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Jesus Hates Religion Part 4

October 5th, 2009 | Posted in sermons | No Comments
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Introduction

Tanya was upset with me because I had an R. Kelly CD in my car. According to her, no Christian should ever listen to that type of music and if I ever wanted to be in ministry (like she was) then I would have to stop listening to music with sexual overtones. It later came out that this woman, who was so opposed to music with sexual overtones, was engaged in sexual relationships with more than one minister at the church. Tanya majored on the minor issues and minored on the major issues.

Matthew criticized me openly because there were very small details of my theology that did not match with his. We agreed on the essential doctrines of the Christian faith but because I did not agree with him on certain small matters he told me and everyone he could that I should not be planting this church. It later came out that this same man, who was so concerned about correcting my faith and practice, had a wife at home who felt consistently ignored and children who had no clue about what it meant to follow Jesus. Matthew majored on the minor issues and minored on the major issues.

Now, Tanya and Matthew are not unique. They are just two of more than two hundred people in my life who have overemphasized the less important things while underemphasizing the most important things. They are just two of more than two hundred people in my life who have majored on the minors and minored on the majors. I imagine that you could tell many similar stories of the people in your life. And why is that? Why did Tanya and Matthew fall into this? Why do we all know so many others who do the same thing? And how do we keep ourselves from becoming just like them? How do we keep ourselves from being so consumed with less important things that we fail miserably at the most important things?

Important questions to ponder for all of us. Important questions that Jesus will answer for us tonight as we conclude our study of Matthew 23. Turn there with me if you will.

This is the fourth and final week of our sermon series, “Jesus Hates Religion (And You Should Too).” Now, I am, of course, aware that the title of this series is strong, uncomfortable, perhaps even offensive. But if we’ve seen anything over the past three weeks we have seen that it is true. And for us to focus on its offensive nature rather than focusing on its truthful nature would be for us to major on a minor and minor on a major.

So let’s quickly review why Jesus hates religion and why you should do the same. Remember, when we talk about religion we are talking about any and every system of belief which claims that if you obey its teachings then you will be accepted, loved, and blessed. And this is, of course, the basic philosophy of every single religion in the world. The basic message of every religion in the world is that if you obey its claims then you will be accepted, loved, and blessed by God, or by the universe, or by others, or by karma – or whatever. This is even the message, unfortunately, of thousands upon thousands of “Christian” pastors who tell you that the more you obey God the more he will accept you, love you, and bless you. This message is everywhere – except in the Bible. This is not the message of the Scriptures. This is not the message of Jesus. No, to the contrary, the message of Jesus is that religion – as just described – is evil.

Straining Out the Gnat and Swallowing the Camel

If you’re wondering why religion is evil listen to the words of Jesus as he speaks directly to the religious leaders of his day in Matthew 23:23-24.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

Three weeks ago we saw that Jesus hates religion because it produces fear. Two weeks ago we saw that Jesus hates religion because it produces pride. Last week we saw that Jesus hates religion because it produces sin. And this week we see that Jesus hates religion because it produces people who overemphasize the less important issues and underemphasize the more important issues. In other words, Jesus hates religion because it majors on the minors and minor on the majors.

Let’s talk a little about what’s happening here. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day went to exceedingly great lengths to obey God’s command to give 1/10th of their crops as an act of worship. And this was a good thing to do. The Bible did command them to return to God 1/10th of the crops he gave to them. But they were so driven by their religious view of the world that they went beyond God’s actual command – which was to give 1/10th of their edible crops – and ensured that they also gave 1/10th of the spices they flavored their food with. Now just picture for a moment how much work and precision this would require. This would be the equivalent of you walking into your spice cabinet, pouring all of your herbs onto your kitchen counter, and then meticulously separating one out of every ten.

Can you even imagine how much time and energy this would require of you? You would be so consumed with obeying God in this area that there wouldn’t be much time or energy left to focus on obeying God in other areas. And that was just the case with the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. He says, “You give a tenth of your spices…but you neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness.” These religious leaders were so consumed with the smallest little detail of one of God’s commands that they completely ignored the far more important command to pursue justice, the far more important command to show mercy, and the far more important command to be faithful.

As Jesus says, it wasn’t that they shouldn’t have been doing the one thing, it’s that they should have been doing all of those things – paying special attention to the most important things. But, instead, they majored on the minors and minored on the majors. Listen to what Jesus says to them in verse 24, “You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” That is both a humorous statement and a humiliating statement at the same time. Jesus says that they will go to great lengths to make sure they don’t swallow something as small as a gnat but then they’ll go and swallow something as huge as a camel. Their religious view of the world led them to major on the minors and minor on the majors.

And religion is still doing the very same thing today. We have churches all over the city who literally spend more time talking about money and offerings than they spend talking about Jesus and his offering. We have churches all over the city who are more concerned about making sure their church musicians play music well than they are about making sure their church musicians love Jesus well. In this very city to this very day many churches are filled with people who are more concerned with what you do than they are with why you do what you do, more concerned with who you vote for than they are with who you live for, more concerned with knowing the Bible than they are with obeying the Bible, more concerned with focusing on the family than they are with focusing on Jesus, more concerned with the sermon delivery than with the sermon content, more concerned with not being poor than they are with caring for those who are poor, more concerned that you wear the right things than they are that you believe the right things, more concerned about non-Christians saying “God damn it” than they are about non-Christians actually being damned by God. This is straining out the gnat and swallowing a camel. This is majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors. This is the evil of religion.

Cleaning the Outside and Leaving the Inside Filthy

Jesus hates religion because it produces people who overemphasize the less important issues and underemphasize the more important issues. Let’s look at one more way that religion does this. Listen to Jesus’ words from Matthew 23:25-28,

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

Here Jesus gives us another way that religion produces people that major on the minors and minor on the majors. This time he says that religious people are like people who clean the outside of a cup until it’s spotless but never bother to clean the inside of the cup. They just leave the inside of the cup filthy. Now on the surface this is a humorous illustration. You can’t help but laugh at someone who would be so foolish as to drink out of a cup that was filthy on the inside just because it looked clean on the outside. But this humorous illustration becomes a humiliating illustration when you realize that this foolish person might be you. Jesus’ point is that religious people are so foolish that they are more concerned with looking righteous than they are with being righteous.

Then he gives a second and even more offensive illustration. He compares religious people to whitewashed tombs. He tells us that religious people are like the most beautiful, most ornate tombs you might see in your local cemetery. On the outside they look amazing, but on the inside they are as disgusting as disgusting can be. They are filled with dead bones, slimy insects, and everything unclean. Jesus says that this is what religious people are like. They look righteous on the outside but on the inside they are filled with hypocrisy and wickedness. And this isn’t some exception to the rule. This is the rule. This is the natural product of having a religious view of the world. Because religion is more concerned with looking righteous than with actually being righteous. Religion majors on the minors and minors on the majors.

And though Jesus’ words are 2,000 years old they are just as applicable today as they were then. In this very city to this very day many churches are filled with people who are more concerned with avoiding the appearance of evil than they are with avoiding evil, more concerned with being able to quote the Bible in public than they are with obeying the Bible in private, more concerned about keeping lust and violence out of their DVD player than they are with keeping lust and violence out of their hearts, more concerned with not getting divorced than they are with loving their spouse well, more concerned with going to church than they are with being the church, more concerned with not having a filthy mouth than they are with not having a filthy heart. This is cleaning the outside of the cup and leaving the inside dirty. This is majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors. This is the evil of religion.

Why Does Religion Produce This?

Now why does this happen? Why is this just as common now as it was in Jesus’ day? Why are religious people still majoring on the minors and still minoring on the majors 2,000 years later? The answer is actually rather simple. Religious people are still minoring on the majors and majoring on the minors because religion itself requires it.

Let me explain how it does this. Remember, when we talk about religion we’re talking about any system of belief that claims that if you obey its teachings then you will be accepted, loved, and blessed by God. Well — if you have this view of the world — if you believe that God most accepts you, most loves you, and most blesses you when you are most obeying him then you will be forced to overemphasize lesser things while underemphasizing greater things.

This is true for two reasons. First, religion forces you to overemphasize the lesser things while underemphasizing the greater things because the lesser things are easier to measure. The lesser things are easier to measure and since the religious person believes that their position with God is directly tied to how well they obey God, they have to find simple ways to measure their obedience. They have to find simple ways to measure their obedience because that is how they determine where they stand with God. So, to look back to the example that Jesus used with the religious leaders of his day it was much easier for them to measure how well they obeyed God in giving 10% of their crops than it was for them to measure how well they obeyed God in being just, merciful, and faithful. Because it was easier to measure the lesser thing they majored on the minor and minored on the major.

This is the same reason why religious people are more concerned with appearing righteous on the outside than they are with being righteous on the inside. It is far, far easier to measure the cleanliness of my speech than it is to measure the cleanliness of my heart. It is far, far easier to measure how often I am going to church than it is to measure why I am going to church. If you have a religious view of the world you are required to overemphasize the lesser things and underemphasize the greater things because your position with God depends on your obedience to him and it is easier to measure your obedience in the lesser things than in the greater things.

Second, religion forces you to overemphasize the lesser things while underemphasizing the greater things because the lesser things are not only easier to measure, they are easier to measure up to. Because the religious person believes that their position with God is directly tied to how well they obey God, they have to convince themselves that the most important things are those things that are easiest for them to measure up to. They have to do this because if they don’t they will have to face the fact that they will never be worthy of God’s acceptance, love, and blessing no matter how much good they do. This is why religious people place an exceedingly high value on giving a certain percentage of their income while placing a much lower value on justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Because, the truth is, anybody can count 10% of their income and give it to the church without much effort at all. But being a truly just, truly merciful, truly faithful person – it is nearly impossible to measure up to that. Because it is easier to measure up to the lesser things religious people major on the minors and minor on the majors.

This is the same reason why religious people are more concerned with appearing righteous than they are with being righteous. Because, honestly, it is much easier to look righteous on the outside than it is to be righteous on the inside. It is much easier to not have an inappropriate sexual relationship than it is to not have inappropriate sexual thoughts. It is much easier to worship God in church than it is to worship God in your heart. If you have a religious view of the world you are required to overemphasize the lesser things and underemphasize the greater things because your position with God depends on your obedience to him and it is easier to measure up to the lesser things than it is to measure up to the greater things.

Knowing the Judgment We Deserve

Now why are we spending so much time here? Why does it even matter if any one of us majors on the minors while minoring on the majors? It matters because Jesus promises to judge those who do. Remember his words to the religious leaders. His words were “Woe to you.” For Jesus to say, “Woe to you” is for Jesus to say, “I am greatly displeased with you, and judgment is coming.” But just in case that is not clear enough let’s listen to Jesus’ words to these same people in verse 33, “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?”

If you have a religious background, if you are a person of faith of any type, it is important that you examine yourself in light of Jesus’ words tonight. Do you, in any way, in even the smallest possible way, believe that God accepts you more, loves you more, or blesses you more because you obey him more? Do you, in any way, in even the smallest possible way, obey God because you fear that if you don’t he will accept you less, love you less, or bless you less? Are you guilty of having a religious view of life, of majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors? If so then Jesus asks you tonight, “How will you escape being condemned to hell?”

If you’re not a religious person, if you’re not a person of faith, if you would describe yourself as irreligious or perhaps spiritual you may be tempted to think that Jesus’ words don’t apply to you. But if you believe that you are dead wrong. Because Jesus’ words are just as applicable to you as they are to the religious person. As an irreligious person you, too, are guilty of majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors. Your view of the world forces you to do this. Your view of the world forces you to major on loving people, and to minor on the far more important issue of loving God. Your view of the world forces you to major on who you think God is, and to minor on the far more important issue of who God says he is. Your view of the world forces you to major on doing what is right in your eyes, and to minor on the far more important issue of doing what is right in God’s eyes. And so Jesus asks you tonight, “How will you escape being condemned to hell?”

Escaping the Judgment We Deserve

Religious person. Irreligious person. Jesus hates religion and Jesus hates irreligion because both produce fear, both produce pride, both produce sin, and both produce people who major on the minors and minor on the majors. So how will you escape the judgment that Jesus promises to both religious and irreligious people? How will you escape being condemned to hell?

The answer is not to become a more devoted religious person who does a better job at obeying God. That’s what got you here in the first place. The answer is not to become irreligious and pretend that hell is not real or that if it is you don’t deserve it. That’s what got you here in the first place. The answer is to look to Jesus. Jesus, the one who experienced hell in the place of his people. Jesus, the one who though he had been united to God the Father for all of eternity was willfully separated from him and judged by him in the place of his people. Jesus, the one who though he obeyed God perfectly at every point, tasted hell for you so that though you have failed to obey God at every point you would never have to taste hell. Ever. If you simply turn from your religion, turn from your irreligion, and turn to him in faith.

The ultimate way, the worst way, that you and I major on the minors and minor on the majors is by thinking that it is our minor work that makes us acceptable to God instead of recognizing that it is Jesus’ major work that makes us acceptable to God. Let us repent of that tonight. Let us turn from that tonight. And let us turn to him and rest all of our confidence in who he is and what he has done.

Jesus Hates Religion Part 3

September 27th, 2009 | Posted in sermons | No Comments
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Introduction

John has spent most of his life in some form of church leadership. He has spent his life explaining the Scriptures to people and calling them to worship God in obedience. As such, he has influenced hundreds and hundreds of people. And most of these people would point to John as the prime example of what a minister should be. Until they found out that he had been stealing money from the church.

Beth has been a Christian for as long as she can remember. She was born in the church, raised in the church, and to this day spends most of her time in the church. To say that Beth appeared to be a devoted follower of Jesus would be an understatement. Everyone around her would point to her as the perfect example of someone who takes their faith very seriously. Until they found out that she left her husband for a married man.

I don’t know if you know John. I don’t know if you know Beth. But you do know people like John and Beth. You know people who appear to be firmly devoted to God, people who you would point to as the very example of what a person of faith should be, who eventually turn away from God and turn toward the most heinous of sins.

Why is this? Why is it that can say this knowing that most of you – if not all of you – know exactly what I’m talking about? Why is it so common to see the most devoted religious people turn out to be guilty of the most despicable moral failures? That’s a very important question. And perhaps it brings to mind even a more important question: how do you make sure that you don’t become one of them?

Jesus will answer both of those questions for us tonight as we continue to listen to his words from Matthew 23. Turn there with me if you will.

Religion Produces Sin

Over the past two weeks we have summarized Jesus’ teaching in this chapter with these strong and offensive words: “Jesus Hates Religion (And You Should Too).” Now when we use the word religion, remember, we’re talking about any and every system of belief that says, “If you obey these teachings then you will be loved, accepted, and blessed.” Every religion in the world promotes some variation of this basic philosophy. Every religion in the world claims that if you obey certain teachings then you will be loved, accepted, and blessed by God, or by the universe, or by other people, or by karma, or whatever. This is even the message of thousands upon thousands of Christian pastors. But it’s not the message of Jesus. And it’s not the message of the Bible. No, the message of Jesus and the Scriptures is very different. The message of Jesus and the Scriptures is that religion, as just described, is evil.

