Knowing Truth - August 26, 2012 Sermon

By Pastor Greg

A girl calls her boyfriend and says, "Please come over here and help me. I have a killer jigsaw puzzle, and I can't figure out how to get it started." Her boyfriend asks, "What is it supposed to be when it's finished?" The girl says, "According to the picture on the box, it's a tiger." Her boyfriend decides to go over and help with the puzzle. She lets him in and shows him where she has the puzzle spread all over the table. He studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to her and says, "First of all, no matter what we do, we're not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a tiger." He takes her hand and says, "Second, I want you to relax. Let's have a nice cup of tea, and then....." he sighed, "Let's put all these Frosted Flakes back in the box".

I don’t know which was more jumbled: the breakfast cereal or this young lady’s mind. And truthfully, some days my mind is a jumbled up mess as well. For instance, I had a difficult time this week trying to figure out what to say to you this morning. I had an idea in my heart. It was placed there weeks ago. I wanted to talk with you about Knowing Truth, but because of worries and interruptions and other things demanding my attention, I was too distracted to hear what God was trying to say to me so I could say it to you. In other words, my mind was a jumbled up mess this past week, and it influenced my ability to hear truth from God. But then it occurred to me, this was the exact problem the disciples had when Jesus was speaking to them the night before He was crucified.

“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.” (John 16:12-15).

Jesus says that He had many more things to say to the disciples but they simply could not bear to hear them now. Their hearts and minds were too clouded by worries and anxieties and sadness. Their emotions had become a jumbled up mess, and could not absorb any more that Christ was trying to say.

I’m not trying to pass judgment on these men. The past few days had been very stressful. Christ said he was going to leave them. He said they would be persecuted. He told them there was a traitor in the group. He said that they all would desert Him during His time of greatest need. What these men had been told was enough to jumble the hearts and minds of anyone. But the beautiful part about this is that Jesus promises to send them the Holy Spirit.

Jesus says that the Spirit will be given to these disciples as an apparent solution to their present problem. And their present problem was that that they couldn’t hear from Jesus because of their jumbled up emotions and clouded minds. But when He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide them into all the truth. In other words, what Jesus was trying to say to His disciples would be revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. And it is the Holy Spirit who will penetrate the barriers in their hearts and minds that hinder them from hearing what Christ has yet to say. It is the Holy Spirit that enabled these men to do the work of Christ in spite of their apparent confusion and pain. It is the Holy Spirit that enabled these men to make sense of what was happening in their lives. As a matter of fact, it was the Holy Spirit that enabled some of these men to write down what happened while they walked with Christ. What Jesus has promised His followers in this section of John is that the Father will tell the Spirit what to teach the Apostles about the Son.

So even though Christ withheld sharing more information with His apostles, He did promise to send them the Spirit who would pick up where He left off. And what the Spirit would say to them would be the exact words of Christ. However, it would happen once their hearts and minds were prepared for more truth. And I find this to be significant; that our hearts need to be ready to hear the Truth, and that there are things in our lives that can hinder us from knowing Truth.

Without the Holy Spirit in our lives we cannot hear truth, we cannot understand Truth, and we cannot know Truth. Without the presence of God the Spirit within us, Truth is confusing and unknown. We are unable to know God or know Christ. And we are unable to know the words of God the Father and God the Son. Without the Spirit we cannot know or understand the mysteries of God. But I’m also learning that even with the Spirit, there are things that hinder us from hearing and knowing and doing the will of God.

Like the young lady with her Frosted Flakes, there are times we just can’t see the truth even though it is right before us. Sometimes it takes a person with a different perspective on things to help us understand. Sometimes what we need is a good friend who is highly committed to God and filled with the Spirit to help us see truth. This is like the Ethiopian Official who was reading from Isaiah one day. He needed Phillip to help him understand the Word (see Acts 8:27-35). The Spirit, working through Phillip, reveals Truth to the man.

