A Passion to Know Him--Life with God Series

            There are certain relationships in life that only thrive when you have a passion to get to know someone. I think a relationship with a good mentor is like that. When you find someone you really admire, someone that you want to be like, you have a strong drive to learn everything that you can from them. You want to be around them and learn how they think and ask them a million questions to learn why they do the things they do.

            Romantic relationships certainly belong in this category as well. In those early stages of a romance, could you even imagine having an attraction to someone and NOT having a passionate desire to get to know them? That wouldn’t even be an attraction anymore! And many couples can attest that romance grows cold when the passion to get to know each other fades away.

            Your relationship with God is certainly a relationship that is worthy of your greatest passion. The simple fact that we are relating to GOD calls for that kind of passion from us! You cannot let a closer bond with God slip on to that list of “things I’ll get around to someday.”

            We all have a list like that in our minds, don’t we? Maybe you’ve had a desire for years to remodel your kitchen, but when it was time to either make plans or set it aside, you said, “we’ll get around to that someday!” Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn how to play an instrument, but every time you’ve seen a used one for sale you’ve said, “Well, it’s just not the right time. I’ll get around to that someday!”

            Only God knows how many Christians have remained infants in their faith because they’ve said, “I’ll get around to knowing God better someday!” Maybe when things quiet down a little bit around work; maybe when the kids are out of diapers; maybe when the kids graduate; maybe when I retire.

            We all know that song and dance, don’t we? We sincerely have the best of intentions about prioritizing our relationship with God, but we wait for a time when we think it might be easier to do than right now, and that time just never comes! The key is that we must choose to prioritize our relationship with God above everything else. We must assess the things we value in life and choose to put our relationship with God at the very top.

            God Himself summed up this need very well through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 9:23-24. In these verses, the Lord considered a couple of things that we might be tempted to value highly, and then he reminded us of what we should prize more than anything else: “Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

In the rest of our time together today, I want to look with you at a little piece of autobiography from the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3. In this chapter, he describes for us how he came to value knowing God more than anything else.

Philippians 3:7-11

1. A change in Paul’s “personal accounting”

            In vv. 5-6, Paul described the accomplishments that he used to value before he became a believer in Christ. He had valued these things because he thought that they all added up to put him on very friendly terms with God. Let me quickly run through this resume that Paul provides:

·         Circumcised on the eighth day—This, of course, was required in the Law of Moses. It shows that Paul came from good stock—he had faithful parents.

·         Of the people of Israel—They were the ones who had heard from God through the prophets, and they had his promises.

·         Of the tribe of Benjamin—The Benjamites had faithfully served King David from the very beginning of his reign, so this carried some prestige.

·         A Hebrew of Hebrews—Even though Paul was not born in the land of Israel, his parents brought him up in the language and culture of his ancestors—unlike some other Jews who were leaving those things behind.

·         As to the law, a Pharisee—He was a member of the strictest sect of Judaism.

·         As to zeal, a persecutor of the church—He had tried to stamp out the Christian faith initially because he thought it was an insult to God.

·         As to righteousness under the law, blameless—No one could find fault with Paul by the standards of the law, because he kept it so faithfully.

            But after Paul met Jesus in that fateful encounter on the road to Damascus, he began to see all of these things in a different light [READ v. 7].

            Paul used some terminology here from the world of accounting, and he paints a word picture like this—he used to think of those things as being like deposits or credits in his spiritual bank account. He thought he had great spiritual health, then, and was firmly in God’s good graces because his spiritual bank account seemed so large. But after he met Christ, he realized that those things had been more like debits from his spiritual bank account. Just as financial debt can hold us back from important goals, Paul’s spiritual resume had been holding him back, blinding him to the truth that he needed to be saved from his sins by the Lord Jesus Christ.

            So Paul came to realize that the spiritual resume that had once given him such pride had actually been a barrier that kept him from coming to Christ. That experience taught him that he must not allow himself to value anything as much as he valued getting to know Jesus well.

2. Nothing compares to knowing Christ

            Notice in verse eight how Paul looks beyond his old spiritual resume to take stock of everything in his life [READ v.8a]. Now keep in mind here that Paul is making a comparison. We know from his writings that he certainly valued his friendships and he valued his possessions – even though they may have been meager – but compared to the value of knowing Jesus deeply – well, by that comparison, nothing else had much value at all! In fact, if any of those things would hold Paul back from knowing Jesus better, he understood that he would be suffering a great loss.

            This attitude sustained Paul through all of the real-life losses that he did suffer. He did lose friends for the sake of Jesus; he probably lost family members as well. He speaks of these losses as we continue in verse eight [READ v. 8b].

            This is a very interesting statement from Paul, and I think what he means is that whatever he lost for the sake of Christ, he doesn’t want it back if it means he would have to be unfaithful to Christ. When Paul converted, he lost significant fame and prestige among the Jewish people and perhaps even significant wealth, but in the same way that you no longer want the trash that you set out on your curb every week, Paul no longer wanted those things because he now had something so much better. He wanted nothing at all to keep him from knowing Jesus better and better.

            Paul then goes on to tell us his purposes for adopting this attitude [READ v. 9, beginning in v. 8 at “in order that”]. Paul never again wants to think that his spiritual life is like a resume of his own accomplishments. Even as he grew in Christ, he wanted to remember that all of that growth came simply by trusting in God. On his part, Paul could take no credit even for his spiritual maturity or the powerful ways that God used him. It all came about simply as he continued to obey God in faith.

            And then in verse 10, we read of how thoroughly Paul wanted to know Jesus – to understand the Lord’s thoughts and attitudes and motivations and strength [READ v. 10 through “resurrection”].

            When God raised Jesus from the dead, he did what was seemingly impossible, and in our lives today, that same power can still accomplish things that are seemingly impossible. God can empower us to forgive people who have hurt us no matter how deeply those wounds have cut. He can reconcile us with people about whom our world might say, “There’s no hope for their relationship! It’s too far gone.” But God can do it!

            God’s power can help us control our inner desires and urges that will dominate and destroy us if we give full expression to them. Our world thinks that we will be psychologically harmed if we don’t let our anger erupt somehow or if we say “no” to any lust that we might have, but that’s because our world does not understand the power of God!

            Paul wanted to know that resurrection power by experiencing it in his own life as it transformed him and put to death the sinful desires within him, truly giving him a new quality-of-life. And then Paul goes on to say something perhaps even more profound [READ v. 10 from “and may share”].

            We love all that talk about resurrection power, but talk of suffering is a harder pill to swallow! But if we want to understand Jesus thoroughly, we have to remember that as the Scripture says, he was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And he willingly embraced all of that, so if we are going to know him well, we have to learn why he was willing to endure those sufferings in obedience to God the Father, and we have to learn the attitudes that allowed him to remain faithful to the Father through it all.

            Paul describes some of those attitudes back in chapter 2 when he told the Philippians that it was great humility that led Jesus down the path toward the cross. He didn’t view his powers and position as God as things to be used simply for his own advantage, but he considered our needs and set out to meet them even though it required great humility and sacrifice from him.

            If we want to say that we know Jesus well, we have to come to understand why he so highly valued attitudes like humility and a willingness to sacrifice for the sake of others. And if we want to understand why he thought that way and why he lived that way, we will never understand it through a casual effort. We must embrace this passion that leads us to say everything else is loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

            If I achieve great success in this world but never get to know Jesus, I will have suffered a great loss. If I earn unimaginable wealth but never get to know Jesus, I will have suffered a great loss. Even if I simply piece together a nice life for myself with my wife and kids and a steady job and a gold watch when I retire but I never get to know Jesus, I will have suffered a great loss.

            My friends, you will never get to know Jesus well until you decide that that is the most valuable thing you could possibly pursue in your life. Understanding him requires you to become like him, and the sacrifices to do that are great enough that you will never do it unless you decide that it’s worth it. So decide today that everything else is like a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus your Lord. Put that kind of passion in your relationship with him because that relationship will never grow without it!