Jesus has spent the first portion of the chapter explaining this very thing to his disciples. But now he transitions and begins to communicate the same message directly to the religious leaders of his day. Let’s listen to what he says to them in verses 13-15.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and then you make that convert twice as much a child of hell as you are.”

Two weeks ago we saw that Jesus hates religion because it produces fear. Last week we saw that Jesus hates religion because it produces pride. Tonight we see a third reason that Jesus hates religion. Jesus hates religion because it produces sin.

Now on the surface that statement sounds false, doesn’t it? I mean if religious people are known for anything they are known for doing everything they can to avoid sin. But Jesus tells us that religion does not lead people away from sin. It leads them to it. He gives us two examples of this in the verses we just read. First, he says that religious people claim to teach other people how to get to God. But their teaching actually makes it more difficult for people to get to God. Instead of helping them walk into God’s kingdom they slam the door to God’s kingdom in their face. Second, he says that religious people claim to convert people into children of God. But they actually just make them twice as much a child of hell as they were before, and as the religious leaders are themselves. Because of that, Jesus tells the religious leaders, “Woe to you.” Or, to translate that into words more suitable to our culture, “I am greatly displeased with you and your judgment is coming.”

Jesus hates religion – and Jesus will judge religious people – because religion produces sin. And while that statement may sound false on the surface when you dig deeper its truth becomes glaringly obvious. Religion not only produces sin. Religion produces sin in three different ways.

First, religion produces sin because religion requires that you trust in yourself and not in God. Remember, when we talk about religion we’re talking about any system of belief that claims that if you obey its teachings then you will be accepted, loved, and blessed. Religion by its very definition must produce sin because religion by its very definition is idolatrous.

We commit idolatry anytime that we give to creation what belongs to Creator. When we trust a created thing more than the Creator we are idolaters. And that’s what religion requires that we do. Religion tells us that our position with God depends upon how well we can keep the demands of our religion. If I am accepted, loved, and blessed by God it is because I have obeyed him. What this means is that I trust in myself to make me right with God and I trust in myself to keep me right with God. It means I trust creation more than I trust Creator. Religion produces sin because religion, by its very definition, requires idolatry. It requires that we break the first and most important commandment, which is to have no other gods before the True God.

That’s the first of three ways that religion produces sin. The second is this: religion produces sin because religion calls you to do good things for bad reasons. This is what we’ve seen over the past two weeks together, right? Because religion tells you that you are most accepted, most loved, and most blessed by God when you are most obedient to him religion can only offer you two motivators. If you have a religious view of the world you can only be motivated by fear or pride. If you believe that the acceptance, love, and blessing of God depends upon what you do then you will obey God out of fear. You will obey God because you fear that if you don’t you will not be accepted, you will not be loved, and you will not be blessed. If you believe the acceptance, love, and blessing of God depends upon what you do then will also obey God out of pride. You will obey God because it feeds your pride to believe that you have worked hard to earn the acceptance, love, and blessing of God. As we have shown in great detail over the past two weeks, a religious view of the world does not allow for any other motivators. It only allows for fear and pride.

And I hope you can see why this produces sin. If the only way that religion can motivate you is through fear and pride then you are sinning even when you do good because when you do good you are only doing good for self-serving reasons. You are doing good because you want to avoid God’s punishment (fear) and you want to earn God’s blessing (pride). As a religious person your obedience has nothing to do with you valuing God and it has everything to do with you valuing yourself. Even when you are most obedient to God you are not obeying God because you love him, you are obeying God because you love yourself.

So far we’ve seen that religion produces sin because it requires that you trust in yourself rather than God and that religion produces sin because it requires that you do the right things for the wrong reasons. Third, and finally, religion produces sin because its motivators of fear and pride are not strong enough to keep you from giving in to temptation.

As a human being nearly everything you do is motivated by one of three motivators. Fear, pride, or love. All three of these motivators are very strong motivators. But the one of these three motivators that religion cannot provide you with is love. And love is a far stronger motivator than either fear or pride.

To illustrate this I want you to imagine that this building were to catch on fire tonight. And let’s say that because of where I’m standing I was somehow able to get out of the building before many of you did. And as I stand out there watching the flames consume the building I notice that one of our visitors is still in the building. Now the question at that point is, Am I going to go in to try to save him or am I going to stay out to try to save myself? The answer to that question will entirely depend upon whether I am motivated by fear, or pride, or love. If I am motivated by fear then I am not going to go in to rescue a visitor who I don’t even know. If I am motivated by pride then I may go in to rescue the visitor just so that people will look at me as a hero. But you know what will keep me from going into the building to rescue a visitor out of pride? Love. If I love my life more than I love the pride I would feel from saving a stranger then I am not going in. You see, pride is a strong motivator. It might be strong enough to get me in the burning building. But love is a stronger motivator. So if my love for my own life outweighs my love for my own pride then the visitor, who I have never met, is going to burn up in this building. But now imagine that the person inside the building is not a stranger. Imagine that the person inside the building is one of my children. You can imagine that as I stand outside the burning building I would be overwhelmed with fear. But no matter how afraid I was to go into that burning building I can promise you that fear would not keep me out. Why? Because there is a stronger motivator involved. My love for my child is going to overpower my fear of going in and my prideful concern over whether or not I’ll look foolish doing so. Because of my love for my child I am going to toss my fear to the side, I’m going to toss my pride to the side, and I’m going to run into the burning building. You see, fear and pride are strong motivators but they will always lose to love as the strongest motivator.

Now let’s translate this illustration into terms of obedience and sin. Remember, as a religious person I can only be motivated to obey God by either fear or pride because I believe that it is my obedience that earns me God’s acceptance, love, and blessing. That was what John believed, the man we talked about when we began tonight. John had been involved in church leadership for years. People saw him as the prime example of what a minister should be. And, as far as his outward actions were concerned, he certainly was. For years he handled the church finances with the utmost integrity. He dealt honestly with every single penny that came into the church. But, as a religious person, his financial integrity was motivated by his fear and his pride. And while fear and pride were strong enough motivators to keep him straight for 15 years they were not strong enough motivators to keep him straight forever. Because, eventually, his love for money grew to be stronger than his fear of punishment and his pride in being a good Christian. And the moment that happened – the moment that he began to love money more than he feared God’s punishment and took pride in his own obedience – he began to skim off the top. At first he did this sparingly. A little here and a little there. But when he realized that God didn’t send any immediate punishment — and that he didn’t feel any overwhelming guilt — his fear and his pride became even less powerful, his love for money became even more powerful, and he started to take more and more money week after week. John fell into this heinous sin because his religion could not provide him with the one thing that he needed to resist temptation: to love God more than he loved himself.

Beth’s situation was very similar. Beth had been a consistently obedient Christian for years. Everyone pointed to her as the ideal example of someone who is devoted to God and to his pleasure. For 10 years she seemed to have the perfect marriage. But, Beth would now admit to you, she was never happy with him. She always wondered what it would be like to be with another man. But she remained faithful to her husband nevertheless. Why? Because of her religious motivations of fear and pride. She had to remain faithful to her husband out of fear that God would punish her if she didn’t and out of the prideful desire to earn God’s favor by being a good Christian wife.  Well, those motivators were enough for 10 years. But eventually they were overpowered by the stronger motivator of love. Beth left her husband for another man, a married man, because at that moment Beth loved her own pleasure and her own happiness more than she feared God’s punishment or took pride in being a good Christian wife. Beth fell into this heinous sin because her religion could not provide her with the one tool she needed to resist temptation: to love God more than she loved herself.

This is why it is so common to hear of very devoted religious people turning out to be guilty of the most despicable moral failures. Because their worldview, their religion, produces sin by requiring that they trust in themselves more than they trust in God, that they do very good things for very bad and very selfish reason, and that they try to fight sin with the very weak weapons of fear and pride instead of being empowered to fight sin with love.

If you have a church background, if you are a person of faith of any type, you have to ask yourself if you are guilty of thinking and living in this way. You have to ask yourself if you are living as though your acceptance, love, and blessing from God depends in any way – even the smallest way – on you. Because, remember, Jesus pronounces judgment not only on those who teach a religious view of life but on those who live according to a religious view of life. Hear his words again from verses 13-15.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and then you make that convert twice as much a child of hell as you are.”

These are very strong words of very strong judgment awaiting those who teach or follow a religious view of the world. Now maybe you think these warnings don’t apply to you because you’re not religious. Maybe you’d describe yourself as irreligious or as spiritual. So you think this whole warning about religion producing sin is not relevant to you. But it is. Because, the truth is, an irreligious view of the world does exactly the same thing. Remember that the root sin of all sins is idolatry. The root sin of all sins is to give to creation what properly belongs to the Creator. We sin and we sin greatly anytime we love a created person or thing more than we love the Creator of that person or thing. We sin and we sin greatly anytime we trust a created person or thing more than we trust the Creator of that person or thing. We sin and we sin greatly anytime we fear a created person or thing more than we love the Creator of that person or thing. We sin and we sin greatly anytime we live for the pleasure of a created person or thing more than we live for the pleasure of the Creator of that person or thing. If you are an irreligious person then everything you do is done for the pleasure of someone other than Jesus out of fear, or trust, or love for someone other than Jesus. Which means that everything you do – no matter how good it might appear to be – is actually very wicked.

The Gospel Produces Righteousness

You see, religion and irreligion look very different on the outside. But at their core they are exactly the same. They both require that you give to creation what belongs to the Creator. So Jesus hates religion – and Jesus hates irreligion – for the very same reason. Jesus hates religion and irreligion because they produce sin and lead to death.

So what are we to do? The truth is every one of us is guilty, in some measure, of either religion or irreligion. So how do we escape the judgment that such people deserve? How do we break free from these systems that perpetually produce sin? How do we get to the point where we can do the right things for the right reason?

It shouldn’t surprise you to hear that Jesus has the answer. No, more than that, Jesus himself is the answer. Jesus did not just come here to teach us how to live a righteous life. He came here to live a righteous life for us – in our place. Jesus did not just come here to teach us how to avoid God’s judgment. He came here to receive God’s judgment for us – in our place. And then he rose from the dead to defeat sin and death for us – in our place.

You see this is the unique message of Christianity that separates it from every single religion in the world. While every religion in the world says you will be most accepted, most loved, and most blessed when you obey God, Christianity says that you are fully accepted, fully loved, and fully blessed simply by turning to Jesus in faith because Jesus obeyed God perfectly – in your place.

And as you turn from your religion and turn from your irreligion and turn to Jesus in faith you are freed from fear. Why? Because Jesus has taken all of your punishment and no punishment remains. You are freed from pride. Why?  Because Jesus has provided all of your righteousness and you have none of your own. And you are given the power to fight sin and win. Why? Because now you have the one tool that you need: a love for God that is greater than your love for yourself. Knowing that you are forever free from the wrath of God that you deserve you are moved to love God more than yourself, because he poured that wrath out on himself instead of on you. Knowing that you contributed absolutely nothing to your own salvation you are moved to love God more than yourself, because he contributed everything.

While religion produces sin the gospel of Jesus produces righteous obedience. You see, it is precisely because you believe that Jesus has done everything for you that you are now moved to do everything for him. No longer obeying out of fear and pride but now obeying out of sheer gratitude for who he is and what he has done. And the beauties of sin become less and less and less attractive once you have truly beheld the beauties of Christ.

Jesus Hates Religion Part 2

September 20th, 2009 | Posted in sermons | No Comments
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Introduction

Everyone who knows her would tell you: Cindy is a good person. She does all that you could expect of her and more. She’s very involved in her local church. She volunteers her time and her energy to teach the church’s children, to clean the church’s bathrooms, and to visit the church’s sick. If you were to observe how Cindy handles her finances you would be blown away by her generosity. She gives to her church, she gives to local non-profits, she gives to the homeless, she gives to her family and friends who are in need. If you need someone to pray for you you would ask Cindy because you know that she spends hours praying for other people. If you had a question about the Bible you would ask Cindy because you know she spends hours studying the Scriptures. If you needed advice about marriage, parenting, relationships – anything – you would go to Cindy because she wisely applies God’s Word in every area of her life. Cindy is by all accounts a good person. Cindy is by all accounts a good Christian.

But God sees things differently. Because while everyone else simply sees what Cindy does, God sees why Cindy does what she does. And God is disgusted by Cindy’s goodness because he sees that Cindy’s goodness is not good at all. It is evil. And he hates it.

Now I don’t tell you this story so that you will look at Cindy differently. I tell you this story so that you will look at yourself differently. Whatever your spiritual beliefs may be I want to challenge you tonight to look beyond the good things you believe and beyond the good things you do and, instead, look at why you do the good things you do. If God were to pull back all of your good deeds right before our eyes, if God were to pull back all of your good words and good actions and show us your motives, would we be impressed by your motives or repulsed by them?

That question will be answered for all of us tonight as we continue to listen to Jesus’ words from Matthew 23. Turn there with me if you will.

Good Things for the Wrong Reasons

Last week we summarized Jesus’ teaching in this chapter with these strong and offensive words: “Jesus Hates Religion (And You Should Too).” Now when we use the word religion, remember, we’re talking about any and every system of belief that says, “If you obey these teachings then you will be loved, accepted, and blessed.” Every religion in the world promotes some variation of this basic philosophy. Every religion in the world claims that if you obey certain teachings then you will be loved, accepted, and blessed by God, or by the universe, or by other people, or by karma, or whatever. Even thousands of Christian pastors teach this very message. But not Jesus. And not the BIble. No, the message of Jesus and the Scriptures is very different. The message of Jesus and the Scriptures is that religion, as just described, is evil.

But don’t take my word for it. The authority here is not me, the authority is Jesus. You’ll remember from last week that at this point in Matthew 23 Jesus is speaking to his disciples about the religious leaders of their day. As he does so he is communicating something that would have absolutely shocked his audience. He is explaining that these people who appear to us to be most pleasing to God are actually least pleasing to God. Here in verses 5-12 he gives us another reason why,

“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them ‘Rabbi.’ But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Last week we saw that the first reason Jesus hates religion is because it is born from fear and it produces fear. Tonight we see that the second reason Jesus hates religion is because it is born from pride and it produces pride.

This is clear to us right away in verse 5. Jesus does not deny that religious people often do good things. His issue is that they do good things for the wrong reasons. As we said last week. they do good things because they fear not being accepted, loved, or blessed by God. Tonight we see that they also do good things because of their own pride. Jesus says, “Everything they do is done for other people to see.” And then he goes on to give specific examples.