So one of the ways Truth is hidden from a person is the fact that they are not Christian. Some people do not know Truth because they have not first known Christ. But what of those who are Christian? What of the believer who just needs to hear from God? What must a believer do in order to hear from God while they are facing trials and troubles of their own? They already have the Spirit, but for some odd reason the Spirit is silent. And what they need is for God to cut through their jumbled up lives and speak directly to their hearts. Well, I was reminded of this on Thursday. You see, I was that believer. I was the believer who was having a very difficult time hearing from God.

I was sitting here Thursday morning praying about what the Lord wanted me to say. But my mind was filled with a lot of other things; worries and concerns and fears and just about everything else that can jumble up a person’s mind. What I wanted was for God to speak His words to me so that I might have something of relevance to speak to you. But I heard nothing . . . nothing, that is, until I opened up His Word and the Spirit was able to wade through all the garbage in my life and reveal to me what the Father had been trying to say all along. And that’s the simple answer. The answer I was looking for had been written down centuries before. God had revealed Truth to His faithful followers, and they recorded that Truth in the Bible. I didn’t need to discern the mind of Christ, for the mind of Christ had already been revealed. What I needed was to take what Christ has already said and apply it to my life today.

There are two simple things you need to know this morning. If you want to know God or know Christ or know His will for your life or know what the Father is trying to say or know what the Father wants you to do, then get into His Word. Open your Bible and let the Spirit wade through your confusion. He is waiting to speak to you, and His words are right here inside this Holy Book. And the other thing is, if you do not have the Spirit within you to guide you into all Truth, then Jesus needs to become your Savior and your Lord. Do that, confess your sin and ask Him to forgive your sin, and true to His word, Jesus will give you the Helper; the Holy Spirit who will guide you into all Truth.

There is one other thing that hinders us from knowing Truth, but we’ll talk about that in a few weeks. But for now I want to point out these two things that hinder us from knowing Truth. Either we’ve not been Born Again or we’ve neglected looking for Truth in the Word of God. We either need Jesus or need to stop trying to hear from Jesus outside of the Words Jesus has already given us. So I’m curious, which of the two is hindering you from hearing from God?

Knowing God - August 19th, 2012 Sermon

 

By Pastor Greg

A lonely frog telephoned the Psychic Hotline and asked what his future holds. His Personal Psychic Advisor tells him, "You are going to meet a beautiful young girl who will want to know everything about you." The frog is thrilled, "This is great! Will I meet her at a party?" he croaks. "No," says the psychic, "in biology class."

King Solomon once wrote, “He (God) has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We long to know what tomorrow will bring. We long to know the mysteries of the universe. We long to know God. In Solomon’s time apparently this was impossible. But if the promise Jesus made to His Apostles is true, many of these mysteries will be revealed. Many people will finally be able to Know God.

As we’ve been studying scripture in pursuit of a bigger God, Jesus has given us a glimpse into what God the Spirit will do for those who believe. “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17). “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14:26). “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me” (John 15:26). “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come” (John 16:13). “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you” (John 16:14).

Looking over this list of things the Spirit will do for a believer, Jesus says that God the Spirit will be our comforter, encourager, and counselor; He will regenerate us because of our faith in Jesus; He will mediate God to believers. He will convict us of sin and of God’s love. He will guide us into all Truth. And to comfort troubled hearts, the Spirit will replace the physical presence of Jesus. We will not be left as orphans. The gift of God the Spirit to each and every believer comforts those who long to know God, to know of God’s love and, according to Paul, those who long to know God’s will. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). In other words, what Solomon said is missing in the hearts of humanity can be found through the Holy Spirit of God poured into the heart of those who believe in the name of Jesus, the Son.