The Best Gift You Can Give on Father's Day--Ephesians 6:1-3

            Today, on this Father’s Day, I’m going to preach on every father’s favorite verse, Ephesians 6:1 – “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” I say that half-jokingly of course, because we have some other good candidates for a father’s favorite verse, like Proverbs 18:22 – “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.” Or how about Romans 14:2 – “One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.”

            Ephesians 6:1 is a very unique verse because it contains perhaps the only command in the Bible that we actually grow out of. When we become adults, the relationship of authority that we’ve had with our parents changes so that we no longer have to obey what they tell us to do, although we are still called to honor them and support them as needs arise.

            So as we actually take a look at Ephesians 6:1-3, there is something for all of us to learn. Certainly, however, I’d like for all of you children and teenagers to give me your very best attention today because we’re going to talk about a message from God that is specifically for you. I’m sure there are times when you sit here and think that I’m not really talking to you, but trust me—today I am!

So let’s see what God has to say in these verses.

“In the Lord…”

            Verse 1 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” We see a very clear command to obey your parents, but this phrase “in the Lord” reminds us of a couple of very important thoughts. First, it reminds us that you should obey your parents not because they always deserve it, but because it’s what God asks you to do. So your decision to obey or not obey is mostly a question of whether you will obey God – even more so than whether you will obey your parents.

            So, for example, if your parents ask you to clean your room, you should obey because it’s what God wants you to do. And so, you should obey even if your parents don’t ask very politely, or even if they promised to play with you the night before but never got around to it, or even if they’ve not set a very good example and they never even clean their own room! You should obey because it’s what God wants you to do.

            Second, that little phrase reminds us that God is really in charge of your life – even more so than your parents – so you should continue to obey him even if your parents ask you to do something that’s wrong. Perhaps your parents are divorced and one parent wants you to be mean to the other parent. That’s something you shouldn’t do, because that would be sinful, wouldn’t it? Or perhaps your parents ask you to lie about something for them. This can be very tricky, but you need to think about how you can continue to obey God in those situations rather than do something that’s sinful. If that happens to you a lot, you might talk to your Sunday School teacher about that or your AWANA leader, and see what they can do to help.

            Now, I know many of you have heard this command for years—“obey your parents, obey your parents!” You know it’s a command for you from God, but maybe you don’t know how seriously God takes this matter. After all, some of your friends might not be very obedient to their parents. Is it really that big of a deal?

            Let me tell you about a few verses from 2 Timothy 3. In these verses, the Apostle Paul talks about how our world is going to have some big problems before Jesus returns. You may not understand all of these words—and that’s okay—but I bet one thing will jump out at you as I read [READ 2 Tim. 3:1-5]. Did you hear “disobedient to their parents” in that list? That was a list of some bad attitudes and actions, and God told Paul to put “disobedient to their parents” right in the middle of it.

            Paul also said that we need to avoid people who act in those ways. So as you’re deciding who your friends are going to be, you may have to decide that you can’t be best friends with someone who disobeys their parents a lot. You probably shouldn’t make that person the kind of friend you share secrets with, or the kind of friend that you ask for advice. That doesn’t mean you can’t play basketball with them or swim at the pool with them, but you will have to be careful how much influence you let them have over your heart.

            And for you teenagers, when you get older and start to think about dating, if you’re trying to decide whether a person is good dating material, ask yourself how they treat their parents. If that guy is disrespectful toward his parents or that girl is always mouthing off to her parents, you better run like you did when you still thought the opposite sex had cooties! The way that person treats his or her parents is exactly the way that he or she will eventually treat you. I know they don’t treat you that way in the beginning because you’re “in love,” but you just wait—its only a matter of time! So you find a person who treats his or her parents well.

“The first commandment with a promise…”

            [READ vv. 2-3] Here, Paul was quoting from the Ten Commandments back in the Old Testament. He points out something interesting about this command to honor your father and mother—even though it was the fifth commandment in that list of 10, it was the first commandment on the list that had a promise attached to it. Paul recorded the promise right there in verse 3—“that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” In other words, the promise to those Jewish children was that life would be better for them if they honored their parents, and they would get to stay on the property that God was giving their people—the Promised Land.

            Now, the first part of that promise definitely still applies to you—that’s why Paul included it here. Generally speaking, life will go better for you if you honor your parents. Not only will your home life be more peaceful, but you will keep yourself out of a lot of trouble if you will honor and obey your parents.

            Now, obeying and honoring are two slightly different things. Obedience talks more about your actions, and honoring talks more about your attitude—although your attitude certainly spills over into the way you act. But let’s ask ourselves here…

What does it mean, in practical terms, to honor your father and mother?

1. Treat them like very significant and important people

            To help you understand what I’m getting at here, think about an adult other than your parents whom you greatly admire – someone that you might consider a mentor, or at the very least, someone that you want to be like. This person might be your teacher, your youth group leader, or maybe your coach.

            Think about how you treat that person. You wouldn’t dream of talking back to them because you admire them and respect them too much for that. If they give you advice, you would really take it to heart because you value their opinion. You might even go out of your way to be helpful to them because you’re thankful for them and grateful to have them in your life.

            The way that you treat that person should be the very same way that you choose to treat your parents. That’s easier said than done, of course, but at least having that comparison in mind will give you a handy way to remember what it looks like to treat someone with honor and respect.

2. Let their approval carry significant weight in your decisions

            When I was a teenager, my parents gave me almost no rules that I had to follow. I had no curfew, so I was often out at times when nothing good was going on. I had no rules about dating, which was a really bad situation. From the time I was able to drive, I was able to go out on dates with girls all alone. Quite often, my parents didn’t even know who these girls were because I wasn’t required to introduce them to my parents first or get my parents input or anything. Let’s be honest – that was not a good situation!

            Despite this lack of rules, the one thing that kept me at least close to the straight and narrow – other than the Holy Spirit of course – was that I didn’t want to disappoint my parents. They raised me with such affection that I never wanted to let them down. Besides that, I am the youngest child in my family, so I got to see firsthand how my parents’ hearts would break when my older siblings did something that they didn’t approve of.

            That desire to make them proud of my choices kept me out of trouble many times. I remember a time around Halloween when some of my buddies thought it would be fun to go steal some pumpkins from the local Walmart and smash them in the driveways of people around town. Now, I knew that if I got caught doing that, my parents would die! So I stayed behind with just one or two friends at the house where we were hanging out that night.

            Well, after a while, our buddies didn’t come back and they didn’t come back, and we eventually figured that they were just out doing their thing, so we all went home. I found out the next day that my friends hadn’t even made it 20 yards out of the Walmart parking lot before they got pulled over! When they cruised by to steal those pumpkins, there was a cop sitting in the shadows across the parking lot, and they never even saw him! They were sitting ducks!

            The manager of the store chose not to press charges, but the officer took all of my friends to the police station and made their parents come pick them up before they could leave. As you can imagine, those guys weren’t able to hang out for a while after that.

            So to all of you kids and teenagers, let your parents’ approval carry significant weight as you’re making your choices. Decide for yourself that the last thing you would want to do is disappoint these dear people who have loved you and sacrificed so much to raise you and give you everything you need.

3. Let their advice carry significant weight in your thinking

            In the lead up to Father’s Day this week, I saw a short video about kids asking their fathers for advice. It quoted a statistic – and you all know that you have to take statistics on the Internet with a grain of salt – which said that 94% of teenagers would search Google for advice about something before they would ask their own father. I can’t say how they came up with that number, but the basic claim has a ring of truth to it in my opinion.

            Look – I know it’s so tempting to think that your parents are out of touch with reality because they may not know much about pop culture or technology. I know your parents might think the X-Men are the people who make X-Boxes, but trust me – your parents know a whole lot more about life than you will ever realize until you’re older. They can certainly give you far better advice than Google!

            So choose to talk to your parents and get their advice about the questions you have and the things that confuse you. Once you hear what they have to say, don’t take it lightly, and don’t just brush it off as if they have no idea what they’re talking about. That would be a terrible mistake for you to make. Consider long and hard what they have to say, and allow their advice to shape the way that you think about the world.