First, he says that they “make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long.” Phylacteries were leather boxes with Scripture passages enclosed in them that the religious leaders physically tied to their foreheads and to their arms. They did this to show how seriously they took God’s command to keep his Word close to them. They also tied tassels to their garments as reminders to obey God’s commands. These things by themselves were enough to communicate their devotion to God. But the religious leaders didn’t merely want other people to know that they were devoted to God they wanted other people to know how much they were devoted to God. So they not only tied boxes and tassels to themselves, they tied wide boxes and long tassels to themselves so that others would see how righteous they were and how sincerely devoted to God they were.

Then he goes on to give a second way that this pride is manifested. He says, “They love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them ‘Rabbi.’” The religious leaders of Jesus’ day wanted to be honored, they wanted to be respected, they wanted to be set apart from other people, they wanted to be treated differently. They wanted to be seen as special.

How Religion Produces Pride

Now here we are 2,000 years removed from their situation. I doubt any of us are tying leather boxes to our heads. And few of us are demanding that people call us Rabbi. But Jesus’ words are just as applicable to us here and now as they were to the religious leaders of his day. And why? Why are Jesus’ words just as relevant today as they were 2,000 years ago? One reason, of course, is that we are prideful people by our very nature. But the second reason, and the reason we’re more concerned about today, is that religion itself feeds and multiplies the pride that is already within us. In fact, religion so feeds our pride that it is impossible to be a religious person and not also be a very prideful person.

“Woah! Wait a minute, Cole, that’s a very strong and broad statement you’re making.” Well, I realize that, but please understand that I don’t say offensive things because I get some sick pleasure from offending people. I say things like it is impossible to be a religious person without also being a very prideful person because it is true. Let me explain. Remember, religion is any system of belief that says, “If you obey these teachings then you will be loved, accepted, and blessed.” And the truth of the matter is that, with the exception of Jesus, every religious leader in history claims that if you obey certain teachings then you will be loved, accepted, and blessed by God, or by the universe, or by other people, or by karma, or whatever.

It shouldn’t take long to see how this type of thinking produces pride. It tells you that whatever good things you receive in life you receive because of your own obedience to this particular religion. You’re accepted by God because of what you’ve done. You’re loved by God because of what you’ve done. You’re blessed by God because of what you’ve done. Religion tells you that your position with God depends on your obedience to God and as long as you believe that your position with God depends on your obedience to God you will be a prideful person who can only point to yourself as the one to credit for any and every good thing that comes into your life. You see, pride is not just something religious people have to watch out for. Pride is the natural consequence of having a religious view of the world.

And this pride doesn’t just impact how you view yourself. It also impacts how you see other people. It’s not a coincidence that the first word my irreligious friends use to describe religious people is “judgmental.” This isn’t just a prejudice of our culture. This isn’t some false image created by the media. This is the very real and very natural result of having a religious view of the world. If the reason I’m accepted by God, loved by God, and blessed by God is in even the smallest possible way due to who I am or what I have done then I cannot help but look down on other people. If only you would do what I do you could have the same thing I have. I have worked hard for all that I have why can’t you work hard too? My religion very clearly tells me to do A, B, and C and I have done it. Therefore, there’s no excuse for you not to do the same thing.

You cannot be a religious person without also being a prideful person. It is impossible. It will impact how you view yourself, it will impact how you view other people and, worst of all, it will impact how you view God. If you believe that you are accepted by God, loved by God, and blessed by God because of your own obedience to your particular religion then you think very highly of yourself and very little of God. First of all it shows that you don’t think God is very righteous. You have to have a very small view of God’s righteousness to believe that the eternally holy God is somehow impressed by your willingness to give a small percentage of your money to the church or by your ability to abstain from fornication for a whole year. Really? Do you think the very source of goodness is so impressed by you doing what you’re supposed to do anyway that he is compelled to reward you with acceptance, love, and blessing?

Having a religious view of the world forces you to have a very high view of your own righteousness and a very small view of God’s righteousness. Having a religious view of the world also forces you to have a very small view of God’s wisdom. If you believe that you are accepted by God, loved by God, and blessed by God because of your own obedience to your particular religion then you believe that God is at best naïve and at worst an idiot. If you’re obeying God because you think that by obeying God you will earn his acceptance, his love, and his blessing then you are not obeying God because you love him, you are obeying God because you love yourself. You’re doing the good things you do in order to get from God the good things you want for yourself. Do you really think that little of God that you think he is too foolish to recognize that the only reason you’re obeying him is to get what you want from him? The average woman is smart enough to know the difference between a man who is doing nice things for her because he loves her and a man who is doing nice things for her because he wants something from her. If a 20 year-old girl can figure that out you don’t think that the very God who created her can figure it out? Really? Do you really think that God is that naïve? You have to think he’s that naïve if you think that he accepts you, loves you, and blesses you for obeying the commands of your religion. Having a religious view of the world forces you to have a very small view of God’s wisdom.

How This Works in Your Life

That’s the case with Cindy, who we talked about earlier tonight. Everyone around Cindy is impressed with her devotion to God and to God’s people. But not God. Because he sees her pride. Yes, she does many good things but she does these good things for very bad reasons. She does these things out of pride. Pride that tells her she can earn God’s acceptance, love, and blessing if she just tries hard enough. Pride that tells her that the reason to do good for God is to get good from God.

This is why Jesus hates religion. Jesus hates religion because of what it does to Cindy. And Jesus hates religion because of what it does to you. It enslaves you. It enslaves you. Do you see that? If you live as though the acceptance, love, and blessing of God depends upon how well you obey God then you will forever be a slave to pride. No matter how much you talk about God’s grace and God’s love you will always be a slave to pride because you will always believe that in some way you have earned God’s acceptance, love, and blessing; you will always think that the difference between you and “less godly” people is that you are willing to work harder; and you will always have a small view of God’s righteousness and God’s wisdom.

Now maybe you’re not a religious person. Maybe you would describe yourself as spiritual or irreligious. So maybe you think that this isn’t an issue for you. But it is. Just as it is impossible to be religious without also being prideful it is impossible to be irreligious without also being prideful. As an irreligious person you know that you didn’t make yourself and you didn’t make the world around you but, nevertheless, you think so highly of yourself that you feel you have the right and the ability to define your own meaning and your own purpose in life. As a “spiritual” person you believe there is someone or something greater than you to whom you owe your existence. But you think so highly of yourself that you feel you have the right and the ability to define your own way of relating to the greater being rather than letting the greater being define that for you. As an irreligious or spiritual person you know that all types of people follow all types of different spiritual paths. And you think so highly of yourself that you believe they are all equally valid pursuits, as though you are the one who gets to decide on what basis God does or does not accept human worship.

The Way Out

Religion and irreligion look very different on the outside. But, at their core, they’re exactly the same. Jesus hates religion – and irreligion – because both systems of thought are born of pride and both produce pride. And if you find yourself identifying in even the smallest way with either religion or irreligion you should pause right now and listen very closely to these words of Jesus. After explaining how the religious leaders of his day were filled with pride he then says this in verse 12, “Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Jesus tells us that the difference between being proud and humble is not just the difference between being an unlikable person and a likable person. The difference between being proud and humble is the difference between life and death. Jesus is talking here about the Day of Judgment, the great day when he will return to judge the wicked and reward the righteous. And he says very plainly that those who humble themselves in this life will be exalted in the next while those who exalt themselves in this life will be humbled in the next. In other words, the humble will be welcomed into the presence of God where they will experience everlasting joy while the proud will be cast out of the presence of God where they will experience everlasting torment.

Whatever you may think of Jesus I can assure you that Jesus is not a liar. For that reason, the proper response to Jesus’ words is absolute dread. Because the truth is there is not one of you in this room who is truly humble. Religious, irreligious, whatever – every one of us is stained by our own pride. And for that reason we deserve to be humbled when we finally do stand before the God who made us and sustains us for every moment of our existence.

As prideful people every one of us should respond to Jesus’ words with dread…until we look to what Jesus has done for prideful people.  Being God himself – being the only truly good, truly wise, truly just, truly loving being in existence – Jesus humbled himself for us even as we refused to humble ourselves for him. He willfully stepped away from the constant praise of his angels and he stepped into human flesh to be born from the womb of a poor young woman he created, in a manger made for animals he created, to live as an outcast in the world he created, and to eventually be murdered by the very people he created. In between his humble birth and his humble death Jesus spent every millisecond of his existence humbling himself in perfect obedience to God the Father and in perfect service to mere human beings.

Jesus did this for the pleasure of God and for the good of his people. And, because of that, God took his humbled Son and exalted him by raising his lifeless corpse from the dead, bringing him back into the glories of heaven, and seating him at his right hand where he presently sits reigning and ruling over all of creation.

Jesus humbled himself and, consequently, Jesus is now exalted above all. And Jesus did not do this merely to teach people a lesson on how or why you should be humble. Jesus did this, he did all of this, to make people humble. He lived and died in humility in place of those who have not lived in humility. So that tonight, right now, if you turn from your religion or from your irreligion and turn to Jesus in faith God declares you to be humble, as though you had lived the perfect life of humility that Jesus lived. If you turn from your religion or from your irreligion and turn to Jesus in faith, tonight, God will not humble you under his wrath, he will exalt you, because he counts Jesus’ punishment as your own, as though Jesus had lived the prideful life that you have lived.

So what are you waiting for? The ultimate act of humility that you can ever perform is to flee from religion, flee from irreligion, and acknowledge that you have nothing to offer God. Nothing. And that he has everything to offer you through Jesus Christ who lived the perfect life of righteousness and humility that you have failed to live, who died the death of separation and judgment that you deserve to die, and who rose from the dead to bring you to God now and forevermore. Stop trusting in your goodness and trust in his.

Jesus Hates Religion Part 1

September 14th, 2009 | Posted in sermons | No Comments
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Introduction

I want to start tonight by telling you about a young man named Tim. When Tim was in his early twenties his father was diagnosed with cancer. Tim was heartbroken. Worse than that, Tim was afraid. You see, Tim was aware that he hadn’t been as good of a person as he knew he should be. He knew he wasn’t the most religiously faithful person in the world. And so he couldn’t help but think, “God is punishing me for not being obedient to him. If I wouldn’t have done what I did last month, if I would have been living right more consistently, my dad wouldn’t be sick right now.” Tim was afraid that his dad was going to be taken from him because of his own lack of obedience to God.

And so what did he do? He immediately started doing everything he could to earn his way back into God’s good graces, thinking that if he just did the right things then God might remove his punishment and spare his dad’s life. So Tim started going to church more, he started praying longer, he started reading the Bible more consistently, he made sure he was faithful to give money to the church and to help those in need. He did these things faithfully. He did these things religiously.

And then his dad died.

And Tim became more afraid than before. Because even with all these new things he was doing he knew that he was still falling short of God’s standards. As far as he could tell, all of the good things he had been doing were not good enough to remove God’s punishment from him. So he became even more intensely committed to those and other things. Tim thought, “If I just do better, if I just try harder, if I’m just more obedient to God, if I’m just less self-absorbed then God will be pleased with me and he won’t bring suffering like this into my life again.”

Well, Tim did do better, Tim did work harder, but suffering still came just as suffering still comes for all of us. So now, three years after his dad’s death, Tim is still ruled by fear. The fear of whether or not God accepts him. The fear of if and when God is going to punish him again. Despite all of his attempts to earn God’s favor Tim is never quite sure if he’s good enough.

What about you? Whatever your spiritual beliefs are, do you ever find yourself influenced by fear? Are you ever concerned about whether or not you’re good enough? Are you ever worried about whether or not God accepts you? Or other people accept you? As you strive to do good things, as you strive to be a better person, do you ever become weary? Or burdened?

If you would answer any of those questions with a “yes” Jesus wants to speak to you tonight. And he will. As we open up the Scriptures to Matthew chapter 23 tonight and for the next four weeks. But before we hone in on the specific verses we’re going to focus on tonight Jeff is going to set the context for us by delivering Jesus’ entire teaching from this chapter. As you listen to Jesus’ words remember that he begins by addressing his disciples and then goes on to talk about the scribes and the Pharisees, the very well-respected religious leaders of his day.

What the Problem is Not

Jesus’ words in this chapter speak to Tim and to his situation and they speak to every one of you, because every one of you can identify with Tim in some way. As you probably already know, we have chosen to summarize Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 23 with these strong and offensive words: “Jesus Hates Religion (And You Should Too).” Now why would we say that? It’s clear that there’s something about the religion of the Scribes and Pharisees that has Jesus vehemently upset. But what is it? What is it about religion that so repulses Jesus? What is it about religion that should so repulse you?

If I were to ask that question of my irreligious friends most of them would say, “the rules.” They would say that the biggest problem with religion is this long list of rules because those rules open up the door for judgment. Maybe you would answer in the same way. But here’s the interesting thing. This is not Jesus’ answer. This is not Jesus’ issue with religion. Jesus is not opposed to religion because he’s opposed to rules. In fact, Jesus himself is quite a strict rule-giver. Remember the famous Sermon on the Mount found in this same book? In that sermon Jesus goes out of his way to very clearly define a number of rules. Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” He says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” He goes on to say, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Jesus is not anti-rule. Jesus himself has laid down the most difficult rules of all.

We see this in the opening verses of Matthew 23. Looking at verses 2 and 3 we see Jesus say, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you.” Jesus says that the scribes and Pharisees – the religious leaders of his day – are in some ways to be respected. Why? Because they sit in Moses’ seat. In other words, they interpret Moses’ teaching, they interpret the Scriptures, they interpret the inspired Word of God. When they interpret God’s Word properly, Jesus says, you must listen to them, you must be careful to do everything they tell you.

As we heard when Jeff shared Jesus’ teaching with us, Jesus does not approve of all of their teaching (not by any means). But he does approve of their teaching when it is consistent with what God has revealed in his Scriptures. Does Jesus hate religion? Absolutely. Does Jesus hate religion because he hates rules? No. So while, yes, you should hate religion you should hate religion not for your own reasons but for the same reasons Jesus hates it. And what are those reasons? We’ll uncover one of them now as we continue to examine these first few verses.

What the Problem is

Right after Jesus tells us to do what the religious leaders tell us to do in verse 3, he goes on to add, “But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” Here we start to see Jesus’ distaste for these religious leaders. Jesus’ issue with religion is not that religion has rules. Jesus’ issue with religion is that religion calls us to obey both right and wrong rules for the wrong reasons. Again, Jesus’ issue with religion is that religion calls us to obey both right and wrong rules for the wrong reasons.

How do I know that? Because of what Jesus just said. On the one hand he said that there’s nothing wrong with rules per se. But then he says that the rules of these religious leaders are like heavy, cumbersome burdens that they heap upon our shoulders. So what’s the difference between the rules that we are to be careful to obey and these rules that Jesus calls heavy and cumbersome burdens? Well, there are three things I want to point out, one of which I want us to focus on for the remainder of our time together.