This is significant. This is something that humanity longed for but did not experience. In Old Testament times the Spirit would fill a person in order to complete a specific task. The Spirit dwelt temporarily in a person. Even before Pentecost (Acts 2), the Spirit was only present with the disciples (see John 14:17). But after the Spirit is poured out to believers, He dwells permanently. This is why it is best that Jesus leaves (John 16:7). Because Jesus ascended, the Spirit descended.

I think it’s important we understand that the Holy Spirit is not “second best” when compared to Jesus. Christians today are not given God’s leftovers. It’s wrong to think that those who walked with Jesus in the flesh were better off than those of us alive today. When Christ ascended to heaven, believers were given a tremendous gift; a gift of incredible value. It is by the presence of God the Spirit that the question of eternity can be known. However, what a believer does with this gift is incredibly important as well.

I think one of the often overlooked statements Jesus makes in this section of John’s gospel is the part about how the world cannot receive the Spirit of Truth (the Paraclete). People who do not believe in Jesus as Lord are not looking for the Spirit, nor would they recognize the Spirit (John 14:17). But later on Jesus says that it is the Spirit who will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and the coming Judgment (John 16:8). Well, if it is believers who receive the Spirit, how might the world be convicted? I think the answer is given in John 15:27 – “And you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry”.

Jesus says that the Apostles were to bear witness to the Truth. And it was because the Spirit worked through the Apostles that the world came to know and hear and see the truth about Jesus.

Although you and I have not been gifted with the same types of gifts given to the Apostles, we are still called and gifted to bear witness to the Truth. You see, Jesus no longer walks among us. He has left the earth, and in His place He has sent us the Holy Spirit; God the Spirit. But not just so believers might be comforted, not so only believers might come to know God, but so that the world might come to know God as well.

As I said a few weeks ago, some people don’t believe because of the way we act. Other might look at the way we act and know that we are believers. But the calling by Jesus is that through us the world might come to believe; not believe that we are saved, but believing in Jesus so they might be saved. Sure, the gifting of the Spirit will help us become more Christ-like; the Holy Spirit can help a believer know God. But Jesus expects those who believe and know to bear witness to those who do not. And often times that witness must be more than living a good and honest life. Sometimes in our preaching we will have to use words.

Consider what happened on Pentecost (Acts 2). The Holy Spirit was poured out into all believers, but it didn’t stop Peter from challenging the rest of the people to believe. “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”.

This is the reality facing us as believers. We are living in a time when the work of God is being completed here on earth through the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit does not dwell in a place or in a building or in some thing. The Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of those who believe in the name of Jesus. And it is through those who believe that the Spirit works. However, the Spirit is unseen and unknown by the world. And the only way the world might come to know is through those in whom the Spirit dwells. So if we want revival to come; if we want a family member or a coworker or a neighbor to know Christ, the work will happen through believers like you and me.

Knowing Love - August 12th, 2012 Sermon

 

By Pastor Greg

Two brothers grew up in a small town and were well known for their riotous living. Everyone in town knew of their reputation. When one of the brothers died, the surviving brother offered $5,000.00 to the Church that would be willing to conduct the service, with one very important stipulation. The pastor who performed the service had to say that the deceased brother was a saint. Eventually one pastor did agree to the stipulation, and the whole town came out to hear whether the minister would tell the big lie. As the pastor began the service he said, “Everyone here today knows just what sort of man the deceased was. He was a drunkard, a liar; a vile and malicious man. But, compared to his brother, he was a saint”.

That’s part of the problem with most people. Most people do that very thing. Most people compare themselves to others. Some do this to build themselves up. There are people in this world who feel so poorly about themselves that the only way they can feel good about themselves is to look for the weaknesses in others. And by doing this they convince themselves that they are not really such a bad person after all. It’s a sad game that the world plays; where people hate those who live a good and happy life because it makes them look bad. It’s sad game where people spend more time tearing one another down instead of building one another up/

Perhaps, like me, you’ve seen this attitude and this behavior in the world. I’ve often asked the question why so many people seem to struggle with self-esteem issues. There just seems to be an awful lot of people who desperately need to feel loved. Some look for love in all the wrong places. Others seem to just simply hate everything and everyone. It’s a sad testimony that these people do not know love.

