy Spirit!

Then in this amazing revelation of who Jesus is, God himself makes the declaration, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” This sentence borrows wording from three very important Messianic passages in the Bible. Psalm 2:7 reflecting the connection with King David, Genesis 22:2 reflecting the connection with Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isaac, and Isaiah 42:1 reflecting God’s suffering servant...bringing together three of the large-scale theological concepts about the promised Messiah.

It is easy, for me at least, to be blown away by Mark’s amazing ability to bring brilliant writing and insightful theological reflection together in this section. Beyond that, however, we have to recognize what a great spiritual high point this must have been on the human level. Jesus isn’t just being baptized, He is being commissioned and called to a ministry unlike any other in human history by God himself.

This isn’t unique to Jesus alone, though. Many of us have had times with God where His presence was so real it was almost physical, and these times are amazing. There have been times when I have heard an almost audible voice speaking to me. I attended Dayton Christian. I didn’t want to be there, and didn’t really want anything to do with God. But during one of my scheduled napping sessions which the teacher preferred to call chapel, I looked up at the person preaching, and heard a very definite voice say, “You can do that!” I knew I had just heard from God. I can’t explain how I knew, but I did. The voice was almost audible.

There have been other times, as well, where the presence of God is so real and close...and these time create this sense of joy and happiness and elation. They are wonderful.

But anyone who has experienced those times also knows what follows...we attach topography to our theology and say we have had a mountain top experience and then we face the “valley.”

It has become almost a christianese cliche to say we are experiencing a “valley,” but even those outside the church know what we are talking about. When we talk about a valley...we are talking about a low time...those dark days...those tough times which we all go through.

For those living in Israel it wasn’t the valley they used as the dominant metaphor for their tough times...it was the desert...the Negev. Along the entire Eastern and southern side of Israel is a massive swath of barren, dry desert. Just dirt, rock, and sand. The desert is a lonely place of death and dryness that devours people; place where wild things attacked and destroyed without fear because it was their territory. No one traveled through the desert because the land was a wasteland without water.

So Jesus is baptized and experiences this amazing revelation of God’s blessing and calling, and then enters a desert experience.

John Wesley said,

"So in all the children of God, extraordinary manifestations of his favour are [often] followed by extraordinary temptations."

And so it is for us. Often after experiencing a special time with God...a heightened spiritual experience...an unusually happy season in our lives...we enter a valley or desert experience.

Some of you may have experienced a desert season yourself in the past...you might be in one now...or one might lay ahead for you...there is no getting around the fact that we will experience the desert some time in our lives.

If you are like me, you have read this passage and its corresponding passages in Matthew and Luke. The temptation is to fill in, in our minds, what is missing here in Mark with what we know from Matthew and Luke. We remember the fasting and the three temptations Jesus faces, the bread and the throwing yourself down from the temple and the bowing and worshiping Satan, and we read over this passage in Mark and miss a couple of important things being said.

Mark strips his version of the story down. There is no mention of fasting, and there is no mention of the content of Jesus’ temptations. Instead we have this odd statement in Mark 1:12, “At once the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness...” It is easy to miss this part...it is the Spirit...the same spirit that descended upon him like a dove that drove Him into the dryness of the desert.

It is tempting to think that our desert experience is brought on by our own sinfulness. We have done something wrong, and God is punishing us. And there are times when we do have to face the consequences of our actions and choices...but not all desert experiences are brought on by our sinfulness. Here is Jesus being driven into His desert experience not because of something sinful or wrong, but because the Holy Spirit is driving him to it. Sometimes, like Jesus’ experience in this passage, our desert season is brought on by God himself.

Jesus is driven into the desert to be tempted. The word we translate as “tempt” carries more than just trying to entice someone to do something wrong. It also describes a testing of a person’s character. It is way to see if the person’s character and resolve are true; to see if they can withstand the pressures that will come their way.

It is like butt-test machine at IKEA. Have you seen this? It is a machine that replicates someone sitting down, standing up, sitting down, standing up over and over again on one of their chair cushions to demonstrate that it will withstand any size of deriere...I mean any amount of sitting down you can dish out. That is “temptating” or “testing” the product to see if it will live up to its claim

Jesus has been given this amazing revelation, and now it is time to see if He will be able to withstand the challenge ahead. Often we make claims...and decisions...that are really easy to live with when things are going well, but it is only in the tough times that our character and commitment to those beliefs and decisions are validated.

Take marriage for example...it is easy to say “I love you” when everything is moving on the richer and healthier side of the marriage vows isn’t it? But real love is demonstrated when things get tough, and we gut it out and find a way to make things work.

Take a decision to go to college...it is easy to stay engaged when we like all our classes and get good grades. But real commitment to the degree happens when the classes get tough, we don’t like the professor, or get a bad grade in a class we need.

Maybe it is a chosen career path. It is easy to pursue it when everything is working and we are successful...but real commitment to the field is demonstrated when things get tough, we are on the verge of bankruptcy, no one is buying our product, or we are told that our way of doing things won’t work in the field...and we keep pressing forward.

Our commitment to God acts very much the same way...it is easy to love and follow God when we are employed, healthy, and loved by others. But real commitment is tested when we are unemployed, sick, and persecuted by others yet follow God anyways.

The Spirit that descended on Jesus at His baptism is the same Spirit that drove Him into the dryness of the desert to test His character, it is the same Spirit that often drives us into the desert to test our commitment and character.

I find it comforting to think that I am not alone in my times of testing. Jesus has been there and done that, as they say. He has been to the dessert..He understands our pain...He experiences it with us. I also find it comforting that out of that desert time and pain..something amazing can happen...if I let it.

Out of our testing we are given meaning, and purpose, and ministry!

It is easy to look back at our past and see all the desert times...the ways we have been hurt, abandoned, dry, depressed, and alone...and want to forget or ignore they ever happened. Sometimes we let them build a wall around us that we think protects us from the pain, but really just numbs us to life.

One of the most healing moments in my life happened when I began to see those desert times as times that have shaped my character and made me the man I am today. Like me or not, I am who I am because of the things that have happened in my past both good and bad!

You are who you are today because of the good and the bad experiences of your past.

And out of those experiences God wants to use you to make a difference for His Kingdom.

You can choose to let those hurts and hard times close you off, shut you down, harden your heart, or build a wall around you so that no one can get through...or you can see them as an opportunity to help others, heal hurts, change the world, and expand the Kingdom of God.

Our passage tells us that after His desert experience “Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’” Out of His time in the desert, Jesus emerged as the man who would and could fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah, and open the path to our salvation.

In 2000, Lori and I moved to Pleasant Hill, Missouri, just outside of Kansas City, to plant a church. I had all these grand expectations and plans...that just fizzled. We has seen God move in some pretty cool ways to get us into the community and make provision for the new church, but shortly after that everything went south. I thought my early life was tough, these were the toughest years of my life. The only way I can describe them is that they were like a heavy, dark blanket that I couldn’t find my way out from under. Nothing went as planned. The church never grew above 35. We had 5 major car breakdowns, Lori had a cyst that turned her femur into a hollowed out canoe that snapped one day in the park...which led to a $20,000+ surgery and a year+ worth of rehab...we were on the edge of financial collapse as a family...and I spiraled downward emotionally. They were dark days.

I did everything I could do to “get myself out of it.” I tried to think positive thoughts, tried praying, tried everything...and nothing happened. In fact, it felt like things got worse. I even tried threatening God. “You have to do something,” I prayed, “Or else I’m done! Done with ministry! Done with You!” And yet, I couldn’t bring myself to do that...so I backed down. I felt alone...and hopeless.

I wish I had understood this passage better back then. I don’t know if it would have helped, but maybe it would have...to see that time as a time of testing my character and resolve to follow no matter how difficult things get. To trust God even in the midst of the dryness and wildness of that desert time. And really it is out of that time that I felt crazy enough...I mean strong enough to accept God’s call to plant another church.

I don’t know what dry times you have or are or will experience, but I do know this...they are not without a purpose unless we allow them to be. As we start this New Year, I want to challenge us to redeem the past hurts and desert times and prepare for the future ones by resolving to view them as times of testing for something greater God has in mind.

If we experience the dark and dry days and come out bitter and angry and void of faith or refuse to find our ministry out of them...then we have failed the ultimate test and purpose of those times.

But if they are filled with meaning and purpose...they are redeemed, if I can use a theological term...if we allow them to test our character and prepare us then God can use them to expand His Kingdom through us.

What a great challenge for us as start this morning at the very edge of a new year.

How might God want to use your desert experience to expand His Kingdom in the new year? What ministry might He be leading you to because of the testing you experience?

The Life of Jesus Mark 1:1

2011-12-27T16:26:00.001-05:00

This morning we begin our new series on the Life of Jesus. We will be working through a few of the stories and teaching passages in the Gospel of Mark. Mark is unique among the Gospel writers. He is most likely the first to write his Gospel. He is the only one to explicitly call his writing a Gospel.

Mark’s writing is fast paced, wastes no time, and just keeps moving. It leaves you almost breathless. In the original Greek it is almost like a young child telling a story because most sentences begin with the word “and.”

We went to the store...and...we got candy...and...we went to the car...and....we drove home...and we had cookies...and...we watched tv...and...and...and...

Jesus came...and Jesus preached...and Jesus healed...and Jesus taught...and...and...and

It is like Mark is trying to get this stuff down as quick as possible without losing anything.

This morning we are starting off our series by focusing on one simple verse. This might be mistaken as just a title for the book, but there is a lot packed into a few simple words for us this morning.

Ready. It’s really easy.

Mark 1:1, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God...”

Take a look at this clip...

I love to get good news. I hate getting bad news. Getting bad news in a good way doesn’t make it any better. Mark calls Jesus Good News, but he wasn’t good news for everyone. Sometimes what is good news for one person is not good news for someone else.

Throughout his Gospel Mark wants to ask and answer one very simple question, “Who is Jesus?” How a person answered this question determined and still determines whether Jesus is good news or bad news. As you read through this Gospel you will see people constantly answering this question wrong, and for those who misunderstand or stand against Jesus...he is not Good News

Mark places this seemingly simple verse at the beginning to explain that this is the Good News about a man named Jesus who was the Messiah and who was the Son of God. For Mark this is the promised Messiah of the Old Testament who was more than just a man, and the story you are about to hear is (supposed to be) extremely good news!

Many thought Jesus a great teacher or a prophet or the return of Elijah. They wanted someone who would make them comfortable, feed them, heal their sick, but each time they tried to push Jesus into being something he wasn’t...He would slip away to another town or his teaching would make them uncomfortable and challenge them to make a change in their status quo.

The Pharisees didn’t understand who Jesus was. They viewed him a troublemaker or a demon-possessed blasphemer. He was a challenge to their religious authority, and they were jealous that people listened to Him rather than them. Jesus broke their rules and ignored their self-importance. They eventually killed him out of jealousy.

Many wanted a revolutionary that would overthrow the Roman government, but Jesus said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”

The government wanted someone they could control, but Jesus came as the King of a new Kingdom that will one day replace all the Kingdoms of this world.

The rich believed their wealth was a sign of God’s blessing on their righteous life...and Jesus said, “It is harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God...”

Jesus’ own family didn’t understand who Jesus was. They showed up at one gathering attempting to take custody of him because they thought he was crazy!

Even Jesus’ disciples didn’t understand who He was. After watching Jesus step to the front of their storm-shaken boat and calm the raging storm with just a word, they ask, “Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey him!” I’m sure they had heard Psalm 89:9, “You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.” or

Psalm 107:28-31,

Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress.
He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea[b] were hushed.
They were glad when it grew calm,
and he guided them to their desired haven.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind.

But they didn’t understand who Jesus was either. In fact, Mark paints the most discouraging view of Jesus’ disciples of any of the Gospels. They look like idiots; buffoons even. And each time they miss it in Mark’s Gospel it is linked to their mistaken or inadequate understanding of who Jesus is and what He is here to do.

They didn’t understand that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God...and that this is Good news.

We often don’t understand who Jesus is either. Most of our failings as disciples are linked to this same problem. Every time we miss the mark, do the wrong thing, act like an idiot as a Christian it is because we have a mistaken or inadequate understanding of who Jesus is and what He came to do. And if we don’t rightly understand who Jesus is and what He came to do...then He could be not-so-good news for us as well.

Like the crowd if we want Jesus to meet all our needs and to bring us healing and to make us comfortable in this world and for his message to be one of comfort and warmth...then we will want to forget that He calls us to be a disciples who take up a cross and follows Him...to sacrifice everything for the Kingdom of God.

If we are Like the Pharisees then we allow rules and mistaken beliefs to stand in the way of seeing what God is really doing in our world, and forget that He brings freedom and boils it all down to loving God and loving our neighbor (which includes our enemies).

If we are like the rich then we have a set of things we believe are signs of God’s blessing...and we forget that only a life completely surrendered to Him brings His blessing...and not necessarily the blessing we think.

If we are like the disciples, then we fear the storms of life and forget we serve one who can calm the storms. Or, we worry when our resources aren’t enough and forget we serve the one who turned a few small loaves and fishes into a 5 star meal for over 5,000.

We are often guilty of turning our hearts to worship lesser gods...money, jobs, our hobbies, even our families because we forget that He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One of God who alone is worthy of our worship.

We could look at our failures as Disciples, and wallow in them, allowing guilt to go unchecked, abandoning all hope, or living our Christian life with an “oh well everyone sins” attitude, but then we would turn the Good News of Jesus into not-so-good news.

Christmas is our yearly reminder of the Good News because we celebrate that Jesus Christ came into this world to rescue us...to restore our broken relationship with God...and to remind us that He will return again to set everything straight that is wrong with this world in which we live.

When Jesus started his public ministry in Mark 1:14-15 it says, “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’”

And for us, that is where we find the Good News on a regular basis. Repentance isn’t just the admission ticket to the Kingdom of God...repentance is a way of life for us. We don’t just say it as part of our Sinner’s Prayer...we confess and repent every day of our lives because we know we are part of a broken and sinful world, and we know we are sinful and in need of God’s grace. So repentance becomes our way of life as we travel the journey of faith; regularly confessing and turning from our sins and turning back to God.

For some, repentance and confession do not seem like good news, but they are. They are both major parts of Good News because we know that when we do them...they work. What horrible news it would be to live under the weight of a repentance and confession that served no purpose or were ineffective...it would leave us guilty, alone, and hopeless. What bad news it would be if we had to jump through a million different hoops in order to be forgiven. But when we confess and repent...Jesus brings the Good News that His Kingdom has come near to us and we are forgiven when we turn to Him!

This morning we celebrate the Good News of Jesus! We celebrate that Jesus entered our world, and that one day He will re-enter our world and set everything right, and that is really Good News!

Revolution: 1 John 5

2011-12-19T19:18:00.002-05:00

I have always been attracted to and excited by stories of adventure and travel. I remember as a kid reading The Swiss Family Robinson and Robinson Crusoe and stories of some of the great adventurers like Lewis and Clark and wanting to be like them. I still get a little bit of that every once in awhile when I watch No Reservation with Anthony Bourdain as he travels around exploring different countries and the foods they eat.

A few years ago I read a book called A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became the World’s Greatest Traveler. It is about James Holman who is considered by many one of the worlds greatest travelers whom no one knows about. His writings have inspired Charles Darwin

James Holman was born in 1786 a healthy young man with perfect vision. As a young lad he joined the British Navy, but the wet and cold took its toll and by 25 years of age he was suffering from a debilitating rheumatism that often crippled him with pain for days and weeks at a time, and eventually took his sight.

Bring blind in this world almost a death sentence. Often the blind were simply given a bowl and told to beg for their living. They were considered totally helpless. Holman was accepted into the Naval Knights of Windsor an organization that took care of ailing veterans with the simple requirement that they attend church twice a day.

But that life was too sedentary for him. He couldn’t sit still. The more sedentary he was the greater the illness, but there was within him a drive to overcome this life that had been handed to him and press on for something more. He would not let blindness define him. He wasn’t going to be a charity case.

Holman studied medicine at Edinburgh University. Braille hadn’t been invented yet so it was impossible for him to read the required texts...so he absorbed the information by attending the lectures three and four times.

But even more daring, Holman began venturing out on the city streets of London...alone...refusing to wear the blindfold required of those who were blind. He practiced what has become known as human echolocation. He would tap his metal-tipped walking stick against the ground and use the reverberations to “see” the world around him.

So James Holman was able not only to get around...but began to venture out farther and farther until he became the first blind man to circumnavigate the globe...in the early 1800’s...when very few others with sight were able to accomplish this feat. He climbed Mt. Vesuvius, walked around the inner dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, traveled through areas where sighted travelers only feared to venture.

Lieutenant James Holman was able to overcome the limitations of blindness and pain to accomplish what so few others have accomplished even today...he traveled around the world and experienced the world. A friend and admirer once wrote of Holman, ““He had eyes in his mouth, eyes in his nose, eyes in his ears, and eyes in his mind.”

The Apostle John knew Jesus’ followers would face many things that must be overcome in our lives if we are to live as God demands. He knew the false teachers and prophets that were attempting to lead members of his church astray were not the last. Many more “antichrists” would come and attempt to lead God’s children astray. So as John brings this letter to a close he wants to encourage Jesus’ followers, then and now, that we can overcome the world. We can overcome the things that hold us back and keep us from becoming what God desires for us. We can over come the world.

Let’s read today’s passage...it is a long one...but here we go. 1 John 5:1-21

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the[a] Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.

10Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.

18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

John is writing this to the believers in his church in Ephesus so that, according to verse 13, “you may know that you have eternal life.” He wanted them to know. He wanted them to have certainty that they were God’s children. The false teachers claimed they had the truth and their teaching caused these dedicated believers to doubt. So these once stable and dedicated believers were now beginning to doubt they were REALLY followers of Jesus at all...that they REALLY had eternal life.

This happens all the time. We meet people who have had many “conversion” experiences. They discover the truth of Jesus Christ, but after awhile the newness wears off or they hear some teaching and they begin to doubt. The excitement dies down. They have to settle into the “normal” Christian life and begin the hard work of character transformation and living life while depending on the quiet promptings and whispers of the Holy Spirit. They have to be part of this thing we call church that would be great if it weren’t that other people were there with all their hurts and baggage as well.

Some settle into the reality that all of life is not lived on a mountain peak, but some begin looking for something more. They look for that next great Bible teacher or the latest greatest book or the church that is really soaked in the presence of God or whatever it is that leads them to that next spiritual high that will certainly enliven and prove they are experiencing God and remove their doubt.

And John says in a simple and concise way that knowing with certainty is easy. Knowing isn’t a feeling. It isn’t a mountaintop experience all the time. It isn’t listening to the latest and greatest teacher. Really knowing is trusting in the truth of something very simple. Knowing is believing that Jesus is the Christ. Being people who are certain of eternal life and people who overcome the world begins with believing that Jesus is the Christ.

C.S. Lewis is famously quoted as saying,

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

This has often been reduced to saying that Jesus is either Lord, liar, or lunatic.

For us, our ability to overcome the world begins with accepting who Jesus claimed to be, with accepting him as Lord and not just a good teacher or shining example of a good life. It doesn’t even begin with accepting a bundle of theological doctrines and beliefs. It begins by believing one VERY important belief. That Jesus was both fully God and fully man and entered our realm to sacrificially give His life to free us from sin and death.

Don’t ask me to explain in a clear and concise way that you can easily understand how it is that Jesus is both fully God and fully man because that is impossible and even a general introduction would take more time than we have this morning. In a nutshell, what we do have are many scriptures pointing out that God is one and there is only one God. We also have many Scriptures talking about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit as being distinct beings.

This is a philosophical and religious dilemma that really would have bothered first century Jews even more than it does us. They were radically committed to Deuteronomy 6:4 where it says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” So the false teachers, in some ways, made Jesus more palatable, more graspable than John and the other disciples. These teachers were willing to say that Jesus was either fully human but not divine or he was fully divine but not fully human. And Jews could easily accept that because it didn’t conflict with their core belief.

But John was not willing to waver. He knew the difficulty of the position he was advocating. But for John the very essence of our salvation rested on the fact that Jesus as fully human and fully divine had entered our realm and sacrificed himself. In the words of Hebrews 1:3, Jesus was “...the exact representation of [God’s] being...” Without this belief there is no salvation. If Jesus were not God then his sacrifice was meaningless...just another human being dieing on a Roman cross. And if Jesus were not human then the sacrificial death required was not met because many humans had died before this and it was not sufficient to bring about salvation.

To deny this, John says, would be to call God a liar because God himself had given the testimony that this was true.

1 John 5:6-10 says,

“This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.”

And here is where things get very practical and applicable for them as well as for us... 1 John 5:11-12 says, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” John has come full circle in this chapter. He started it out by saying that “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God...” and now concludes this section by pointing out that being born of God is the same thing as having life...eternal life.

That phrase “eternal life” carries a lot of baggage. Many just think of it as a life that never ends. A life where we get to go to heaven and hell is no longer on the radar. It a life where we are forgiven of our sins, we live a good Christian life, and then go to heaven when we die.