The first problem is that religion provides us with rules that even the religious leaders themselves can’t keep. That’s why Jesus says, “Do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.” In other words, unlike Jesus, religious leaders are hypocrites. The second problem is that a significant portion of religious rules are man-made instead of God-given. Jesus is not against rules so long as those rules come from God. God-given rules are life giving. But man-made rules are life draining. And religion is filled with man-made rules. God says, “Don’t get drunk”…religious people then say, “Don’t drink.” God says, “Don’t commit adultery”…religious people then say, “Don’t watch R-rated movies.” God says, “Pray to me”…religious people then say, “Pray this many times a day for this length of time.” And why? Why is it that religious people create these additional rules? They do it to make it more difficult to break God’s rules, right? They say, “Don’t drink” so that it will be even more difficult for you to actually get drunk. They’re doing everything they can – including making up their own rules – in order to keep you and them from breaking God’s rules. And this brings us to the third reason that Jesus is opposed to such religious rules. They are born from fear and they produce fear.

This is the first reason that Jesus hates religion and you should too. Jesus hates religion because religion is based on fear and produces fear. Religion stacks upon your shoulders rule, upon rule, upon rule, upon man-made rule and then says that you must keep these rules in order to be accepted by God. And that’s the basic definition of religion that we’ll be working from these next four weeks. Every religion in the world basically says this: “If you obey then you’ll be accepted, loved, and blessed.” Every religious leader, with the exception of Jesus, teaches some variation of this same basic philosophy: “If you obey these rules then you will be accepted, loved, and blessed by God, or by the universe, or by others, or by yourself – or whatever.”

And Jesus hates religion for this very reason. If you are most accepted, most loved, and most blessed when you obey the demands of your religion then you will only obey the demands of your religion out of fear. Everything you do you will be doing because you fear not being accepted, not being loved, or not being blessed. Remember Tim? The young man whose story we started with tonight? Tim was convinced that his father was dying because of his own disobedience. Tim was certain that if he had just obeyed the demands of his religion then God would be blessing him instead of cursing him with this suffering. So he immediately gave himself to following the very particular demands of his religion. And even though some of the things he was doing were good things he was doing them for only one reason: fear. He feared losing his father so he started doing religious things hoping that God would accept him, love him, and bless him in return by keeping his dad alive. But, as you know, his dad died. And then Tim responded with even more fear. Because as good as he was doing he obviously still wasn’t doing good enough to receive the acceptance, love, and blessing that he so desired from God. So he gave himself to praying even more, and reading the Bible even more, and going to church even more, and avoiding the “wrong” people and the “wrong” things even more. But for what? For fear. He feared what would happen to him if he didn’t do it. He feared that God would not accept him, would not love him, and would not bless him. He feared that God would allow even more suffering to come into his life.

How This Works in Your Life

This is why Jesus hates religion. Jesus hates religion because of what it did to Tim. And Jesus hates religion because it does the same thing to you. It enslaves you. It enslaves you. Do you see that? If you live as though the acceptance, love, and blessing of God depends on how good of a person you are then you will forever be a slave to fear. You will never know for sure when you have done enough good for God to accept you, love you, and bless you so you will break your back carrying these heavy burdens on your shoulders, always afraid that if you drop them then God will frown upon you and punish you.

Now maybe you’re not a religious person. Maybe you would describe yourself as spiritual or irreligious. So maybe you think that this isn’t an issue for you. But it is. Even if you’re not concerned about living for God’s approval you are concerned about living for someone’s approval. You’re living for the approval, love, and blessing of someone whose opinion you value. It might be your spouse, it might be your boss, it might be your peers, it might be karma, it might be your conscience. You too are living for the approval, love, and blessing of someone. This is why you get so upset when religious people tell you that God doesn’t approve of the way you live. This is why you are so quick to tell religious people that you may not go to church but you are a good person. You too are living for the approval, love, and blessing of someone. You’re thinking, “I better do this because if I don’t then I might not get what I want from this person…I better not do that or it might come back to hurt me…I better be like this so that this person will love me…I better not ever do that again or it’s going to be very hard to feel good about myself.”

Religion and irreligion look very different. But at their core they’re really the same thing. Whether you’re religious or irreligious you’re living in fear. You’re doing what you do and saying what you say because you want the approval, love, and blessing either of the Creator or of the people he’s created. Jesus hates religion – and Jesus hates irreligion – for this very reason: it makes you a slave to fear.

Conclusion

Every religion in the world – EVERY religion in the world – tells you that you must earn acceptance, love, and blessing by doing what that particular religion demands of you. Every religion in the world thrives on your fear and tells you that you must earn acceptance, love, and blessing by your faithful adherence to the religion. Even irreligion does this. But not Jesus. No, Jesus is different. Jesus does not make God’s acceptance, love, or blessing dependent on your ability to measure up. Jesus does not heap burdens upon burdens upon your shoulders that you cannot carry. No, Jesus doesn’t offer religion. Jesus does not offer religion. Jesus offers something utterly unique. Something that no other system of belief or philosophy offers. Instead of offering religion Jesus offers redemption. Jesus offers rest.

Let me read to you the words of Jesus from Matthew 11:28-29. As he spoke to the religious and irreligious people of his day this is what Jesus said to them and what Jesus now says to you. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Religion offers slavery to fear. Jesus offers freedom to rest. Listen, if God’s acceptance, love, and blessing depends on your performance as so many religious people have told you then, yes, you should be plagued by fear. Because look, the holy and righteous God doesn’t merely demand your obedience to this or that rule, he demands absolute perfection. And you’re not perfect. In fact, you’re not even close. You are more likely to reach the moon with your bare hand than you are to ever reach perfection.

So if it’s up to how well you live to earn God’s acceptance, love, and blessing then, yes, you should be plagued by fear. But you don’t have to plagued by fear. Because it’s not up to you to earn God’s acceptance, love, and blessing. Jesus has earned the Father’s acceptance, love, and blessing for you. Being God himself he willfully became like you and came to you in order to save you. He lived the life of perfection that you daily fail to live. And he lived this life in your place. He also died the death under God’s righteous and wrathful judgment that you deserve to die for loving yourself more than the God who made you. And he died this terrible death of God’s rejection, hate, and curse in your place. And then the Father, God, raised his Son, Jesus, from the dead to show that his work was completed and accepted on your behalf.

Now, if you choose to trust in Jesus’ work and not your own then God has declared Jesus’ righteousness to be your righteousness so that, regardless of your performance, God accepts you, loves you, and blesses you on account of Jesus. If you choose to trust in Jesus’ work and not your own then God has likewise declared Jesus’ judgment to be your judgment so that, regardless of your performance, there is no wrath remaining for you, only the reward of being united to God now and forever on account of what Jesus has done in your place.

This is why while every other religion offers you fear Jesus invites you to come to him and find rest. Because all that God demands of you no longer rests on your shoulders. Jesus has taken your burden and made it his own so that you can be free from fear now and for all eternity. If you find your religion or irreligion wearisome, burdensome, exhausting, fear-inducing, or guilt-inducing the odds are you are missing out on the person and teaching of Jesus Christ. Flee from religion tonight, flee from irreligion tonight, and rest in Jesus who has met every one of God’s demands for you.

Your Job Description

September 6th, 2009 | Posted in sermons | No Comments
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Introduction

What’s your role here? What’s your role as part of this church? As part of this community? What’s your job description? Now, I know, job descriptions can sometimes be dry and dull. Worse than that they can often be intimidating. But they are also absolutely essential. I learned that the hard way when I once took a job as an executive assistant. I assumed that as an executive assistant my job would consist of things like making phone calls, taking messages, writing the minutes at our business meetings and so forth. Well, I should have asked for a job description. Because it turned out that most of my time as an executive assistant was spent making Kool Aid. Now, I am the world’s greatest Kool Aid mixologist, that’s true, but it’s not something I thought I’d be doing for a living. I also had no idea that my job would require me to lie habitually, or to spend hours staking out people’s houses like a private I, or to regularly go shopping for another man’s underwear. These are things I would have liked to know beforehand. If only I had been given a job description I could have avoided a lot of problems.

That’s what job descriptions do. Job descriptions are created to solve existing problems and to prevent future problems. Which means that job descriptions are important even in Jesus’ Church. Because wherever there are multiple people working together there will be problems that need to be solved and problems that need to be prevented. This became obvious as Jesus’ church grew from 120 to 3,120 to thousands and thousands more. As they grew, a significant problem arose in their midst and this problem forced them to think through their roles and clearly define them. Turn with me to Acts 6:1-7. As we do so we’ll see how the early Church identified their roles and how you and I can do the same today to strengthen our witness to the world as we prepare to re-launch next Sunday.

Their Problem

As we studied the book of Acts together last year we saw that the community life of the early Church was uniquely strong. People who would not normally even share a conversation together were now not only sharing conversation, they were sharing their lives. They ate together, prayed together, spent their days together, studied the Scriptures together, shared their possessions with each other, and many of them even voluntarily sold their property so they could care for the community’s needs together. These people were united together in the truest sense of the word. So much so that the people around them took notice. Non-Christians were attracted to this uniquely Christian unity that they saw displayed in the early Church.

This is why reading verse 1 should make us pause. For the first five chapters of the book of Acts, Luke, the author, tells us only good things about the community life of the early Church. He tells us only about their great unity. He tells us only of the great sacrifices they’ve joyfully made for one another. And now, suddenly, in verse 1, this vibrant community life is threatened. Luke’s entire tone changes instantaneously. Now, instead of encouraging one another, the people of the Church are complaining against one another. Instead of sharing all things together to meet everyone’s needs, the needs of some are being met while the needs of one group of people are being overlooked. So we can’t read through this quickly like it’s just a casual disagreement. This is not a casual disagreement. This is not a debate over whether the toilet seat should be left up or down. This is something that threatens the visible unity of the Church. This is something that threatens the Church’s witness to the world. This is something terribly serious.

Like our church, the early Church was a multi-cultural Church. And it shouldn’t surprise us to see that the first terribly serious threat to community came because of that. The division came between the Hellenistic Jews (meaning the Jews who were raised in Greek culture) and the Hebraic Jews (meaning the Jews who were raised in Hebrew culture). The Hellenistic Jews complained against the Hebraic Jews because of the way the food was being distributed to the needy each day. The Hebrew widows received their share but the Greek widows were overlooked. That’s a serious problem, isn’t it? We’re not talking about the different music styles each culture prefers, we’re not talking about the different style of dress each culture prefers, we’re not talking about cultural differences in communication style. We’re talking about one cultural group being neglected in the daily necessities of life while the other cultural group is not. On the surface it appears that the dominant culture is receiving preferential treatment. If this is true then it is evil. And even if it’s not true the mere appearance of it is a recipe for disaster!

Their Solution

Now, we’re going to give the early Church the benefit of the doubt. And I hope that if you ever suspect preferential treatment at this church that you will also give your brothers and sisters here the benefit of the doubt. Your leaders want nothing more than to see the reconciling and unifying power of the gospel displayed in this community. And the same was true of the leaders in the early Church. Knowing that inequity cannot be tolerated in Jesus’ Church they take immediate action to solve the problem. Read their response in verses 2-4, “So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.’”

They don’t deny that there’s a problem with the distribution. They don’t try to explain it away. They don’t try to convince the Hellenistic Jews that they’re imagining things. Instead, they acknowledge the truth of their complaint. And they expose the source of the problem. The source of the problem was not racism or cultural elitism or any sort of ism. It was the result of undefined roles. It simply had not been made clear whose responsibility it was to make sure everyone received their daily necessities. No one had been directly told, “This is your job.” All of this had to change. In order for the Church to remain visibly unified the apostles had to clarify their roles, and the roles of others.

So to protect the Church’s unity and the Church’s witness to the world the apostles start laying down some job descriptions. They begin with their own. “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God,” they explain. “We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word,” they say. What they’re doing here is defining their role. Their role is to be devoted to prayer and the ministry of God’s Word. That’s their job description. That’s how they have been called to serve the Church, through prayer and the ministry of God’s Word.

Now, depending on how you read this it might come off as kind of arrogant. “Oh, it would not be right for us to serve tables. We must devote ourselves to prayer and God’s Word. You should find someone else to do the other stuff.” You could read it like that but you’d be misreading it. They are not saying that they are too good to do the other things. They are not saying that the other things are less important things. They’re saying that God has given them a specific role to fill in the Church. He has specifically given them the tasks of prayer and the ministry of God’s Word. If they were to take time away from those two things in order to do another thing – even a good thing – they would be doing a very bad thing. On the surface it would seem like a great thing. We’d say, “Wow, aren’t these guys wonderful? They’ve sacrificed even more of their time to make sure all of the widows receive their food and necessities.” But while it might seem good on the surface it would really be quite bad. Because in order to give that to the church they’d have to take away from the church some of the prayer and some of the ministry of God’s Word that God had called them to supply. They’d also be taking away from the people their opportunity to fulfill their God-given roles. And the Church would be far weaker as a result.

I thank God that he filled his apostles with his Holy Spirit and gave them the wisdom to know their role and to protect it – not for their own good, but for the good of the Church. But they weren’t the only ones who needed a job description. There was another role that needed to be filled, too. And this role is no less important, this role is no less spiritual. Look at what the apostles did when they appointed other men to serve the tables. They didn’t say, “Hey, just grab any 7 guys and tell them to get to work.” They didn’t say, “It doesn’t matter who you get, I mean, anybody could do this job.” No. Look at what they said in verse 3, “Choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them.” The distribution of food and necessities is no less spiritual than the preaching of God’s Word. Serving the church with your hands is no less spiritual than serving the church with your words, which is why God requires both groups of people to be filled with the Spirit and with wisdom. Verse 5 lists for us the 7 men who were selected to serve the Hellenistic widows. These men were ordinary men who were not ordinary men. They were filled with the Spirit. They were filled with wisdom. They had a reputation with the people. Though he was not a “preacher” in the traditional sense Stephen would preach one of the most beautiful sermons in all the Bible. And he would be stoned to death for it. Though Phillip was “just a guy who served in the church” he worked signs and wonders, he explained the Scriptures, and led others to faith in Jesus Christ. God takes the practical, hands-on, work of the church so seriously that he appoints men like this to the task. Their job description is not the same as the apostle’s job description. But it is just as important. It is just as spiritual.

In this way the church functions much like a football team. For a football team to win they need to have a committed quarterback and committed linemen. And even though the quarterback may get all of the attention from the outside, the coach knows, and the team knows, that the quarterback and the linemen are equally important. When the quarterback is meeting his job description he advances his line down the field toward their goal. But he can only do this when the linemen are meeting their job description by standing together and doing the dirty work so the quarterback can continue to lead the team toward their goal. This is how the team wins. When each member of the team knows his job description and does it the team functions well and the team moves toward its goal. But imagine what would happen if any one of the people on the team didn’t meet their job description? What if the center said he didn’t have the energy to hike the ball? Or what if two guys on the line decided they didn’t really have the time to do any blocking today? What if the quarterback decided he didn’t feel like handling the ball? If even one person on the team does not do what the coach put him there to do the team will not function properly. And when the team does not function properly it will not reach its goal.