            For 16 years now, my father has been battling Parkinson’s disease. That disease really affects a person’s mobility among other things. I hate to see such a routine task as walking become so difficult for my dad, and I hate it for him that he won’t be able to play with my children the way that I know he would love to.

            But what really gets to me more than anything is the fact that I can’t talk things over with my dad anymore. The medications that he takes allow him to have a greater mobility, but they keep him from thinking very clearly, so much so that it’s hard for him to follow a conversation or put more than a couple of coherent sentences together at the same time.

            If I had known earlier in my life that my dad would suffer like this from Parkinson’s disease, I don’t think I would’ve told you that the thing I’d miss the most would be his advice. But that is what I would tell you today, and so I want to tell you kids and teenagers, don’t waste your opportunity to get advice from your parents. And when they offer it or when you ask for it, don’t fall into the foolish trap of thinking that you know better than they do. One of their God-given tasks is to teach you about life and how to make wise decisions, and I know that every parent I see in this room today takes that job seriously. So be thankful for them, and let their advice sink down deep into your souls, so that you might come to know how to make wise decisions.

How to Obey God: According to Paul--Parenting Series

            A triangle is one of the strongest shapes to use in construction. Its three sides support each other in a powerful way to bear the weight of other objects. A few weeks ago as we talked about the subject of parenting, we looked at the what, how, and why of our task as parents. We determined that we must also give our children the what, how, and why of their responsibility to obey both us and the Lord. We can think about these three parts—the what, how, and why—as three sides of a triangle that will help our children bear the weight of the pressure that the world places upon them to live an ungodly lifestyle.

            The “what” question, you may remember, is answered very simply by all of the commands in the Bible—particularly for us, the commands of the New Testament. These commands make up the standard for living that we are supposed to pass along to our children.

            Now, as I stated a few weeks ago, I don’t think the “what” question is our greatest challenge as parents. We know pretty well what God’s commands are. It’s the “how” and “why” questions that really trip us up. Today, we are going to begin to take a closer look at the “how” question—how can we successfully live out the commands of Scripture? Once we can answer this question for ourselves, we can then pass this lesson along little by little to our children. Today, I will offer you a basic answer to this question, then we’ll take a closer look at how the various authors of the New Testament build upon this answer.

How Can We Successfully Live Out the Commands of Scripture?

            The basic answer to this question is “by constantly reminding ourselves about the message of the Gospel.” This is the path to spiritual success for each one of us, so it is the path on which we want to set our children as well. We want to continually point them to the Gospel, then after they hopefully accept Christ as their Savior, we want to keep pointing them back to the Gospel as well.

            Now this focus on the Gospel may seem a little odd because we often think of the Gospel as being a message about our future. We think of the Gospel as being the good news that by placing our faith in Jesus we can go to heaven rather than hell after we die. That is certainly good news, but how does that help me in the here and now? That’s kind of like Social Security—it’ll be a nice benefit once I retire, but it doesn’t help me pay my bills right now!

            What we have to realize is that the Gospel is not just a message about our future—it is a message about our past and our present as well. The Gospel is the good news that I am no longer defined by my past, with all of its sinfulness and dysfunction. Instead, I now have a vibrant relationship with God in the present that will simply reach its fullness in the future when I live with Him in heaven. When we think of the Gospel in all three tenses—past, present, and future—we will begin to see the power that it gives us to have spiritual success today.

How do the authors of the New Testament build upon this basic answer to the question about successfully living out God’s commands? In the rest of our time today, we’ll look at how the Apostle Paul expounded on this thought, and I have no doubt that we will be encouraged by what we see.

According to the Apostle Paul, How Can We Obey God’s Commands?

            For Paul, the path to spiritual success is all about recognizing the resources that we have “in Christ.” I put that little phrase in quotation marks because it is one of Paul’s favorite phrases. Paul wrote 13 books of the New Testament, and in those 13 books he uses phrases like “in Christ” or “in Christ Jesus” around 170 times. He constantly wrote about the new identity we have in Christ and the new power that we have in Christ. In many of his letters, he spent the first half writing about all the theology of this “in Christ” idea, then he shifted gears for the second half and said, “Now let me show you what this looks like in daily life.” We can summarize what Paul had to say about our resources in Christ by looking at them with respect to each of the three persons of the Trinity.

1. We have a new relationship with God the Father

            First of all, we are at peace with Him, according to Romans 5:1. We used to be enemies of God—according to that same passage—because we were in rebellion against Him. We were hostile to Him because we knew that He disapproved of our sinful lifestyle. But now that we have confessed our sins to Him and accepted Christ by faith, we are at peace with God. We have a peace treaty in Jesus Christ, and now God is our ally rather than our enemy.

            Along the same line, we no longer face God’s condemnation, according to Romans 8:1. God has rendered His verdict about us, and His ruling is that all the demands of His law have been met by Jesus, and His innocence has been placed on our account through faith. We have been sent out of God’s courtroom never to return again! Our lives will be evaluated by God someday, but we won’t be like defendants in a courtroom. We will be like a diver, or a gymnast, or a figure skater—standing before the judges to see if we’ve won the prize. We may receive a greater or lesser prize based on our obedience to God, but we won’t bear the eternal penalty of our sins because that matter was settled when we accepted Christ.

            Third, we are now God’s adopted children (Rom. 8:15; Eph. 1:5). God has committed Himself to do all the things for us that a father is supposed to do—He provides for us, protects us, loves us, and disciplines us. We no longer relate to God primarily as our judge, but as our Father. There is intimacy and affection in our relationship with Him.

2. We have a new identity as Christ

            This is a life-changing idea when you understand it. I said we have a new identity as Christ for a reason—according to Paul, when we accept Christ, on a spiritual level His history becomes our history. We are united to Him spiritually so that we become part of His story and actually share in His destiny. This spiritual unity is so complete that Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Notice all the details of Christ’s history that have now become our spiritual history:

·         We were crucified with Him (Galatians 2:20)

·         We died with Him (Romans 6:3-7)

·         We were buried with Him (Romans 6:3-7)

·         We were resurrected with Him (Romans 6:3-7)

·         We have been seated with Him in heaven (Ephesians 2:4-6; Colossians 3:1-4)

·         We will be with Him in His future glory (Colossians 3:1-4)

·         We will reign with Him in His earthly kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:2; 2 Timothy 2:12)

            When we placed our faith in Christ, we were placed into His story, so that we are now literally living out the life of Jesus. Let me offer a couple of illustrations to help you understand this idea. You may be familiar with the witness protection program, which relocates people who serve as witnesses in a trial who may be in danger because of their testimony. When a person enters that program, they go through a complete and radical change of identity. They receive a new name and a new background and are moved to a totally new location. Their old identity just sort of dies out, and everything they do is now done under their new identity.

            This illustration gives us a very helpful way to think about our new identity in Christ. Spiritually, my identity as Tim Erickson has died out! As Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”

            Here’s another helpful illustration—some of you will remember the old TV show “Quantum Leap.” In that show, Scott Bakula’s character, Sam Beckett, would leap around through time and space into the body of a different person for each episode. While he was in that person’s body, he was living out their life, and normally he would solve some kind of problem for them. His own identity as Sam Beckett faded into the background every time he leapt into a new person, and that person’s identity became the focus.

            If you want to think of your relationship with Christ that way, that’s fine too! We have leapt into the story of Christ, so that we are now supposed to live out His life in this world. We are so closely identified with Jesus that Paul says we are now His ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20). An ambassador is someone who is authorized to speak for another person with that person’s same authority.

            Ambassadors in Paul’s time had a more important role than they do today. Today, if President Obama wants to speak to a world leader, he can just pick up the phone and talk to him. Back then, communication was obviously more difficult, so when an ambassador was sent to a far-off country, he was given the authority to speak as if the king himself were right there doing all the talking! The ambassador literally stood in the place of the king.

            My friends, this is the role that you and I occupy today for Jesus! Jesus is not physically here in the world right now; He is in heaven, but He has sent us out as His ambassadors, to speak for Him and share His message with others. This is an amazing concept, and it gives such meaning and purpose to our lives. We are living out the life of Christ!