But it is more than that, and if we reduce to just a life that never ends or some nonsense like that we miss all that we have to gain.

For John the idea of Eternal Life was a life filled with the fullness of God’s presence. It is the life that leads us to overcome the world. It is the life that enables obedience to God’s commands. It is the life that allows us to fully love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. In his Gospel, John writes in 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” For John the fullness of life was not in some sweet by-and-by it was in the here and now.

If we are ever going to overcome the world and the sinfulness that holds us back, it will only be through Jesus Christ. It will only come as we accept that He is the Son of God who has come into the world as a sacrifice for our sins and offers us this gift of real life...of true life...a life that means we are being restored into what God originally intended for us...when we follow Him.

We are still trapped in a sinful, broken world. But even in the midst of all the pain and suffering and hurt, we are able to glimpse and take part in the world that is to come. We are able to love others in the face of some pretty unlovable things. We are able to serve others even when no one else wants anything to do with them. We are able to forgive even when forgiveness seems impossible.

What God wants for us is not a life of fear and oppression at having to live up to His commands, but a life lived to the fullest in His presence...inspired by love. Notice in verse 3 that obedience to God’s commands are linked to our love for God.

Why do you do nice things for your spouse or boyfriend or girlfriend? It is out of love. If we want to obey God we have to first love Him. Rules and guilt only take us so far. They are easy tools to use to get people to obey. I mean we can guilt many people into coming to church and doing good things if we say, “You will go to hell if you don’t do this!” We can make anyone feel guilty if we keep piling on the rules...but if we really want to see a change. If we really want people to follow God it has to come from love born out of a belief in His Son Jesus Christ and what He has done for us.

Nothing else works...really. What does it mean to be disciples of Jesus Christ? What is the sign of eternal life? It isn’t outward conformity to some moral standard. It isn’t outward obedience to God. Those may appear to be righteous and loving and caring.. It may look like it on the outside, but what it means to be a disciple is that we are transformed on the inside not brought to conformity on the outside.

That is why you will hear me say we want to make disciple not get decisions here at Crossroads Vineyard. So often we are content in the church to get someone to say a sinner’s prayer and consider it good and done. I don’t believe that is supported by anything we read in the Bible. No, we are called to fall in love with God through Jesus Christ, and out of that love become obedient to His commands. That is why John is able to say in 1 John 5:3, “His commands are not burdensome...” Because when we love someone then nothing we do for them is burdensome...except for maybe vacuuming or picking your clothes up off the floor or hanging another picture on the wall or...oh nevermind.

Conclusion

This has been a rather heady and theologically driven message, and for that I apologize. But it leads to a very practical question.

Do you love God?

It starts with recognizing who Jesus is, what he has accomplished for us, because he is the representation of all that God is. He is God in the flesh. If we want to know what God is like...we need only look to Jesus.

Do you love God?

Have you decided to follow Jesus?

Not just accept him into your heart as a good idea or a way out of hell or into heaven...have you accepted that all that Jesus is and said and taught is the Truth and is the way you want to define your life?

How we answer those questions determine the Christian life we will have...one that is drudgery, guilt driven, and easily overcome by sin...or one that is filled with love and obedience and overcomes the world and its sinfulness.

And so we have come to the end of our Revolutionary Love series and our journey through 1 John. John’s commitment to loving God and our brothers and sisters in Christ is rooted in accepting who Jesus is as the Son of God and following Him not out of compulsion or guilt or fear...but out of a revolutionary love that turns us into revolutionary lovers of God and life, and beauty, and mystery and the people around us.

We are able to overcome the world because God’s presence is now.

Next week we begin our message series on The Life of Jesus. We will be working through the Gospel of Mark...

For more information about Crossroads Vineyard Church in Huber Heights check us out online at www.daytoncrossroads.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/daytoncrossroads

On the Passing of Christopher Hitchens

2011-12-16T16:33:00.000-05:00

World renowned writer, intellectual, and atheist Christopher Hitchens has passed away. He died as he lived; an intellectual opposed to all forms of theism. Opposed so harshly that he often refused the term atheist and preferred the term “antitheist.” As a Christian it might seem weird that I felt a need to write a post about such a man. Why would a Christian write about someone who seemed hellbent on destroying everything I believe in?

As a followers of Christ, we can not reduce this man’s life to his disavowal of deity. If we do, then we have done a disservice to him, and it seems more retributive for his years of challenge and aggressive attack. There is so much to be learned because there is more to Christopher Hitchens than his refusal to believe in a deity, and we learn it even in his refusal to believe in God.

I respect his commitment to stay connected to those less fortunate.
Hitchens’ early life and intellectual development is marked by a growing anger at poverty and racism. He protested against the Vietnam War and allowed himself to be waterboarded to investigate whether or not it really was torture. He lasted only a few seconds.

The Huffington Post writes, “Hitchens resolved to spend time at least once a year in ‘a country less fortunate than [his] own.’” He wanted to experience first-hand the reality of other people’s lives. We would do well to learn that lesson...to experience first hand the reality of poverty...to see it with our own eyes...to have relationships with those who are hurting, broken, poor, and different from us.

I respect his intellect.
Hitchens was a powerful intellectual figure. He thought deeply, and held everything to intellectual standards that far surpass those of many Christians. Writing became his natural outlet to educate and enrage those around him. He knew that teaching someone took place when you introduced them to something new or enraged them to the point where they checked things out for themselves.

His intellectual curiosity and exploration lead to his atheism. Hitchens said, “"Faith is the surrender of the mind; it's the surrender of reason, it's the surrender of the only thing that makes us different from other mammals. It's our need to believe, and to surrender our skepticism and our reason, our yearning to discard that and put all our trust or faith in someone or something, that is the sinister thing to me. Of all the supposed virtues, faith must be the most overrated."

While I adamantly disagree that faith and intellect and skepticism and reason are somehow opposed or that they can not coexist...I respect that in many forms of Christianity he is absolutely right. Many who claim Christ do a great disservice to Christianity with weak intellectual practices or no intellectual practices at all.

I respect his conviction that this life should be lived to the fullest.
For the atheist this life is all that exists. There is nothing after this life. This can be a dark and depressing place as there is nothing left or an incredibly empowering thing for this life. Believing that this life is all there is can enliven the senses so that every experience and relationship is enjoyed to its fullest.

Hitchens saw life this way.

“Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.”

Learning to enjoy life to fullest is a skill many could use to learn. Relationships, beauty, mystery, even pain all have their role. I would still find it incredibly depressing to think that all this was for nought. As a Christian, though, I don’t. I get the best of both worlds. I can and should enjoy life and beauty and mystery to its fullest all the while knowing that because of the resurrection to come this is not the end. In fact, it will get even better. All of this life’s experiences will be redeemed and made complete.

I respect his conviction to hold to his convictions.
Christopher Hitchens was a lightening rod for controversy and anger. He invited it and seemed to even enjoy it. He was willing to stand for his convictions no matter the cost. No one was immune whom he felt wrong.

He was even willing to call out Mother Teresa!

"[Mother Teresa] was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction."

Hitchens declared that he would never have a conversion experience due to his cancerous condition. If he did it would be either a lie propagated by a religious nut or a result of being out of his mind due to drugs or cancer. His ultimate commitment was to maintain his integrity to his intellectual beliefs.

"The entity making such a remark might be a raving, terrified person whose cancer has spread to the brain. I can't guarantee that such an entity wouldn't make such a ridiculous remark, but no one recognizable as myself would ever make such a remark."

I do wish for the sake of his soul that Christopher Hitchens had experienced the presence of God. I don’t mean this to be offensive to atheists. If I truly believe in an afterlife where all the beauty and mystery of life is not lost...I would hope that Mr. Hitchens could experience that and enliven it with his intellect.

But I do respect that even when faced with death he was unwilling to waver from beliefs. He could have succumb to fear of the unknown. He could have bought the “insurance” just in case he was wrong. He could have done any number of things, but he was committed to his beliefs.

Conclusion
The passing of someone is always a sad thing. Something is lost when someone passes away, and, unfortunately, Hitchens couldn’t enjoy the idea that it didn’t have to die completely. He did, however, find a way to believe that he could live on...even if through the lives of his daughters.

“To be the father of growing daughters is to understand something of what Yeats evokes with his imperishable phrase 'terrible beauty.' Nothing can make one so happily exhilarated or so frightened: it's a solid lesson in the limitations of self to realize that your heart is running around inside someone else's body. It also makes me quite astonishingly calm at the thought of death: I know whom I would die to protect and I also understand that nobody but a lugubrious serf can possibly wish for a father who never goes away.”

Check out these two posts about Hitchens. Here and Here.

The Life of Jesus

2011-12-07T08:56:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking a lot about our upcoming message series starting on Christmas Sunday. We are studying one of the most important persons to ever live. If we don't believe that Jesus is the most important person to ever live, we are no longer part of the Christian faith. He is the culmination of the prophetic voices of the Old Testament. He is the only way to the Father. He is the way, the truth, and the life. In the words of Hebrews 1:1-3,

"In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven."

Because of Jesus' influence, unschooled fishermen, traitorous tax collectors, radical zealots, and ordinary men and women went out to change the world. Because of him they were executed for the message that Jesus (and not Caesar) was Lord, and Salvation was found only in Jesus Christ. They preached a Kingdom that is not of this world and doesn't use the weapons of this world. This Kingdom calls us to lay down our lives, and men and women continue to answer that call and lay down their careers, their security, their reputations, their careers, and even their last breath for this man.

There is no way that one message series can cover all that can or should be said about Jesus. We will only scratch the surface, but it will life-changing!

Revolution: 1 John 4:1-6

2011-12-05T16:51:00.001-05:00

In September 1983, an art dealer approached the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles with an extraordinary offer. He had a rare sculpture from the 6th Century BC known as a kouros he was wanting to sell. There are only about 200 of these in existence and most are in bad shape; often broken and severely damaged. This one was perfectly preserved, and the dealer was asking just under $10 million.

The museum was rightfully cautious. Finding a kouros was unbelievably rare, but even more so in this condition. So museums have a process for determining whether or not a piece of art is authentic or a fake...

They brought in a world-renown geologist who ran multiple tests and examined the piece closely. He took a core sample of the marble and examined it under a microscope. He looked at tooling marks left by the hammer and chisel. They compared stylistic traits of this piece with other known pieces.

After 14 months of study he concluded the marble had been taken from an ancient stone quarry, and had a layer of dolomite on the outer layer, which is impossible to duplicate he thought, indicating that it was extremely old...and therefore not a contemporary fake...so the museum planned on buying it.

The problem was...many were not convinced it was real. First came Italian Art Historian Frederico Zeri who couldn’t put his finger on it, but just knew it wasn’t authentic. Next was Evelyn Harrison, a foremost expert on Greek Sculpture. She too knew it wasn’t right. Next came Thomas Hoving, former director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. While he couldn’t quite tell anyone why...he just sensed that it wasn’t right. The museum was worried so they arranged for a special meeting in Athens, Greece with the worlds leading experts...and they immediately reacted against the piece being authentic. They couldn’t say exactly why they felt it was fake, but they just knew it was.

These men and woman were able to do, within just a few short seconds, what a leading scientist couldn’t do in 14 months...determine the sculpture a fake. (From Blink by Malcolm Gladwell)

As we go through life, we face different beliefs and make many decisions in our search to determine the truth. Some are very simple decisions, but other decisions are extremely difficult and life changing. They challenge us at our core, and can even threaten our faith. So we need something to help us sort out what is true and what is false. In today’s passage from 1 John, we are going to look at how we as Christians can make informed and God-honoring decisions.

But first I want to show you a video clip about how NOT to use your logic to make a decision

1 John 4:1-6

1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Remember John is writing to a group of Christians in Ephesus whom he pastored. He is now 80-90 years of age and in exile on the lonely island of Patmos about 30 miles off the coast of modern day Turkey. He is writing to this church because false teachers and prophets have come in and started leading the people of the church astray.

The Supernatural Forces of Evil

The people probably wouldn’t have believed so quickly, but the false prophets seem to be working in something of a supernatural “spirit.” John’s emphasis on not believing and testing the “spirits” tells us they were using some supernatural things as proof that their message was authentic.

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to John’s readers or to us that our enemy is capable of supernatural feats, but sometimes it does. We forget our world is infused with the both good and evil forces moving and doing battle within a supernatural realm. And Satan, our enemy, is more than willing to disguise his actions behind a mask of deception.

Paul says in Ephesians 6:10-12, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Paul knew the realities of the Supernatural world, and the dangers they posed to God’s followers...that’s why he calls them to put on the armor of God.

Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

These people standing before Jesus at the judgment seat fully expect to be welcomed into His Kingdom. They had prophesied in Jesus’ name, driving out demons, and performed miracles. They performed some pretty spectacular things, and they, like these false teachers, believed the supernatural activity was God’s stamp of approval on their teaching.

The false teachers John addresses were teaching a false doctrine and then supporting their false claims with supernatural works and prophecy, with “spirits” as John calls them, that were leading many to doubt the teaching of John and place their faith in a false system.

It is easy to see how it would; don’t you think? If someone walked in here, preached a charismatic message, but we all thought, “There’s something not right about that message,” but then he or she began to pray for healing and people received sight, or the lame walked, and emotional disorders were healed...wouldn’t you begin to overlook their teaching? Make excuses for it...maybe they misspoke or I misunderstood them or the Bible is hard to really understand what it says...Because it’s obvious that God is doing something through them; right?

I have seen that in full force at one conference I attended. The errors of the speaker’s message were disregarded because of the miraculous healings done at the end of the service. I am talking about more than just a doctrinal difference or something being misspoken...that would be petty. There were serious errors of the faith, and yet they were overlooked because of the supernatural things taking places, and people flocked to it.

It just seems that only people who believe and follow God and do what is right would be able to do miraculous things. But according to John...that isn’t true. According to today’s passage miraculous things, “spirit” things, happen through false prophets as well...through antichrists, these liars who don’t even acknowledge Jesus as come in the flesh.

Handling the “spirits.”

So John’s advice is pretty simple... “don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God...”

Don’t take everything you see at face value. All the signs we think of as God’s blessing may not be signs of God’s blessing at all. They may actually be a deception of some other spirit. Don’t believe everything. Test the spirits to see if they are from God. Check them out...see how they line up with God’s Word. In John, we see this amazing blend of head and heart. We see a radical belief in the miraculous and mysterious and unexplainable, but also holding on to the “testing” ability God has given each one of us.

When it comes to certain stories and Internet legends...I am the guy who will post the link to Scopes.com. We see it all the time of Facebook and places like that...this or that story that a quick look at Scopes would resolve. We need to not be gullible or easily led astray, and we need to test...to check things out.

As Jesus was preparing to send His disciples on their first solo-mission adventure he says, in Matthew 10:16, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”

Why would Jesus says this? Because He knows there is an enemy. And this enemy loves to disguise himself and use whatever means possible to lead God’s children astray.

John tells us to test everything and Jesus says to be as shrewd as snakes...because he knows there is always something that just isn’t right when it comes to the enemy. He is a liar and has been a liar from the beginning. He will use any tactic He can to gain a foothold in our lives.

Sometimes, like in the church in Ephesus, Satan will use miraculous or supernatural “spirits” to lead us astray. I mean who doesn’t want to see people healed from lifelong maladies and struggles...and Satan is more than willing to concede a physical healing, if he can deceive us on a grander scale. Sometimes he will use more subtle techniques; anything to gain a foothold in the life of a believer.

So how do we test the spirits?

John gives us four very clear ways to test the spirits.

First, We are children of God. Based on your being a child of God and what you know of God’s working...based on God’s presence through the Holy Spirit in your life...does this ring true. In 1 John 4:4 it says, “You, dear children, are from God...” We are from God. We are His children. We have talked over the past few weeks about having the DNA of God, and because we have the presence of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives, we, “have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

This verse isn’t about us being able to handle anything that comes our way...it is about our ability to sniff out the spiritually fake and dangerous messages that come our way. We are able to do so because God is at work in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Second, We are able to see the problems in the message. There is always something that isn’t quite right about false messages. 1 John 4:5 says, “They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.” Their message sounds great to the world. It is popular, and people run to it. In the Gospel of John chapter 6 we see people flocking to Jesus because he was doing all the miraculous things and turning a few loaves and fishes into a banquet for more than 5,000 people, but as soon as he started talking about the realities of the Kingdom, people turned and deserted Him because his teaching was too hard.

John reminds us that as Children of God, indwelt with the Holy Spirit, that things will sound different to us. Worldly people will chase after a worldly message, but the Children of God will be able to discern the Truth.

Third, we are to listen to godly leaders and counselors. 1 John 4:6 says, “We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us...” God places leaders in our lives to guide us, and to give us direction. The spiritual gift of preaching, teaching, and leadership does not mean the person is better than anyone else, but it certainly means they have a responsibility, laid on them by God, to invest themselves in the Word of God...to get it as right as possible when studying and preparing...and to be workmen approved by God, as Paul says, so they can guide those under their care into a deeper knowledge of God and stronger involvement in the ministry.

As a leader in the church, I don’t get it right all the time. Even less than that if you ask my wife. But I sense regularly the weight of what has been laid on me as a pastor, and I know that being a leader in the church carries with it a lot of responsibility for how I lead and guide those under my care. John felt that for those in the church he is writing to.

Fourth, we are to listen to Scripture. Sometimes you start with the most important, and sometimes you end with it. Scripture is the foundation of all our beliefs about the faith. I think this is also part of that last verse I read, 1 John 4:6 says, “We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us...” John and the other Apostles were writing Scripture. Their words were Scripture. And while John was writing to a specific people at a specific time with specific issues...his words continue to have meaning and depth and application for us some 2,000 years later. Scripture is our very foundation for Truth as Christians.

John Wesley put these steps into what has become known as the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. It is a four step process for working through theological beliefs to find Truth.

Scripture-start with God’s Word
Tradition-what does 2,000 years of history teach us on the subject..
Reason-how does this stack up logically...
Experience-what does our experience as Children of God show us in this regard...

One author writes, “Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason. Scripture [however] is primary, revealing the Word of God 'so far as it is necessary for our salvation.'"

The Supernatural Deception

As we close I want to look at a few specific examples to help us grasp how these false messages slip into our lives and attempt to wreck us.

I asked Cyndi for permission to share this story.

She and Jason had been trying to have a child for quite some time, and were having no luck. In fact, it was worse than just not having a child, they struggled through several miscarriages. In their last and most hopeful time, she had several people come to her with “prophecies” about the baby being okay. Jason was also without a job, and they owned another home in Kentucky that they couldn’t seem to sell. After she miscarried, she wrote me this email...I have edited it to focus us this morning...

What was the purpose of prophets in the Old Testament? Has that purpose changed today? What is the point of someone giving me a prophesy...?

What do I do when people (who have the gift of prophesy) have given me what they feel is a word of prophesy and they turn out to be wrong? This has happened with several people that I trust telling us our last pregnancy was going to be the one we would have. They actually feel horrible about what happened. It's just frustrating that 3 of them did this.

I've recently asked God to stop his "prophets" from giving me false hope and false information. That I would stop trying to listen to others but that I need him to speak to me directly. I mean, would God withhold information that I need and give it to someone else to give to me? This seems very inefficient.

And for the record, this exact same thing happened when I was single. I had 5 different people give me prophesies that I'd getting married again. A couple of them said "soon" which didn't help...

Anyway, I guess I'm just frustrated that people are trying to be encouraging when it ends up being hurtful and I'm not sure how to take it. I feel like I'm closing myself off to God's prophets and that's probably not healthy. Btw, the "prophesies" we've been hearing have been about having a baby, selling Jason's house in KY, and Jason getting a job. I feel like I don't want to share prayer requests anymore because I don't want to hear anyone's opinion anymore.

We don’t have time in this message to address all of her questions...I just read this so we can see that Satan will often use good and well-meaning people to send us his false and damaging messages, and, like Cyndi, we must return to John’s advice to not “believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God...” Just because someone says they received a word from God does not mean they did, but just because it sounds all supernatural doesn’t mean we can disregard it. We don’t believe everything, and we test it against God’s word, against what he has taught us, against the good advice of godly leaders, and against the voice of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

It also reminds us to be careful when working with the spiritual gift of prophecy...some don’t have it, but want it so bad because it is really cool and try to live as if they do. Others have it and need training in how to use it properly.

The Common Sense Deception

So that is one way for the enemy to gain a foothold...But beyond the spectacular and the supernatural, I think Satan uses a technique that is way more devastating in many of our lives. You can call it “common sense” or “keeping it real” or “the gentle whisper” or whatever you want...but it is a subtle and devastating approach.

Let me give you a few examples.

You sense that God might be leading you to tell others about your faith, and the enemy starts to whisper his message in your ear...they are never going to listen to you...they are just going to ask you a question and you aren’t going to be able to answer it...and then what?...you will look foolish and so will God’s kingdom...they might even ignore you and just disregard you...best to leave that to the people who have the “gift” of evangelism...