This is what the apostles had to guard against. This is why they had to clarify everyone’s job description. So that the church could function and meet its goals. And this text reminds us to do the same thing. For the good of this church we should review our job descriptions. Remember, job descriptions exist to solve existing problems and to prevent future problems. They are essential for the healthy functioning of Jesus’ Church. We’ll start where the apostles started. We’ll start with the Church leaders. The apostles were the elders of the early Church in Jerusalem. Thankfully, the elders of this church don’t have to create a job description out of thin air because the Bible describes the role of an elder in multiple places.

So, what do you think is on that list? What has God put us here to do? What is our role in this church? How do we best serve you according to Scripture? Let me start by telling you what’s not on that list. Let me start by telling you what is not included in an elder’s job description. Weddings. Funerals. Counseling appointments. Set up and tear down. Birthday parties and barbeques. Friendship. Small groups. Reference letters. Administration. Graphic design. Event planning. Program management. Facility management. Distributing the church’s resources to the needy. Replying to emails. Listen, not one of these things is a bad thing. All of these are good things. Some of these are essential things. Most of these things are enjoyable things. But none of these things is part of an elder’s job description. According to the Bible, an elder’s job is to shepherd the flock.

Now our culture has totally robbed that word of its meaning. When we say our pastor is a good “shepherd” what we usually mean is that he’s very personable, and he has close relationships with the people of his congregation, and he’ll sit down with you and give you counsel about this or that decision in your life. Now that’s all fine and good but that’s not what the Bible means when it refers to elders as shepherds. My job as your shepherd is not to be a really nice guy who you can talk to about anything. According to the Bible, my job as your shepherd is to do the following:

  • To keep watch over your life, knowing that one day I will stand before God to give an account for you. – Hebrews 13:17

  • To discipline you when you go astray. – Titus 3:10

  • To know the Scriptures and to teach them and preach them faithfully. – 1Timothy 3:2

  • To protect you from false teachers both outside and inside of the church. – Acts 20:29

  • To equip you to serve Jesus in the church and in the city. — Ephesians 4:11,12

  • To lead you by living a life of faith that you can and should imitate. – Hebrews 13:7

  • To pray for the church, to pray for you, to pray for the sick. – James 5:14

That’s my job description. That’s what God has put me here to do. And it is when I spend my time and energy doing these things that you are best served and that the city is best served as a result. That doesn’t mean that I can’t at times do the other things. That doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy the other things. That doesn’t mean that you can’t ask me for a reference, or ask me to do your wedding, or ask me to meet for counseling. It does mean that you will benefit much, much more from me studying, and praying, and preaching than you will from me being your friend, or me being your counselor, or me doing things around the church that you could do. Not because those things are less important but because those things are not a part of my role. They are not what God has put me here to do. God has given me, and every elder at this church, a specific job description and that job description exists for your good.

And the elders, like a quarterback, are able to best meet our job description when you are meeting your job description. God has given you a job description, also. You have a role in this church. And, remember, the role of the lineman is just as essential to the team as the quarterback. Neither one can function without the other. Your role is just as important, and just as spiritual as ours. This is why God appointed men like Stephen and Philip to the task. People filled with the Spirit and with wisdom. Because God takes your role very seriously. So just what is your role? What has God placed you here for? What does he expect of you as part of his community? As a member of Jesus’ Church, and as a member of this particular church, this is your job description:

  • To love Jesus and worship him with your whole being.

  • To love one another. – 1Peter 1:22

  • To serve one another. – Galatians 5:13

  • To use your gifts and abilities to meet the needs of the church and the city. – 1Peter 4:10-11

  • To submit to the elders of the church. – Hebrews 13:17

  • To preach the gospel to one another and to friends, neighbors, co-workers – to everyone. – Mark 16:15.

  • To give of your financial resources to provide for the needy and for the mission of the church. – 2Corinthians 9:5-15

That’s your job description. That’s what God has put you here to do. And when you spend your time and energy doing these things our entire church community benefits from it, and the city at large benefits as a result. You should never feel like what you do here at the church is not spiritual, or not valuable. You should never feel that what you do here at the church really doesn’t have any consequences. Because it does. When you give your money to the church, when you give your time and energy to the church, you help Jesus’ church function better. You protect the visible expression of our unity. And you help to make our witness to the world more attractive. Let’s read what happened after these seven men accepted their job description in verses 6 and 7. “They presented them to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” Verse 1 opened with a serious problem. The unity and the witness of the Church were being threatened! And now, in verse 7, the problem’s been solved and the witness of the Church is spreading rapidly! And why? What made the difference between verse 1 and verse 7? What made the difference between the beefing church and the growing church? It’s simple. The people had their roles clarified. The people identified their job descriptions and did them. And the Church grew.

How Are We Doing?

The same is true of our church. Emmaus becomes more functional and more attractive when we, the pastors, and you, the members, each play the role God has given us. One of the many benefits of this re-launch is that every one of us now has the opportunity to re-examine the job description God has given us and reaffirm our commitment to it.

Over these past few months many of you have stepped up and said, “I want to take ownership of this church. I want to use my time, my talent, and my treasure to serve Jesus and to help this church move forward on its mission.” And you’ve done just that. If that describes you then that is wonderful. It is a sign of God’s grace alive and at work in you as he gives you the desire and the ability to do what he’s called you to do. Thank him for the evidence of his grace!

If that doesn’t describe you. If you haven’t yet stepped up to give you’re your time, and talent, and treasure to meet the job description God has given you, don’t despair. This very moment is a sign of God’s grace given to you. He is graciously, right now, giving you the opportunity to repent of your sin and become more like Jesus Christ this very night. Thank him for the evidence of his grace and respond appropriately!

And the appropriate response is the same for every one of us in this room. The appropriate response for every one of us is to give ourselves to Jesus who gave himself for us. Jesus gave himself for us precisely because we failed to meet our job description. Thankfully, though, Jesus did not fail to meet his. God the Father had given Jesus, the Son, this job description: set the oppressed free, give sight to the blind, proclaim good news to the poor, give life to the dead. And Jesus accomplished every task. And he did this by fulfilling your job description for you. You were supposed to live a life of worship to the true God, but you didn’t. So Jesus lived this life of worship for you. You were supposed to live a life of righteousness and obedience, but you didn’t. So Jesus lived this life of righteousness and obedience for you. Because you failed in these areas you were also supposed to die a death of judgment under the wrath of God. But you don’t have to. Because Jesus died your death and absorbed God’s wrath for you. Jesus fulfilled your job description for you. He did everything you were supposed to do but didn’t. And then Jesus rose from the dead showing that God the Father had accepted his perfect work in your place.

This is what motivates you to now meet your job description. This is what motivates you to play the role God has placed you here to play. You’re not motivated by guilt. You’re not motivated by selfish desires to be a good Christian. You’re not motivated by a desire to win the approval of other people. You’re motivated by Jesus. Because he gave himself for you you are now free to give yourself to him and his people. Because he gave away everything for you you are now free to give away anything to him and his people. And when we do this together the church functions better and becomes more attractive so that others might come to know and love this same Jesus.

God’s Hand in Suffering

July 21st, 2009 | Posted in sermons | No Comments
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Introduce

She had to leave her home because of a famine. Soon after that she found herself alone in a land of wicked people. Her husband? Dead. Both of her sons? Dead. No child. No grandchild. No one to carry on the family line. No one to provide for her. As she sees it, the Lord has turned against her. He has afflicted her. He has brought misfortune upon her. He has made her empty. He has made her life bitter. So bitter that it has become her identity. She has changed her name from Naomi (meaning pleasant) to Mara (meaning bitter).

It is her story that we will look at today as we open the Scriptures. But it’s not just her story. It is your story too. Now, hopefully you haven’t gone to the courthouse to have your name legally changed to “Bitter” (if you have I would urge you to reconsider). But you have experienced suffering. And if you haven’t you can know with certainty that you will. There will be times when death or the threat of death surrounds you. There will be times when poverty or the threat of poverty encompasses you. There will be times when you feel utterly alone. Times when it feels to you as if the Lord has turned against you. Times that you are tempted to respond with bitterness.

This is why God has preserved Naomi’s story in the Scriptures. He has preserved her story because her story speaks to your story. And what does her story tell you about your own? What does her story have to say to you when you confront death, poverty, loneliness, bitterness? This is the question we’ll answer as we review Naomi’s story, conclude Naomi’s story, and identify two very specific ways that her story speaks to yours. Please turn to Ruth 4. The book of Ruth is right after Judges and right before the book of 1Samuel.

Tell

We begin by reviewing her story. The book of Ruth opens in a very dark place with Naomi — in a foreign land — husbandless, childless, penniless and bitter. Looking at this opening scene of her story it’s quite clear to us as readers: things can’t possibly get any better…they can only get worse. And Naomi’s assessment is the same. She tells her daughter’s-in-law, “The Lord’s hand has turned against me.”

But just as we’ve written her situation off as hopeless we start to see little glimmers of hope, small signs that in her suffering God’s hand is working for her, not against her. The first is that her homeland, Bethlehem, is no longer consumed with famine. So Naomi decides to return there for the first time in ten years. Now, Naomi doesn’t expect this to make much of a difference. She’ll still be husbandless, childless, penniless, and bitter. She’s so sure of this that she urges her two daughter’s-in-law to stay in Moab and leave her to suffer alone.

But one of Naomi’s daughter’s-in-law, Ruth, refuses. “Where you go I will go,” she tells her, ”Your people are my people and your God my God.” And here’s where we see our second glimmer of hope, our second sign of God’s hand at work. This woman — a Moabite, an idolater – has made a turn from her false God to Yahweh the True God. If you know the Scriptures you know there is no explanation for this conversion other than God being at work. But if, for some reason, you still doubt that God is present in Naomi’s suffering think about this: not only did Ruth turn to Yahweh in worship she also turned to her mother-in-law and said, “I want to go where you go.” That has to be God. How else do you explain that? How else do you explain a young woman volunteering to follow her old, bitter, mother-in-law wherever she goes? Would your wife sign up for that? Mine wouldn’t. So, yes, Naomi’s suffering remains. Yes, she’s still husbandless, childless, penniless, and bitter. But whether she recognizes it or not we are starting to recognize that in her suffering God’s hand is working for her not against her.

These small glimmers of hope continue when Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem. First, Ruth volunteers to go into the fields and glean behind those who harvest the grain. This is hard work. And it is dangerous work. But Ruth is bold enough to take this risk in order to provide for Naomi. This is significant in and of itself but it becomes more significant when we find out where Ruth ends up picking grain. Of all the fields in the land she wound up in a field that belonged to Boaz, a good man who was related to Naomi. Again, we see that in Naomi’s suffering God’s hand is working for her and not against her.

But there’s more. When Boaz arrives on the scene he notices, of all people, Ruth. And he has compassion on her. He approaches her and says, “Listen. Don’t go anywhere else. Stay here and follow after the harvesters with the women who work for me. And don’t worry,” he adds, “I have told the men not to lay a hand on you.” Now, Ruth may be an out-of-towner. But she’s no naïve tourist. She recognizes the very uncommon nature of what has just happened. She bows with her face to the ground. “Why are you showing favor to me – a foreigner?” Boaz answers. “I have heard of all you have done for your mother-in-law. May the Lord repay you for what you have done.”

And that seems be just what he is doing. Through Boaz. At mealtime Boaz allows her to eat freely with him and, not only that, he seems to have supersized her meal because even after she is full she still has food left over. And then he gives his men special instructions. Instructions that are absolutely unheard of for any woman, much less for a foreigner of such low status. He tells them to take some of the stalks of grain that they cut and allow her to follow behind and collect them. Again, we see that in Naomi’s suffering God’s hand is working for her and not against her.

And perhaps even Naomi is starting to see some glimmers of hope. Because when Ruth returns home with this ridiculous amount of food Naomi is shocked. She is even more shocked to hear that of all the fields Ruth could have been noticed in she was noticed by Boaz – a close relative. A close relative that, in fact, would be the perfect man to marry Ruth, give her a home, and carry on the family line. So Naomi quickly transforms from Naomi into Chuck Woolery and starts working on making a love connection. She tells Ruth to put on her best clothes, splash herself with perfume, and then gives her very detailed instructions on exactly what to do and exactly when to do it in order to propose marriage to Boaz and to receive the desirable result. And it works. Again, we see that in Naomi’s suffering God’s hand is working for her and not against her.

But there is one obstacle remaining. Boaz informs Ruth that there is another man in town who is more closely related to Naomi than he is. It is this man’s right to redeem her. If he is willing to do so then Boaz will have to step aside. But he is not. And this brings us to our text for today. Let’s conclude Naomi’s story by reading from Ruth 4:13-22,

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a family guardian. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter–in–law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.

Explain

This is Naomi’s story. But as we said in the beginning God has placed her story in the Scriptures because her story speaks to your story. And what does it say? It says two things. Two things that are slowly uncovered as her story unfolds and are that are finally and firmly punctuated in the closing text we just read.

The first is this: in the midst of your suffering God is great. By that I mean that God is sovereign: he does what he wants, when he wants, how he wants, with whomever he wants. God is great. God is firmly in control. That is just as true in the midst of your suffering as it is at any other time. Now, to some, this fact alone may not be all that comforting. It certainly wasn’t for Naomi. To know that God is great and that God has all power is one thing. But your question is how is he going to use his greatness? And that’s the second thing Naomi’s story says to your story. Her story not only tells you that God is great in the midst of your suffering. It also tells you that in the midst of your suffering God is good. What Naomi’s story says to your story is that God is great and in his greatness God is good. He has all power and authority and he uses his power and authority to redeem the unredeemable.

From the very beginning of Naomi’s story this is what we see. But nowhere is God’s greatness and goodness more evident than in this closing passage. First we have this phrase in verse 13, “The Lord enabled her to conceive and she gave birth to a son.” Ruth had been barren for 10 years before Naomi’s son died. But now, almost immediately, she lay with Boaz and “The Lord enabled her to conceive.” Naomi’s story opens with a funeral. It ends with a baby shower. It opens with Naomi childless and heirless. It ends with Naomi holding her grandchild in her arms. It opens with Naomi penniless. It ends with her well provided for through her new son and daughter. It opens with Naomi filled with bitterness. It ends with Naomi at the center of a joyous celebration. God has used his greatness for goodness. He has all power and authority and he has used his power and authority to redeem what appeared, to us, to be unredeemable.

If the story ended there you would have reason enough to be encouraged in your suffering. But it doesn’t end there. There is more. And it is found in verse 17, “The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.” In Naomi’s story God does not merely use his greatness for the good of Naomi and Ruth. He uses his greatness for the good of the world. From Naomi’s grandson would come Jesse, from Jesse would come King David, and from King David would come the King of all kings, Jesus Christ.