But we don’t have to just muster up our own power to live His life!

3. We have a new power through the Holy Spirit (Romans 8)

            In Romans 8:1-4, Paul writes about the new power that we have through the Holy Spirit to obey God [READ Rom. 8:1-4; in v. 2 when Paul mentions “the law,” he is talking about a power inside of us; in vv. 3-4 he is talking about the Old Testament Law].

            In essence, Paul is saying that the Holy Spirit, who now lives in us, gives us a power to obey God’s commands that we did not have in our sinful state. Before we accepted Christ, we did not have the power to obey God on our own. We were in bondage to the influence of sin, and it had the power to boss us around. But now, we have been set free from sin’s influence by the power of the Holy Spirit.

            One of my professors in seminary explained it this way. He had been in the military as a young man, and he would tell us that if his old drill sergeant marched into the room and started barking out orders, he just might obey him because he had been so thoroughly conditioned to respond to that voice. But in reality, he could stop himself and say, “Wait a minute! I’m a civilian now. I’m not under your authority. You don’t have the power to boss me around anymore!”

            That’s what our relationship to sin is like. Sin used to have the power to boss us around, and we were helpless against it. But sin doesn’t have the power to boss us around anymore! We don’t have to sin “yes” to our sinful desires ever again! Now those desires are still appealing to us because sin is like that old, familiar voice that calls us to come back to old habits; sin is like that old drill sergeant who we were conditioned to obey.

            But now, the Holy Spirit lives within us and His power is available to us! Sin is no longer our master—Jesus is! And the Holy Spirit will empower us to obey Jesus when we make the choice to do so.

            These ideas from Paul are part of the answer to the question of how to live an obedient life. These are ideas that we must first embrace ourselves, and then as our kids grow we can plant them in their hearts as well. Remember the pattern from Deuteronomy 6—first of all, love God yourself and internalize His truth, then just teach your kids to do the same thing.

            Obviously, when our kids are young, they won’t fully grasp these concepts, but we can start to introduce them on a simple level from a very young age. Kids like to play make-believe, right? We can tell them how God has a very special role for them to play—that they are actually playing the part of Jesus in this world.

            Kids like to daydream about having super-powers. We can tell them that they have a super-power in their heart—the power to do what’s right. We can explain that this may not seem like an impressive super-power at first, but this is when we emphasize the “why” of obedience, like the possibility of avoiding bad consequences and receiving a blessing instead.

            So this is the gist of the “how” question—point your kids to the gospel, then after they hopefully receive it, keep pointing them back to it all the time!

The ABC's of Biblical Parenting--Parenting Series

            There is a verse in Ecclesiastes that has long been a favorite of seminary students. It is Ecclesiastes 12:12, which says, “Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” For some reason, this verse has never made it into the AWANA program—I’m not sure why.

            Now, this verse could be a very fitting description for the parenting section at the bookstore. Before the poor employees get one parenting book on the shelf, the next one is already on its way. By the time you could read all of them, your kids would be grown and out of the house! You would have nothing to do with all of your knowledge except write books for the next generation of parents to read!

            Is there any way to boil down this task we call “parenting” to some basic principles? I think there is, and I think the Apostle Paul has done just that for us in two short commands that we find in his letters. By the way, I think its telling that we don’t have a long discussion in the Bible about parenting. The closest thing is the book of Proverbs, but that book deals with many other subjects as well. I think this is because the basic idea about parenting in the Bible is what we saw last week—just love God yourself, then show your kids how to do what you’re doing.

            We’re going to take a look at Paul’s commands this morning, and then we’ll answer three simple questions about them: 1) What are we supposed to do as parents?; 2) How are we supposed to do it?; and 3) Why are we supposed to do it this way?

            Let’s read the commandments in question. The first is found in Ephesians 6:4—“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” The second is found in Colossians 3:21. It is very similar to the first command, but it adds an important detail to the discussion. This verse says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” That’s an important thought, and we’ll consider it more closely in just a moment.

            Let me make one observation before we jump into our questions. Both of these commands are addressed to fathers. Mothers are certainly not excluded; in fact, this Greek word sometimes refers to ancestors in general, both male and female. But fathers are emphasized in these verses because we are the leaders of the home. We bear the final responsibility of seeing that our homes are arranged according to God’s commands.

            We are just like managers in a business—we are not expected to do all of the work ourselves, but we are responsible for seeing that all of the work gets done in the right way. So it is in our homes—Mom may end up doing most of the parenting work (especially when our kids are infants and especially if Mom stays at home with the kids), but Dad is still responsible before God for all of it. So men, this means that we cannot be checked out of the parenting process. We need to be hands-on with our children when we can, and we need to communicate with Mom when we can’t. We must shoulder the responsibility!

Now let’s dive-in to the three questions that I have asked about these commands.

1. What are we supposed to do as parents?

            The first phrase of Ephesians 6:4 tells us what we are NOT supposed to do, so we’ll come back to that later. The second phrase tells us what we are supposed to do, that is, “bring [our children] up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Let’s think about these words “discipline” and “instruction.”

            Discipline is a perfectly good word—especially if you look it up in the dictionary—but it normally has negative connotations for us. When we hear “discipline,” we usually think of dishing out punishment after rules have been broken. Other translations use the word “training,” which is probably a better word in our language today.

            When we think of “training,” we might think of learning a new job or practicing with a sports team. When I worked at a bank several years ago, I spent my first week or so in training. They explained what I needed to do and how I would go about doing it. That’s an important combination—combining “what” with “how.” They didn’t just stick me in the teller window and say “make deposits” or “cash checks.” They explained how I would actually carry out those tasks.

            Have you ever been in a situation where someone expected you to do something but they didn’t effectively explain how you could actually accomplish the task? That’s frustrating, isn’t it? And it gets even worse if that person comes down on you for not accomplishing the task!

            There is a very important lesson here for the parenting task. As we raise our kids and tell them what they need to do, we also need to effectively explain how they can accomplish it. If we don’t, we’ll put them in that frustrating position that I just described, and we’ll make the situation even worse if we punish them while leaving the “how” question unanswered.

            Now the word “instruction” adds a third element to all of this—the element of “why.” The Greek term behind “instruction” refers to teaching that emphasizes the consequences of our choices; so it introduces the idea of warnings and incentives. When I worked at the bank, they had incentives in place to encourage us to refer our customers to our financial planning department (the folks who helped with investments and estate planning and trust funds and the like). Now I knew what the bank wanted me to do (they wanted me to make referrals), and I knew how I could accomplish that (I could arrange appointments), but my boss knew that I still might look at all of that and say, “What’s the point? Why should I bother?” So they put an incentive in place, which created an answer for my “why” question.

            So when we put all of this together, our basic answer to the first question is this: What are we supposed to do as parents? Teach our children what they should do, how they can do it, and why they should do it—all in light of God’s commands. This is fully biblical parenting—covering the bases of “what,” “how,” and “why” for our kids in light of God’s commands.

            Now I suspect we’re all pretty good at telling our kids what to do. As Christian parents, we’re probably accurate most of the time (I doubt you’ve ever told your child to do something that is just flat-out unbiblical). So we’re probably pretty good with the “what” side of things, but honestly we probably have a lot of struggles when it comes to “how” and “why.” Sometimes the “how” question is pretty simple. Think about asking your child to clean his room. That’s pretty straightforward—you can explain where they should put their toys and that sort of thing. But think about commands like “don’t talk back” or “don’t fight with your siblings.” Those are matters of the heart, aren’t they? In that case, we have to deal with questions like, “How can hold my tongue when I just want to speak my mind?” or “How can I live at peace with another person?” Now we’re talking about basic discipleship, which is more involved than just telling our kids where to put their toys.

            Or consider the “why” question. We have a fairly standard response when our kids us why they should do something—“because I said so!” That statement is true, but its not the whole truth, is it? Why should your kids obey you? Who made you so important? Well, God did, didn’t He? That’s the whole truth that we need to present to our kids.