Maybe God is asking you to step up in a ministry and the enemy starts to whisper in your ear...you’re not a leader...you aren’t like what’s his name over there...that guy has it all together...you’re a wreck...not to mention that you aren’t very smart....and you don’t have the right personality...don’t worry someone else who is smarter and more talented will do it...there are enough people willing to volunteer...

You might be going through a difficult time in your life, and the enemy starts to whisper in your ears...you are worthless...see what a mess you have gotten yourself into...God isn’t going to help you...why don’t you just give up now and save us all some time...

Maybe God is leading you to take a bold step of faith, and then it begins...that’s pretty scary what is your family going to think?...what are people around you going to think?...I know I would be scared to do something like that...and where is the money going to come from...you know you have failed in the past...this is going to be just like that...

Those things seem like common sense to us. We don’t have the right personality or we aren’t smart enough or we don’t all the answers...all of them sound like good reasons...but they aren’t. Fear begins to take hold, and what seems like common sense is really just lies the enemy uses to wiggle in once again to deceive us and keep us from doing what God has for us.

And when these message begin to take root in our lives we back away from what God has for us. We allow fear and false messages to cloud our understanding of who God is and who we are as His children.

Let me rewrite 1 John 4:1 a little bit for you, “Dear friends, do not believe every message whispered in your ear, but test the message to see whether it is from God, check against His Word, ask others about it, listen to God’s voice, think about whether this sounds like something you would expect from God, because many false message have gone out into the world.”

Conclusion

This morning...You might be receiving some false messages that have been holding you back? What lie have you allowed to control you or cause fear in you to keep you from being and doing what God desires in your life?

Don’t believe it!

Test the message to see if it is from God! Evaluate it against what you know of God, the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life, the advice of Godly leaders, and the Scriptures.

Does it ring true with God’s message for us?

Most often it will not.

Revolution: Sin and the Children of God 1 John 2:28-3:10

2011-11-20T20:17:00.001-05:00

For this message we are going to include the passage from last week because it really does set the stage for what we are talking about.

If we were to teach today’s passage without referencing the passage we used from last week, we could get ourselves into trouble. When reading and studying the Bible it is always important to read a passage in its context...it would be like getting a letter from your boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse that says, “I could never say these words, “I don’t love you!” because I do.” And then ripping that middle section out and saying to them...Why did you say, “I don’t love you!” They would think you couldn’t read. If we are not careful though, that is often how we treat the Bible ripping this and that verse out of context because we like what it “says,” and so miss what it really says. So we have to be careful.

If we take today’s passage and focus on the idea of sin without seeing it in context of our being God’s lavishly loved children who are called to one day be fully like Christ...it becomes easy to slip into a religion of sin management and trying to be good without understanding God’s plan to help us remove sin from our lives.

Let’s read this passage...

1 John 2:29-3:10

29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.”

This morning we need to put on our thinking caps a bit. There are two parts to this message...there is the teaching side where we have to cover a pretty weighty subject and there is, hopefully, the inspirational side where we bring it all together. See, we need to understand a few things about the biblical concept of sin in order to understand why we struggle with it, why Jesus is so important in regards to sin, and where do we go from here...

So let’s first ask the question...

What is sin?

For such a small word...Sin contains a lot of baggage. We lump everything into that word from telling a small white lie to genocide! When someone gets drunk...we recognize that as sin. When someone kills someone...we recognize that as sin. When someone tells a lie, steals a candy bar, “fudges” a tax return on purpose, extorts millions in a ponzi scheme, kills someone, beats a family member...we see those all as sin...and the list could go on and on.

We recognize that in the world of accountability and consequences all of these are not the same...they are different in degree and severity. No one in their right mind would say that murder and telling your wife that those jeans do not make her look fat are the same thing...and yet in the English language we have one simple word for all of it...Sin.

The problem comes when we start reading the Bible because there are so many different words used in the Old and New Testament to define this concept of sin. And in our Bibles they are all, for the most part, translated as the word sin.

There are a couple of primary definitions of sin in the Bible.

The first carries with it the idea of going out of bounds or straying from the path. To put this in sports terms this is like going out of bounds. The rules of basketball, baseball, soccer, football, lacrosse...all have a defined field of play. If a player steps across the boundary line...they are out of bounds. And sin, throughout the Bible, is often defined in terms of going outside the bounds of what God has laid out. He has established a boundary line for what it expected, and this word is used to describe those who out of ignorance or error step out of bounds.

The second main concept found in the Bible is the idea of missing the mark. This definition, to continue a sports metaphor, is when a person is aiming at a goal, but misses it. When a basketball player takes a shot and misses...he doesn’t get any points. When a soccer play shoots on the goal and misses...she doesn’t get any points. When we aim at God’s mark and miss...we don’t get any points...we have missed the mark...we have sinned. We are aiming at the mark...we are trying to hit it, but we missed.

The third concept is an action in breach of a relationship or rebellion against a person. This is the person who knows God and deliberately rebels against His will.

There is also the concept of perversion or twisting; this is deliberate wrongdoing. This is idea that sinfulness will often take something good and great and twist it into something for which it was never meant to be used.

There are several more words the Bible uses to define and put handles on this concept of sin...and yet all are translated with the simple word sin in the English Bible.

Yesterday Lori and I were talking to Victoria...she is originally from Columbia, and English is not her native language. I asked her how her classes were going and she talked about how in English we have different sounds for the same sets of letters. I have had several friends for who English was not their native language, and all have expressed frustration at similar things. So imagine what it must be like when we use 1 word for a concept that has so many different connotations and nuances attached to it.

But even in the midst of all the differences there is something that holds them all together...there is a common thread. It is all directed against God. God is the one who sets the boundaries we step outside of...God is the one who set the mark at which we aim and miss...God is the one against whom we rebel...Sin is directed at God because God is the one ultimately in control.

Having asked the question, “What is sin?” we now have to ask the question...

Why do we sin?

The simple answer is: we sin because we are born separated from God. From birth we are born with the desire to seek only after our own way. For those of you have spent any time around children...you quickly learn that the world revolves around them. They want what they want when they want it. They have to be taught to share because it is all about them.

I am convinced that the whole reason Brianna learned to say Momma and Dadda was to coerce us into getting her stuff. Shortly after learning to say Momma and Dadda...she learned to say “No!” and “Mine!” And it is that way with all children.

The church for centuries has called this concept: Original Sin. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, we are born separated from God. If you are born into a family that does not have a relationship with another family...you are born separated from that family. It is not because you don’t want to know that family. Your family doesn’t have a relationship with that family so you don’t. In a similar way we are born into a family that is separated from God, and because of this separation, we do not automatically seek the things of God.

It is because of this separation that we sin...and it is at this moment that John steps in and says...

God Hates Sin!

1 John 3:8, says, “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”

Jesus appeared not just to be some nice guy who talked about God’s love and forgiveness and kindness...John says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”

Destroy is such a strong word. God wants to destroy the sinfulness at work in our world. Don’t get this confused with God wanting to destroy the sinner...no God wants to destroy sin at work in our world. If you need an example of sin at work just open your web browser to your preferred news outlet. Murder, rape, genocide, lies, greed...it is all there...the work of the Devil, and I don’t know about you, but I’m really glad God hates sin because it is destroying our world and it is destroying our lives.

So God in His lavish love starts by destroying the sin at work in our lives. Before he can do anything about society in general God has to start with you and me in particular. He has to remove the sin in our lives so that as we band together in community we can be an outpost where God can work to rid the world of sin.

Remember, John is working from the premise that we are now the Children of God. We are loved. We welcomed into a family...and For John those who are born of God exhibit the characteristics of the family. You know that God is righteous...and those who are part of God’s family exhibit righteousness because they are part of God’s family.

We, of all people, should understand the destructive nature of sin and how it works in people’s lives...and out of this knowledge, John says, “All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” John takes it a step further in today’s passage when he says, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.”

Jesus came to defeat sin, and if Jesus came to defeat sin...shouldn’t those who call on His name and call themselves His followers be opposed to sin as well? So our spiritual journey, if it is to be what God intends, must include the regular removal of sin from our lives because sin is so destructive. This means we are listening to God’s Word and the Holy Spirit, and regularly confessing and turning from sin in our lives...not because we are prudes or trying to earn our salvation, but because we know how destructive even a small root of sin can be in a person’s life.

1 John 3:4-6 stands as a challenge, “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.”

This is a tough passage. What does John mean when he says, “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning”?

John is laying out the goal. He is laying out the final destination...the ultimate goal. He is setting the bar back on the level it needs to be. Earlier in 1 John 3:2 he says, “...what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears we shall be like him...” He is aiming us toward the final goal.

When a coach is trying to inspire his team for a game he doesn’t say, “I want you to play well out there. I want you to do your best. It doesn’t matter if you lose. That’s okay.” No, he says, “Get out there and play to win!” He may have that other in his mind because knows the team will lose sometimes, but he tells them the ultimate goal is for them to win. We aim high, but with the understanding that we are still part of a realm that fights against this new birth we have as Children of God.

Conclusion
This week as I was preparing for this message I came across this saying, “Intimacy comes by being obedient to God’s demand for righteousness.” To be honest, my first reaction was What a great quote! But as I was reflecting on it and thinking about our time here in 1 John, I realized that neither John nor the Bible would agree with that statement. He would want to change it up a bit.

I don’t think the Bible teaches that righteousness gains intimacy. I think we see here in 1 John that intimacy leads to righteousness. It is not our righteous actions and obedience that lead to our intimacy with God. It is our intimacy with God that leads to obedience and righteousness.

I want to reword that phrase... “Obedience to God’s demand for righteousness comes because of our intimacy with God.”

John says that way to avoid sin is to live out of this intimacy with God...we are children of God...intimacy is a given as His children, and it is out of this intimacy that we no longer want to sin and by which we purify ourselves.

Awhile back I decided to change how I focus my mind when tempted. Instead of seeing it as a temptation to sin, I want to see it as an opportunity to choose God’s way of living. I am a child of God. You are a child or God, and out of our intimacy with our Father we are able to live obedient and righteous lives.

We are talking about more than just a conservative or morally good life...this is having implanted in us desire to live as Jesus that comes from being born as Children of God.

Are we going to miss the mark and stray from the path? Yes...but out of our intimacy it will happen less and less...and we will discover that if we keep our eyes on the goal, the Holy Spirit comes alongside us and to help us make it to the goal laid out in front of us.

In 1988 Derek Redmond was set to take the Olympic stage and run the 400 metre race. He was favored to win, but just 90 seconds before his heat he ruptured his Achilles tendon and had to withdraw from the race for which he had spent his life preparing. Between the 1988 and 1992 Olympics Derek underwent 8 surgeries to repair his Achilles tendon. He was again the favorite in his race. He posted the fasted time in his first round and won his quarter-final race. He was set to achieve all his dreams.

Watch what happened...

Sin wants to cripple us. And it has a done a good job of making many of us limp...but the real question is...Are you willing to get back up and let the Father help you across the finish line?

John’s strong words against sin are not meant to discourage us...we should be encouraged that our Father hates sin and wants to get rid of it...and we as His children should do all we can to rid ourselves of it as well...not because it earns us favor or salvation or anything like that...but because we are living out the DNA of our new family.

Revolution: Children of God 1 John 2:28-3:3

2011-11-15T05:50:00.001-05:00

1 John 2:28-3:3

And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

What great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

John has great affinity for the members of this church. Several times in 1 John he calls them “my children” or “dear children,” not to belittle them, but as someone who loves them deeply. He is probably in his 90’s by this point, and served as their pastor for many years before being exiled to the lonely island of Patmos. So it troubles him to hear of false teachers who are not just trying to lead them astray, but really encouraging them to leave the Gospel...to leave the faith.

John knows that more is at stake than just a few misguided teachers. These disciples are struggling. The false teachers are proclaiming that they have the truth...they have it right...they know what they are talking about...and John is pointing out that they don’t. But it is so hard, and these disciples begin to doubt themselves and the message they have heard.

John writes to encourage them to hang in there. Hold on. He says, we are in the last hour, false teachers are coming, but if we hold on and continue in Jesus Christ then we will be able to stand confident and unashamed before Him when He returns.

I have to stop there in verse 29 when I am reading this passage, though. John writes, “...so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him...” So that we may be confident and unashamed before Him when He comes back? How do you get to do that? I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel confident and unashamed when I think of my relationship with God. I often feel like such a failure. I’m sure there is a connection between that feeling and my legalistic church upbringing...but there is something more there than just that...I know how often I fail and falter. I know how much sin lurks in the dark corners of my life shying away from the Light.

But I want to stand confident and unashamed. I want to know how someone does that. There are times when I wonder how could God really love me, and what kind of mistake has he made to put someone like me as pastor over a church?

Am I being too open for you?

Openness like this make us uncomfortable. It makes me a bit uncomfortable when I hear others being so open about their lives...because it forces me to admit that there are times when I feel the same way. I know that if I had to stand before Jesus I would not stand there, as John says, confident and unashamed.

Family Traits

A few years ago I heard that my father was dying of cancer. He left before I was born, but resurfaced a few years later. He and my mom married for about a week when I was 6...giving that Kardasian girl a run for her marital money. But then left again. So I had only seen him 4 or 5 times in my life. The last time I saw him was when I was 24 years old, about 10 years earlier prior to hearing about his cancer.

They were only giving him a month to live, and I knew I needed to make one last attempt to bring healing in our relationship. The visit didn’t go anything like I hoped, but there is one thing that stood out from that visit...despite the distance...despite the fact that I had never spent any appreciable time with him in my life...despite the fact that he really was a complete stranger...we had similarities.

One of my flaws is an extremely low tolerance for when people don’t get what should be obvious. I saw this in my dad. He needed to take his medicine, medicine he had been taking for months if not a year or more, and he asked his wife to help him...who had helped him take the medicine many times before. But she acted like she had no clue how to do it...and then I saw the family resemblance. He rolled his eyes, shook his head, and gave a frustrated exhale...that I myself have done many times.

I thought that was mine, but it wasn’t. It actually made me angry for awhile because this man who had nothing to do with my life has still had influence over me...and I hated it. But I realized that no matter what we all carry a resemblance to our family.

My wife Lori looks like her mom or like her dad depending on who she is standing by. Your spouse has probably said this to you, “That is just like your father!” or “That is just like your mother!” Your children look and act just like you.

Like it or not we carry our families traits with us...but for John, he wanted those in the church to know they can and should carry the family traits of another family...they were children of God. We are not natural born children, like and earthly father would have, but we are adopted into the family of God because of what Jesus did on the cross.

Confident and Unashamed

Recently Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple and Pixar, passed away. After his passing, more and more details of his life have come out...particularly about his adoption. You can read more about it online or in Walter Isaacson’s new biography, which I’m sure is going to be a great read. I like Walter Isaacson.

But this story came out about how Steve struggled with the fact that he was adopted...or not so much that he was adopted as much as that his parents had given him up. He was acting out in school and getting into trouble. He could not come to terms with it until one day his adopted parents sat him down and said, “You are special, we chose you out, you were chosen!" From that moment on Steve Jobs believed, maybe too much so, that he was special and that his life was a journey toward one big reward.

Just a few simple words of complete love and affirmation changed the direction of Steve Jobs life. If just those simple words could mean so much to Steve Jobs coming from an earthly parent...imagine what it must be like to hear those words affirming and validating us if they came from the God of the Universe!

Adoption in that culture was not just a legal formality. When you were adopted by a family you became as no different than a natural born heir. So to be adopted as God’s children was awesome. You were now entitled to all the things that being a part of God’s family entailed.

1 John 3:1 says, “What great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” We may not be God’s children by birth, but we can be so by adoption. God adopts us into His family, and says to us, “I love you! You are chosen! You are my child!” John is so excited about this prospect that he follows up that sentence with this interjection of a sentence, “And that is what we are!” He knows that this such great news!

When God says those words to us...it makes us confident and unashamed because now we are part of God’s family. We are His children.

Righteousness

But, you may say, John says right there in 1 John 2:29, “If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.” I don’t do righteousness all the time. I struggle.

John wasn’t blind to what and who he and other sinful humans were. Remember this is the Son of Thunder who wanted to call down fire and burn a village worth of people alive just because they wouldn’t allow them to spend the night and get something to eat! He knows what can lurk in the dark places of a person’s heart. He has also been a pastor for years now...he knows the sinfulness of humanity. And yet he knows the awesome love of God and what it can do.

For some of us, this is the part that we need to let sink in...no matter where we have been, what we have done, no matter how sinful our lives have been...God’s love wants to overcome that and make us His children. He makes us confident and unashamed, not because we are so awesome and good and righteous, but because He is so loving. Being confident and unashamed does not come from whether or not we get everything right...it comes from the fact that God has lavished His love on us.

He pulls us aside and says, “I have chosen you! I love you! You are special and blessed and you are now my child and a part of this family!”

We need to hear that, but I would also challenge you to take a look at that verse again. It doesn’t say, “Be righteous and that allows you to be born of Him.” Nor does it say, “Those who are righteous get it right all the time!” No...it says that this is a family trait of those who are part of God’s family. Because we are born of God, because we are His children, righteousness becomes part of our lives. We will still wrestle with some of the sinful traits of our association with this earthly humanity, but we also begin to exhibit the family traits of being part of the family of God.

I don’t get it right all the time...but I get it right more often now than I did when I first started. I am farther along the spiritual journey today than I was in 1992 when I accepted God’s call to follow Him. I am farther along today than I was a year ago.

The Hope

For John there is great hope in the simple truth that we are children of God because we know that this world isn’t all there is.

The reason so many people feel defeated at the end of their lives is they believe this life is all there is. They have to get it all in now because this is all there is. People live lives of greed and accumulation of so much stuff...because they believe that this life is all there is to enjoy it. We are restless and angry because we feel like this world is all there is and get frustrated that things aren’t going smoothly. We refuse to be generous or forgiving because we believe that this life is all there is and they need to pay for what they have done.

And if we don’t take it to heart that there is something more...we get defeated about our “slow growth” in the faith or our lack of spirituality or our struggle to overcome sin. We forget that this life is not all there is to it.

1 John 3:2 says, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Something really amazing is in store for the Children of God when Jesus returns. We don’t know what things will look like on the other side...what is coming in the future is so amazing and wonderful we can’t even imagine. We get glimpses of what is to come in this life, but it is, as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

The great hymn writer Charles Wesley said it this way,
And if our fellowship below
In Jesus be so sweet
What heights of rapture shall we know
When round His throne we meet.

Or maybe we can hear it through the word of C.S. Lewis, who wrote in his book “The Weight of Glory,”

“If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Our greatest hopes and dreams of what lays ahead are nothing when compared to its reality. That is what God has in store for those who are His Children.

And out of this hope...John offers us a challenge. John challenges us to live out of that reality here and now. We cannot live in the fullness of that future reality, but God has made it available in part to us right here and now. This is why John can say, “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” For John, those who are children of God don’t have to be told to act like their Father...they have this hope that one day they will be in His presence and they start living in the reality of that here and now. We are called to live Christlike lives in the here and now because we will be unhindered reflections of Christ in the life to come.

There is this tension in our Christian experience. One scholar says it this way,
“Christians who are in doubt about their standing need to be reassured that those who do what is right have been born of God and belong to him. They have all the privileges of God’s children. At the same time, however, they need to be warned against any self-satisfaction or feeling that they have achieved all that is possible in Christian experience.”

Conclusion

Being children of God should free us up to do unbelievable acts of love in God’s name because we know that there is more to life than just this life. Righteousness should characterize those who are children of God. Radical acts of love and sacrifice should be the signposts that God’s children are here.

The world will think we are crazy for giving, loving, serving, forgiving, and caring the way we do...but it is, in the words of John, because they don’t know the Father like we do. They may know about him. They may have some knowledge about Him. But we are His children. We carry the family traits into a world that needs to see Jesus reflected in us. We get to act out a Revolutionary love in the world around us.

For some of us...we need to first hear God say, “I have chosen you. You are special and I love you!” You need to take that to heart, and allow that to sink in this morning. Maybe you have been following Jesus, but you have never allowed yourself to hear God say how pleased He is in you...how much He love you. You have been working out of duty or guilt or fear.

Someone might be sitting here who is not living a life surrendered to Christ. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but this doesn’t apply to you. It can apply to you, but if you don’t surrender your life to Jesus you are not God’s child. I know that sounds harsh, but it is the reality. God loves you and wants to adopt you into His family as His child, but You have to be willing to say, “I’m all in with you, God. I am a sinner. I can’t save myself. I want to follow Jesus.” You have to make the decision, through the grace of God, to stop pursuing life the way you want to live it and begin pursuing life the way God wants you to live it.

I remember as a child hearing sermons about the End Times and Hell and God’s Judgment in an attempt to tell us about the horrors of that side so we would turn to Christ and want to go to heaven. While hell is a reality...Jesus never makes it the point. The only people he mentions hell to are the religious people who are self-righteous and full of themselves.