Conclude

Naomi’s story speaks to your story by reminding you of the story. It reminds you that God doesn’t just work in history he personally entered into history to live the life of perfection that you have failed to live, to die the death of judgment that you deserve to die, and to rise from the dead to defeat the enemies that you could never defeat. Naomi’s story speaks to your story by reminding you of the story. It reminds you that God doesn’t just work in your suffering he personally enters into your suffering. If you, like Naomi, find yourself penniless you must remember that though Jesus had all of the riches of heaven he willingly made himself penniless so that you could be forever rich in him. If you, like Naomi, find yourself feeling abandoned you must remember that though Jesus deserved to be worshiped by his friends he allowed himself to be abandoned by them for your sake. If you, like Naomi, are overwhelmed with suffering to the point that you feel afflicted by God you must remember that though Jesus was innocent in every way he willingly allowed himself to be afflicted by God so that you would never have to be.

Because of this even when death or the threat of death surround you you don’t have to respond with bitterness. Even when poverty or the threat of poverty encompass you to don’t have to respond with bitterness. Even when your children are not obeying, even when those you love are not loving, even when the job you need is not coming you don’t have to respond with bitterness. Instead, you can respond with gratitude. You can respond with gratitude because while you don’t know why God has sent this suffering you do know that he has not sent this suffering to punish you, humiliate you, or destroy you. No. He has already sent his Son to be punished, humiliated, and destroyed for you so that you could one day be free from all suffering – forever. And God was already laying the groundwork for this redemption of yours 3,000 years ago when he gave a little baby boy to a bitter old widow named Naomi. This is a God who uses his greatness for goodness. Even in your suffering.

Sin

June 18th, 2009 | Posted in sermons | Comments Off
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Introduction

I hope you don’t take this the wrong way. But I am so glad that in three days the election will finally be over. Can any of you relate? Every time I turn on the TV or the radio I hear one candidate or the other try to convince me that they are the solution to America’s problems. But here’s the most frustrating thing. While we all agree that America has problems that need to be solved we can’t seem to agree on the root cause of our problems. Depending on who you’re listening to you might be told that the root cause of America’s problems is that government has too much power, or too little power; that we’re spending too much money on education, or not enough on education; that the Democrats have screwed everything up, or that the Republicans have screwed everything up; that the religious powers are leading our country astray, or that the irreligious elite are leading our country astray. Well, which is it? It can’t be all of these things because they contradict each other. Which is it? What is at the root of America’s problems? How you answer that question will determine what solution you think is best. And your solution will only be as good as your diagnosis of the problem. The only way we can ever find an adequate solution is to first have an accurate diagnosis of the problem.

Let’s get out of the political arena for a minute and look into the health arena. Imagine you’re with a friend who is experiencing chest pains. You ask her to describe the pain to you and she does. You ask her when it started and she says it started right after she ate a large pizza all by herself. You offer her a solution. You tell her that she should take some antacid tablets. This is a good solution, isn’t it? Only if you have accurately diagnosed the problem. If your heartburn diagnosis was accurate then, yes, antacid tablets will help to solve her problem. But if your heartburn diagnosis was inaccurate then your solution will not only be ineffective, it may kill her. Because her chest pains may have nothing to do with the large pizza she just ate all by herself, she may be having a heart attack. Again, our solutions are only as adequate as our diagnosis is accurate.

So that’s what we’re going to do tonight. We’re going to focus on the problem. What’s wrong with the world? What’s wrong with this world where fathers abandon their children? What’s wrong with this world where children all over the world go hungry? What’s wrong with this world where people die because they have no access to clean water? What’s wrong with this world where CEO’s can lie and cheat their way to wealth while their employees are overtaken by poverty? What’s wrong with this world where every one of us knows people who have been sexually abused? What’s wrong with this world where governments get away with murdering their own people? What’s wrong with this world where marriages fall apart? What’s wrong with this world where we are betrayed, and lied to, and hurt by the words and choices of others?  What’s wrong with the world?

Whether we know it or not we all have an answer to that question. Even if we’ve never voiced our diagnosis, even if we’ve never consciously identified our diagnosis, we have one. And we live every moment of our life in light of that diagnosis. At the core of your being you have a deeply held belief about what is wrong with the world. And that belief determines how you think, how you speak, and how you live. You know where this comes through the clearest? It comes through the clearest at the coffeehouse. Something as simple and as “unspiritual” as our coffeehouse conversations reveals our theology – it reveals what we think is wrong with the world. Now sometimes we don’t notice that because we don’t spend much time intentionally talking about what we think is wrong with the world. Instead, we spend most of our time talking about what we must do to make our personal world better or what others must do to make the entire world better. We tend to speak about the solutions instead of the problem. But as soon as we start talking about the solutions we reveal what we understand the problem to be.

In my time at the coffeehouse I’ve heard people offer many solutions. I have heard people say that we say we need more education, or that we need our party to obtain political power, or that people just need to be more loving, or that we just need to work harder to be better people, or that we need to go to church more frequently. But here’s the thing. None of these solutions will work. None of these solutions will work because none of them are based on accurate diagnosis of the problem. The problem is not ignorance, the problem is not politics, the problem is not that we haven’t been as loving as we should be, the problem is not that we haven’t been trying hard enough to do right, the problem is not that we haven’t been fulfilling our religious duties — the problem is sin. According to the Bible, according to God’s Word, THE problem is sin.

This is uncomfortable to hear, of course, whether in a church, a coffeehouse, or anywhere. We fight against this diagnosis because none of us wants to think that we are the problem and not the solution. Because of that, some of you are writing this diagnosis off as false right now. But in reality the fact that you want so much to prove this diagnosis false is evidence that it is true. To say that our core problem is anything other than sin requires that you literally write off the entire Bible as utterly useless. Apart from the first two chapters of the Bible the whole subject of every paragraph in the Bible is the problem of sin and what God is doing about it. To say that our core problem is anything other than sin requires that you do away with this entire book. It also requires that you do away with all of human history. With all of the world’s wealth, with all of the world’s education, with all of the world’s healthy families, with all of the world’s love and generosity, with all of the world’s religious devotion, with all of the world’s politics, we have yet to make any progress. Murder, genocide, poverty, hunger, racism, divorce, war, selfishness – they haven’t gone away. In many cases they have grown stronger. To say that our core problem is anything other than sin requires that you do away with the Bible, it requires that you do away with human history, and lastly, it requires that you do away with your own experience. Why is it that you still haven’t become the person you want to be? Why is it that you find yourself doing things that you judge other people for doing? Why is it that you still sometimes go against your own conscience? It’s not that you’re not trying hard enough. No matter how hard you try you still fall into the same thinking and the same behavior. To say that the core problem is anything other than sin is to throw out the Bible, throw out human history, and throw out your own experience. This is why it has often been said that the Biblical doctrine of original sin is the only doctrine of the Bible that can be proven empirically. Even if you’re not convinced of this there is more than enough evidence to make it worth looking into. So let’s do that together tonight. Let’s take a closer look at God’s diagnosis of our core problem. Let’s take a close look at sin. Specifically, we’re going to answer three questions: what is sin, how does sin work, and how do we fix it. Let’s start by looking at the nature of the problem and asking, “what is sin?”

What is Sin?

Sin is the core problem that needs to be solved. But what is sin? The words that our Bible translates as “sin” literally mean “failing to obey authority” or “missing the target.” This is important to grasp. If sin is failing to obey authority or missing the target this means that God and God’s will are the measure of sin. Our culture is not the measure of sin. Popular opinion is not the measure of sin. How other people live is not the measure of sin. My particular strengths and weaknesses are not the measure of sin. God and his will are the measure of sin. To sin is to turn from both. To sin is to turn both from God and his will. Think about this with me for a minute. This is the Biblical picture of sin. And it is different from how most people think of sin. Both religious people and irreligious people most often think of sin as a behavioral problem. We generally think that to sin is to behave in the wrong way or to not behave in the right way. This is why we think we can solve the problem through education and effort. If sin is simply a behavioral problem then once we learn what the right behavior is all we have to do is make the effort to do it. So we seek out more sermons, and more books, and more television that will tell us what to do and how to do it. But that solution won’t work. Because sin is not primarily a behavior problem. At its root, sin is a worship problem. We see this in the first human sin ever committed. Do you remember how the story of Adam and Eve unfolds? Let’s look at Genesis 3:1-6.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?’ The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”

God created Adam and Eve as good. They were in right relationship with him and with each other. He walked with them. He talked with them. He gave them everything they could ever need. And, because of that, they worshiped him. But then something changed. Suddenly they were no longer in a right relationship with God or each other. Suddenly God no longer walked with them and talked with them. Suddenly they were hiding from God and cast out of his presence. So what happened? The traditional answer is that they ate the fruit. And that’s true. They did eat the fruit that God clearly told them not to eat. But that’s not the main issue. If you read the story carefully you’ll see that the real issue is not that they ate the fruit. The real issue is that they gave their worship to creation instead of to the Creator. That happened first. And then they ate the fruit because of that. The behavior problem was simply a symptom of the worship problem. Let’s take a closer look at how it went down.

What happens first? The first thing that happens is that the serpent tells the woman to believe him and doubt God. And she does. That’s a worship problem. She chose to trust a created thing more than she trusted the Creator of all things. What happens second? Second she decides to disobey God and eat the fruit. But why? Look at verse 5, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” She decided to eat the fruit because she wanted to be like God. She wanted to be able to determine what was good and what was evil. She wanted to take herself — a created thing — and make it greater than the Creator of all things. That’s a worship problem. What happens third? Eve eats the fruit and encourages her husband to do the same. That’s a behavior problem. But the behavior problem came third. The only reason Eve ever sinned in her behavior is because she had already sinned in her heart. She had given her trust and her worship to created things instead of to the Creator of all things.

What is sin? Sin is turning from God and his will. It is a worship problem first and a behavior problem second. Let’s look at one more passage that drives this home. Turn to Romans 1:22-25.

“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal human beings and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen.” – Romans 1:22-25

Look at the chronology here, look at the cause and effect. The first thing we see, in verse 23, is that human beings have committed idolatry. We have failed to worship the True God. But we haven’t stopped worshiping. We’ve just put other things in his place. And the consequence of this, as we see in verse 24, is sinful behavior. It’s because we have a worship problem, it’s because we have not made the True God the object of our worship, that we are given over to the sinful desires of our hearts and to all sorts of bad behavior. And that’s the real issue. The real issue is not our behavior problem, it’s our worship problem. Verse 25 explains it beautifully. It says we “worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.” This is our problem. This is the source of every problem in the world. Human beings have chosen to give to creation what belongs to Creator. We have lived for ourselves and for other created things instead of living for the Creator of all things.

Since our sin problem is really a worship problem and not a behavior problem it can’t be solved by simply changing our behavior. So education can’t fix it. Human effort can’t fix it. Sermons that just tell us what to do can’t fix it. In fact, these things can actually make it worse. Because though they can teach us to do good things they may be teaching us to do good things for the wrong reasons. Instead of doing good things as an act of worship to God we might be doing good things so that we can feel good about ourselves, or we might be doing things so that we can get what we want from God or other people, or we might be doing good things out of guilt, or we might be doing good things out of fear, or we might be doing good things so that God or other people will accept us or love us. That stuff doesn’t look like sin to the human eye. It looks like good deeds and acts of righteousness. But God sees it for what it is. He sees it as sin because he sees that it is done in service to someone or something other than him.

When we understand what sin really is – when we understand that it is a worship problem and not just a behavior problem – we start to see just how sinful we really are. We start to see that we are far more sinful than we ever dared to believe. You don’t need to be a Christian to see that. Whether you believe the Biblical testimony or not you know that even your good actions are often done out of impure, self-serving motives motives. What is sin? Sin is turning from God and his will. It is to trust in someone or something else to give you pleasure, security, meaning, value, identity, and joy. That’s the nature of sin. And that is the core cause of every problem in your world and every problem in the entire world.

How Does Sin Work?

 So we’ve defined what sin is. Now the question is how does sin work? Sin is the root cause of all of our problems but how does sin work? We could talk about this for weeks but for tonight we’re just going to look at three ways that sin does its work in us and in the world.

First, sin works universally. Sin works universally. What this means is that sin is at work in every single person on the planet. Sin doesn’t just work in the religious or in the irreligious, it doesn’t just work in the rich or in the poor, it doesn’t just work in the powerful or in the powerless, it doesn’t just work in the conservative or in the liberal – sin is alive and at work in every single person on the face of the earth. I love the imagery of Romans 3:9-12.

“What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

Sin works universally, in all of us. Read a few verses down and in verse 23 you’ll find this communicated again, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” How does sin work? It works universally so that not one of us is righteous, not one of us seeks God, not one of us does good, all of us have turned away, all of us fall short of the glory of God. None of us want to hear this about ourselves. But it can’t be denied. The Scriptures are clear. Human history is clear. Your own experience is clear. You can’t point to a single person that was not under the power of sin. Including yourself.  Especially yourself. Why? Because sin is universal. It’s universal because it is in our nature. It’s in our nature because our father, Adam, sinned and he passed this on to us. It’s explained this way in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned…”

Now that’s uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable to believe that we are not sinners because we sin but, rather, that we sin because we are sinners. It’s who we are. That is a very unflattering thing to believe.  So we try to find another explanation. We can’t deny that sin is universal so we try to find some other way to explain why it is universal. The most common way this is done is by arguing that the reason all people sin is because sin is a learned behavior. This argument claims that human beings are basically good but we have been corrupted by our environment. This explanation is attractive because it tells us that we’re not sinners, we’re good people who happen to sin because we live in a sinful society. But while this explanation is attractive it is obviously false. If human beings are basically good and sin is a learned behavior then where did the first person learn sin from? If we’re only sinful because we live in a sinful society how did the first society become sinful? Sin cannot be a learned behavior, sinful society cannot be the cause of sinful people, because sinful people created sinful society. Thus, sin is universal. Every one of us is sinful by nature and we inherited that nature from Adam, the first sinner.

How does sin work? It works universally. Sin also works totally. When we say sin works universally we mean that all human beings are sinful. When we say sin works totally we mean that every part of every human being is sinful. We’re not saying that every part of us is as bad as it could be but that no part of us is as good as it should be. To say that sin works in us totally is to say that sin has infected our mind, our heart, our will, our motivations, our emotions, our bodies – every part of us. Sin works in us totally so that every part of us is sinful. Let’s look at two Scriptures that explain this for us,

“I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature…” – Romans 7:18

“…Everything that does not come from faith is sin.” – Romans 14:23

In the first passage, Paul writes that there is no good in who we are as human beings. Now the word “good” can be used in many different ways. Of course it’s “good” that you haven’t killed anyone. It’s “good” that you often do generous things. Those things are good compared to what you could do. But they are not truly good. And the second verse explains why. Even what appears to be good is not truly good if it is motivated by anything other than true faith in the True God. Every one of us – religious and irreligious – often does good things for the wrong reasons. We often do them for reasons more than or less than pure faith in God. We often do them for reasons more than or less than true love for God, and his will, and his glory. Which means that even our greatest goodness is actually impure. And if even our greatest goodness is actually impure how impure is the rest of us? Sin works in us totally so that our mind, our heart, our bodies, our will, our emotions, our motivations – everything in us has been tainted by sin. No part of us is truly good.