Why do you suppose the world rejoices when a good person fails? Why do you suppose people love to tear down one another? Why would someone look for faults in another person? The people of this world do this not because they hate other people, but because they hate themselves. They cannot love because they do not know love; they do not feel loved.

I tell you these things because this can even happen to Christians. It can happen to a church.

Sadly, even some Christians do not feel loved, even by God. And they end up playing the same games as the world; tearing down one another instead of building up one another. Why do you suppose Paul addressed this behavior to many of the New Testament churches? For example to the Colossian Church he said, “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others” (Colossians 3:13). Why do you suppose the Ephesian Christians need to hear, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29)? It seems that even the early Christians struggled to love one another, and I believe that’s because these Christians did not know love.

If the people of this world tear one another down because they do not feel loved, is it possible that the same is true for Christians; for a Church? Where there is gossip, criticism, distrust, and suspicion; where a divisive spirit is allowed to grow, perhaps you will find a group of Christians who do not feel loved by God. And isn’t it strange that Christians could feel this way? Of all the people on earth, Christians, it seems, should be the ones who know love best; the ones to show love the most. So isn’t it strange that too often we don’t? Why is that?

As we have been learning to fix our eyes on a bigger God, we’ve looked at God the Father and God the Son. Through scripture we’ve been able to gain a higher view of these two persons of the Trinity. For me, this has been a great exercise. But there is yet one more person in the Trinity that I think we need to spend some time studying; we need to gain a higher view of God the Spirit.

Much of what we know about the Holy Spirit comes from Jesus. He tells us what the Spirit will do when He comes (Read John 15:26-16:15).

As I have been thinking about knowing love, a couple of verses really stand out. Look closely at John 16:8-11. Most of us understand the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, and I’ll testify that He certainly does. If we will let Him, God the Spirit will convict us about sin and about behaviors that diminish our holiness. The Spirit pricks our hearts about things that need to be cut away from our lives. But did you know that the Spirit also convicts us of God’s love. If we will let Him, the Spirit regenerates our hearts, washing through us from the top of our heads to the bottom of our feet. But not stopping there, the Spirit will also testify that we have been forgiven by the Father because of the Blood of the Son. “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love” (Romans 5:5). Unfortunately too many Christians don’t seem to believe this. Too many Christians never allow the Holy Spirit to complete His work in their lives. Too many Christians have allowed the Spirit to convict of sin, but are never convicted of the Father’s love.

“We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19), writes John the Apostle. So the road to loving one another begins first with learning that we are loved by God, unconditionally. And this is one of the things the Spirit does for us; convincing us that we are indeed loved by the Father. And once we feel loved, I mean really loved for who we are, maybe then we might know how to love one another.

The two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others as you love yourself (Matthew 22:38-39). But how can we love others if we don’t first love ourselves? I tell you that it is hate for ourselves that breeds hate for one another. And I think Jesus knew this. That’s why he said “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:35). This is God’s gift to those who believe; God the Spirit reaches into our hearts testifying that we are indeed loved. And when we finally feel loved by the Father we will finally be able to love one another.

Tell me, when is the last time you have felt loved in spite of your weaknesses and failures? Did you not know that God has loved you all along? His love does not begin after you confess your sin. He has loved you even though you sin and fail and stumble and fall. By the Spirit we all are convicted of sin. We all take that sin to the cross of Jesus, and by His blood all our sin is forgiven. But it is not then that we are loved by God. God has loved us through the whole process, even before convicting us of sin.