            Now in just a couple of weeks, we’re going to devote some entire sermons to the “how” and “why” questions that are part of instructing our children, so we’ll move on for now. Just understand for the time being that fully biblical parenting must go beyond simply telling our kids what to do. We must also include the “how” and the “why.”

2. How are we supposed to do it?

            Based on these two commands, I think we can answer this question like so—in a manner that does not incite them to be angry or that will crush their spirit. In other words, we are to exercise our authority over our children with consideration for their emotions, their desires, their thoughts, and their motivation. This mindset in one sense is a protection for our children since they are called by God to obey us. I think they will have an easier time obeying us if they can tell that we are treating them in a considerate way.

            Now this idea reminds us of the God-given dignity and value that our children possess, and we as parents are responsible to take their God-given dignity into account as we raise them. This idea was revolutionary in the Roman culture of Paul’s day. Roman law operated by a principle that gave fathers absolute authority over their children. When a baby was born, the father had the right to decide if the child would live or die. If the child was the wrong gender or it was deformed in some way, the father could refuse to claim the child as his own, and if he rejected the child, it was either drowned or left somewhere to die of exposure. Even if a child was allowed to live, the father still retained absolute authority over its life. He could discipline the child however he desired—which included the option of putting the child to death.¹

            So imagine how odd it was in this culture for Paul to say “do not provoke your children to anger,” and “do not provoke [them], lest they become discouraged.” Where did this idea come from? Well, it came from God. Our children have God-given rights that we are not allowed to violate. If you’re tempted to think that you have unlimited authority over your children, you better think again. We are not allowed to sin against our children as we raise them. That rules out actions like dealing with them in anger or speaking harsh or bitter words against them.

            Now next week, we are going to talk about some ways in which parents commonly violate this command so that we can hopefully avoid this kind of behavior. But why is it so important that we act in this manner?

3. Why are we supposed to do it this way?

            Simply put, the answer is this—otherwise, we may push them toward sin or extinguish their motivation altogether. As Christian parents, pushing our children toward sin is exactly the opposite of what we hope to accomplish. Now of course, our children are always responsible before God for their own choices. They may choose a sinful path even though we have encouraged them toward a godly path.

            But it is possible for us to create an environment in our homes that actually makes sin look more desirable. What will our children learn if we deal with them in anger all the time? They will learn that anger is the way to exercise authority and control, so when they want to make themselves heard, how will they act? With anger! What will happen if we fail to give our children tender affection, and then a boyfriend or girlfriend comes along who is more than willing to give them unhealthy affection? Well, who cares if its unhealthy and its not real love at all—it still feels better and seems more promising than years of no affection at home.

            The other danger that Paul mentions is extinguishing our kids’ motivation altogether. Sometimes kids may not really choose a sinful path, but they won’t have the motivation to walk the godly path, either—so they won’t really rebel, they just won’t do much of anything! They won’t have much drive of their own at all. They won’t see the point in putting out effort to follow the godly path.

            I think this situation often comes about when we’ve told our children “what” to do for years and years, but we’ve never really told them “how” or “why.” Remember how frustrating that situation is? Let’s put this back in the context of your job—what happens when you’re in that situation for a long time? You either quit out of frustration, or you figure out how to do just enough to keep the boss of your back.

            That is not a situation that we want to create in our homes. The good news is that I think our children really do want to do what we ask them to do. They love us, and they want to have a good relationship with us. They are willing to consider what we have to say, but we’ve got to teach them how they can do it and why they should do it.

            So to sum things up for today, we are called by God to teach our children what to do, how to do it, and why to do it in a manner that will not provoke them to anger or discourage them so that we will not push them toward sin or crush their motivation. Now that’s easier said than done, right? But at least these commands give us some clarity! They put the target clearly within our sights, so that now we have something definite to shoot for. Now we can simply work to perfect our aim, so we can hit the bull’s eye in this process called parenting.

Notes:

1. William Barclay, The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians, The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 202.

Hammering Out the Dents of Life: The Importance of Forgiveness

The bumper car ride has always been a favorite at fairs and amusement parks. There we get to do things that we can only dream about on the open road—we get to go as fast as we can, and we get to drive aggressively. If someone gets in our way, we can just run into them! Of course, the whole rink quickly descends into chaos, and we spend most of the time just knocking each other silly.

Sometimes our relationships in life can be a bit like those bumper cars. As we bounce around through life, we inevitably run into each other—we get in fights with each other, we cheat each other, we lie to each other or speak hurtful words to each other. In life, this is no game. Our hearts don’t have protective bumpers around them, and so when we sin against each other, we wound each other and hurt each other, so that our hearts start to feel less like a bumper car and more like something that’s in the junkyard!

This is life in a fallen world; we commit sins against others, and they commit sins against us. These sins cut holes in our hearts and leave our relationships in tatters. Fortunately, God has laid out a path for our relationships to be repaired and the holes in our hearts to be healed. That path is called “forgiveness,” and it is the path that we should take whenever a sin is committed in one of our relationships. But it is obvious from the broken relationships that we see all around us that we rarely take this path. Perhaps we take a worldly path that looks very similar to forgiveness, but it leads to a different destination; or perhaps we see God’s path laid out for us very clearly, and we simply refuse to set foot on it.

It has been said that forgiveness is the oil that reduces friction and keeps the engine of our relationships running. And so, because forgiveness is such an important activity in our lives, we’re going to spend the next few weeks looking at what the Bible says about forgiving each other. We’ll define forgiveness, and we’ll talk about how to arrive at forgiveness from both sides of a sin—whether you have committed the sin, or whether you have been sinned against. We will also cut through some false ideas about forgiveness that often keep us from walking on God’s path to forgiveness. But this morning we’re going to start our study by answering this simple question:

Why is it so important for us to forgive each other?

There are at least four answers to this question in the Bible. It may be possible to name more, but this morning we’ll focus on four.

I. Forgiving others is the proper response to the forgiveness we have received from God—Matthew 18:21–35

Let’s read Matt. 18:21–35, and I’ll make a few comments along the way. Just before this, Jesus had been telling His disciples what to do when a Christian brother or sister sins against them. So in v. 21, Peter says [READ v. 21]. Now in the Jewish teaching of Peter’s day, the rabbis taught that you were obligated to forgive someone three times, and after that you didn’t have to forgive them anymore. It was like four strikes and you’re out, because on the fourth time you were no longer obligated to forgive. So Peter probably thought he was being very generous in suggesting seven times—he doubled the number and added one more for good measure!

But notice what Jesus said to him [READ v. 22]. That’s obviously a lot further than even Generous Peter was willing to go, but of course Jesus’ real point was that we shouldn’t put a limit on the number of times that we will forgive someone. And why is that? Because of how generously God has forgiven us, and that’s the point of the parable that starts in v. 23 [READ v. 23–24]

Now ten thousand talents is a ridiculous amount of money. ONE talent was the amount that an average laborer would earn in twenty years of work, so this man owed a debt that was worth 200,000 years of pay. If you multiply that by our year of 365 days, that’s 73 million days worth of pay!! Obviously, there would be no way that the man could pay off a debt like that, so let’s see what happens next [READ vv. 25–28].

A denarius was the amount that an average laborer would earn for one day of work, so the second servant owed the first servant an amount that was equal to 100 days worth of pay. That’s not an insignificant amount, but when compared to the debt that the first servant had just been released from, its like a drop of rain compared to the ocean! Let’s finish the parable [READ vv. 29–35].

Jesus’ point in this parable is very clear: we are like the first servant. We have been forgiven by God of an unimaginable debt of sin, so how could we refuse to forgive another person for the microscopic debt of sin that they have committed against us? Our gratitude to God should compel us to forgive each other time and time and time again, and if we refuse then we just show that we don’t comprehend how abundantly we have been forgiven by God.

Verse 35 of this parable alludes to the second answer to today’s question.

II. Refusing to forgive others hinders our fellowship with God—Matthew 6:14–15

Turn with me to Matthew 6:14–15. Just prior to these verses, we have the very familiar passage known as the Lord’s Prayer with its familiar request in v. 12—“forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Verses 14–15 then go on to expand on that thought a bit [READ vv. 14–15].

