Two weeks ago my Sermon was on ministry, our ministry to exact, and it was based on Jesus asking Simon Peter if he loved him: and as he did, we examined the overflow of this love, God’s love, onto the lives of others. Today I would like to continue with that sermon and see how faithful and devout we really are.
I do not say that in a sense of condemnation, rather the opposite, because I noticed the first day I arrived in St Oswald’s the peace, the togetherness and the sincerity of faith being worshiped here; and you all know that I have treasured that ever since: and I will also say, that everyone here has had their part in that; in their own way of course. We maybe small in number but we are alive in Christ, and I that thank God for that.
But this cannot be said about other churches, no names mentioned, and no malice intended, but you know that there are people who profess to “going to church” but somehow fall well short of the mark.
What annoys me most is when people sincerely worship the lord; they end their prayers in Jesus name, and then go out and live in the Old Testament. You know, they think and say things like “I better do this or that or God will punish me; or they still believe God is punishing them for some sin or sins they committed many years ago, and for some reason they deserved to be treated badly.
Yes, much of that is due to the teaching and revelation they receive, but many people just do not understand nor live in the Gospel they are meant to; and I for one, do my best to convey that in every sermon, because if you are not living in the New Testament, what is the point of believing in Jesus. It is so fundamental to the Christian life?
These so called Christians, and they probably are Christian, actually believe that they are doing a pretty good job in fact, I’m convinced that many of them, if asked how they were doing, would answer, "fine; I’m doing fine."
As a teacher, I am very aware of this word fine, because kids learn at a young age; that if they say fine in a confident way, the teacher will move of to the next kid. To an adult, the word “fine” means, “mind your own business”, I am not discussing my private affairs with you. Correct?
But even though they generally say, "I’m doing fine," in reality, when it comes to our spiritual lives, things are not always fine because the Holy Spirit is constantly refining us: “refining us as silver” and silver is refining by fire; and fire burns. Ezekiel 22:22 says, “As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD”. And again in Zechariah 13:9 “And I will bring ‘you’ through the fire, and will refine ‘you’ as silver is refined, and will try ‘you’ as gold is tried: ‘you’ shall call on my name, and I will hear ‘you’: I will say, you are my people: and ‘you’ shall say, The LORD is my God”.
(‘You’ has been change from them to make it more personal).
These are very strong words saying that our rough edges are continually and painfully being removed, because the goal in our Christian life is to be as … Jesus; even the women: we are to become Jesus in spirit, with a small (s); and that can only be done with fire.
I wish it wasn’t, because I don’t like the sound of fire, but how else will we change. Are we all individually, like Jesus? Well no; no one is, but we are moving closer to him every day; and the Holy Spirit is relentless in this, changing us, and preparing us for the world to come; his world, not ours.
So when somebody says, that they are doing fine as a Christian, I instantly see someone who is not. A sincere Christian will never tell you that the Christian life is easy, but they will tell you, it is different, and ultimately better. Btw: A sincere Christian will never boast, so be careful.
I was talking to a good friend of mine other day, who I have know for years and she said, we are lucky to have faith because if you think about it, how we would live our lives without it. Faith is sort of control, it guides us, and it makes us think about our actions and decisions differently from the rest of the world. We know that we believe in Jesus, and we know that there is another life to come with the Lord; and therefore our outlook is different, our decisions are different; normally making life more difficult and challenging.
But those who are not Christian, just do not have that sense of surety that we do, they believe that what they see is what they get. To them, this is there lot and they have to do something about it themselves. Their decision making process is so different from ours, because all they are concerned with themselves and theres, and not being caught doing something wrong, and trying to fit in with society. Do you see how they are blinkered by the world and led by the world; it is all about them, and they do not care if they upset others, as long as they are not seen doing it.
That was the way we all lived until we received our faith, and then we realise that it is not about us, it is about him, and when we give into him, he gives into us, and he give us everything, including eternal life.
But until we get there, we are all have to go through the mill, and it can be painful, worrying and destroying; and you can understand the world when they say, that to them, “we are not doing fine”; … but in God’s eyes, we are growing, we are growing spiritually, and he is pleased with us.
I just love to listening to Christian testimonies of what peoples lives were like before they knew the Lord, and although they never tell you what they are like now, you can see that they are totally transformed, and not the person they are trying to describe; however, … I do shudder to think what most of them would be like had they not turned to the lord. I am sure many of them would be either in Jail or dead; but instead they are being transformed into glory.
In today’s reading, Jesus show us how well we are doing spiritually.
Here is the scene; it is Jesus last evening with His apostles before his arrest and crucifixion, and they are all together in the upper room eating the Passover meal. The evening has begun with Jesus washing their feet, and teaching them humility. And as they began to eat, Jesus tells them bluntly, that he will be betrayed that very evening by one of them. This then causes upset, and questioning; and so, in the midst of this, Judas quietly slips away.
So, when we begin in verse 31, Judas has gone, leaving only Jesus and the other 11 apostles; and I am sure you know the feeling when one “servant of evil” leaves a room; the air is different and Jesus begins to teach. Verse 31: "After Judas had left, Jesus said, ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in Him.’" Jesus is saying, "I am going to be glorified" and it is obvious that He is talking about His crucifixion. You may ask, “How can anything be glorified out of that, the shame, suffering and death?”