God knows we often live in our own private hell made up of the hurts, pains, sinful decisions, and stupid mistakes we have made. Most of us don’t need to hear about an afterlife of hell...because we have lived through a hell right here on earth. What we need is to hear that there is a God of love who cares infinitely, deeply for us. And He does. Fear and guilt are tools Satan uses...not God. John will point out in the next chapter that God is love. He functions out of love. He loves us.

That is what I need. I can guilt myself into my own private hell with no help from anyone else. What I can’t do is give myself the love and acceptance I need; the love that frees me to live a life of righteousness and Christlikeness and hope.

What I want you to do is to take a moment and experience this Revolutionary love of God for yourself this morning.

If you have never committed to living your life in pursuit of Jesus, I want to challenge you to do that this morning. You are invited to become part of God’s family...to be adopted into His family and have His love lavished on you.

For some of you...you just need to hear it all over again that you are a child of God. You have been pursuing God, but it is so easy to slip into the old ways and patterns and think you have to do it all yourself. I want you to hear God say, “I have chosen you. You are special and I love you! You are my child.” And then live out of that wonderful lavish love and all the hope that it brings!

Revolution: The Anointing 1 John 2:18-27

2011-11-07T20:48:00.001-05:00

What a fun topic we have to cover...the AntiChrist! Actually, we are only going to look briefly at this idea of the antichrist, and then move into the other parts of the passage. Why would we only spend a brief amount of time on this concept? Because John doesn’t flesh it out much...in fact, the antichrist is only an introductory element to the topic and part of a bigger discussion for John.

So let’s get started...

1 John 2:18-27

Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—eternal life.

I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

The Antichrist

John starts by bringing up a common belief among the people about an Antichrist figure who would come to lead people astray. This figure of the Antichrist has dominated modern discussions of the End Times in the church for many years. Too often we skip over sections like this because there are so many End Time controversies, and we don’t want to get embroiled in another one. We hear the word Antichrist and kind of shut down.

I remember as a kid sitting through several evangelists and preachers who had fool-proof explanations of how Ronald Reagan or Gorbachev or Bill Clinton or insert any name want...was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be the Antichrist. It seems to crop up among some fringe groups every time there is an election. So it really stinks for people when their predictions turned out wrong.

The idea of the Antichrist has a long and interesting past within the church...too long for us to even briefly mention. Let’s just say that explanations and finger pointing are nothing new.

Through the years many have taken this concept of an Antichrist and combined it with other concepts found in the Bible. In the book of Daniel, there is an apocalyptic prophecy about a “little horn” that some equate with the Antichrist. In 2 Thessalonians Paul mentions a “man of lawlessness” or “man of sin” that some equate with the Antichrist. And in the book of Revelation the writer mentions a “beast” that some believe to be the Antichrist.

As a biblical term, however, the word “antichrist” is only used in the Epistles of John. The term “Antichrist” appears no where else in the Bible. Five times the word is used and all five are in 1 & 2 John. And each time John redirects the from the idea of 1 Antichrist to a group of people who are functioning in the spirit of Antichrist. the term “antichrist” is used only here in the Letters of John and no where else.

The problem is there is just isn’t enough information to make a definitive statement. The last part of Daniel and the book of Revelation are both part of a genre called Jewish Apocalyptic literature which uses highly metaphoric language to describe both present-day (to the writer) and future events. Paul doesn’t use the word Antichrist and John doesn’t give us any more information that to say that the Antichrist is someone who does not acknowledge Jesus Christ.

So we are left to look at what John is doing with it here, and trying to separate it in our heads from all the baggage it has collected through the years...It is not Gorbachev...it is not Gorbachev.

The word we translate as Antichrist is a combination of two Greek words: Anti and Christos...The word anti has several different meanings. It can be understood as anti-or against-Christ. This leads to understanding that the AntiChrist is something that opposes Christ or comes against Him. The word anti would also carry the meaning “in the place of.” An Antichrist seeks to stand in the place of Christ.

In verse 18, John starts by reminding the people about the “Antichrist” but then, in the matter of a few verses, moves from the idea of one anticrhist to many antichrists. These are persons who deny Jesus Christ, and are working in the spirit of the Antichrist. 1 John 2:22 says, “Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.” John does the same thing in 2 John 7, “I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.” He is talking about the same group of people here and in 1 John 2. They are leaders who are leading people astray, causing them to doubt their salvation, denying Jesus Christ, and attempting to place something in the place of Christ in these people’s lives.

False Teachers

For John, recognizing false teachers is so important because we are living in “the last hour.” In the Early Church, the time between Jesus’ first coming and His second coming is referred to as “the last days” or “the last hour.” Christ had come, John saw him, he watched Jesus ascend into heaven, and now, we are in the last hour waiting for Christ to return. So for John it is extremely important for those of us in the Church to not get sidetracked...to remain in Christ...because Jesus is returning!

The proof that we are in the last hour is that these antichrists, not just one Antichrist, but these false teachers have come. They don’t belong to Christ, and the proof they don’t belong is that they have separated themselves from the message of Christ, and are trying to lead others away from the truth.

For John the important thing is not describing the Antichrist. The Antichrist only serves as a backdrop for what John really wants to address. How do these followers know and hold on to the Truth and how do they learn to recognize false teaching?

What was true in John’s day continues to be true in our day. We live in a world of false teachers and prophets...a world of antichrists. The primary falsehood John deals with is a group of teachers who deny Jesus, but we too must learn to guard against the spirit of deception...as there are many teachings that seek to lead us astray.

There are people and ideas that want to stand in the place of Christ in our lives. There are millions of different ideologies and competing thoughts along with some talented teachers and leaders that want to say here is the next messiah! Here is Truth and freedom and salvation! Here is what the central focus of your life should be!

And just as John wrote to warn the church in Ephesus about their false teachers, he reminds us that we need to beware of those who attempt to put something other than Christ at the center of our lives.

The Anointing and Our Search for Truth

The answer, according to John, lays within every true believer. 1 John 2:20 says, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” They know the Truth because of this anointing.

In the Old Testament, the word anointing was used to describe the pouring of oil over someone’s head to signify a special appointment. They anointed someone to be King or as a Priest. It also came to symbolize the reception of the Holy Spirit on someone’s life. That is the connection here. God is pouring the Holy Spirit over His people.

In his Gospel John refers to it this way, John 16:13, “...when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.”

That is really what we are search for isn’t it? Truth. A way to know Truth. When Jesus stood with Pilate and said, “The reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Pilate responded with a question, “What is truth?”

A few months back I did a series of messages called 5 Marks of a Revived Church. In that series we talked about what God is looking for in His Church, and how we at Crossroads Vineyard will seek to function in a way that glorifies God in each of those areas.

The 5 Marks of a Revived Church were

The first mark needed in any community that ascribes to follow God is a ruthless search for Truth. When we start searching for truth we often have to wade through a large amount of half-truths and full-lies in order to find it. But if we search intently...We find truth in some unexpected places. We find that truth is honest; sometimes brutally so. We find that truth is not easy, simply, or black and white...especially in this fallen world.

In that series, as we looked at the mark of Truth, we said our pursuit of Truth means several things for us...

We are committed to seeking after Jesus Christ who said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Our search starts with Him.
We are committed to the Scriptures. Because in Scripture we have the written Word of God.
We are committed to right doctrine. We live in the tension of knowing that we will never be 100% correct, but that doesn’t mean we don’t keep striving.

But under-girding all of this must be what John calls the anointing. In order for us to even hear the Truth when it is spoken the Holy Spirit must be at work in our lives. When Jesus is preparing for his crucifixion, he tells His disciples, “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:25-26)

The anointing is the inward reception of the Word of God, administered and confirmed by the work of the Spirit in our lives. Let me say it another way, it is the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God to lead us to Truth.

Have you ever been reading the Bible...you have read that passage maybe a million times and then, all of a sudden...it is like a light goes off and you are reading it in a different way? That is often the Holy Spirit enlivening that passage and applying it to your life. Or you have been listening to a pastor and God speaks through him or her and you are able to hear a passage in a different way that helps you take a step forward in your faith? That is the Holy Spirit at work in our lives!

There is this balance that takes place between the Holy Spirit and the Scripture. Scripture by itself are just words on a page. Listening to a voice, sometimes thought to be the Holy Spirit, is prone to so much error. But when we combine depth of study in God’s Word and waiting for the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.

God does this in our private times of reading and study. He does this through the preaching and teaching of His Word. He works through our conversations with friends, as we listen to a podcast, as we sit quietly reflecting on Scripture...God is constantly working to enliven His Word in our hearts through the Holy Spirit so we can be led into all truth. Where we often get into trouble is when we skip either one of these steps, either the Holy Spirit or the study of God’s Word, or we go beyond what they are saying.

For John’s readers and for us today, the key to knowing the truth is allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to us through the Scripture so that as we hear preaching, teaching, a new idea, another speaker...we are able to discern whether the idea is Truth or not.

Over the past few weeks this idea has come up over and over and over. In order for us to discern what is of God and what is not...it starts with us spending time in God’s Word and that is empowered as we learn to listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Replacing Christ

I am not really a mystical person, but I have found that God still speaks. And he does this most clearly through what His Holy Spirit brings about in our lives as we read the Scriptures. As we spend time in God’s Word and allow His Holy Spirit to work in our lives we are transformed.

In 1 Corinthians 2, the Apostle Paul give a rather drawn out explanation that I think is worth hearing. Let me explain it quickly and then I will read it. Sometimes I’m able to hear things better if the entire premise is stated before it is read to me...so I hope this helps.

Paul begins by pointing out the wisdom of the message He preaches, a wisdom that really comes from God. That wisdom is only available because the Holy Spirit reveals it as Truth. He then tells how it really should be no surprise that the Spirit knows these things because He is, after all, the Spirit of God, and who knows what is going on in a person more than their spirit.

The thing is, though, this Spirit of God is willing to dwell inside of each one of us and teach us and lead us into Truth. The world around will not buy into our message many times because it doesn’t have the Holy Spirit...so they look at what we as Christians do as foolishness.

Let me read this passage to you...

1 Corinthians 2:6-16

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—

these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ.

Conclusion

As a church, we must move in the authority of God’s Word as guided by the power of the Holy Spirit. As Christians, we must move in the authority of God’s Word as guided by the power of the Holy Spirit. John calls it an anointing. Paul calls it having the mind of Christ...both are a result of the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us enabling and empowering us to do God’s work here in our world.

And what an amazing thing it is for both John and Paul to claim...that we can have this Spirit, this anointing, dwelling inside of us...leading us into Truth. Guiding our conscience and spurring us on to Christlikeness. He is, in theological language, the The Ever-Present Teacher. God’s Spirit working inside of us to teach us God’s Will.

For more information about Crossroads Vineyard Church in Huber Heights check us out online at www.daytoncrossroads.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/daytoncrossroads

Revolution: Loving What God Love 1 John 2:15-17

2011-10-31T09:23:00.000-04:00

Last week we talked about Maturing in our Faith and the 3 stages of maturity outlined by John. Little Children, Adulthood, and Spiritual Father and Motherhood. Ultimately the key to each step seems to be whether the Word of God lives in us...which starts with us reading it...which starts with us having a commitment to spiritual maturity. So, I challenged you to ask yourself this question, “Do I really want to mature in my faith with Jesus?”

I hope you spent some time wrestling with that question this week because the answer we give to that question determines whether or not we will be able to receive today’s message.

When we decide that we are going to pursue spiritual maturity...that we are going to do what it takes to stay connected to God...we start by spending time in God’s Word and allowing it to speak to us and grow inside of us. Choosing to mature, choosing to abide or remain in Christ, choosing to spend time in God’s Word means that we choosing to NOT do some other things.

The challenge comes when our loves are split. When we love God and want His way...but we also love something else...something that is not God.

So we have to learn to “keep our eyes on the prize” as they say in the world of athletics. We have to keep our eyes...or in John’s language...our love...focused one the right things.

I found this clip of someone who didn’t keep his eyes aiming in the right direction...

Let’s look at today’s passage...

1 John 2:15-17 says,

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”

In today’s passage John’s call is for us to not love the world. For those who want to mature in their faith, John says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”

What is the World?

If we are to live a life that does not love world...our my first question has to be What does John mean by the world?

The word used here has several meanings.

It can be mean creation, the earth, or the universe. John is part of a Hebrew culture, though, that values the present world and the Creation of God. Just a fast reading of 1 John and the Gospel of John reveals that John is highly influenced by the book Genesis...and understands that God views His creation as good and that Jesus is part of the master plan to rescue and renew God’s created order. Besides this verse doesn’t make sense if we translate it as Do not love creation.

It can also mean the people of the world. But John 3:16, a verse many of use learned in Sunday School or have at least seen on a sign at a football game, says, “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son...” God is invested in this world and its people. John has also been talking about how one of the signs of a person really loving God is that they really love their brother.

So what does John mean? He means that we are not to love the ideologies, methods, and ways the world operates that are estranged from God. One simple look around and it is fairly easy to see how the world operates in ways different from God or at least it should be easy if we have spend time allowing the word of God to live in us...that is the point of the last section as it connect to this one.

The world’s ways run contrary to God’s. So we are not to love the world...We are to “quit considering the world precious.” And the reason we stop loving the world is that everything in the world comes from the world and not from the Father. For John, those who are a part of true discipleship, those who truly love the Father, do not love the things that God does not love. And God does not love the brokenness in our world.

Remember, the word for world here is not about the creation or the people, but about the systems and ideologies that characterize a broken and fallen world. John even lists three things that characterize the world’s ideology he is calling us to turn away from: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life.

Let’s take a look at these...

First, Lust of the flesh...the desires of the flesh...John would likely have in mind sexual sin, but he would also have in mind appetites and desires that are not centered on God. This is an unhealthy desire, lust, for things that fulfil appetites and desires in ways not centered on God.

The world has a way of taking good and wonderful things and turning them into something sinful by misuse. Sex, according to God’s Word, is wonderful and great...He created it for our enjoyment...but it goes wrong when it is done outside the bounds He sets for it. Working hard, earning a living, and making money are all good things...until the desire for them leads us to neglect our loved ones or to pursue wealth at the expense of others. Food is a great thing. God even talks about feasting and enjoying great food together...but gorging and gluttony are not God’s design for food. Same with having a beer. We are hard pressed to find a verse that says drinking a beer is sinful...but we all know the impact alcoholism has on people’s lives.

Most sin hapens when something good is take too far or takes on more importance than it should have...when lust of the flesh creates a sinful desire for something.

Second, John points out the Lust of the eyes. This is a greed for things we see. When we feel like less or desire something wrongly because we see what others have...a sinful lusting grows inside of us. The biblical term for this is coveting. Desiring something that is not ours...something we don’t need...something God has not given us...but because we have seen it we now want it for our own.

Third, John points out the Pride of life. This is a bragging about what we have...a desire to impress people with what we have or have done or are doing. Yeah, well my kid is honor student at The Emporium of Learning more stuff than your kid! This is that feeling that makes you want to compare yourself to others from your high school graduating class. Or, put just the right spin on your resume. It is believing that what you have or have done are what makes you important.

These three are characteristics of people who love the world, and our sin fits into one of these categories. We struggle with these on a regular basis. Satan uses them to fight against us constantly...and John says that when we love the world...we can’t love God because we allow these things become our core values rather than Love of God and Love of neighbor.

If we are drawn away by our love of the world...we demonstrate that God’s love is not in us. Why? Because who or what we pursue ultimately determines what we do and who we become. We can’t have competing loves in your life. We can’t love two things that at their very core are opposed to each other. You can’t love the way of a world that values things opposed to God’s Way. You can’t love sin and righteousness. You can’t love both Michigan and Ohio State. Love of God and Love of the world are incompatible because they lead to different destinations.

And John says, Why would you want to love the world’s ways anyway...because it is all transitory anyway...it is all passing away...it won’t last. Only the things of God last. Verse 17 says, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

Pursuing the things of the world is like chasing the wind. If we truly believe there to be a resurrected life after this one...and that God’s Kingdom really is what matters...then this will affect our attachment to the things of this world.

What house I own...doesn’t matter because I have a home with God.
My bank account doesn’t matter...because real riches are found in doing God’s Will.
What car I drive doesn’t matter...

That is why Paul can tell Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:8,

“Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

This world is passing away and what matters is what we are building for eternity. So the focus of our lives become very important...who or what we pursue ultimately determines what we do and who we become.

We can have children and build large families...but are we doing it in such a way that God’s Kingdom is being expanded?

We can build businesses and great companies...but is God’s Kingdom being expanded by it?

When we get Crossroads Vineyard up and running, but it becomes another business-as-usual church...then we have failed...we must be a church that pursues God’s Kingdom, making Him known, spreading the influence of His word and Kingdom in people’s lives.

And really it all starts with everyone of us centering the purpose of our lives on bringing the Kingdom of God wherever we are. If you are an accountant...why has God placed you where you are? How can you bring the Kingdom of God there and in other areas of your life? If you are truck driver...how can you bring the Kingdom of God in your sphere of influence? Soldier? Receptionist? Burger-flipping, minimum wage making, student?

When we allow the love of the world to creep into our lives it distracts us from what should be our true love...from where our eyes should be focused.

Making Straight Lines

When Lori and I first moved to Kansas City, I took a job as youth pastor. The church sat on about 20 acres of land, 10 of which needed mowed...which as youth pastor meant that that responsibility naturally fell to me. It was the natural connection. Teenagers and cutting the grass.

So they showed me how to use this tractor that was one generation removed from a team of oxen, and every week it would take me about 4-6 hours to get the thing running and another 4-6 hours of cutting and trimming to get this yard looking nice.

Part of the problem is that I’m a bit OCD. Things have to be symmetrical. I like to have straight lines. And, you never really notice how uneven your lines are until you have driven a tractor across a 10 acre field and then turn around and look at what you thought was a straight line.

So I began this search for instructions on how to cut as straight a line as possible across this field. Then I read this article, I don’t even remember what it was or where I read it, but it said that farmers, before GPS and all the other fancy gear, would pick out a point at the far end of the field and drive toward that because if they looked at anything closer their lines would not be straight. So I tried it. I picked out a tree at the far end of the field directly in the line I wanted to go...and my lines were as straight as I could get them.

John knows that where our vision is located...what we love...determines the direction of our lives. We talked about this awhile back as we worked through the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 6:19-21 says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

And then when talking about how to stop worrying, Matthew writes in 6:33, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

The secret to living the life God desires us to live is not a set a rules...it is about focusing on the right thing and pursuing it. I focused on a tree at the edge of a field, and was generally able to get a straight line. When we focus on Jesus...we will get a generally straight line as we pursue Him. Not that we will get it right every time...not that we will be completely perfect in the sense that there is not flaw...the point is that we will be headed in the right direction.

You see the Gospel is about attachment. Jesus is very clear the things or people we attach ourselves to define us. What we pursue or love defines our character, our actions, and, ultimately, our destiny.

For those who pursue the Kingdom of God...they don’t need to worry about such trivialities as food, and shelter, and clothing. Our pursuit, our one love should be love of the Father, and when that is our ultimate goal...everything else seems to fall into place. When we pursue God with all of our heart...we don’t have to make rules about what is or is not a sin because God begins to brings those things up for us. We feel uncomfortable when we watch that kind of show...we sense that something isn’t right when take part in that activity...

Conclusion

Who or what we pursue ultimately determines what we do and who we become.

So when John is righting back to this church in Ephesus, he says, “Do not love the world.” Keep loving what should be your first love. Keep loving God. Keep your focus on the right thing.

A generation later, one of John’s disciples, a man named Ignatius is writing to this same church and writes these words, “Apart from Christ, let nothing else dazzle you.”

That is the question for us this week...what dazzles us? Where is our focus?

Is our focus on things that will not last? On things that have no eternal purpose?

Or is our focus on things that really matter? Do we love the Father with our heart, soul, mind, and strength? Does all that we do flow out of our pursuit of God?

Awhile back I was reading through the Bible and as I came to 2 Chronicles 20:12 it struck me really hard; especially the last phrase.

King Jehoshaphat is going to battle with an enemy. He is vastly outnumbered, and the enemy troops are better equipped and better prepared. Rather than fret or worry, Jehoshaphat calls the people of Judah to pray and fast. During this time, He prays a corporate prayer with the people and ends it with this sentence, "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."

That line sums up my leadership and church planting ability, "I do not know what to do, but my eyes are upon you." It sums up my Christian walk, "I do not know what to do, but my eyes are upon you."

That line should at the least, be the starting point for each one of us as we pursue God, "I do not know what to do, but my eyes are upon you."

Let me end with this story...

I was listening to a podcast of Rich Nathan the pastor of Columbus Vineyard this week, and he told the story about a pastor friend of his named Doug Murren. Doug’s daughter, through a series of childhood things, developed cerebral palsy, and struggled to walk. She was confined to a wheelchair most of the time. She was a strong little girl, cheerful, and happy...though.