How does sin work? Sin works in us universally. Sin works in us totally. And, lastly, sin works in us disablingly. To say sin works in us disablingly is to say that sin makes us moral quadriplegics – it makes us utterly unable to do what is right. Look at how the Scriptures explain this,

“The sinful mind is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.” – Romans 8:7

“..For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing.” – Romans 7:18-19.

In our sinful nature we are moral quadriplegics. We do not and cannot do what is right. The Scriptures give this testimony again and again. But let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that you don’t believe the Scriptures to be God’s Word. You still know this to be true. You have a conscience. Your conscience tells you what is right and what is wrong. You say that you want to do what is right but time and time again you go against your own conscience. Even when you know what is right you do not do it, you cannot do it. In addition to having a conscience you also have a mouth. And your mouth often condemns other people for things they’ve done. Your mouth condemns liars, your mouth condemns the proud, your mouth condemns the selfish. By doing that you show that you know what is right and what is wrong. And yet time and time again you are guilty of the very same things you condemn others for. Even when you know what is right you do not do it, you cannot do it. If I were having this conversation with a friend at a coffeehouse I’d ask them, “Why is this the case? Why is it that even when you know what is right and you say you want to do what is right you don’t do it?” It’s interesting that when I ask that question most of my Christian and non-Christian friends give the exact same answer. “I’m only human, and humans make mistakes.” There are two problems with that answer, though. The first problem is the word “mistake.” Is it really a mistake if you willfully choose to do the same thing over, and over, and over, and over again even though you know it’s wrong? Is that a mistake? No, that’s willful rebellion against what you know to be good and true. The second problem is the phrase “I’m only human.” That’s not an explanation for why you continue to do what is wrong when you know what is right. The phrase “I’m only human” doesn’t even have any meaning until you can tell me why it is that humans do wrong when they know what is right? Science can’t tell us why we do that. Animals don’t do that. What is it that’s unique to humans that leads them to do what is wrong when they know what is right? Only Christian theology can answer that question. And here’s how Christian theology answers it. You don’t do what is wrong when you know what is right because “You’re only human, and humans make mistakes.” You do what is wrong when you know what is right because you are a slave to sin. Here’s how Jesus explains it,

“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” – John 8:34

Why do you do what is wrong when you know what is right? Because you are a slave to sin. You are a moral quadriplegic. To ask you to do anything other than sin is like asking my 10 month-old son to write a 30 page essay on the second law of thermodynamics. It’s asking the impossible. It’s asking you to do what you cannot do.

How Do We Fix It?

Let’s review what we’ve covered so far. We started by asking, what is sin? All sin, at its root, is a worship problem. It flows from hearts that find their ultimate meaning, their ultimate fulfillment, and their ultimate pleasure in creation instead of in Creator. To sin is to turn from God and his will. That’s what sin is. Then we asked, how does sin work? We said sin works universally (so that every one of us is infected with it), it works totally (so that every part of us is infected with it), and it works disablingly (so that not one of us has the ability to overcome it). Now we will look to our third and final question, how do we fix it?

How do we fix the sin problem? How do we fix all that is wrong with us and all that is wrong with the world? The answer is…we can’t. We can’t fix it. Remember, it’s not a behavior problem. If it were a behavior problem we could easily fix it but it’s not, it’s a worship problem. It’s a worship problem that is universal – it affects all of us – there’s not one person we can call on to fix the problem because all people are equally infected with it. It’s a worship problem that is total – it affects every part of us – there’s not one part of us that can see clearly enough to find a solution because every part of us has been infected with sin. It’s a worship problem that disables us – it renders us absolutely crippled – so that we are powerless to do anything other than continue sin. How do we fix it? We can’t.

And yet we try. And the funny thing is religious people and irreligious people we try to deal with the sin problem in the exact same ways. We think that education will break us free. So we go to the schools that promise to give us the knowledge we need to succeed, we read the books that promise us the keys to contentment, we listen to the sermons that promise to tell us the 5-steps to a good marriage, or the 3-steps to financial health, or the secret to living a life of purpose. But if we’re paying attention we will eventually see that education hasn’t solved our problem. So we think the key to breaking free is to work harder than we have been. So we take all of the information that we’ve gathered and we try to work as hard as we can to put it into practice. I just need to be more disciplined in my finances, I just need to be more patient with my spouse, I just need to be more committed to my job, I just need to be a more loving person, I just need someone to hold me accountable, I just need to read my Bible more, I just need to pray more, I just need to go to church more. But if we’re paying attention we will eventually see that all of our hard work has not eliminated the problem. We still do the things we are trying so hard not to do, we still fail to do the things we are trying so hard to do, our relationships are still a mess, our world is still corrupted. The education hasn’t worked, the extra effort hasn’t worked so we think if we could just change our circumstance we can break free. “Oh, if my candidate just gets elected,” “Oh, if my pastor just spends more time with me,” “Oh, if I could just get married,” “Oh, if I could just get divorced,” “Oh, if I could just relocate to another city then my problems would be solved, then I’d be willing and able to do the things I know I should do.”

This is what comes out in our coffeehouse conversations. We’re always talking about what we need to do in order to fix our problem. But these solutions we offer will never work. Because they fail to properly diagnose the problem. The problem is not that you don’t know what you should do – you do know. The problem is not that you aren’t working hard enough to do it – no matter how hard you work you don’t have the ability to do it. The problem is not that you’re just in the wrong circumstance – your problem will remain the same no matter what circumstance you’re in. Your problem is you! Your problem is that you allow people and things other than Jesus Christ to rule over your heart and wherever Jesus Christ does not rule sin does! Your problem is not that you don’t know enough, not that you don’t work hard enough, not that you’re in the wrong circumstance of life. Your problem is that you are sinful to the core of your being and you can’t do anything about it.

That’s not something you want to hear, is it? That’s not something you want to believe about yourself, is it? That’s not something you want to admit, is it? And yet believing it and admitting it is the one thing that will solve your problem. The only way the sin problem will ever be solved is if we admit that we are the problem, that we are disabled by sin, and that we need someone outside of us – someone who is not disabled by sin – to save us from our own sin, to save us from the sins of others, and to save from the righteous judgment of a Holy God. Let us do away with all of this nonsense that says being a Christian is about being a good person. Being a Christian is not about being a good person. Being a Christian is about admitting that no matter how hard you try you can never be a good person. It is that honest and accurate self-awareness that leads you to cry out, “God…save me.” And when we speak those words in faith that is exactly what he does.

See, God is not a part of the sin problem. He is not in any way shape or form complicit. He is completely free from sin and entirely untainted by it. Because he is the only truly free being, because he is the only being who is untainted by sin, he is the only being who can do anything at all about the sin problem. And what can he do to fix the sin problem? The most obvious way that God can fix the sin problem is to destroy sinners. If he wipes us out then the sin problem is solved. And of course he has every right to do that. He created us and we have rebelled against him and what he created us for. Our sins against him are so numerous that is evidence of his mercy and grace. He has every right to judge us, he has every right to give us an eternity in Hell, he has every right to snatch the breath out of your lungs right at this very instant. He can do that and the sin problem will be solved once and for all. Or he can do something else. He can devise a way to destroy sin without destroying sinners. But the only way this can be done is if God destroys a fully righteous person who deserves life in place of totally sinful people who deserve death. And since he alone is righteous what that really means is that he would have to destroy himself in order to save the very people who hate him, deny him, and reject his authority. To do so would be an act of love, humility, and self-sacrifice beyond human comprehension. Yet this is the solution God chose.

Instead of destroying sin by destroying sinners he chose to destroy sin by destroying his own innocent Son. God the Father clothed God the Son in human flesh and sent him to live in a sinful world. God the Son, Jesus Christ, was filled with God the Holy Spirit and lived a life of perfect righteousness. Even in a sinful environment, surrounded by sinful people, and endless temptations Jesus did not once turn from God the Father or from God the Father’s will. Even when that meant dying a criminal’s death on a cross. Because Jesus was fully committed to the Father and the Father’s will he willfully went to the cross and he willfully died in your place so that you could live. Not only that, he willfully took your sin upon himself so that you could be given his righteousness. Not only that, he willfully took God’s wrath for your sin upon himself so that you could be given God’s reward for his righteousness. You see, God didn’t solve the sin problem by reaching out and crushing sinners, he solved the sin problem by becoming sin and being crushed by and for sinners. Three days later Jesus rose from the dead showing that sin and death had no hold over him. Forty days later he ascended into heaven, returning to his seat next to the Father, so that he could bring his people into God’s presence. Through all of this Jesus purchased your freedom from death and your freedom from judgment because he purchased your freedom from sin.

If you’re not a Christian this gospel message may contradict the beliefs you came in here with. But maybe it’s time for you to let go of those beliefs. We’ve already seen tonight that they don’t conform to reality and they don’t work, all of the evidence is consistent with the Biblical teaching on sin. Which means that Jesus and his gospel are your only hope. If you’re a Christian you’ve already trusted in this message for your salvation. But the danger is that many of us stop there. We trust in the gospel for our salvation and then we trust in ourselves for our sanctification, we trust in ourselves to become more holy. But that is sin, and it doesn’t work. Christians, Jesus is not only your only hope for salvation, Jesus is the only hope for your marriage, Jesus is the only hope for your singleness, Jesus is the only hope for you finances, Jesus is the only hope for your work, Jesus is the only hope for dealing with difficult people, Jesus is the only hope for every problem in your life because every problem is a sin problem and Jesus and Jesus alone gives you victory over sin. Christians and non-Christians let’s stop trusting in more education and more effort and let us trust in Jesus and Jesus alone.

 

 

 

 

 

Shared Treasure

June 15th, 2009 | Posted in sermons | Comments Off
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Introduction

For the past two months we’ve been talking about wisdom as we’ve studied the book of Proverbs together. We’ve talked about what wisdom is (it’s the ability to live life skillfully), we’ve talked about where wisdom is found (it is found only in Jesus Christ who is the source of all wisdom), and we’ve talked about the many ways it shows itself in our practical, everyday lives (in our speech, in our love life, in our work, in our finances, in our attitude). Tonight we’re going to conclude our study on wisdom by asking one more question. Now that you’ve heard all of this information about wisdom what are you supposed to do with it? Now that you’ve gained all of this information on wisdom what are you supposed to do with it? The answer is: you are supposed to treasure it. We’ve seen that wisdom is more valuable than education, it’s more valuable than intelligence, it’s more valuable than great wealth, it’s’ more valuable than all of the possessions in the world. This wisdom, which we have been given through the Scriptures, is to be treasured.

This means, first, that we are to hold it tightly and never let it go. That’s what we do with the things we treasure. When my daughter gets a new toy she will hold it in her clutches day and night. She’ll sleep with it. If she gets up in the middle of the night she’ll take it into the other room with her. She’ll set it at the kitchen table while she eats dinner. She’ll do this because she treasures her new toy. How much more should we hold tightly to the wisdom that the God of the Universe has freely given to us through Jesus, wisdom that we could never acquire on our own?

The wisdom that has been given to us through faith in Jesus Christ is to be treasured and held tightly. It is also to be used and used a lot. When I was in high school my greatest treasure was my walkman. I wore that walkman everywhere. And I used it constantly. I don’t think anyone spoke a word to me throughout four whole years of high-school because they knew I couldn’t hear them anyway. I was too busy listening to Nas, Blackstreet, BBD, and Mobb Deep. I used that thing so much that I ran through batteries quicker than J. Lo ran through male celebrities. To this day I run into people that I haven’t seen since high-school and they remember me as the guy who always had the headphones on. They also remember me as the geeky kid who was too shy to talk to anyone, but that’s beside the point. The point is that I treasured my walkman and I put it to use constantly. We’re to do the same with the wisdom we’ve been given through Jesus Christ. When I say we need to hold tight to wisdom that doesn’t mean that we keep it in a package and just look at it like an old Star Wars figure. No, it means we hold it so closely that it is a part of everything we think, everything we say, and everything we do.

What are we supposed to do with the wisdom we’ve been given? We’re supposed to treasure it, which means we’re supposed to hold it closely and use it constantly. But that’s not all. When we treasure wisdom we will also want to show that wisdom to everyone else. That’s what we do with the things we treasure. We can’t wait to show our treasure to everyone else. When I was a kid I treasured my George Brett autographed baseball above all else and my mission was to show it off to everyone. Now that I’m an adult I treasure my wife and because I treasure her I get excited by every opportunity I have to talk about her and to introduce to new people. You know what I mean. When you eat at a really great restaurant you make it a point to tell everyone about it. When you see a movie that impacts you, or discover a piece of music that truly moves you, you go out of your way to expose your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers to the same thing.

When we treasure wisdom we will want to show it to everyone we know. And that’s not supposed to be a task any more than telling someone about your favorite TV show is a task. It’s supposed to be a joy. And it can be. When we treasure wisdom, when we hold it tightly, when we put it to use, we will find ourselves excited about sharing our treasure with others. After all, that’s how the book of Proverbs was written in the first place. The wise father wanted nothing more than to share wisdom with those close to him. Is that something you’re doing already? Is that something you’d like to do? If so, the book of Proverbs can help you by offering you direction and encouragement.

 

Wisdom Wants to Be Shared

First, Proverbs helps us by showing us that wisdom wants to be shared. It is in her very nature. Let’s look at Proverbs 8:1-11.

“Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? At the highest point along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; beside the gate leading into the city, at the entrance, she cries aloud: “To you, O people, I call out; I raise my voice to all humankind. You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, set your hearts on it. Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right. My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness. All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse. To the discerning all of them are right; they are upright to those who have found knowledge. Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.” – Prov 8:1-11

Wisdom wants to be shared. Wisdom calls out to the simple and the foolish, she invites them to herself, she calls them to pursue her and to listen to her. And she uses human messengers to do this. Wisdom wants to be shared and she uses human messengers to bring her to others just as she does in the book of Proverbs; she uses the human author of Proverbs to share wisdom with his sons and with us. Of course you and I know this from experience. The only reason any one of us knows about wisdom, the only reason any one of us has heard about the fear of the Lord, is because wisdom shared herself with us through a human messenger. And why did that human messenger choose to share this wisdom with us? Why did that human messenger choose to share Jesus, the source of all wisdom, with us? Is it because they were braver than we are? Is it because they know more than we know? Is it because they care less about people liking them other than we do? No. It’s none of the above. The reason that your human messenger was able to share wisdom with you is because they were moved to share wisdom with you.