The New Self - August 5th, 2012 Sermon

 

By Pastor Greg

A minister goes into a pet shop to buy himself a parrot. The owner cautions the minister that the only parrot he has once lived in a royal palace in Agrabah, and apparently picked up some mighty foul language from some of the palace guards. Confident that he could change the parrot’s wicked ways, the minister takes him home. It wasn’t too long before the parrot let loose with the foul talk. Patiently the minister reprimands the parrot, thinking things were beginning to change. However, one day when a group of ladies from the church were visiting, the parrot let loose with the “foul, filth, filthy, foul” talk. Embarrassed, the minister douses the parrot with a whole cup of water, silencing it for two whole days. The following week the local pastors gather at his home for their monthly meeting. “How cute, a parrot” says one of the pastors. “Does he talk?” Well that parrot let loose with the “foul, filth, filthy, foul” talk right there in front of the whole group of pastors. Exasperated, the minister grabs the parrot and stuffs him in the freezer, then continues with the meeting. Finally, at the end of the meeting, the minister remembered the bird. When he took him out of the freezer, the bird was shivering and quite cold. Ice sickles were hanging from his beak. But the bird had a completely different demeanor. He says to the minister “So sorry about the language back there. It won’t happen again. Oh, and by the way, what did the chicken do?”

I can think of some people I’d like to throw in the freezer for a while.

For most of this year we have spent time trying to get our minds wrapped around a bigger God. Recently we’ve been looking at what Paul wrote to the Colossian Christians about who Jesus really is. But Christianity is much more than an intellectual pursuit. Christianity is also a heart process as well. And it is this heart process that Paul frequently mentions in most of his letters.

To Paul it was important that believers had a correct understanding of who Jesus is. But equally important was that believers bear the mark of a follower of Christ. And he likened this mark to the Jewish practice of circumcision.

The physical act of circumcision was a cutting of the flesh to signify a man was part of God’s family; that they were children of the promise. But what Paul expects from a believer is that there is also a Spiritual Circumcision and a Behavior Circumcision as well. These changes in Spiritual nature and in behavior become the marks that testify a person has become a Child of the Promise; that they are indeed a follower of Christ. Actually this change in behavior was so important to the early church that not only does Paul mention it in several places (see Galatians 5:22-23 “Fruit of the Spirit”), but the Apostle John (1 John 2:9), and Peter (1 Peter 1:15) mention it as well. This is not an issue that only the Colossian Believers needed to learn. It was important to Christians everywhere.

Look closely at what Paul says in Colossians 3:1-17. Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. ² Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. ³ For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. ⁵ So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. ⁶ Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming (on all who disobey Him). ⁷ You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. ⁸ But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. ⁹ Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. ¹⁰ Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. ¹¹ In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. ¹² Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³ Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. ¹⁴ Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. ^[1]

There is an expected behavior change. The old behaviors were to be cut away (or circumcised), and the New Self was to be revealed. This was not an intellectual exercise, and it was more than a heart transformation; this was behaving in a whole new way.

I know it is important to have a correct understanding of who God is and of who Jesus is, but Christianity is more than an intellectual pursuit. It is also changing our behavior. It means that we need to change the things we do with our hands, change the things we watch or change the things we read. It means that we not only change what we say to others but also the way we say it. It means we need to change what we say about others. It means we change the way we think of others. It means that we not only change how we manage our money but what we buy with that money. Do you see what Paul says in verse 17? No matter what we are doing, we should conduct ourselves as representatives of God. And that applies to every day of the week, not just Sunday.

It was the Gospel Message backed by the Apostle’s changed behavior that caught the attention of Jerusalem (Acts 4:13). It was the Gospel Message backed by changed behavior that reformed the European Church (part of the Pietistic Reformation). I truly believe that if there is to be revival in America today then Christians will need to allow the Spirit to convict and change their behavior. Sure, we’ve gained a deeper understanding of God the Father and God the Son. But now we need to allow God the Spirit to work in our lives; circumcising (cutting away) that which does not belong. We must put on our New Self because we are living in a day and age when people don’t believe what we say because of what we do.

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^[1] Tyndale House Publishers. (2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed.) (Col 3:1–17). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.