One day she came home from school, and Doug sensed there was something wrong. He asked her how her day went. “Fine,” she said. But Doug didn’t buy it. He followed her into her room and repeated the question. “No, really,” he said, “How did your day go?”

She broke down into tears. The teacher asked the class what they wanted to be when they grew up, and she raised her hand and said, “I want to be a ballerina and a mother.” This little girl sitting next to her began to laugh and said, “You are cripple...you are never going to be a ballerina! And no boy is ever going to date you looking like that!”

As the little girl sobbed, Doug wrapped his arms around his little girl to comfort her, and then got a stick and beat that other child to death for hurting his little girl...no...that’s what I would have done. He is a better man than I am so he said, “We have been talking about what God thinks of us...so Who’s opinion about us really matters this girls or God’s?”

“God’s,” the girl responded.

“And what does Jesus tell you you are going to be?” Doug asked.

“He says I am going to be a ballerina!”

“Then you are going to be a ballerina!” He said.

You see, When we start listening to anything other than Jesus...when we allow love of the world’s values to creep in and take over, we lose sight of what Jesus wants to do in our lives and what He wants to do in our world. We become deaf and blind to God’s action in our world.

We can spend our lives loving a world that is going to use and abuse us...a world who’s value system has no lasting influence over our world...or we can invest our lives in the Kingdom of God where everything we do has an eternal impact. Where we are not ruled by the lusts and passions that bind up so many people...a place of true freedom. But the choice is our...what are we going to pursue? Who are we going to love?

For more information about Crossroads Vineyard Church in Huber Heights check us out online at www.daytoncrossroads.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/daytoncrossroads

Walking a Straight Line

2011-10-25T17:10:00.000-04:00

Join us this weekend at Crossroads Vineyard to see how this video speaks to our Christian walk using 1 John 2:15-17,

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever."

Revolution: Maturing in Our Faith 1 John 2:12-14

2011-10-23T19:33:00.001-04:00

We are in a message series call Starting a Revolution of Love, and we have been talking about various aspects of how to have authentic relationships that demonstrate love to those around us. Today we are going to look at maturing in our faith...so that this love can become part of who we are.

Today we continue our study by looking at 1 John 2:12-14

I am writing to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, dear children,
because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.

I think everyone of us have had this experience. You are starting a new hobby, activity, or job...and there is this struggle for the first few weeks. You’ve got that newbie smell. It is frustrating because things don’t seem to happen naturally, and everyone else seems to be doing it so easily. You have been doing it for only an hour and you feel like you should quite because you are never going to get the hang of things!

I had this feeling a couple of months ago when Phil Eddy gave me a fly fishing lesson. I looked all cool and calm on the outside...but I was struggling. The movements that Phil made look easy and natural, were tough. You have to hold up your wrist just right, move at the elbow, count one...one thousand, two...one thousand, three...one thousand, and then move your arm forward. My arm didn’t want to work that way.

I felt like I was fumbling the whole thing. I cast that thing a couple hundred times, and only got 1 or 2 good casts out...the problem was that I couldn’t figure out what I did that made it work because it felt the same as all the times before! It was horrible...At least I didn’t tangle the line. I was to fly-fishing what Michael Jordan was to baseball.

In reality, though, I was expecting way too much. This was the first time I had ever picked up a fly-rod, and no matter what I wanted it to be...it wasn’t going to be masterful. I wanted to pick up the rod and within a few minutes be casting like Brad Pitt in the movie A River Runs Through It.
But it was never going to be like that because I was completely new, the movements were new, the whole process was new, and when something is new it takes time...lots of time to get right.

In his book Outliers, Malcom Gladwell cites research that says it take 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. In every area he studied, what determined a person’s expertise was not their initial talent, skill, or anything like that...it was their commitment to getting to 10,000 hours as quickly as possible. Musicians, speakers, computer programmers, whatever...10,000 hours. That is doing something for 24 hours a day for 416 days straight or 40 hours a week for 5 years.

Having a revolutionary love is a lot like this for us. It doesn’t come naturally, and it certainly isn’t easy. We have this set of ideals and standards and definitions for love and what it looks like...and none of them naturally line up with the Bible.

We are bombarded with media and music and movies and cultural influences that tells us love looks like this! Love is self-centered and self-satisfying. It is all about me and my needs being met. It is romantic and always “happily ever after.” He always has the perfect Taylor Lautner abs, puts rose petals all over, and is deeply romantic, and She is always willing...to bring you a sandwich. We all know this isn’t love...but it still works on us and affects our understanding of love.

Then we see the Biblical view of love is radically different...it talks about loving enemies, and sacrificing for others...commitment and covenant...and, as we talked about last week, the fact that if we don’t do good to others then we are actually demonstrating hatred toward them...that’s is a radically different definition of love.

So I’m caught. I think you might be caught too. I really like the Biblical definition of love. There is something about it that rings true...that inspires me to want to live that way...it seems to be the authentic version of what love should and could be...but I also know that I don’t love that way.

And it is here that today’s passage really begins to speak. If we are ever going to live out a Revolutionary love in our world, we have to have a commitment to maturing in our faith. We have to grow in our understanding of what love means biblically and how to live out of that love in our everyday life...and that takes time; lots of time.

Three Stages of Maturity

In this passage John describes three stages of Faith development. Little children, fathers, and young men. These are not meant to be gender exclusive. He simply uses the language he was given which was male dominated. So when we read this we should read: Little children, Fathers and Mothers, and Adulthood.

They are not age specific. John is not talking about groups within certain age ranges. He is talking about stages of growth or maturity in our relationship with Christ. You can have a person who is 20 years old, and because of their commitment to Christ...they are a spiritual adult. You might have someone who is 60 years old, and they would be spiritually, a little child. This is about maturity in the faith...not about years.

They are not time determined. Someone’s maturity level is not determined by how many years they have been in the church; or “saved.” The author of Hebrews writes to a church filled with people who have been in the faith a long time, but have not matured spiritually. They have all the right words, they have put in their time, but they have not matured in their faith.

Hebrews 5:12-14

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

They ought to be teachers, the writer says, but really they need a teacher because they have not grown. Instead of meat and solid food...they need milk like an infant.

One Christian author and pastor says, “The curse of the church has always been immature Christians, Christians who never grow up, Christians who cease their progress soon after beginning the Christian life.”

The problem here isn’t spiritual babies acting like spiritual infants in the faith. The problem is someone who has been calling themselves a Christian, they have been “saved,” they have been in church and should be mature...but they aren’t. That is when there is a problem.

Why is this so? Because healthy things grow. Acting like an infant when you are an infant is ok...but acting like an infant when you are 25 or 35 or 45 indicates a developmental issue. It indicates that something is wrong. And just as this indicates a developmental issue in the physical world, when people don’t grow up spiritual it too indicates a developmental issue.

So let’s look at these three stages of development that John outlines for us.

Spiritual Infants
Have you noticed that babies are lazy? They don’t do anything for themselves. And they are rather selfish and cry all the time. They don’t really contribute anything to the family. They are just a noise at one end and a smell at the other end. But that is ok because they are babies. They are just starting out and everything is new to them. They are helpless. And really babies are very cute.

In the spiritual realm we are born all over again. We start out as spiritual infants, and it takes time for us to get things together. We can be pretty selfish. There are a lot of bad behaviors and things from our previous way of life that God has not yet worked out of us...but what a wonderful time. Just as it is an exciting time when a baby is born...so it is exciting when a person is spiritually reborn.

We have low expectations of someone who is a new Christian...they are just getting started and learning what it means to follow Christ. John says, “I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.” and then later “I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father.”

And those are really the two most important things for a new believer...their sins have been forgiven because of Jesus and they know the Father. If they can get these two things down...they are where they ought to be spiritually...there is a lot more to learn, but they are starting off on the right foot.

And while this stage can be fun...it is easy. We like to be forgiven and know God and revel in this time...but we can not stay here. We have to keep growing or developing.

So the next stage is...

Spiritual Adulthood
John doesn’t write these in order...and there really is no explanation why. But we are going to take them in order of maturity.

The next stage of development is spiritual adulthood. This is the time when you really begin to leave the childish ways behind you. You begin to pick up the responsibilities and demands of adulthood. And granted...this stage can be tough. You are no longer soaking up the resources of the people around you...you are not longer allowed to see things as being all about you...you are asked to begin contributing...those “immature moments” are not looked on as “cute” anymore...when we grow up it is expected that the childish ways are behind us. There comes a point where it is time to grow up.

So it is interesting that John says that one of the signs of this stage of development is that, “you have overcome the evil one.” It is time to stop giving in to sin. There comes a point in our spiritual development when we stop making the same dumb sinful mistakes. We learn to say “NO!” to sin and “Yes!” to righteousness. We grow up.

But we don’t do this all by ourselves. Vs. 14 says that the reason we are strong is because “the word of God lives in you.” Spiritual strength and maturity come from spending time in God’s Word, and when we spend time in God’s Word we are then able to overcome the evil one as John points out.

Right after Jesus’ baptism He is lead into the wilderness to be tempted. And Matthew 4 tells how Satan comes to him and challenges him in three very distinct ways. He challenges Jesus to use His powers to fulfill His own needs by turning rocks into bread to satisfy His hunger. Next Satan challenges Him to test God’s love and concern for Him by throwing himself from the highest corner of the temple and seeing if God would actually rescue him. Finally, Satan test Jesus with a shortcut to having all the world bow at His feet...don’t go through all the pain and agony of the cross when I can just let you have it the easy way.

Most of us are familiar with that story...but do you notice how Jesus fights off Satan’s temptations? He doesn’t run. He doesn’t sit there and cringe and use willpower to ward him off...no He uses Scripture. Every time Satan attacks, Jesus would respond with, “It is written...” Jesus had spent time in the Bible and learned it and made it part of him. And when Satan began using Scripture to continue the temptation...Jesus fought back with a right understanding of Scripture. Satan knows that the best weapon he has for Christians is their own Bible...by getting them to misunderstand what they have read. That’s why John is so concerned with these false teachers that are infiltrating the church.

But do you see that Jesus never resorts to a defense that we are not able to use ourselves? This stage of spiritual development is absolutely vital to our maturity in the faith. This is where we learn to rely on the power of God and find strength in His Word. If we fail at this point...we never mature. This is where we learn to connect to God. John uses the phrase “to abide in” or “to remain in” and that is what we are learning to do.

We are not just talking about knowledge of the Bible though. There are many who have a vast knowledge of the Bible and yet have never matured into spiritual adulthood. They know chapter and verse and can blow other people away with their encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible and their arguments...they have spent years in Bible study and learned so much...but they have missed something very important. John doesn’t say, “you have learned the word of God.” No, John says, “the word of God lives in you.”

Bible knowledge can never replace having the Word of God living and actively at work in our lives. There are many people who the last thing they need is another Bible Study...what they need is to actually do some of the parts they already know. To allow it to live within them.

Moving into Spiritual Adulthood is a vital part of our spiritual walk. If we fail at this crucial time we never mature, and we actually regress. This is why people spend year after year in the church and never grow...it is because they are content with spiritual infancy and never allow the Word of God to become part of them; to live in them.

Even after Spiritual Adulthood, John says there is one more step...

Spiritual Fathers and Mothers
The strength of this level of maturity is that they “know him who is from the beginning.”

Have you ever met someone who has spent years growing closer to God? It is truly like being in the presence of someone who is in the presence of God. There is a peace and strength about them. They are confident of what God can do. They have understand things far beyond their own wisdom or schooling or experience. They “know” God.

That word “know” there is a deep word. It means more than just having a knowledge of something. It represents a knowledge born out of intimacy and connection. It is the same word used throughout the Bible as a euphemism for sexual relations between a man and woman...it reminds people of Genesis 2:24 where the two become one flesh.

There comes a time in our walk with God, if we continue growing, when our knowledge of Him is born out of many, many hours of intimacy and relationship. We have the Bible embedded into us...it lives within us...and we add to that many many hours of experiencing the presence of God. This stage should be the ultimate goal of our spiritual walks because our goal is maturity.

How do we mature in our faith?

The important thing to remember is that we cannot produce growth. You cannot make yourself grow. In the physical world we cannot make ourselves grow. All we can do is put ourselves in a position where growth can happen. We eat the right things, exercise, and work on being healthy. Growing isn’t the point...health is the point. When we are healthy...we grow.

John 15:4-5 reminds us of this by saying,

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

You never walk by an apple tree and hear it straining to produce apples. As long as the limb remains connected to the trunk of the tree...it will produce apples. Our goal is to remain connected to the Vine...connected to Jesus so that His fruit will be produced in our lives.

So we are looking to put ourselves in a position of spiritual health!

Have you guys heard of that workout craze called P90x? It is insane what they have people do. There are these videos that people use to work out with, and a diet that they follow. Here is the thing...they haven’t done anything new. There is nothing really new in that entire program and yet people are flocking to it and spending millions buying the DVDs. They have just managed to repackage the oldest and most reliable weight loss advice ever...eat less...move more.

Putting ourselves in a place where spiritual growth can happen is not rocket science. It is easy to understand what it takes to be spiritually healthy...the difficulty part is in doing what it takes. Just as people people know what it takes to lose weight but resist...opting for the fad diets because the cheeseburger tastes better and is easier...so we will ignore the tried and true methods of spiritual development and attempt to mature through this or that spiritual revival or church or ministry or program or Bible study.

Here is what I want you to do this morning. I am going to give you 7 Ways that through the centuries have been practices or disciplines that people have used to remain or abide in Christ...they have used them to become spiritually healthy. And as I go through them...I want you to be asking God this question, “What one practice do I need to begin that will help me take my next step toward spiritual health and maturity?”

OK?

1. Read the Bible
We have already talked about this...this is the primary way to stay connected to Christ. If you are not spending time in God’s Word then this should be your primary focus. None of the other spiritual practices will help you much if you don’t do this one thing.

Ray Stedman writes, “Abiding in the Word. That is the secret of growth. That is what will move him from one stage to another until at last he becomes a father, able to reproduce himself in others. Here, then, is the divinely designed instrument of growth, the Word of God. It is absolutely impossible to grow up as a Christian or as a real man or woman, unless the Word of God abides in you. This is why the devil fights the whole matter of Bible study, the building of your life around the centrality and the authority of the Scriptures. Though the devil cannot stop us from being Christians, he can certainly keep us from becoming strong Christians.”

I believe so strongly in the power of God that that is why I spend the time I do preparing our weekend messages. That is why I require all our leaders to read through the Bible on a regular basis. The primary way we stay connected to the Vine is through God’s Word.

2. Pray
Spend time talking with God. Sitting in His presence...developing a conversational relationship with God.

3. Give of yourself...both tithing, time, and talents.
Throughout the Bible God constantly challenges people to give of themselves. He challenges them to tithe and to minister to others and to use their gifts to bring glory to His name. When we give we are saying that we are dependent upon God to take what we have given and use it to bring glory to His name.

4. Join a small group
It is important to be in fellowship with others. There is a myth that many of us have bought into..it says “God will never give us more than we can handle.” And it is a myth because God regularly allows us to have more than we can handle. And does this for two reasons...so we will depend more and more on him...and so we will depend more and more on others. In the modern Christian church...small groups are the place where we develop relationships and learn to depend on others and learn to love others.

5. Share your faith with others.
There is something about sharing our faith with people around us. I’m not talking about cramming the 4 spiritual laws down their throats or anything like that. Just simply talk about what God is doing in your life. It is really that simple.

6. Spend time worshipping.
We need worship. Everyone of us worships something. The question is whether or not what we worship is really something of ultimate value and worthy of worship. As we focus our eyes on God...the one who is truly worthy...there is something in that act that lifts us and moves us forward.

7. Practice the spiritual disciplines.
Throughout the centuries there have been practices...called Spiritual Disciplines...that people have used to help them connect with Christ. Fasting, silence, solitude, confession and repentance...the list could go on and on. These Disciplines are meant to help us in our journey of faith and require way more time than we have this morning. But I would definitely recommend a book. Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline is the best book I have ever read on this subject. It is worth the 10 or 12 dollars to purchase it.

Conclusion

Ultimately the question isn’t “Can I mature in our faith?” The real question is “Do I really want to mature?” Refusing to do the things that lead to spiritual health will cause us stall out and stop growing. There will be times of rapid spiritual growth and time when that slows...but we come back to ask “Am I where God wants me to be at this time?” That is the sign of maturity. Not how do we compare to this or that person? But Am I where God wants me to be at this moment?

I want to challenge you this week in two main areas:

First, ask yourself, “Do I really want to mature in my faith with Jesus?” Don’t move across this quickly. Spend time praying about this...because God challenges us to step up and move forward when we mature.

Second, carve out a block of time...start with 5 minutes a day if that is all you have, and begin to put into practice time with God.

For more information about Crossroads Vineyard Church in Huber Heights check us out online at www.daytoncrossroads.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/daytoncrossroads

How to Make the Enemy Run

2011-10-23T07:00:00.003-04:00

Wish I had time to include this video in my message...but I will post it here.

10,000 Hours

2011-10-20T17:16:00.001-04:00

How does this video fit into the weekend message? You'll have to wait and see...

We are looking at 1 John 2:12-14

I am writing to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, dear children,
because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.

Revolution: Hate 1 John 2:3-11

2011-10-16T17:11:00.001-04:00

A couple of weeks ago we started our series called Starting a Revolution of Love, and we have been looking at the book of 1 John. 1 John is a great little book. It only takes about 22 minutes to read all the way through, and if you haven’t read it through yet, I would encourage you to do so.

What you will find is that John is obsessed with how people relate to God and to each other in the church...specifically that they love each other. He uses the word “love” 36X in this little book...more than any other book of the Bible.

John is probably 90 years old by the time he writes this book, and is living in exile on the small island of Patmos. He writes this letter because some false teachers are causing a stir in the church where he was pastor in Ephesus. They condoning an early form of the heresy called Gnosticism. This was the belief that there were normal Christians, and then there were those with special knowledge. That’s where the word Gnosis in Gnosticism comes from...it means “knowledge.”

Many in John’s church were beginning to doubt whether they were doing the right thing. They were confused. They heard John’s message about Jesus. They thought they had everything right, but now, they were beginning to doubt because of these men.

These false teachers believed in a philosophical doctrine called dualism. This is the belief that the material world and the spiritual world are two separate and at odds with each other. The material world is evil and only the spirit could be holy. So this led many of them to be antinomian or “against law.” They believed that as long as they had the right knowledge they were saved so their bodies could do whatever it wanted. Because the spirit is all that matters.

Their walk didn’t match up with their talk.

I suspect that a major part of this was their refusal to love certain people in the community of faith. That really seems to be a major part of what John is talking about. He emphasizes that as God’s light shines in our lives we are cleansed from sin, and through confession we are freed to have genuine, open, honest, loving relationships with others.

But John has to keep coming back to this idea of loving others...it seems to be a problem.

I don’t really get it because we all know that Christians get along so well; right? No. Relationships are tough. They are tough enough with acquaintances, but when you add a close proximity they get even tougher. Have you ever noticed that the biggest fights we have are with the people closest to us? They are always with family, close friends, people we spend a lot of time with.

For those living in the First Century, the church, the community, the Koinonia or fellowship had to become their family because to accept the message of Jesus meant rejection by one’s own family. So this group we call church is meant to be like a family.

Did anyone else grow up in a church where people called each other Brother or Sister? It was meant to represent that when we become part of the community of faith we are part of God’s family. And like it or not, families fight. I always say, “Family, you can’t live with them, and you can’t bury them in your backyard.” I’m joking, mostly. It would ruin the grass. And you would run out of room.

So we have this church that is struggling with doubt, dealing with false teachers, and beginning to bicker amongst themselves...so we come to today’s passage.

Let’s read 1 John 2:3-11,

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

John is building a case in this passage.

1. Walking in truth (light) means to be obedient to Christ’s commands.
2. Christ’s command is to love one another.
3. Failure to love is hate.

Let’s look at the first two things real quick and then focus on John’s third and final point and what this all means for us.

Walking in truth (light) means to be obedient to Christ’s commands.

Last week we read, “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, purifies us from all sin.”

The way to know if you are walking in the light is to test your actions...are you doing the commands of Christ?

The minute we start talking about “doing” something is the minute someone wants to pull the card that says, “You are talking about works, and you can’t earn your salvation by doing anything!” They are right. You can’t earn your salvation. Nothing you do can earn your salvation. But they are playing the wrong card at the wrong time. It is like laying down the King of Spades in the middle of an Uno game...you are playing with the wrong deck of cards. We are not talking about earning anything...we are talking about what characterizes someone who has been saved.

For John, a person knows they are saved if they are obeying Christ’s commands.

Here is the difference. Earning your salvation means “I do Christ’s commands, therefore God owes me salvation and heaven!” John is saying, “We are saved, therefore we do Christ’s commands!” See the difference? It so small but so huge at the same time.