Now we need to read these verses in the proper light. Jesus is not setting this up as a standard for getting into heaven. Think through this with me—who truly has the right to call God “heavenly Father?” Only those who have been born again, right? Paul says in Romans 8:15 that believers “have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’.” So it is only those who have been born again by the Holy Spirit who can rightfully call God their Father. So in these verses, Jesus is talking about people who have already been born again, and he says that if we don’t forgive others, then God won’t forgive us. There will be distance and a lack of intimacy in our relationship with our heavenly Father.

What might that look like in our lives? It could mean that our efforts to serve God will be powerless and ineffective. It could mean that our prayers will not be answered. It could mean that we won’t enjoy the fruits of the Spirit like joy and peace. It could mean that God will discipline us in some way. All of those things are unpleasant realities that we could face if we fail to forgive others.

But I think a question comes up at this point—how do these verses fit with a verse like 1 John 1:9, which says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” How could God choose not to forgive us if we confess our sins to Him? Well, it all revolves around the meaning of the word “confess.” The Greek word is homologeo; its made up of the prefix homo-, which means “the same,” and the verb logeo which means “to say or speak.” So the idea is that in confessing your sins, you have come to the place where you say the same thing about them that God does. You are acknowledging that His assessment of your actions is correct.

Now if you think about the idea of refusing to forgive someone in light of the parable that we just read in Matthew 18, if you refuse to forgive someone else, that means that you’re not assessing your own sins correctly. You are not looking at your own sins the way God does; otherwise you would remember how much you have been forgiven and you would then be willing to forgive others. So if refuse to forgive others, we are clinging to a distorted view of our own sins that prevents us from truly confessing them. That means that our sins are still hindering our fellowship with God because we haven’t come into agreement with Him about our actions.

III. Forgiving others prevents Satan from gaining a foothold in our lives—Ephesians 4:26–27

Why don’t you turn with me to Ephesians 4:26–27? Here we have this interesting statement: “Be angry and do not sin.” That really is a command, by the way—“be angry.” Paul is clearly talking about how we should respond when someone sins against us, and his words tell us that a certain measure of anger is an appropriate response when we have been legitimately wronged. But, in the same breath he says, “do not sin,” and then he instructs us to get rid of our anger quickly when he writes, “do not let the sun go down on your anger.”

Now this doesn’t mean that if someone sins against us in the morning, we can be angry at them all day as long as we patch things up before sunset. Paul is telling us to put away our anger quickly, and that would clearly come through forgiveness. Paul was probably drawing on the Old Testament with his reference to sundown. Under the Old Testament law, if a person was working for you, you were supposed to pay them their wages every day, so as each new day dawned, you would be squared away with others.

That’s really the goal for our relationships—as each new day dawns on our relationships, we don’t want to have conflicts from yesterday putting a strain on our relationships today. We want to deal quickly with problems that are caused by sin and then choose not to dwell on them as the days go by.

Then, in v. 27, Paul mentions an important result of forgiving others and putting away our anger. He writes, “and give no opportunity to the devil.” If we choose to hold on to anger, we are actually giving Satan an opportunity to launch attacks on our lives.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Normandy region of France, where the D-Day invasion took place during World War II. That invasion was a major turning point in the war because prior to that the Allied forces had lost their foothold on the European continent. They had been driven back to England by Hitler’s army, and they launched the D-Day invasion because they needed to regain a place on the continent from which they launch attacks.

That kind of beachhead—or foothold, or place—is precisely what Paul says we are NOT to give to Satan! We are not to give him a place in our lives where he can do his dirty work. But if we fail to forgive other people, he has a whole arsenal of temptations that he can throw at us—bitterness, resentment, hatred, gossip, slander, revenge. And don’t forget—as we just learned, we will also be far from God if we refuse to forgive. So we will be right where Satan wants us if we refuse to forgive others.

IV. Refusing to forgive others hinders our witness for Christ—2 Corinthians 5:17–20

Turn with me to 2 Cor. 5:17–20, and listen for a repeated word as I read these verses [READ 2 Cor. 5:17–20]. Did you catch the word? It was “reconcile,” right? (Or “reconciliation”) Paul says that we have been reconciled to God, and He has called us to spread the message of reconciliation. The word “reconcile” means “to re-establish a friendly relationship between people.” That’s what the gospel is all about—re-establishing a friendly relationship between God and man. That’s what forgiveness is all about, too, when we choose to forgive each other.

But how can we convincingly preach a gospel of reconciliation if we refuse to be reconciled to each other after we sin against each other? Let’s say that I’m fighting with Billy Bob; some things were said 5 years ago, and now I’m holding a grudge against him and we haven’t spoken ever since. But let’s say that I talk to Billy Jean and say, “You need to come to know God, because God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. I just hope that plan doesn’t involve Billy Bob, because I really don’t get along with him. But honestly, if you accept Jesus, you can have peace and harmony in your life, just like I do—except when I’m around Billy Bob, because we just can’t get along.”

How ridiculous is that? How can we claim to offer other people peace with God if we can’t live at peace with each other? You see friends, we hinder our witness for Christ when we refuse to forgive each other. We tear down the very bridges that we are trying to build.

So for these four reasons—at the very least—it is so important that we forgive each other when we sin against each other. Perhaps at the very mention of the word “forgiveness,” you can think of someone whom you need to forgive. My friends, I urge you—don’t delay. Don’t let the sun go down on another day without making things right with whomever you might be separated because of sin. I urge you to do this as soon as possible, but if you’re not sure how to forgive someone or how to ask for forgiveness, we’re going to be talking about those things over the next few weeks. So today, at the very least, ask God to prepare your heart to learn over these next weeks and then to take the steps that you need to take as soon as they become clear to you.

Why Do We Have a Time for Self-Examination Before the Lord's Supper?--Understanding the Lord's Supper series

You may have noticed that we kind of have a routine here at church. We are not a liturgical church, which means that we don’t have certain prayers or Scriptures that we repeat every week, but we still have a routine. We do about the same number of songs every week, and we have our announcements and offering at about the same time, and the sermon is about the same length (provided that Pastor Tim doesn’t get long-winded!).

Now there’s nothing wrong with routine as long as we understand and remember why we do the things we do. But routines have a way of becoming ruts, and when we get stuck in a rut and mindlessly go through the motions, then we have a problem. It’s like the story about the man who won a beautiful ham as a prize at his job. He proudly brought it home to his wife, and she started to prepare it for dinner. As she did, she took a knife and cut off the end of ham. The husband nearly flipped out when he saw this. He said, “That’s my prize ham! Why did you cut the end off of it?” The wife replied, “That’s the way my mother always cooked ham.” So she calls her mom and asks, “Why did you cut off the end of a ham before you cooked it?” And her mom said, “That’s the way my mother always cooked ham.” So they contact grandma and ask her about it, and grandma says, “I don’t know why you two do it, but I never had a pan that was big enough for a whole ham!”

So as we deal with things in church that might become routine, we want to make sure that we understand what we are doing. One routine or tradition that we have in church is celebrating the Lord’s Supper, or Communion. We don’t celebrate the Lord’s Supper every Sunday, but I try to schedule it about every six weeks. This ceremony is one of those routines that could become a rut, so its very important that we understanding the meaning behind this important memorial of Christ’s death.

So, for the next several times that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we’re going to talk about what it means and answer some questions that may come up as we think about this ceremony. The question we’re going to deal with today is, “Why do we have a time for self-examination before the Lord’s Supper?” Where do we find this in Scripture and why do we do it?

Why don’t you turn with me to 1 Corinthians 11? When you think of passages that would talk about the Lord’s Supper, you might naturally think of the Gospels, since they record the life of Christ, but actually, what we do today in the Lord’s Supper comes mostly from 1 Corinthians 11. In that chapter, Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about some problems that they had in their celebration of the Lord’s Supper and he told them how to properly observe this ceremony.