Well, there is just one way, and that is by defeating Satan. Not only did Jesus rise from the dead, and laugh at death itself; it allowed the Holy Spirit to be released upon this earth, and by doing so, it turned us into mini versions of Jesus, all of us laughing at death, and all of us opposing Satan, instead of being under his dominion.
What a victory, on the cross Jesus became the sacrifice to redeem us from all the sins that Satan was holding over us, and keeping us separate us from the love of God.
In fact it was even easier than that for Satan, because once the process had started, we kept ourselves from God. All somebody needed to say to us was “remember the time you did this, or you did that” and then we go into a path of self destruction and say to ourselves, “yes I did that and I was wrong, and I am unworthy”, I WILL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH. I have heard this said so many times.
Yes, that is what Fire and Brimstone teaches us in the Old Testament; but we are not in the Old Testament, we are in the New, and the New Testament says, “Yes I did that, however, because of the death of Jesus on the cross, I am forgiven, and I am sorry, and will do whatever I can to never make that mistake again; so do not hold that over me”!
You could be sneaky, if you are weak, and turn the question over to them and say, “What about you, what about your mistakes” to test their faith. But we don’t need to get as nasty as the enemy; as they belong to him anyway, and are already in a path of self destruction; so why should we help Satan?
No, if somebody has to cast up our past, we can see straight away what spirit they are, and we read two weeks ago in 2 Timothy, “from such, turn away”. Don’t try to appease them, turn away, because by asking such a question, they are trying to intimidate us into following them. Somehow they need us, and casting up our past is a good way to shame or condemn us unto them.
This is how the world works, it comes from directly from Satan, and he needs people to be kept under his control, so that he can use them for his purposes.
Do you hear what I am saying here? Jesus does not want us to be under the conviction of sin, because if are feeling guilty; this will lead to condemnation and an ever decreasing circle unto death. Romans 6:20 says “For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness; what fruit had you then in those things that you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death”.
If we allowing ourself to be convicted for sin, any sin, then we are saying that Jesus died for nothing; and condemning ourself, we are no use to anyone, including the Lord himself. This is powerful stuff, but it is so fundamental, and rarely taught in the established church.
On the cross Jesus built a bridge between God and man so that we could be together again; and that is what Jesus meant when he said, in verse 31 "I am going to be glorified", But there is more as this verse goes on to say “God will also be glorified through Me."
Now that is stranger still; because you may ask now, how can God be glorified by the shameful death of his son? Well again, the answer is found in that cross.
Because on that cross, Jesus revealed once again what God is really like. On the cross, God demonstrated who he was by showing his love and mercy. He also showed his grace and justice, along with his righteousness and holiness. God showed us his power when he raised Jesus from the dead, because by doing so, according to his own decrees and logic, he has to, or must raise us from the dead; and dead situations also.
Jesus is telling us, "Whenever we show the world the love and mercy and grace of God in our lives, weak as we are, or especially because we are weak, then God is being glorified through us, because we are allowing him to act for us, as he did with Jesus.
As Christians, we are not trying to glorify ourselves, we are trying to glorify God, and if we glorify him, then he will glorify us. How does he do that: by enabling us to love; to love him, and by doing so; he allows us to love others. Think about it, we cannot force ourselves to love others; we need to receive that love from God so that we can outpour that love to others.
We covered this well two weeks ago, but I will just say this, that God’s Word says that the world will know we are Christians by our love; and our love alone. 2 corinthians 2:3 “God is love”. God is love and we are his children
So when we love others with his love, we are passing God’s love on. It is a love we don’t understand, but a love that greatly affects the lives of others. If we do not have that relationship with God, how can we receive that love, and worse, how can we ever minister to others?
We need that love in every area of our lives, not just here at church. We need our lives to be full of love, (we do not necessary need to show it physically, although Christine tells me it helps), we just need to get close to the Lord, and receive his love; so that we can radiate itself, and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in everything we do.
It is all about him. Before we were his, we took control, and look at the mess we made of it. By handing over the reigns to him, we are receiving his love, as we can say “Not my will, but yours be done”.
Amen, Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for Jesus. We thank you he died on the cross instead of us.
We thank you that he took all our sin with him to the grave, and left them there when he rose to be with you.
We also thank you Father that you were glorified on that cross, and by that, we know how much you love us. Ww know that we do not deserve it; … but your grace allows us, to commune with you always.
Father let us drop the things that are holding us back, let us forgive ourselves for our past failings, so that we can move on with you.
Father, outpour your love on us here today; … let us know how much you love us, … let us feel your love, … let us soak in it in, … and let us retain it, to build us up in you.
Then Father, when the time is right, … let this love flow from us onto others, … let it flow outwards to those in need, … let it flow to grow your kingdom … and magnify you.
Father we know by this process, we will be magnify in you, … enabling us to be your vessels of blessings here on earth. Let your love shine from us into the darkness, … and let that love light shine.
Father we ask in Jesus name, Amen.