This is really a heart issue because two people can be doing the same exact thing and one of them is attempting to earn their salvation and the other living out of response to God’s salvation. It is Jeremiah 31:33, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” This is an obedience that comes from a transformed heart...not an obedience done to earn something.

v.3 Says, “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.” This is a love that expresses itself in action...John is really talking about assurance...knowing that you know that you are saved. Those who are trying to earn their salvation never really know whether they are saved...I hope I’m ok. I mean I serve the poor and hurting. I tell people about Jesus. I go to church every Sunday. I don’t know, know. But I do a lot of good.

John is saying, You can know that you know that you know...because out of your heart you are doing Christ’s command. He knows that we will not get it perfect. We talked about that last week...that is why confession is so important. So it isn’t getting everything right all the time. But our actions demonstrate that we are growing ever closer to God.

I meet people all the time that tell me how much they believe in Jesus and are looking forward to heaven...then you find out they are getting drunk all the time or they are stealing from their job or they are doing all this stuff that you know Christians are meant to move aways from. And it isn’t that they are “sinning” its that they feel no compulsion to stop...there is no desire to live as Christ wants them to live. Their stated belief in Christ does not show up in their lives.

And don’t think these are people just outside the church. They said that prayer however many years ago, and yet they are fine with their prejudices, and pride, and lack of love for others, and self-centered religiosity, and they feel no compulsion to try to live as Christ wants them to live. Their stated belief in Christ does not show up in their lives.

Walking in the truth, walking in the light of God, means that we are learning more and more to be obedient to Christ’s commands. In John’s words, “But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them.” God moves to save us, we respond with obedience, and then God is able to finish His work in us...He is able bring His love to completion within us. Because out ultimate goal is live Christlike lives.

The key command is Christ’s command is to love one another.

For John, the command to love the neighbor had been a new command...he heard it live when Jesus spoke it. And I can imagine that as he wrote this book to the Church in Ephesus that he could hear Jesus’ voice speaking it to him all over again.

So John writes, “Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.”

This command is an old command, but it was new to John 70 years before he wrote this as he listened to Jesus. And John is writing to a whole new generation of believers...so while the command to love one’s neighbor is old...it must be declared all over again for a new generation. This command that is more than 2,000 years old must be made new for each generation.

Jesus did something no one had ever done before. He took Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 and put them together.

Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Leviticus 19:18 says, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”

So as John is writing this new generation of believers to remind them we are called to love God, but we are also called to love our neighbors...this is the command of Christ that encompasses all the other commands. We get these two right...we get them all right.

This requires two very important things, which we talked about last week, and John reminds them of very quickly again... “Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.”

There is that connection between confession and fellowship.

We talked last week about the word John uses which we translate as “fellowship.” The word koinonia was so much more than just hanging out...it was a community of people who knew each other at their best and worst and loved them anyway...they were committed to them...loyal to them.

And within this fellowship confession to God and one another are big parts of making the community function as Christ intended. That is why the Matthew 18 principle was meant to work so well. Matthew 18 tells us that when we have issues with someone, we are to go to them and talk to them about their offence. If that doesn’t do it, then we take two or three others as witness and judges to evaluate and make recommendations. If that doesn’t correct the situation, the one in the wrong is asked to leave the community because their refusal to confess and change direction disrupts the entire fellowship.

This is a community built on loving each other and confessing so that we can live in the light together...and move on to growth in Christlikeness.

Our next point is where we need to spend the majority of our energy this morning...

Failure to love is hate.

Hate seems like such a harsh word...how many of us really hate someone? There are people that we dislike extremely. We like everybody else a whole lot better, but hate?

I mean we throw that word around, I hate that restaurant...I hate that football team (Michigan)...I hate this or that...The closest we come is when someone hurts, angers, or wrongs us in some way. There is an anger and pain that comes with that, and we experience a form of hatred. We can’t see them or even hear their name mentioned without this intense feeling welling up inside of us.

Modern brain research tells us that love and hate are located in the same region of our brains...but the brain activity lasts longer when hatred is experienced than when love is experienced.

Philosophers have recognized the power of hatred for a long time.

Aristotle defined hatred as “A dislike for someone based on our negative perception of that person’s nature that is so intense that whoever feels it wants to cause real harm to another.”

I think the Apostle John would agree with Aristotle...in a way. John would definitely say that hatred is seen in our wanting to do harm to another person. But John goes a step further...and this is where it gets touchy for you and me...This is where God has to step in and transform our common notions of love and hate.

John believes that not doing good to [not loving] others is doing harm to them...and therefore hate.

Did you get that? If I see someone and do not do good to them, then I am demonstrating hatred toward them.

For most of us, we believe Aristotle’s definition and live out of it every single day. I don’t like that person so I will not even go around them. I don’t want to be near them, hear them...they are as good as dead to me. We are not actively seeking to harm...we just ignore them. We are cold toward them, ignoring them, acting like they don’t exist. Therefore we don’t really hate them.

There are some who do actively seek to harm those they hate...we have seen the power of homophobia, racial prejudice, sexism, bullying...the list could on and on of people who out of hatred...out of their perception of a person’s nature...seek to do them harm.

But for most of us we express our hatred in a calm, neglect of the person.

But John reminds us that not doing good to others is the same as doing harm to them. When we refuse to do good for others...we are doing them harm. When we refuse to love others...meet the needs of others...help the hurting of others...we are doing harm, and we are demonstrating hatred toward them.

And when hatred creeps into our lives...the darkness surrounds us so that we “don’t know where we are going, because the darkness has blinded us.”

As I prepared for this message, I was reminded of the classic Pink Floyd song “On the Turning Away.” If you haven’t heard it...you have to. I posted it up on my blog earlier this week. They get what John is saying...that a failure to do good...that a failure to love...that a failure to care...that when we turn away from the pain and hurt of others...we are hating them.

Now that is tough...isn’t it? I am content to just not be near them. To ignore them. I thought I was fine doing that.

But we are called to be a community that does not turn away from others.

As a church, that is why we believe so strongly in serving and caring and loving our community...we want to demonstrate love to our neighbor. It must be in our DNA as a church to care. Which means it has to be in my DNA...my values...to not turn away from the pain of others.

And this should not just be something we practice just to those on the outside...this is an inward thing too. It starts with us loving those in the seat next to us...across the room from us...we need to love and demonstrate that love in practical ways.

What a powerful reminder from John...when we refuse to show love to someone God has placed in our path or put us in community with we are actually hating them. That’s tough because I would rather ignore those I don’t like.

So how do we do this?

We do like the flyers says...We must accept people as they are and love them. People don’t need to clean up to come to church. They don’t need to have everything right before God will accept them. They just have to come to Him. We need to create safe places where people can openly talk about their doubts and fears and sins and find forgiveness and healing. We must be a place with a come as you are you’ll be loved philosophy. We must be people who are safe to talk to.

We must be a place of Gospel-centered community. We are all part of various communities that have nothing to do with the Gospel. We have knitting groups, bowling leagues, golfing buddies, jobs...all kinds of communities. As a church we are different...we must provide a place where people are welcomed and accepted, but where the Gospel begins to work in each person’s life transforming them into living more and more Christlike lives. This happens best in community. This happens as we grow together, challenge each other, pray for and with each other, and allow people to stumble and love them anyway. This is why we are working so hard to get some new small groups up and running in the next few weeks.

We need to be places where people can share their hurts and pains and know that the people in the group with them are going to love them and care for them no matter what.
We must serve others. As a church we serve both inside and outside of the church. Every Sunday morning between 4-8 people show up to get everything out of here and get the chairs set up, the sound system running, and the coffee brewing so that we can have church. We have teachers who love and care for our children while we worship and hear God’s Word. We need people to serve in these areas so that the Crossroads Vineyard can function. We need more people to sign up to serve.

We also serve outside the walls of the church. Yesterday we served more than 100 families in the Huber Heights area with food. We are having a prayer training event next Saturday at the local library to help us know how to pray for other when we are serving. We will be giving away Halloween candy, and Thanksgiving Dinners, and we are working on finding a family or two to adopt at Christmas. I believe the church has holed up behind the walls for too long.

But all of this needs to spill over into our lives. We have families and jobs and neighbors and a world around us that needs us to serve and love them as we go about our regular, average days...and not just when we are part of a church outreach.

So we have these three powerful reminders:

1. Walking in truth (light) means we are obedient to Christ’s commands.
2. Christ’s command is to love one another.
3. Failure to show love to our neighbor is showing hatred.

This morning I want to invite you to think about the person you have been ignoring out of dislike. You haven’t worked to do them harm...you have just been ignoring them.

Now, confess that hatred to God. That’s what it is so let’s call it that.

Now, this week, find some way to begin demonstrating love to them in a practical way. Send them a card. Write them an email. Do something tangible and practical.

Some may say, I don’t know of anybody. I try not to turn away. There isn’t anyone I feel ill will for and there is no one I can think of that I am ignoring because I don’t like them. That’s great. Then you can just store this message away for another day...because we will all need to deal with this at some time.

For more information about Crossroads Vineyard Church in Huber Heights check us out online at www.daytoncrossroads.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/daytoncrossroads

Using Pink Floyd to Interpret Scripture

2011-10-14T16:14:00.001-04:00

What do these two have in common? We will talk about it this weekend.

1 John 2:3-11

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

Revolution: Light and Confession 1 John 1:5-2:2

2011-10-10T14:51:00.000-04:00

The message series we are in is called Revolution of Love, and we are looking at 1 John. We said that 1 John is really a book about love...John uses the word love 36x. That is more than any other book in the Bible. So in 5 chapters and 22 minutes of reading...you have read the word love more times than you would if you read any other book in the Bible.

And so today we jump right in and begin exploring our next passage. Let’s read this together.

1 John 1:5-2:2

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

John begins his discussion by focusing on the character of God...“God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” It is interesting that John uses the word light to describe God.

Light

Light is very important to our lives..and it is really cool to study. I posted a video introduction of light on my blog yesterday you should check out. Did you know that light exerts force on things? It is very small, but if you took 30million laser pointers and aimed them at a penny...the penny would move!

Light is also bendable. Gravity can bend light as it passes around a plant or star or black hole. We know this thanks Albert Einstein.

It has always been thought that the speed of light was constant...at 186,282 miles per second. That means that is takes about 2 seconds for light to travel from the Moon to Earth. But a little while back some scientists were able to slow the speed of light down to 38 miles per hour by forcing it to pass through a special form of matter at a super-cold temperature.

There are a lot more really cool things science is still teaching us about light. We could spend a long time talking about light and it’s properties, but if we have a 1st grade level science knowledge of light we will be just fine.

Light is a scientific thing, but as a spiritual, philosophical, literary metaphor it has been around for a long time. It ranks up there with love and hate, good and evil...this metaphor of light and darkness has been around.

It is has been around a long time because the metaphor and the connections it makes for us helps us take something very complex and put handles on it so we can understand it.

When John says, “God is light” he is making a statement about God’s character that we can learn by looking at the commonly recognized properties of light.

Light dispels darkness.
All we have to do is turn on a switch and instantly electricity pushes through the wires, heats the element in the bulb, or in this case electrifies a gas trapped in the glass tube, and we have light. And when light enters the room...darkness goes away. John didn’t have electric light. He had oil lamps and daylight, but it was still the same application. When light entered darkness was dispelled.

So John uses this very simple concept to point out that when God enters a situation darkness must flee. God’s character is light...so wherever He goes...light goes with him, and there will be no darkness. They cannot exist together.

Light also reveals things hidden by darkness.
Light, even a little bit of light reveals things hidden in the darkness. If you take a small pen light or use your cell phone screen you can see a lot stuff. If you take a Million Candle Power flashlight...you can see a lot more.

So when God enters a situation hidden things are revealed. For those who have pursued the Christian life...you know that God continually shines a searching light into your life and you are confronted with sin and problems on a regular basis that you either handle through Him or refuse to handle and cease to be part of the light.

Light also gives life.
Have you noticed that stuff doesn’t grow unless it receives the proper amount of light? Our moods also change if we stay inside too much or there are too many consecutive cloudy days? That’s because light has a life giving quality to it. It is built in to the system of living things. We need light.

So when God enters a situation...He brings life. There should be an aliveness in us that is not seen in others.

These properties of life...dispelling darkness, revealing hidden things, and the giving of life are all part of this light and darkness metaphor that John is tapping into when he says, “God is light...”

When God enters a situation darkness is dispelled, hidden things are revealed, and life is made available. When God enters our life our darkness is dispelled, hidden things are revealed, and life is made available to us.

The Church John is writing to is dealing with an early heretical teaching called Antinomianism. That mean “Against Law.” This was the belief that our spirits operate separately from our bodies. They believed that as long as your spirit was right with God it didn’t matter what you did your body. So you had people claiming to be followers of God...claiming to be Christian...but their lives were sinful.

So as John as writing to this church he challenges them on this point...“If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.” Because those who are followers of Jesus will walk in the light.

This isn’t the first time John has used the metaphor of light and darkness. He also uses it in his Gospel.

John 3:19-21 he says, “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

Genesis 3

And I think this leads us to see where problems begin to show up. Thanks to Adam and Eve and the actions of Genesis 3 we are all born separated from God. We have this sin nature in us that loves darkness and rejects or hides from the light.

And it shows up especially in our relationships. But sin interrupts this call to love that John spends the majority of his writing discussing. Sin is first and foremost a relational problem. And light is meant to help, but we love darkness. When light enters our first reaction is to run and hide. We feel shame, guilt, fear. We tell ourselves that we are protecting ourselves, but the problem is deeper than that.

After the sin in the Garden, the Bible tells us that Adam and Eve realized they were naked and felt ashamed. So they made and wore clothes made of fig leaves to hide their nakedness...I have never tried to sew together some leaves to make clothes, but I’m sure it wasn’t that effective. Their innocence, their vulnerability with each other, their openness...was gone!

Sin brought this shame, and desire to hide things. There was a fear of the other that wasn’t part of God’s original plan. And that same fear and shame and darkness clouds up our relationship even today.

Later when God returns to the Garden for His evening walk with Adam and Eve, they hide. They are filled with shame and guilt. And God calls out the question “Where are you?” God doesn’t need them to tell Him where they are hiding. God is the worst person in the world in the world to play hide-n-seek with...He knows where you are located.

No, God is asking Adam where are you at...here? What have you done?

And then Adam begins a series of denials and explanations and feeble attempts to cover up what he has done...attempts as feeble as trying to make clothing out of fig leaves....attempts that like all our attempts to cover or conceal, or deal with our sins ultimately fail...just like clothing made of leaves.

When God enters our lives He wants us to expose and name our sin...not so we can stay guilty...not to condemn us and make sure we know we have done wrong. His intention is to clean it up and get rid of it. Just like light...He want to chase the darkness away from our lives.

God is light and those who want to have genuine relationship with Him and with others must walk in the light...not in darkness. Just like Adam and Eve our sin stands in the way of real relationships. Relationship with God and relationship with those around us.

John uses the word “fellowship” rather than relationship. That word used there for fellowship is a great word. It is the Greek word Koinonia. It represents a friendship that has intimacy, closeness, comfort, honesty, openness. It is a word that is supposed to describe our relationship with God and with those around us in the our local faith community, but often doesn’t

When we allow God’s light to really shine into our life...darkness flees, sin is revealed, and life begins...But my first reaction is to hide...to feel shame and guilt...to run away. I don’t want to be exposed. I don’t want others to know some things about me. I don’t naturally want to be in the light. We don’t want to be in the light.

When Bri was about 4 years old, she was very eager to help and do things on her own. One night we were sitting in our living room and she asked if she could have a piece of cheese. Lori asked if she would get her one as well.

This simple task should only take a minute or less, but we realized that we hadn’t seen her for a little while. When we walked into the kitchen she is standing in the refrigerator door eating a piece of cheese. So Lori asked, “Where is my cheese?” And Brianna held up the cheese with the bite out of it and said, “Here it is!”

Lori said, “But you took a bite out of it!”

“No I didn’t,” Bri responded. “Yes you did!” “No, I didn’t it was like that!”

And for the next half hour Bri continued to deny she had taken the bite out of the cheese. So like any good father, I thought, I need to get the video camera. I taped the entire denial. What made this even funnier is that throughout the whole ordeal she had this little piece of cheese hanging right in the corner of her mouth.

She had been caught. She knew she was caught. And, while there were no real consequences for her being caught, she felt shame and guilt and immediately went to denying everything...and it created tension in our relationship.

We are often like the obstinate child who God keeps saying, “Look you ate the cheese. I can see a piece of cheese hanging on the corner of your lips. I even have video!” and we keep saying, “I didn’t eat the cheese.”

We hold on to our sin and our darkness like Gollum holding on to the ring...and it eats at us. Just as it ate at him throughout the Lord of the Ring movies. His sin kept him from having real fellowship with those around him, and our sin will do the same thing.

Maybe we are afraid...Because real fellowship requires vulnerability. It requires more honesty about ourselves than we are often willing to give. We know that people can and will take advantage of our weaknesses and sins and use it against us when we are open and transparent. God may not be as loving and forgiving as we hope.

Maybe it’s pride...Maybe we think we will do a better job running our lives...I think it is a number of things that converge to make us want the darkness more than the light.

Unless we do something about our sin it stands in the way of real fellowship. It will keep us from having fellowship with God and will derail our ability to have fellowship with others.

So what is the answer? How do we allow the light to enter our world and dispel and reveal and give life?

Confession

That is John’s answer. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

The word confession has received a bad rap because of our legal system...but it does have it’s roots in a legal system. The word there is homologeo and means “to say the same thing” or “to be in agreement with.”

When we confess, we say to God or the other person, you are right...that’s me. I have an issue with that. I recognize that you are right.

We agree with what God or the other person is saying, and we are not left there...just confessing. We are forgiven and purified. That means that God will forgive the sin and then work to get it out of our lives. This is an ongoing thing. It isn’t a one and done thing.

John says, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”

He writes this because he recognizes that we live in a world that does not function the way God intends. Even at our best, we will sin. The answer is to make confession an ongoing, regular practice in our lives. To be ready at any moment to recognize, accept, and repent of our wrong doing.

And we have to practice it regularly...because we are afraid...because we like to hide. That’s why Jesus includes it in the prayer in Matthew 6...because we need to practice confession regularly. We are filled with shame and guilt when people discover those things about us. When we do something stupid we know we shouldn’t have done. So we start assembling our shoddy clothing of fig leaves to cover our nakedness.

That wasn’t me...someone hacked my twitter account...if you only knew my situation...we sew all our excuses together in an attempt to hide our nakedness and shame before others.

But it doesn’t work...and what works seems like the most idiotic, counter-intuitive thing ever...confessing, owning up, and being transparent and honest in our relationships. Have God’s light shine in every corner of our lives.

Proverbs 28:13 says, “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” We must be willing to say, “I’m sorry. I missed the mark.”

The church throughout history hasn’t done this very well...we haven’t walked the line that says, We must walk in God’s light and live a holy life on this side and says, We are fallen, broken, and in need of confession and repentance over here.

We have emphasized God’s holiness and His call to live a godly life in such a way that we can’t actually do it so we cover up our shame and guilt when we fail.

Or we so minimize God’s holiness and his call to live a godly life because we know we are going to fail...that we make the Christian faith a wishy-washy joke or another form of antinomianism.

John says, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

He recognizes that God’s call is to live a sinless life...but He knows that as things stand we live in a fallen world. There is a tension there. Even if we spend every moment trying to hear God’s voice...there will be times when we get it wrong and need to confess. But we are not doing it alone...we are not left to manage things under own power...trying to cover our shame with clothing of leaves...No, we have Jesus. The one and only perfect sacrifice that is able to remove that sinfulness from our lives.

Conclusion

So what does this look like?

It means as Jesus’ followers we learn to acknowledge God’s call for us to live holy lives...but we remain humble and transparent enough to acknowledge that we often fall short.

It means we confess on a regular basis. We become people who acknowledge our sins. We call them out. We don’t hide them. It is dangerous and painful and messy to be a church that says we will confess our sins and move more and more into God’s light. But we learn to trust those around us.

This is why small groups are so important. We are currently working to develop more small groups because we need places where we can confess, find love and forgiveness and live in authentic relationships with others. You won’t find deep relationships if you just attend on a Sunday morning...no, we have to get with other people so that relationships can develop.

This morning we are invited to confess. We have sin in our lives that needs to be confessed. We aren’t hiding anything from God he already knows. God is light, and the more His light shines into our lives, the more our darkness is dispelled...our sins revealed...and life made available to us.

It is time for some of us to drop the masks and allow people to come in. We have been holding people at arms length...not allowing them to get close. Not allowing real relationship...real koinonia to develop.

For others we need to drop some false level of expectation of those around us...and allow them to confess their sin and allow God’s light to shine in their lives. We have put some false level of expectation on them...they shouldn’t do such and such...they are not what God is concerned about when He is talking to you or to me. God will work with them.

Some of us need to buck the fear and hurt of past relationships and risk, once again, allowing others to get close.