Remember, wisdom wants to be shared. She wants to call out to the simple and the foolish. So if you possess wisdom you will also be possessed by wisdom and she will move you toward her goal — which is to call others to herself. I just spent some time in several airports this past week and while there is a lot of stuff about airports that I don’t like there is one part of airports that I love…the people-mover. I love the people-mover. I love that I can just stand still on a metal slab and without moving a muscle I can turn a 2 minute walk into a 20 second ride. Well, wisdom is like a people-mover. If you are on the path of wisdom she will move you toward her destination, which is to share wisdom with others.

See, if you are wise, if you fear the Lord, you don’t have to try to convince yourself that evangelism is a good idea. You don’t have to try to muster up the desire to tell people about Jesus. If you are wise, if you fear the Lord, you already have that desire. First, because you can’t help but want to tell people about the thing you treasure most. Second, because wisdom herself wants to be shared and she moves you accordingly. That doesn’t mean that you’ve perfected how to do it. But you want to do it. You want to share wisdom with others, you are being moved in the right direction. And we should start by thanking God for graciously giving us this desire, even if we haven’t yet put it into practice as often as we should. Thank God for giving us wisdom and for giving us the desire to share that wisdom with others.

 

The Wise Share Wisdom Graciously

And this leads us to a second point Proverbs makes about sharing wisdom. The wise share wisdom graciously.

“The hearts of the wise make their mouths prudent, and their lips promote instruction.” – Prov 16:23

“The wise in heart are called discerning, and gracious words promote instruction.” – Prov 16:21

Because we have been freely given wisdom through Jesus Christ, because wisdom herself gives us the desire to share wisdom, we are moved not only to share this wisdom but to share this wisdom graciously. The wise don’t share wisdom in arrogance. They don’t say, “Hey, look what I have. You should listen to me so that you can have what I have.” The wise don’t share wisdom in judgment. They don’t say, “Something must be wrong with you. Why can’t you be more like me and believe this or do that?” No, wise people share wisdom graciously. They recognize that they didn’t find this wisdom on their own. God freely gave it to them through Jesus Christ. So the wise don’t share wisdom like a motivational speaker, or a rock star, or a politician. The wise share their wisdom like a homeless beggar. If we are wise we will share the wisdom we have like one homeless beggar speaking to another homeless beggar. “Brother, I know a place where food is given freely to all who ask.” “Sister, come with me to the one who will satisfy all of your hunger in exchange for nothing. He fed me. He will feed you, too.”

Wisdom wants to be shared. Those who are wise share their wisdom and they share it graciously. This means that the wise share wisdom in two ways. They share it through declaration and they share it through demonstration. They declare their wisdom as they instruct others in its ways. This means they tell people where to find wisdom (in Jesus Christ alone) and how to receive that wisdom (through faith alone). Remember, wise people declare this message because wisdom herself moves them to and because they cannot help but want to share their greatest treasure with others. But wise people don’t just tell people about wisdom, they show people wisdom. They don’t just declare wisdom, they demonstrate wisdom. They do this by declaring wisdom in humility, in patience, in generosity, and in all of the characteristics that wisdom produces. This makes the listener more likely to take interest in the declared message of wisdom. It also provides them a desirable picture of its relevance and its reality. Wisdom that is declared and not demonstrated is not true wisdom. Wisdom that is demonstrated and not declared is not true wisdom. The two must go together because their source is Jesus Christ who is the embodiment of wisdom declared and wisdom demonstrated.

 

Wisdom Shared is Good for the Speaker and Hearer

If we are wise we are called to share our treasure. The wisdom in us moves us to do so by sharing wisdom graciously, by declaring and demonstrating its truth. You can call this evangelism if you want. You can call this preaching the gospel if you want. Whatever you call it it is wisdom. And wisdom is nothing to run from, she is nothing to be afraid of. And this brings us to Proverbs’ next point about sharing your treasure. Wisdom shared is good for both the speaker and the hearer.

“A person finds joy in giving an apt reply-and how good is a timely word!” – Prov 15:23

“The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death.” – Prov 13:14

The first proverb tells us that there is joy in speaking the right word at the right time. There is joy for you as you share your treasure, your wisdom, with others. This joy is not contingent on how the other person responds. The joy comes from sharing the treasure regardless of how the other party responds. We feel some measure of joy when we talk about our treasured sports team or our treasured movie. We feel some measure of joy when we talk about our treasured music or our treasured home. We feel some measure of joy when we talk about our treasured children or our treasured significant other. In the same way you will find great joy in talking about wisdom, in talking about Jesus, no matter how people may respond. Your joy is not based on their response. Your joy is in the treasure itself and you can’t help but talk about it. And when you talk about it you can’t help but be overcome by great delight. If you don’t believe me I dare you to try it.

Wisdom shared is good for the speaker, it brings us joy. Wisdom is also good for the hearer. That’s what the second proverb makes clear. Shared wisdom is like a fountain of life that turns someone from the snares of death. Many of us know this first-hand because many of us have been rescued from the snares of death because someone else chose to share their wisdom with us. That’s certainly the case for me. I didn’t want to hear wisdom, I didn’t want to hear about Jesus, any more than your friends, your family, or your neighbors. But when a man shared his wisdom with me it was like a fountain of life that I could not help but drink from. It quenched a thirst I did not even know I had. It provided sustenance I did not even know I needed. And it freed me from the snares of death I did not even know I was trapped in. His shared wisdom was good for me in the truest sense of the word. Many of you have had this same experience. You have experienced the greatest good, good beyond your wildest imagination, as the result of someone else sharing wisdom with you. Having received this good how can we do anything other than share this with others? If we knew where to find unlimited treasure we wouldn’t hide that information from others. If we knew where to get free food we wouldn’t keep that to ourselves. If we know where to find the fountain of life we wouldn’t keep its location a secret.  Well, we do know where to find those things. And if we are wise we will be moved by wisdom to graciously tell others where these things are found…in Jesus.

 

Their Receptiveness is a Reflection of Their Wisdom, Not Yours

The wise share wisdom because wisdom moves them to. As they share that wisdom they share it graciously. And this is good both for them and for those who listen to them. Proverbs makes this clear. And our experience confirms it. But the truth of the matter is that some of us still fear it. We want to share wisdom, we know it’s good for us and for the people we speak to, but we are afraid. We are afraid that we’ll say something wrong. We’re afraid that we’ll offend the other person. We’re afraid the other person will think less of us. We’re afraid that things won’t go smoothly. What if they don’t want to hear the message? What if they reject it? What if in one way or another I fail? Questions like these often keep us from sharing wisdom as we should. But they shouldn’t. Because these questions are based on a false and inaccurate view of the world. They’re based on a false view of the world that judges our wisdom or our success by how people respond to us. But this is a backwards view of the world. Proverbs gives us the proper view of the world. Proverbs tells us that it is not our wisdom that determines their response. Rather, it is their wisdom that determines their response.

“Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.” – Prov 9:9

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” – Prov 1:7

As you share wisdom with someone their receptiveness is a reflection of their wisdom, not yours. If they listen to you and follow you to the path of wisdom they are wise. But if they reject you it is because they are foolish. They don’t reject you because there’s something wrong with you, they reject you because they reject wisdom and they reject wisdom because they reject the Lord. It’s not about you! It’s not about you at all! It’s about them and their hostility with God. You can be the wisest, most articulate, most passionate, most persuasive person in all the world. But if they love foolishness you will not persuade them. The fact that they reject you or your message says nothing about how well you have done at declaring and demonstrating wisdom and it says everything about the foolishness they treasure in their hearts. It’s not about you. It’s about them and their hostility with God. This is how things are. And this right and proper view of how things are is liberating. It frees us from our fears of rejection and our fears of failure. It frees us to share wisdom and to share wisdom graciously knowing that this person’s response says everything about them and nothing about us.

 

Only the Lord Can Grant Wisdom

All of this has been tremendously helpful for me as I have grown in sharing gospel wisdom with others. It’s been helpful for me to understand that wisdom wants to be shared. I want to share wisdom not because I have mustered up some passion for evangelism but because I am God’s child. And because I am God’s child he has given me his wisdom and it is his wisdom that pushes me toward evangelism just like the people mover at the airport pushes me toward where it pleases. It’s also been helpful for me to understand that wisdom shared graciously is good both for me and for the person I’m sharing it with. Sharing the wisdom of God is not a burdensome task to fear. It is a joy just as we take joy in sharing anything we treasure with someone else. It’s also been especially helpful to understand that when people reject this shared treasure they’re not rejecting me, they’re rejecting God; it’s not a reflection of my wisdom but of their foolishness. Having this Biblically shaped worldview of evangelism has made evangelism something I actually look forward to instead of something I dread. That’s not to say that I always feel comfortable doing it. I don’t. But it is to say that I always feel safe and secure doing it. And here’s why. In addition to all of the things we’ve mentioned so far Proverbs also assures us that only the Lord grants wisdom.

“For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” – Prov 2:6

It is the Lord who gives wisdom. It is only the Lord who gives wisdom. As we share wisdom with people, as we evangelize, it is not our job to convince them, it is not our job to convert them. Even if we wanted to do those things we don’t have the ability to do those things. It is the Lord who gives wisdom. Think about the implications of that. If you believe that (and you should because the entire Bible confirms it) if you believe that it will completely transform your attitude toward evangelism. Completely. First, this means that the pressure is off of you. You are not responsible for converting your neighbor, or convincing your friend. Your only responsibility is to share and to share graciously. Second, this means that there is not a single person you encounter who is hopeless. If it is God who gives wisdom and God alone who gives wisdom then there is hope for everyone, no matter how far from wisdom they may seem. There is hope for the crackhead around the corner. There is hope for the atheist you work with. There is hope for the disinterested agnostic that you go to school with. There is hope for the rude and obnoxious neighbor next door. There is hope for the family member who makes fun of your beliefs. There is hope for the religious person who seems to be stuck in their tradition. There is hope for everyone you know. Which means you are free to go and share wisdom with everyone you know, without pressure, knowing that God can and will give wisdom to whomever he chooses and he has chosen to use you to do so.

This is what he did with you, isn’t it? You were just as far from God and his wisdom as your neighbor, and your friend, and your co-worker. You were just as far from God as every non-Christian you know. I hope you don’t think that because you grew up in the church, or because your parents are Christians, or because you are an American you somehow were more likely to choose wisdom than the next guy. Thousands, and thousands, and hundreds of thousands of people grow up in the same environment as you and reject God and his wisdom altogether. If you are here tonight as one who follows Jesus Christ there is only one explanation: God gave you wisdom. God gave you wisdom. Without any help from your environment God gave you wisdom. Without any help from you God gave you wisdom. If you are here tonight as a worshiper of Jesus Christ it is because God gave you wisdom.

God gave you wisdom. He had to. He had to because left to yourself you would never find it. No, actually, your predicament was far worse than that. Left to yourself you would never even look for it. No, wait, your predicament was even worse than that. Left to yourself you would run from it. And you did. You did run from wisdom. Because you loved foolishness. You loved foolishness. You loved sin. You loved doing what you want, how you want. You loved living for you. You loved doing bad things because of how it benefited you. You even loved doing good things because of how it benefited you. Everything you thought, everything you said, everything you did – from the worst thing to the best thing – everything flowed out of the self-serving motives of your own foolish heart. You couldn’t find wisdom. You wouldn’t even look for wisdom. You ran from wisdom and embraced foolishness as the love of your life. Brothers and sisters you would still be dead in your self-serving foolishness if it were not for God choosing to give wisdom to you.

And how did he do that? He gave wisdom to you by first giving wisdom for you. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, the source of all wisdom, into a world of foolishness. And when he came to this world of foolishness Jesus Christ lived the life of wisdom in your place. And because Jesus, being wisdom himself, came into a world of foolishness the world hated him. Foolish people rejected him, cursed him, beat him, and murdered him. And we were with those people. We were with them rejecting wisdom, cursing wisdom, beating wisdom, and murdering wisdom because we loved our foolishness. Because Jesus hated foolishness we hated him. But Jesus did not hate us. Jesus hated our foolishness but he did not hate the foolish. Instead, he died for the foolish so that we could become wise. As we drove the nails into his wrists he was willfully taking our foolishness upon himself. And then, as he hung naked from the cross, he not only took our foolishness, he took the punishment for our foolishness. He took the wrath of God that belonged on you and received its fullness upon himself. Three days later he rose from the dead so that foolishness could no longer hold power over God’s people. This is the only way that you could ever receive wisdom. Because God gave wisdom for you.

But it doesn’t stop there. God also gave wisdom to you. Even if you knew every detail of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection; even if you knew the content of the gospel message inside and out; you would still reject it, you would still run from this glorious wisdom, because of your deep love for foolishness. Your only hope to ever become wise was if God gave wisdom to you so that you could believe in the wisdom he gave for you. And if you are a worshiper of Jesus Christ that is exactly what has happened. You have become wise. Not because of any intelligence or effort of your own. But because God gave wisdom for you and then gave wisdom to you. This is why you treasure wisdom so. You treasure wisdom deeply and you treasure wisdom supremely because you see that it is a gift so rare and so difficult to obtain that God himself had to step into human flesh, live, die, rise again, and give you an entirely new heart and an entirely new nature in order for you to have it.

I want you to be silent just for a few moments to think about that. Think about how out of reach this wisdom was. Think about how much this wisdom cost. Think about how glorious this wisdom is. And then try to tell me that you don’t want to share this wisdom with other people. You can’t tell me that. At this moment as you meditate on your greatest treasure and how you have come to receive it you want nothing more than to share this wisdom with other people. Right now, as you think about who Jesus is and who you would be without Jesus, you want to share this wisdom with other people, don’t you? Don’t you? Do you know why? It’s not because I’m a good preacher. It’s not because I’ve stirred up your emotions. It’s not because of the church environment. It’s not because of any of those things. It’s because God’s wisdom lives within you and that wisdom is pushing you to let it out.

For that reason I’m going to ask you to do something right now. I’m going to ask you to do something right now before you can go home and allow yourself to suppress wisdom’s push in you. I want you to think about everything you have planned this week. And I want you to ask yourself, “Have I set aside any time to hang out with any non-Christians this week?” If the answer is no, I want you to schedule something this week. Maybe you need to schedule lunch with a co-worker, or coffee with a friend, or have a neighbor over for dinner. You’ll never be able to share wisdom if you’re not spending time with those who need wisdom. If you already have something scheduled with a non-Christian this week I want you to seek God in prayer right now. Ask him to give you the desire and the opportunity to share your wisdom. This isn’t something you have to force. It’s something that can happen naturally in the flow of conversation. Pray that God will help you to recognize that and that he will help you have intentional spiritual conversations with the non-Christians you’re in relationship with. This isn’t a task. It’s a joy. If you have wisdom you do want to share it with others. Maybe you don’t know exactly how to do it. But you want to do it. So start with the first step, which is spending time with non-Christians. And if you have questions about how to have intentional spiritual conversations with them we’ll be talking about those things together in the weeks to come.

 

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