So our teaching for the Lord’s Supper comes out of the context of problems in that church. As we look at this passage, we’ll see what the problem was and how Paul told them to correct it.

I. The Problem—Divisiveness and Selfishness in the Congregation (11:17–22)

First, let’s look at vv. 17–19 [READ vv. 17–19]. Here, Paul puts his finger on the basic problem—divisiveness. The church in Corinth was a fractured congregation. They lacked unity in their relationships, and this seems to have been the result of rampant selfishness in the congregation. As you read through this book, you discover that the people were being selfish in many different ways. They were being selfish in the expression of their sexuality. Some people were engaged in sexual immorality, and apparently some husbands and wives were also being selfish in this area of their marriage. The people were selfishly taking each other to court in lawsuits; they were selfishly using their freedom in Christ without concern for those who had a weak conscience; they were selfishly using their spiritual gifts to build up their own pride. All of this led to a very divided congregation.

Now in v. 18, Paul seems to acknowledge that the reality of their situation may not be quite as bad as the report he has heard about them. But nevertheless, he says that he believes it, because with these attitudes present in the church, he acknowledges that factions and divisions were inevitable. But as only God can do, we see at the end of v. 19 that even these divisions could have a positive result, because they would reveal who was living with a godly attitude and who was not.

Now—sadly—in the next few verses we learn that their selfishness was on full display in their celebrations of the Lord’s Supper [READ vv. 20–22]. Here’s the background to what Paul was describing in these verses. It was common at that time for churches to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in the context of a meal that was known as “the love feast.” This meal was like the carry-in dinners that we enjoy here, and the Lord’s Supper would be celebrated as part of it.

As with our carry-in dinners, the people would all bring something to contribute to the meal, but as we can see in these verses, the people in Corinth weren’t sharing their food with each other! Can you imagine that? They would all bring what they could bring, but then they would just eat it themselves! And the result, Paul says, is that some people were going hungry, and some people were getting drunk!

What a ridiculous scene this must have been, and it was all a result of the pervasive selfishness that existed in their congregation. As a result, Paul basically said in v. 20, “You can’t really call this mockery the Lord’s Supper!” They were disregarding the Lord’s desire for them and the attitude of the One whom the remembrance was all about.

So in vv. 23–26, Paul goes on to remind them what the Lord’s Supper was all about, and the attitude that was displayed by the Lord was the right example for the people to follow.

II. The Right Example—The Lord Jesus and His Sacrificial Death (11:23–26)

Let’s read vv. 23–26 [READ vv. 23–26]. Obviously, there is much in these verses that we could talk about, and we will over the next several times that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, but today, notice several things that remind us how unselfish the Lord Jesus was.

First, Paul notes in v. 23 that Jesus did and said these things “on the night when he was betrayed.” Remember, Jesus’ death came about through an act of betrayal from a close companion. Undoubtedly, this added some emotional grief to everything else that Jesus suffered, but did you realize that Judas was actually present when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper? He was still in the room; he took part in all of this! Luke 22:21 records that after Jesus said and did these things with the bread and the cup, he said, “Behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.” Judas was still there! The Lord allowed Judas to participate in this moment that would memorialize the death that he was about to cause! And remember, shortly before that, on the same night, the Lord Jesus washed Judas’s feet, as he did for the rest of his disciples.

Clearly, Jesus continued to show love to Judas even though he knew what Judas was about to do. He continued to extend compassion and consideration to Judas until the moment that Judas left to do his wicked deed. What an example of selfless love, and this was an example that the Corinthians had disregarded in the way that they observed the Lord’s Supper.

Second, notice the reminder in Jesus’ words that His death was for us. After He had broken the bread, He said, “This is my body which is for you.” Jesus’ death was both for our benefit and in our place. It was the culmination of the most unselfish act in history—when God came into our world as a man, and served us and taught us, and then died in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. His great love for us led Him to do this, and we should follow His example to show love to our fellow believers. A preacher from the early church named John Chrysostom reminds us, “that the Master gave up everything, including himself, for us, whereas we are reluctant even to share a little food with our fellow believers.”

Clearly the Corinthians were not honoring Jesus in their celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This problem needed a solution, which we find in the rest of this passage.

III. The Solution—Examining our Hearts for Selfish Attitudes and Acts (11:27–34)

Because of the way in which they had been treating each other, Paul instructs the Corinthians to have a time for self-examination before they partook of the Lord’s Supper. This step would help them avoid some of the serious consequences that they were facing because of their sin. Let’s read through the end of the chapter [READ vv. 27–34].

As you can see, God considered their mockery of the Lord’s Supper to be a very serious matter. He had brought illness upon some of them because of it, and some of them had died as a result! According to Paul in v. 31, the way to avoid such discipline from the Lord is to judge ourselves—to confess our sins and repent of them and thus deal with them ourselves, so that the Lord does not have to deal with us in discipline.

So we can see there in v. 31 and back in v. 28, Paul instructs us to examine ourselves before we partake of the Lord’s Supper. But what exactly should we be looking for when we examine ourselves? The key is found in v. 29, where Paul says that we must “discern the body;” or we might say “acknowledge the body” or “recognize the body” (your translation may read “the Lord’s body”). The Greek word speaks of rendering a legal decision, which would give someone the justice they deserve.

So what Paul seems to be talking about here is not the physical body of the Lord Jesus, but the spiritual body of Christ—or in other words, the church; the members of the congregation. Paul had already mentioned the spiritual body of Christ in this book, and he was about to launch into a long discussion of it in chapter 12.

Thus, during this time of self-examination before the Lord’s Supper, our primary focus should be to assess our relationships with our fellow Christians, our fellow members of the body of Christ. Certainly it would be appropriate to confess our secret sins to the Lord during that time—those sins that no one else knows about—but first and foremost we should consider the way we have acted toward other members of the church and determine if we have anything that we need to make right with them. This idea is similar to what Jesus said in Matthew 5:23–24—“If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

We cannot pretend to offer God pure worship if we have sinned against His children—our brothers and sisters. This lesson today is just another reminder that my Christian life is not just about me and God—it is about me, God, and others. The Christian life is a communal life; accepting Christ makes me part of a community to which I must be rightly related if I am going to honor God.

So in our time of self-examination before the Lord’s Supper, this is primarily what we are assessing—our relationships with our fellow believers. It could be that we will remember something we have done for which we need to ask forgiveness, and if that’s the case, then it would be best for us to refrain from taking the Lord’s Supper until we have had a chance to make that right. Thus, with this lesson, the Lord’s Supper becomes a reminder not only of our bonds with Christ, but of our bonds with each other as well.

"Funny Money"--Philippians 4:15-23

A few years ago, I worked part-time at a bank as I was going through seminary, and there’s nothing quite like working at a bank to change your perspective about money. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the first time that I held $100,000 in cash in my hands. The first time you do it, it’s pretty cool, but the funny thing is that the second time you do it, it’s not quite the same rush, and then eventually it’s no big deal at all. It’s just another day at the office.

Actually, handling money all day is pretty gross. Most days my fingertips would be black by the end of the day because of all of the dirt and grime on the bills. Here’s something for you germ-o-phobes to think about: picture a five-dollar bill that’s been in circulation for ten years, and think about how many people have touched that piece of paper. And it’s probably never been washed either, because money only gets washed by accident, right? Now think about handling thousands of those pieces of paper every day. That’s kind of gross to think about.

At the bank I encountered people with all kinds of different perspectives about money. I encountered rich people who were greedy and who seemingly worshiped their money, and then I encountered poor people who were greedy and who seemingly worshiped their money. I encountered people who should have been rich who bounced several checks a week. I’ll never forget a doctor who banked with us who had to work a part-time job on the side because his wife and kids blew through his paycheck as soon as it came in. Then I encountered people who by all accounts should have been poor, but they had so much money that my boss told me to make sure and call them by name so they would feel special.

People get kind of funny around money, and we get particularly funny when we start to think about the matter of giving and receiving financial assistance from others. We have all kinds of unwritten social rules about how we’re supposed to approach a transaction like that, but what should our perspective on this matter be, from a biblical point of view? That is the question that we will answer from the book of Philippians today:

What should our attitude be toward giving and receiving financial assistance?