But It all starts with confession. Being willing to name our sinfulness to God, and allow His light to shine in on us because if we don’t our unconfessed sin will stand in the way of real fellowship with God and fellowship with others.
For more information about Crossroads Vineyard Church in Huber Heights check us out online at www.daytoncrossroads.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/daytoncrossroads

Light

2011-10-08T09:36:00.000-04:00

1 John 1:5-7

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

Revolution: From Son of Thunder to Apostle of Love

2011-10-03T15:30:00.000-04:00

This morning we are starting our new series titled Revolution. We will be looking at the book of 1 John, and what God’s revolutionary love can do in our lives. I thought it would be good to start our series off with a look at the Apostle John...after all, knowing something about the author and their life helps us understand what they have written.

A few years ago I read the book On Writing by Stephen King. In it he talks about writing and what that life looks like and gives some great thoughts on writing...but even better were the stories he told of how he comes up with his ideas. I mean he has some weird ideas in his books...so it was interesting to see how some very normal things were combined to make these novels that he writes.

In the same way, John’s experiences and life story will help us better understand the message of 1 John. It will give us insight into why he says what he does, and what it means. So we will be bouncing between a few different places this morning. We will be looking at the Gospel of John, the letter of 1 John, and the book Acts.

Biography of John
Ready? Here we go.

The book of 1 John was written by John the Disciple of Jesus. John is an interesting guy who often gets overlooked, as do most of the disciples because of Peter. Peter was the one with the big mouth who goes on to be the most recognized leader of the early church. But John has an equally interesting story to tell..

We first meet John in the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell how John and his older brother James were fishermen working in Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. They worked alongside their father Zebedee and their business partners Peter and Andrew.

Fishing as a vocation is a difficult job. It is backbreaking and dangerous. It isn’t a very glamorous job...you work hard all night long, and then in the morning you sell your fish in the market, repair your nets, prepare you boats, and then try to get some sleep before going out again the next night. Not to mention that you smell like fish all the time.

But one day these fishermen have a life changing encounter with Jesus. Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee, and notices Peter, Andrew, James, and John in their boats. They have been out all night fishing. They are exhausted. They have nets to repair and fish to get to market so they can be paid for their nights work. I don’t know about you, but I’ve worked third shift, and the last thing I want to do in the morning following an all night shift is have something disrupt me on my way to bed.

But Jesus walks up to them and simply says, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men!” There must have been something in that moment that cannot be conveyed with the written word, something that explains what would cause these men to drop everything they are doing...leave their job and family behind...and follow Jesus. But John did...he left everything. The Bible says that he and James left their father sitting there in the boat and followed Jesus.

John was chosen as one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus and spent three years with Him. Everywhere that Jesus went, John went too. And over time, John became one of the inner three disciples. This was a smaller group of disciples who were closer to Jesus and saw some wonderful things the other disciples didn’t get to see or experience.

One story tells of how John along with Peter and his brother James went with Jesus up this mountain, and while they were praying Moses and Elijah appeared. Jesus was standing there in the midst talking with them. Peter was so blown away by what he saw that he wanted to build three temples on the mountain and stay there forever! No one else got to see that, but John did!

Mark 5 tells us about a man named Jairus who came to Jesus asking him to heal his daughter. By the time they got to the house, the child had died. Jesus took John, Peter, and James into the room with Him, and they witnessed Jairus’ daughter raised from the dead. No one else got to see that!

While Jesus was on the cross, He gave John the responsibility of caring for His mother...a fact that made such an impression on him he included it in his Gospel (John 19:26-27).

John started and led many churches. He wrote 5 books in the New Testament, second only to Paul. He was persecuted for his faith (some traditions say even being tortured with boiling oil!), and was eventually exiled to live alone on the island of Patmos.

In fact, 1 John was written when John was an old man living out his last days in exile. Word had come to him about some false teachers that were trying to sway members of his church and lead them away from Jesus. But even while writing against all of this false teaching, John maintains a great sense of humility and love.

He was known for his great humility and was called the Apostle of Love. In the Gospel of John...the Gospel he wrote...he never once mentions his own name. He simply refers to himself as “the one Jesus loved.” He refuses to mention his own name.

In his Gospel he uses the word love 26x almost more than the other Gospels combined, and he uses it 36x in the small book of 1 John...more than any other book in the Bible!

People knew John for his love and his humility, but he wasn’t always known for his humility much-less known as the Apostle of Love.

What’s in a name?

Jews of the first century took naming their children very seriously...they felt it identified a person’s destiny. Some names were given to call something out of that person...to pull them toward a destiny...to call them to something bigger out of them...Peter is a good example of this.

When Jesus met Peter in the Gospel of John chapter 1 He renames him. John 1:42 says, “Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter.)” If you know any of the stories about Peter you know he was not a rock. He talks without thinking, he is impulsive, he has flashes of brilliance mixed with utter stupidity, and, after three years of being with Jesus, when he is faced with accusation by a slave girl...he denies even knowing Jesus. Not just once, but three times denies Jesus...that doesn’t sound like a Rock

But Jesus saw his destiny. He saw what Peter could and would be...so he renamed him. Peter would eventually become the rock the early church needed. He stood before the crowd in Acts 2 and said, “You killed the Messiah! But you can still follow Him.” He stood before the Jewish Leaders and denounced them for killing Jesus. He led the church through the tough waters of its beginning; convincing the other leaders that they could allow Gentiles into the Church. He was eventually martyred for his faith in Jesus by being crucified upside down...Peter became the rock that Jesus always knew he could be.

Sometimes, though, people were given names to call attention to something in them...to name a character traits...sometimes even a flaw. You and I know that sometimes our biggest gifting...our biggest positive trait, if used wrongly, can be our biggest flaw.

People who love and serve others can become enablers.
People who are leaders can become bossy and demanding.
People who are funny and have a great sense of humor can become obnoxious and hurtful.

Our biggest positive traits, if used wrongly can be our biggest flaw.

In the Gospel of Mark chapter 3, Jesus is naming those who will be the 12 disciples. In verse 17, as part of the list, it says, “James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”)...” Jesus calls James and John, “The Sons of Thunder!”

Sounds like a tag team wrestling duo from the WWF! Doesn’t it? Now making their way to the ring...James and John “The Sons of Thunder!” They would have a special move off the top rope called the The Thunder Bolt! I don’t know...

Sons of Thunder! It meant their character, their personality was one of fiery zeal. They were passionate about the things they love. But sometimes their fiery zeal came with destructive consequences.

Fiery Zeal
In Luke 9 there are two stories, right in a row, that highlight John’s fiery zeal.

The first story tells of a man, who is not one of the 12 disciples, casting out demons. John sees this man who is not part of the “in” group, so he goes to Jesus.

Luke 9:49-50 says, “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”

John sees someone not given status as one of the 12 disciple doing something he thinks should be reserved for only the 12 disciples to do, and he wants to go put an end to that nonsense. But Jesus stops him.

The second story follows right after, and shows even more of that fiery zeal...

In Luke 9:51-56, Jesus is heading toward Jerusalem where He will be crucified. On the way there, Jesus and the disciples are getting ready to pass through a Samaritan town, but it is late and they need something to eat and a place to spend the night.

Now in order to understand this story you need to know that Jews and Samaritans hated each other. Each thought the other was worthless and each believe the other was doomed to hell for their religious beliefs. Things became way more intense when Jews started passing through Samaritan country on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover. In fact, most Jews would travel many miles out of their way to avoid even going through a Samaritan town.

Not Jesus. It was like He went looking for this stuff.

So he sends messengers ahead into the Samaritan town to make the preparations for him and his disciples. But the Samaritans weren’t having anything to do with a Jewish traveler headed to Jerusalem. They refused, and this angered John.

In verse 54 it says, “When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”

That is fiery zeal right there! What do you mean they won’t let us eat in their town...Lord, can I call down fire from heaven to destroy them? Please, please please?

There is one last story about James and John that once again show their ambitious zeal to elevate themselves above the others. A complete lack of humility. This time in Mark 10:35-45.

James and John come to Jesus, on the sly, of course, and ask Him to let them to sit on His right and left hand when He takes the throne of His Kingdom. These are positions of power. In this culture, those sitting on the right and left hand of the King were rulers, they were important...they were more important than anyone else in the Kingdom. Have you ever heard the phrase, “Right-hand man”? That is where this comes from.

James and John, with astounding boldness, are asking to be elevated above the other disciples...to be made more important. And when the other disciples hear of this they become angry! So Jesus has to redefine what leadership and authority look like for those who follow Him.

None of these stories seem to indicate that John was known for humility muchless worthy of the title Apostle of Love! He was ambitious and angry and arrogant and judgmental. He wanted to destroy an entire village simply because they would allow them to sleep there! He wanted to be a ruler in the Kingdom of God above the other disciples.

He wasn’t worthy of the title Apostle of Love, and yet, history time and again demonstrates that something changed in John’s life. Somehow, though, by the end of his life John had become known for his humility and known as the Apostle of Love.

What would cause John to go from calling down fire on a village to calling the church to love their neighbors?

What would cause John to go from ambitious glory-grabbing self-promotion to putting others first?

What happened that turned him from being a Son of Thunder into the Apostle of Love?

Jesus

Jesus is what happened to John

He encountered Jesus. He heard Jesus. He knew and lived with and befriended Jesus, and this encounter with Jesus made such an impact on him he was changed.

And not just the pre-crucifixion Jesus. No, John encountered the living, breathing, resurrected Jesus. He saw Jesus crucified and buried, and, like the other disciples, saw something he never expected...He saw Jesus raised from the dead. And it was this encounter with Jesus that changed everything for John.

In fact both his Gospel and 1 John begin with a similar sentiment.

John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John emphasizes that he saw Jesus; the Son full of grace and truth. He encountered Jesus. It wasn’t a figment of his imagination. He wasn’t hallucinating. It wasn’t some sort of apparition. Jesus was real. He saw Him, heard Him, and was with Him.

There were some false teachings circulating in the churches John is writing to that said, anything that is made of flesh is evil and condemned therefore Jesus wasn’t really human. He only appeared to be human.

And John says No way, Jesus was real. He was in the flesh. I saw Him. I touched Him. I heard Him. And if you saw what I saw you would know! Jesus was God in the flesh. That encounter changed me.

Again in the letter of 1 John 1:1-3, it says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”

This encounter with Jesus convinced John that there was something more powerful than hate and anger and ambition...there was something that could change a person deep inside. I don’t think John ever lost his fiery zeal...he was always a Son of Thunder, but it was redirected. John had seen and heard and lived with Jesus and that experience changed him from being the angry ambitious power grabber to being the Apostle of Love.

In this passage John uses some lofty terms to refer to Jesus. He says that Jesus is “that which was from the beginning...” He calls Jesus “...the Word of Life” and “the life” He says that Jesus was no ordinary human being He was “with the Father.”

And then he makes this bold claim, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” The reason John tells this over and over again is so we can have fellowship with God and take part in this “life” this “eternal life” which he is talking about through Jesus Christ. John had experienced new life in Jesus, and wanted others to have that too.

When we hear the phrase “eternal life” we often think of living forever and ever. We think of the person who asks, “Do you have eternal life?” And then tells us how we can get to heaven when we die...But there is more to it than just where we spend eternity.

The biblical writers were not just concerned with the afterlife...they were concerned with the life we have to live day-in-and-day-out. They knew that unless the Gospel made a difference in this life...unless the Gospel of Jesus Christ made a difference here and now it was worthless. So that phrase “eternal life” means more than just where we spend eternity. It means that we can take part in a life...in THE life...a life of the ages...when we encounter Jesus in this life.

John knew that if others would encounter the presence of Jesus like he did that it would change them too! It would give them meaning and purpose and direction. He was a fisherman...now he was part of the mission of God. He was the Son of Thunder...now he was the Apostle of Love.

Like John
Many of us are like John. We have been given a name that maybe we deserve, but we don’t want it. We have done some wrong in our lives. We have sinned. We have failed. But we don’t want that to define us...we don’t want that to be how we are remembered.

John didn’t want to be remembered as the Son of Thunder calling down fire from heaven to destroy a village. He realized that God had a better way for him to live. A way that was so good John referred to it as life. Later in 1 John 1 he says it is like a ray of light pushing the darkness out of his life.

Maybe you are like John and have been given a name you don’t want. And like John...the way out for us is to encounter Jesus and experience a revolution of love in our lives. John encountered the love of God in Jesus Christ, and we need to encounter it too.

For some that is difficult. Some of us come from backgrounds where God was angry at our sin and the pastor made sure we knew that He was angry. And we have to get over the false belief that we are some how unworthy or unlovable byt.

Some of us come from families where we had to perform or be perfect to receive love and acceptance...and that carries over into our relationship with God.

For some those traits and abilities that are good and great about us have taken over and they need to be redirected so they can bring honor and glory to God.

This morning I want you to know that God loves you, and wants to have fellowship with you. He wants you to come as you are. He wants you to come as a Son or Daughter of Thunder. He wants you to come as whatever label you have been given and become part of what He is doing.

We sent out this card to everyone in Huber Heights because we believe that God wants you to know that He accepts us and loves us...we don’t have to clean up before He will take us back. We don’t have to be perfect. He even loves Chihuahuas with mohawks!

We don’t have to be perfect...but we do have to be willing to take our next step closer to Him.

Here at Crossroads Vineyard our mission is to help each person take their next step closer to God. We say it that way because we believe, like John believed, that everyone of us has a next step. Whether you have never followed God or you have followed Him for 50 years...you have a next step. And when we encounter Jesus we can’t help but be changed. We can’t remain the same.

Peter was changed when he encountered Jesus.
John was changed when he encountered Jesus.

We can be changed when we encounter Jesus. We don’t have to accept or keep the name we have been given. We can have fellowship with God.

This morning I want to invite you to take your next step...

For some of you...today is your first step. You need to be back in church. You need to get back in contact with a community of believers that will love and support you and stand beside you in this journey of faith.

For others...there is still another step to take...you need to say, “Jesus I want to have a relationship with you!” And I’m not just talking about getting into heaven...you need to says, “I want to follow you and become your disciple.” Jesus never calls us to follow so we can get into heaven...he calls us so that we can learn to do life according to His principles and guidance.

For some...you have been stalled out for too long in your Christian faith and you need to shake the rust off and get moving. It may be a sin that you need to confess. It may be that you just need to make Christ the real priority of your life. I don’t know. But you have stalled out and you need a fresh encounter with Jesus this morning.

This morning...what is your next step? What stands in the way of having a life changing encounter with Jesus Christ?

For more information about Crossroads Vineyard Church in Huber Heights, Ohio check us out online at www.daytoncrossroads.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/daytoncrossroads

Sermon on the Mount Matthew 7:24-27

2011-10-02T18:53:00.000-04:00

Well, here we are at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. It has been a great ride. But it is a little like saying goodbye to a good friend...at least for me. You hate for a good thing to come to an end...but I’m also excited about where we are going. The danger of being done with a series like this is to think that we are done with it...but this is the kind of thing we can’t just let go.

Next week we begin a new series called Revolution. We will be looking at the book of 1 John and how God wants to start a revolution of love in each one of us that changes us and changes the world around us. You’ll want to bring your Bibles...you will be able to place a book mark in there and look really, really holy because you will be able to open it up before anyone else can even find that spot. And you can feel good about that.

It is going to be a good series that challenges us to grow in love. And what a great way to kick off our Grand Opening...talking about love and acceptance and God’s desire to transform us with His love. Many of you saw or received our invitation this week. So let’s be praying together as we look to what’s ahead for our church.

This morning we are talking about a story that is probably very familiar to you. If you attended Sunday School as a child you probably sang about it...The wise man built his house upon the rock...

It is always a bit hard to preach on a familiar passage...because everyone is familiar with it, and it doesn’t generate the interest that something unfamiliar has. We have to listen more carefully to hear God speak through the passage because we are so used to hearing it.

But if we can get past the cutesy childhood song and past our own familiarity...there is something that God wants to say to us again today.

So let’s read the passage...

Matthew 7:24-27

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

We have heard this story before, and to those who have ever worked in construction or ever had foundation problems at your home...you know the reality of having a good foundation.

Our house in Pleasant Hill, Missouri was over 115 years old. It had a decent foundation, but underneath our house was a main beam that supported everything and the foundations stones for this beam needed a little help. As the weather changed and the ground shifted and settled throughout the years, the house would shift and doors wouldn’t open and close properly. And I was into golf at the time and the floor had a shifting break in the dining room floor that I used for putting practice. I would have to read how the ball would travel across the different movements of the floor. Great practice, but made me a little nervous at times living there.

Every year I had to crawl under the house to make adjustments. I had to put in these metal support poles to help stabilize things, and would have to tighten or loosen so that the doors of our house would open or close properly. Hoping all the time that the house didn’t collapse with me in this 2 ½ foot crawl space under the house.

Foundations are important because if you don’t build on solid ground, the whole house could collapse in on itself.

Have you heard about Palm Island in Dubai? It is this gorgeous, exclusive city of sorts off the coast of Dubai. It has houses, businesses, and entertainment facilities spread out across this island shaped like a giant palm tree.

The “ground” is made up of sand dredged from other areas and deposited here until an Island is formed.

They are building these amazing houses on the islands. It is just beautiful!

But despite the best efforts of the construction companies involved, The New York Times reported that the island is sinking by about ¼” a year, and could actually sink faster depending on various geologic and weather factors. Which means that eventually either the island will have to have some major adjustments made or all of these houses and businesses will sink into the ocean.

Again we see that foundations are important because if you don’t build on solid ground, the whole house will collapse in on itself.

This house was built too close to the river, and when the flood came, the foundation eroded and the houses collapsed and were swept away.

I like that lady’s response, “Well that took care of that!” It’s probably wrong of me to be rooting for the bridge isn’t it?

Foundations are important because if you don’t build on solid ground, the whole house will collapse in on itself. Every builder knows when you build a house you need to have a solid foundation. If you don’t that house will be unstable. So Jesus uses this metaphor of building on a good foundation and then compares it to our lives.

Every day we are building a house of sorts for ourselves. We are all builders of our own house. We are building our character. We are building our families. We are building our future us with every decision we make. What you decide to do or not do today will affect who you will be in the future.

And as we are building this house we are living in, Jesus makes the bold claim that if we want a firm foundation, we must build our lives on His teaching. If our foundation is built on anything other than His teaching we are like the homeowner who builds his house on a foundation of sand. So when the trials and struggles of life come, our foundation will be swept right out from under us.

The Gospel of Matthew places this story at the end of the Sermon on the Mount...the sermon where Jesus has just laid out what it means to be a part of His Kingdom. He has laid it all out there...what kind of people the Kingdom of God blesses, anger and murder, lust, integrity, prayer, giving, fasting, worry, having the right treasure, how we treat our neighbors and our enemies. This is a foundation that stands in stark contrast to the one the Pharisees were trying to build.

So building a firm foundation...one built on rock...one that will sustain our house when the wind and rain falls on us...we must build our lives on the foundation of Jesus’ teaching as found here in the Sermon on the Mount.

And it is not just knowing the message of the Sermon on the Mount...it is the doing it. Jesus says in this passage, “...everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man...” Two things you notice here: Hear the words and put them into practice.

For some people the last thing they need is another Bible study. Don’t get me wrong. I love the Bible. I love studying it and learning from it. I think everybody ought to read and study it and read and study it more than we do. I believe it is God’s Word to us. But some people are more interested in knowledge about the God and the Bible than actually knowing God. And the last thing they need is another Bible study...what they need is to put what they already know into practice.

Putting Jesus' Words into Experience

But some have tried to put Jesus words into practice and failed because they didn’t do it the way Jesus commanded them.

Some have tried to put Jesus words into practice under their own power, and I believe that people can live out a good portion of the actual words of the commands of Jesus without any help. Even the Apostle Paul was able to say that according to legalistic righteousness he was flawless.

But in order to do this they build up systems with rules for everything. Usually emphasizing all the things you “Don’t do!” And while this looks holy and righteous they have simply built another foundation of legalism similar to the one Jesus condemns here in Matthew 5-7. They get the words correct, but miss the spirit of what is being said.

On the other side you have those who look at the words of Jesus and think, “Those are hard. I can never do that!” Or, they try a little bit and then stop because it is hard to obey. So because it is too hard or they are just spiritually lazy, they never even try to put Jesus’ words into practice. But they too can make it sound so holy with talk about God’s grace and forgiveness and love, all the while using it as an excuse to seem obedient while they do whatever they want. They are able to actually avoid living out the words of Jesus...because they are too hard.

The Apostle Paul writes Timothy about how to deal with false teachers and says it this way in 2 Timothy 3:2-5, “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power...”

Did you see that list. We recognize that people who do all those things are far from what God wants for His people, but somehow they have fool people into thinking they are godly. These ar false teachers who seem like they are following Jesus’ teaching; they have a form or the appearance of godliness...but they deny its power...they don’t allow it to actually take hold and works it power in their lives.

