Dakota Community Church
August 17, 2008
Living in Laodicea 2
Review:
Are preachers called to preach by God or is this something we have picked up from the pagans or during the enlightment?
Luke 12:42-43
"Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns.
Luke 4:18
...and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
Matthew 4:23
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom
Titus 1:9
He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
2 Timothy 4:1-2
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
1 Timothy 4:13
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.
Is God placing any requirement on believers to show up and hear those teachings?
Revelation 3:14-22
"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ’I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
You may be drifting into lukewarm territory if you consistently choose:
1. Independence over community.
Why do you think these admonitions to community are included in scripture?
This brings me to the next point; you may be drifting into lukewarm territory if you are consistently choosing:
2. Ideology over action.
There is something in the human brain that tends to romanticize difficult things to make the reality easier to face or in some cases avoid.
We romanticize war.
We romanticize our youth.
We romanticize relationships that might have been… or that might be.
When I talk to single people the hardest thing is getting them to see past the romantic notions to the reality of committed relationship.
On the other hand when I talk to married people who are having hard times it is every bit as hard to get them to remember single life as it truly was… even if I was there listening to them whine about the lonely emptiness, they try to convince me the freedom was the best time of their lives!
This ability to romanticize things may be a protective release valve for our brains, but it can do a lot of harm if we allow it to block reality.
I think it is especially bad when we romanticize the work of ministry.
1 John 3:18
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
You may feel that you need to escape from the suffocating confines of the local church in order to do real ministry… you are kidding yourself!
We rarely minister beyond the level of our relationship.
How much stock do you put in the advice of strangers?
When you separate ministry from relationship you drift into ideology rather than action.
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
What have you done for the widows in our congregation?
Have you been to the prison with Dave?
Have you helped one of the moving families who couldn’t afford movers?
Have you opened your home to someone who needed a place?
If your idea of ministry is to clean the toilets at the homeless shelter once a year I have news for you… we have toilets that need to be cleaned every week… and once a year ministry is just an ideology not an action.
1 John 4:20
If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
In other words if you can’t put down your self-centered preferences and love and accept the folks who call on the same savior for mercy and grace as you do, you are kidding yourself about how spiritual and in love with God you are.
Finally; you may be drifting into lukewarm territory if you consistently choose:
3. Image over unbridled worship.
Psalm 113:2-3
Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.
I want to pose a question to each of you this morning. I know that for some, especially men, the praise and worship thing is difficult. It feels silly, it feels weak, it involves surrender – something most of us are taught from day one NEVER to do. Here’s my question:
Why is the name of the LORD to be praised?
Luke 19:37-40
When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"
"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."
Jesus said praise and worship had to be proclaimed… that creation demanded it, that if his followers didn’t do it then the very rocks would fill in for us. Why?
Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
It has been a part of church life since the beginning. Why?
Revelation 7:9-11
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God
The name of the LORD is to be praised from day one of creation on into eternity because, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
We were not just “unchurched” before we met God… we were utterly lost without hope and without God in this life.
We were not just “empty” or merely “searching” for our best life now. Do martyrs enjoy their best life now by accepting Christ?
John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him."
We praise Him because He saved us from the wrath that is to come!
Romans 6:22-23
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord
We don’t decide if worship is our thing… we bow before the One who paid our penalty.
Are you a worshiper this morning?
If you have let that go for whatever reason I beg you today to stop and turn from the path you are on to reignite that heart on fire to fall on your face and repent of lukewarm living, to leave Laodicea once and for all.
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