Let’s take a look at Philippians 4:15–23. Here Paul discusses the financial gift that the Philippians had sent to him while he was in prison, and he offers some helpful perspectives for us on this whole matter of financial assistance. Would you follow along with me as I read [READ 4:15–23]. We’re going to take a look today at three perspectives surrounding the matter of financial assistance—first, the recipient’s perspective, then the giver’s perspective, and finally the Lord’s perspective.

I. The recipient—Praise God for providing for you through His work in someone else’s life

In our society it seems that there is often a stigma attached to the idea of receiving financial help, and many people are resistant to receiving such help even when it may truly be beneficial for them. But I think Paul will help us see that such a stigma doesn’t need to exist. Look with me again at what he says in verse 17 [READ v. 17].

Paul offers a couple of helpful thoughts here. First, he reminds us that those who may have a financial need should not use that need simply as a way of getting money out of other people. He writes, “Not that I seek the gift itself.” To put it simply, Paul was reminding the Philippians that he wasn’t after their money. He didn’t treat their friendship as an ATM that he could simply hit up whenever he needed some extra money. In fact, the gifts from the Philippians were completely voluntary, and their friendship with Paul did not depend on these gifts, though the gifts did serve to enhance their friendship.

Elsewhere, Paul wrote that those who are able to provide for themselves should do so. At one point, the church in Thessalonica apparently had some members who were unwilling to work, but still expected the church to provide for them. In 2 Thess. 3:10–12, Paul writes this concerning the matter [READ 2 Thess. 3:10–12]. So the bottom line is this—if you have a financial need, you shouldn’t use it simply as a tool to leverage money out of other people.

However, I think Paul’s perspective also shows us that there is no reason to feel guilty about receiving financial help from other people when you have a legitimate need. Back in Phil. 4:17, Paul finishes his statement by saying, “but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.” Paul is using the metaphor of gaining interest to draw attention to the Philippians’ spiritual growth. What Paul is truly focusing on is God’s work in the life of another person, and we can see in the rest of the passage that their generosity was an act of service to God which really got Paul excited.

So as Paul considered this financial assistance that he received, he wasn’t so much focused on himself or the Philippians, but on the work of God to provide for him through someone else. I think this is a very helpful corrective for us, because often when we receive financial assistance from others, our thoughts are centered on ourselves. We struggle with questions like, “What will other people think of me?” or “How can I respect myself after this?” And sometimes we throw a little pity party when we really would be justified in having a praise party to glorify God for meeting our needs.

The reality is that the generosity of others is one of several means that God may choose at times to meet your needs. Oftentimes, God chooses to provide for us through the work that we do at our jobs, but that is still God’s provision! Let’s not give ourselves too much credit and think that we’re doing it all on our own. After all, who gives you the strength to do your job? God does. Who gives you the health to continue working? God does! Who controls the entire world economy to keep your company stays in business? God does! So even when our needs are met through our own work, we’re still just recipients of God’s generosity.

Occasionally, God may choose to provide for us through unexpected gifts. We can call this the “Beverly Hillbillies” method. You’ll remember how Jed Clampett unexpectedly became rich after “shooting at some food, and up from the ground came a-bubblin’ crude.” Sometimes God chooses to give us unexpected gifts like that. Sometimes He plants a wind farm on your land and allows you to make some income from it.

So whether God chooses to meet your needs through a job, the generosity of others, or an unexpected gift, the end result is the same—God has provided! That is what we need to focus on, and if He does choose to use the generosity of other people, we don’t need to feel ashamed; we can simply feel grateful, and praise God for His provision.

So that’s the perspective that the recipient of financial assistance should adopt. But what about the one who is giving financial assistance?

II. The giver—Have enough faith in God to be generous to those in need

In v. 19, Paul—under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—gives a promise that has comforted many believers over the years. He says, [READ v. 19]. Now as Paul wrote those words, he may have had in the back of his mind a social custom of that time that was known as reciprocity. The idea behind reciprocity was this—if someone helped you out in a time of need, there was the social expectation that you would seek to do the same if they were ever in need. It wasn’t that there was an idea of indebtedness toward the other person; it was just simply the notion that a true friend should respond in kind when generosity was shown to them.

Now Paul’s situation, you might remember, was kind of up in the air. He was in prison awaiting trial before Caesar because of some false charges brought against him by enemies of the Gospel, and there was a real possibility that he might not make it out alive. So as he wrote this letter, he knew there was a possibility that he would never have an opportunity to show the Philippians the same generosity that they had shown him. But even though he might not be able to help with any future needs that they might have, he assures them that God will meet their needs. They had sacrificed to send Paul this financial gift, but they didn’t need to fear, because God would see to it that their needs would be met.

This is the perspective that we need to have when we have an opportunity to help someone else in need. Oftentimes, the thing that keeps us from being generous is worry about our own bottom line. Sometimes we even feel like we have some money that we could give today, but we’re hesitant to part with it because of fear about tomorrow. So we might find ourselves thinking, “Well, I could give this money today, but what if I have an unexpected bill that comes up? What if my car needs a new fuel pump tomorrow?” Then the fear of the future creeps in and chokes off our generosity.

But the promise of this verse frees us up to be generous because we can trust God to meet our needs. So we can help those around us who are in financial need without being afraid that our own needs will go unmet. Now notice that this verse does NOT say, “my God will supply you with a fleet of BMW’s.” The promise is that our needs will be met. And how does the Bible define our needs? Well, in 1 Timothy 6:8, Paul says that if we have food and covering, we should be content (“covering” probably refers to clothing and shelter). He doesn’t even include transportation there because that wasn’t really a need for the majority of people in that time. Most people lived on the land that they farmed, or if they had a trade, their shop was right there at home. Transportation is more of a need in our society because many of us have to drive to work, but there are many things that we’ve become accustomed to in our standard of living that really can’t be called “needs.”

We need to keep that in mind when we read this verse so that we don’t find ourselves expecting things from God that He has never promised to give us. What we can be sure of is that we can feel free to be generous without fear, because God will meet our needs until the day He calls us home.

And speaking of God, what is His perspective on this whole matter?

III. The Lord—Our Lord is pleased when we obey Him by being generous

In v. 18, Paul uses a metaphor comparing the Philippians financial gift to the sacrifices of the Old Testament. He writes, [READ v. 18]. In the Old Testament when the sacrifices were offered with the proper motives, they were said to be like a sweet fragrance to God. Many of us enjoyed a sweet fragrance over the last few days as the rains came through, and as you know when you smell an aroma that is pleasing to you, there’s a feeling of contentment or pleasure that comes over you.

That’s what our obedience in this area is like to God! When we are generous to others, its like we’re providing Him with a sweet fragrance, and He is greatly pleased by our actions. So even though it may seem like our money is just going to another person, the Lord views that act of obedience as an offering to Him, and He is pleased by it.

The Bible repeatedly talks about God’s concern for the poor and His desire that His people would look after their needs. In the Old Testament law God laid out specific commands that were designed to see to it that the community looked out for those among them who had needs. The book of Proverbs also says much about this matter. Proverbs 19:17 says, “One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, and He will repay him for his good deed.” Likewise, Proverbs 28:27 says, “The one who gives to the poor will not lack, but whoever shuts his eyes to them will receive many curses.” And over in James 1:27 it is put very simply: “Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

Would you like to do something today that you know will be greatly pleasing to God? That sounds pretty good doesn’t it—a sure-fire way to please God? Then keep your eyes open to see those around you who have financial needs, and be generous toward them. Don’t let fear about the future keep you from being generous to other people. Our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 6:31–33, “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

God is always faithful to provide. As we noted earlier, sometimes He provides for you through the generosity of others, and when He does, there’s no need to be ashamed about that, but you can simply be grateful to Him. And all of us need to be aware of moments where God may be seeking to provide for someone through our generosity, and in those moments we need to respond in obedience to Him, knowing that He will be greatly pleased when we do.