They would rather look godly than actually be godly.

So you have these two ways...rules, regulations, and a new legalism, or this “grace and forgiveness” but really a do your own thing way...both of which are just poor human replacements for what God really wants to do in our lives. Because what He really wants to do is not give another set of laws or make things so difficult we give up. He wants more than an appearance of godliness...He want actual godliness in our lives.

He wants to accomplish His promise as found in Jeremiah 31

“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.”

So what is the answer? The answer can be seen at the end of the passage from Paul. These people “having a form of godliness but denying its power...” This passage is an indictment about those who look godly but are not really godly...but this verse makes me ask the question...what is this power they are denying?

How are we enabled to do the words of Jesus?

To put it positively...What if we tapped into that power so we didn’t have the appearance of godliness? What if we lived in this power so that we had actual godliness? What would our lives look like if we had this power that enabled us to put Jesus’ words into practice?

Here is what I know. Jesus has laid out His teaching for us, and He has called us to obey it. He gives us the Sermon on the Mount and then calls us to put His words into practice. I also know that our attempts to do this on our own will only lead to failure. We will either be another form of legalism or we will give up because it is too hard or we are too lazy.

But I also know that if He calls us to do something He must have a way for us to do it.

That power the false teachers denied...is the power of the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, to lead us and transform us so that we can actually put Jesus’ words into practice.

The Gospel of John says it this way in 16:13-14, “But when he, the Spirit of truth [that is the Holy Spirit], comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.”

Jesus promises that His Holy Spirit will come alongside us and guide us into all truth. That He will lead us and guide us...because He will lead us using the words of Jesus.

We get to work in synergism with God. That’s a big word meaning we get to work with God. It is not all us meaning we have to find a way to do what He tells us to do...and it is not all God meaning He is not going to force us to obey. He calls us to a higher standard of Christian living and maturity, and then says you have to do this, but as you do it I will be there empowering you with my Spirit to accomplish what I have called you to do. Without the Holy Spirit this whole thing falls apart.

The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to put Jesus’ words into practice. He guides us into all truth. He leads us...but we have to follow. We can’t do this on our own, but He will not force us to obey...because if you are forced to do something it isn’t really obedience is it...it’s slavery or coercion or something else. No, we have to make the steps forward. We have to be obedient, but it is an empowered obedience.

Do you remember those spinning wheel of death merry-go-round things that were on the playground as a child. They were awesome!!!! In order to make it work you had to wedge yourself in so that you didn’t fall off, but you could still touch the ground with your foot to get that thing spinning fast. I kicked and kicked and had other kids on the other side kicking with me to get that thing spinning.

But what I really wanted to happen was for someone’s dad to come over and start spinning us because Dad’s could get that thing going so fast you felt like you would just fly off at any moment. Your tiny little fingers were just barely able to hold on to the bar as the centrifugal force tried to hurl you to certain death.

But I always hated it when the mom came over. Nobody wanted the mom to come over because she would never spin it too fast. She was afraid one of us would get hurled off the like a rag doll and have to go to the hospital. So it was always steady and safe. That thing was a tool of death...there should be no safe! Dad’s were still childish enough to spin that thing like their manhood depended on how fast it went.

I could get that thing to spin when no one helped, but it was a lot better when the dad came over and began spinning it. The same thing is true with the Christian life. It can be somewhat done by yourself. Let’s not get into a discussion of how much...but we can agree that we can be good...we can do some good things...we can avoid bad things. We can become good people. We can obey some of the things that Jesus says to do...but if you really want this thing to work...if you really want to be able to put these things into practice with power you need the Holy Spirit.

This isn’t about earning our own salvation or getting a better standing with God because of the things we do...this has nothing to do with status or level change. We have to shift metaphors when it comes to our relationship with God. Status and level accomplished by good works still holds on to a finish line mentality. If I just do this or that I will get in. But Jesus calls us to a life. He calls us to a journey. And a journey is very different than a destination. Obedience has everything to do with being what God has called us to be through the power of the Holy Spirit. He called us to follow Him...to do life in the Jesus way.

Let’s take one of the issues presented to us by the Sermon on the Mount and work through it.

There is someone who just rubs you the wrong way. Or maybe they hurt you on purpose. Every word they say about you is aimed to hurt you or demean you or just make you mad. The natural first reaction is to punch them in the face, or complain about them behind their back, or get mad and hold a grudge against them forever! Killing them may be the last thing you want to do...but it is still on the list.

But then you read this passage from the Sermon on the Mount that says to love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, and there is that pesky prayer that says “Forgive us our sins as we forgive others” and you know that you are supposed to put Jesus words into practice. You know that if you are going to build on the strong foundation of Jesus teaching that you need to do something different than what you really want to do to them.

Those are hard things to do when someone has hurt you. It is hard to forgive and love when they seem bent on damaging you. But it is the times of testing that reveal your foundation...those with foundations of sand will go with what seems natural. But those who have built their foundation on the teaching of Jesus will react differently.

And it all begins with deciding to do things in the way of Jesus. As soon as we take that first step, the Holy Spirit begins to work in our lives and empowers that decision so that we can obey Jesus’ words.

There was this lady who was causing trouble for me at a church where I was youth pastor. She was hurt and wanted to hurt others, and I was on her list. I was beginning to hate her. I didn’t want to talk to her or be around her or have anything to do with, which is hard when she has a son in your youth group and is on the youth leadership team. So my pastor challenged me to pray for her.

The last thing I wanted to do was pray for her. Ignore her...yes. Tell her off...yes. Strangle her...yes. Not pray. But I did anyway. And what happened was amazing...she didn’t change, but I did. As soon as I started praying the Holy Spirit started working in my heart, and made it so that I was able to love my enemy. He transformed me when I put Jesus’ words into practice.

I didn’t hate her or avoid her or want to strangle her anymore. Does that bother you to think that a pastor might want to strangle one of his or her congregation? Well get used to it because it happens more than we like to admit. Don’t worry, I’m praying for you.

This is just one example of how to put Jesus’ words into practice. But you can put any one of Jesus’ teaching in here and if you start by doing your part, and then depending on the Holy Spirit...He will work and empower and transform so that you CAN live the words of Jesus.

The alternative is a house built on a foundation of sand. It is the house built on taking the easy way out or creating a new system of rules or the way of just doing what comes naturally. It is the way of anything but hearing and putting into practice Jesus’ words.

We go back to Jesus words in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

This is a life of intentionality...this is the life where you chose to build with a foundation on solid rock...This is choosing to hear and do the words of Jesus and depend on the power of the Holy Spirit to help you live it out.

Life will test our foundations. There is no if we will be tested...there is only when we will be tested. The rains and winds and floods will come. Our foundations will be tested whether we are inside or outside of the way of Jesus. And If we build our house on anything other than the teaching of Jesus we are like the home owner who builds his house on a foundation of sand. When the trials and struggles and problems come they will sweep the foundations out from under our house and we will be left with a pile of rubble.

But when we build our lives on Jesus’ words...when hear His teaching and put His words into practice we are like a man who builds his house on solid rock...even though the trials and struggles and problems of life will beat against it...it will not fail.

This morning you may be facing some trials and struggle and problems that are beating at the foundations of your life. If you have built on the foundation of Jesus words, You need to know that you can withstand them. God has give you the Holy Spirit. He has give you a community of people to gather around you and strengthen you. You can make it.

If, however, you have built on a foundation of sand...there is no time like the present to redo the foundation. Rebuild now while you have time. Start working to build on the foundation of Jesus’ words, and when you do the Holy Spirit will lead and guide and empower you to withstand the storm.

This message was preached at Crossroads Vineyard Church in Huber Heights, Ohio.

Sermon on the Mount Matthew 7:15-23

2011-09-30T15:12:00.000-04:00

We embarked on a journey that has led us through the greatest sermon ever given. We have heard things, hopefully in a new light, that have helped us understand Jesus’ teaching better. Jesus’ listeners had never heard teaching like this before. The message was deeply rooted in their own religious heritage of the Law and the Prophets, but was VERY different from the teaching of the Pharisees.

Matthew 7:28-29 even says, “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.”

Together we have walked through a good bit of teaching on some pretty important topics the past couple of weeks...what kind of people the Kingdom of God blesses, we’ve looked at anger and murder, lust, integrity, prayer, giving, fasting, worry, having the right treasure...we’ve looked at a lot of things.

Two Paths

Jesus is now winding down this sermon, and reminding his listeners they have two paths laid out ahead of them. Charlie started us off last week, but we need to look at it a little bit again to give us some context for today.

Matthew 7:13-14,

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

This isn’t just about eternal destiny. This isn’t just about where we end up in the end. This is about here and now and this life we are living. We make choices every day that determine whether we are on the path that gives true life or whether we are on the easy road that leads us down the path of destruction.

There is the wide gate with its broad road that, while it seems good...it has nice scenery...it has well paved streets...and nice safe neighborhoods...Everyone who’s anyone is on it. It is made up of those natural choices, those things that seem like common sense, those ideas that seem to be good. It can easily seem like the right path, but it actually leads to destruction. Jesus says that many people travel this road.

Instead, Jesus says choose the narrow road. Choose the road with the small gate and the narrow road that leads to life. This isn’t the road that seems good, or seems like it will lead to life. It can and will have difficulties. It requires sacrifice. It won’t allow you to continue doing things as you have been doing them, and it will constantly ask you to change and grow...if you want to stay on the path.

Jesus is talking about intentionality. The small gate and the narrow road takes work to find. You will not just stumble upon it. You have to want to be on that road because it doesn’t just happen. And it also takes work to stay on...we are not talking about a one time decision at that one time in your life and you are good. We are talking about a regular on-going decision to stay on that road. Because life has a way of dragging you to the easy road...the broad road...the road where you do the easy thing. But the narrow road is a lifelong journey of choices to stay on that road.

The narrow road asks us to regularly confess sins...to be part of a community...to make sacrificial giving and living a part of our lives...to seek after Jesus’ way above all else...The narrow road asks us to do some pretty risky things because life, true life, is about more than just being alive...it is about having life...even though many have died because they are on the narrow road.

The choice is between two roads.

False Prophets and False Disciples

So then we come to today’s passage...let’s read it and then discuss it a bit.

Matthew 7:15-23

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Why, after talking about narrow and wide gates and choosing between two paths, would Jesus talk about False prophets and False Disciples? Because the road that leads to life isn’t an easy road, and there are many who, for one reason or another, fake it.

There are leaders, pastors, prophets in the churches and ministries both small and large...who want to fake it. They want to seem like they are on the path, but they are not. And there are “disciples” who want to fake it. They want to seem like they are on the path, but they are not.

And the danger is that those who are authentically following the narrow path can be led astray by the False Prophets and False Disciples.

We are still talking about choosing between two paths. One that leads us to destruction, and the other that leads us Life. But now Jesus is reminding us that there are those among us, both leaders and “disciples,” who would lead us away from the path of life. And part of being on the path means that we have to be aware and beware of the dangers and guard against them.

False Prophets

Jesus starts with False Prophets...because everything starts with who is in charge. And if the leaders are following a false gospel, then chances are the people are living a false gospel. Like it or not we are dependent upon our leaders. If it is okay for the leader, then it must be okay for me.

So Jesus says, Watch out for the false prophets/leaders because they look like sheep, but really they are ferocious wolves. These leaders look like they belong to the people of God. They know the right words and actions...but their intention is not to lead the people of God.

People become false prophets for many reasons. For some it is financial gain. Today, the “Christian” market is worth billions and billions of dollars. For some it is fame and recognition. For some, they just have false ideas about the Gospel, and begin to rewrite it to suit them and ask others to follow them.

These people do serious damage to the Kingdom of God.

When Jesus is talking about false prophets and describing them as ferocious wolves...these are teachers and leaders who are doing more than just making a mistake or having a doctrinal disagreement...they are leading the people of God away from the true Gospel.

And the biggest sign that a person is a false prophet or leader is by the fruit or righteousness of their life. The original Greek is very emphatic with this. It places the phrase “By their deeds” at the beginning of the sentence. By the deeds of the false prophets you will know they are false.

Just as a weed will not produce a beautiful flower and thistles will not produce grapes so false prophets will not produce good fruit because they are not connected to the life giving source of Jesus.

A good tree bears good fruit because it is healthy. A bad tree bears bad fruit. Unfortunately it is really easy to hide the bad fruit. Leaders do it for years. And some false leaders and prophets are able to openly flaunt their false gospel and people fall for it. Why? Because they don’t really know or want to know the truth.

Which is better to hear...God loves you and has a perfect plan for your life? Or, God has a master plan and He invites you to sacrifice all your hopes and dreams to see it accomplished?
Which is better...God wants us to be prosperous in our life? Or, God wants us to sacrifice our lives for His Kingdom?

Which is better...To get into heaven just say this prayer and you will know? Or, Follow Jesus, and take on His life and practices as your own?

False prophets and teachers have gotten really good at sounding like they are the real thing...they are ferocious wolves in sheep’s clothing.

False Disciples

Though Jesus doesn’t come down as hard on false disciples, He doesn’t call them ferocious wolves or anything, He does make it perfectly clear that many, believing they are just fine, will find themselves outside of the Kingdom. They will be looking forward to a day when they will be with Jesus in His Kingdom, but they are wrong.

That sounds harsh to me. Because I want Jesus to be loving and kind and readily accepting of everyone. But this passage reminds us that many will call Him “Lord” with their lips, but the problem is their lives do not reflect His Kingdom or His righteousness. Many will have said the sinners prayer, but not really be His disciple. Some will have spent years in the church, in the ministry even, and not really be a disciple of Jesus.

What makes this passage even more difficult is the long list of things these false disciples claim to have accomplished... “...did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?” That doesn’t sound like a list that would come from people who don’t know Jesus.

What is the primary sign that a person is a false disciple? They do not do the will of the Father.

They may do a lot of good things, but obedience is what is required.

If I ask Bri to clean her room, and she comes home and does the dishes, cleans up the dog poop in the backyard, vacuums the whole house...those are all good things, and really would be considered miraculous...but that is not what I wanted done.

Many believe that if they make the right sacrifices or do this or that good thing that they are in...but no good thing we do, no amount of sacrifice we make, will ever replace being obedient to God’s will.

And what a horrible thing to hear...”I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” What a sharp contrast to Matthew 25 where the true disciple is welcomed with the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” Those are the words I want to hear. I mean I think I’m doing some good stuff for God sometimes. I get words of encouragement from some of you. But there is no validation...nothing that can outdo hearing God say, “Well done!”

But the false disciple...those who have the words “Lord, Lord” on their lips, but don’t do the will of the Father will only hear...”I never knew you.”

Both of these descriptions false prophets and false disciples leave me asking a very big question...
How do we know the right thing when we see it?

We also have some tools to help us know the difference between the false prophets and disciples and the true prophets and disciples.

1. Spend time in prayer and in God’s Word.

We have this marker at work that we use to mark monetary bills to see if it is counterfeit or not. It hasn’t happened yet, but sometimes the marker will not work because a person has “washed” a real bill and redone it as a larger amount.

I’m not a good counterfeit identifier...especially if the bills are larger than a $10 because I rarely see money that big. But there are people who are master counterfeit identifiers. When these people are trained to spot counterfeit money they know that the best way to identify a counterfeit bill is to spend their time studying real money.

For us, we have the tools of prayer and God’s Word to help us determine what is real and what is false. The only way to really know a false prophet or recognize a false discipleship is to spend radical amounts of time in God’s Word and in prayer familiarizing ourselves with the original...the problem is we do not use these tools as we should, and even worse is that many of us think we know, but don’t.

I remember having one “discussion” with a girl who was a long-time Christians and considered by some a spiritual leader in the church. She was spouting all of this stuff she said was biblical and right. She was defending a couple of positions that are considered heretical by historical Christian standards. But then she says, “No where in the Bible does it ever use the word Christian!” There was more context to it than that, but this serves to illustrate. She was making a definitive statement about what the Bible meant by making that statement and defending a position that would fall apart if the word Christian actually showed up in the Bible...problem is she was completely and utterly wrong. It is used 3 times. When I mentioned her error she responded by saying, rather annoyed, “Well, I haven’t read the Bible all the way through yet!”

Now here are the problems with that...

She was making bold claims about what the Bible did and did not say without having spent time reading it.

She had been a “Christian” for years, and had as of that time actually read the one book God had given His followers to know Him and His Kingdom all the way through. I know she had read, probably hundreds, of other books by other Christian writers, but not the one book given to us by God.

We do not have to be biblical scholars. But we do need to spend time with God’s Word. We need to study it. We need to spend time praying for God to enlighten the passages so that we understand it. And the more we study and spend time with the original, the more we recognize the false.

False prophets sound really good, and they sound very biblical, and the only way to really know a false prophet or recognize a false discipleship is to spend radical amounts of time in God’s Word familiarizing ourselves with the original.

And when we are familiar with the original then we are able to best use our second tool

2. Watch for fruitfulness.

We can’t watch for true fruit if we are unfamiliar with what God says that fruit is...so we have to start with step one. But we also have to know what true fruit is.

There are many that would have us believe that true fruit is being successful or having the biggest church or the biggest bank account or having the most Bible knowledge or doing the most church stuff or whatever.

We can’t define or know fruitfulness until we spend time getting to know God deeply.

I have a firm belief about who will and will not make it in leadership here at Crossroads Vineyard. Ready? Here it is: Bible Knowledge and activity involvement do not replace Christian character & maturity.

Do you know why? Because sometimes the people with the most knowledge are some of the meanest people around. They are just waiting to thump someone with their knowledge or more accurately to point out how little you know. What this tells me is that while they have a lot of knowledge they have very little understanding. They haven’t allowed that knowledge to transform them into the image of God. They haven’t allowed it to make them more like Christ.

And involvement in activity...doing stuff for God can become a replacement for spending time with God. There are people that do all kinds of stuff for God...serving the poor and homeless...leading classes...setting up chairs, not that we don’t need people setting up and tearing down the chairs if you know what I mean...but all of this activity does not lead us to more maturity in Christ.

True maturity is seen in the person who demonstrates the fruit of the Spirit (take a look at Galatians 5) and are doing the will of the Father.

3. Be careful about the miraculous.

Jesus indicates in today’s passage that people who are not disciples, people who are actually far from God, people who do some pretty phenomenal things...are not really disciples. There are people building big ministries and churches, feeding the poor and healing the hurting, doing miraculous things in our world, and they are built on something false.

I know that is hard to believe. I find it hard to believe. How can someone who is false do those things? Here is what I believe. I believe that Jesus’ name will be praised and lifted up even in the hands of those who don’t really know Him. Jesus will accomplish His mission and purpose for our world even through those who would seek to do it harm.

I was sitting in a healing service a while back where people were coming forward, receiving prayer, and some pretty miraculous things were taking place. People with some pretty debilitating things were being healed. It was amazing.

What was most frustrating to me was that the speaker had just given one of the most idiotic messages I have ever heard from a pulpit. Misquoting scripture...I don’t mean just getting a word or two out of place, but really just making it up as he went along. In fact, he never actually opened the Bible to read from it. He made some statements about not being tied to the actual words of Scripture. I wanted to ask another person who’s opinion I valued, but he had already walked out because he felt what was taking place was sacrilegious. But people were in awe of this guy...what a message from God.

I was frustrated and confused about the whole thing until I realized people are changed, transformed, healed, and renewed...in spite of some “false teachers” rather than because of them. While they are doing it all for the wrong reasons...God is still able to work in people’s lives. Why? Because this is about God and His glory. This is about God accomplishing His mission. God will work.

4. Spend time in prayer and in God’s Word with others.

This is so important I just want to bring it up again, but add that we are never released to do this completely on our own. God gives us scholars, teachers, pastors, leaders, and fellow Christians to help us on our journey.

They have resources that we need to fully understand God’s Word and to hear His voice in prayer.

Me sitting alone in my office reading the Bible is not enough. I have to utilize others to help me understand what God is saying. I use commentaries and books and the Internet and other Christians who have taught this stuff before. God filters it through me, but I’m not alone in this.

If we believe that by just sitting alone and reading God’s Word we will fully understand it...we are badly mistaken. There are times and situations when that is true, but the way that God has set it up is that we are meant to do this Christian life in community. We are meant to depend on others.

It is a team effort.

Conclusion

Have you ever seen that game where you have to spot the difference between two pictures? It is basically the same picture, but some things have been changed and you have to figure out what it is? Sometimes the differences are glaring, but in some the differences are extremely difficult to find.

False prophets and false disciples are a lot like that. We are expected, through prayer and God’s Word and others, to figure out who is the false prophet and false disciples.

Yes we have to be careful of the whole splinter in their eye while the log is in mine, we have to take in to account the Sermon on the Mount’s teaching on judging others, we have to make some pretty close decision about mistakes and doctrinal differences versus blatant falsehood...but we are talking about our pursuit of the narrow road. And that makes it all the more important.

This message was preached at Crossroads Vineyard Church in Huber Heights, Ohio.