Kingdom Climate 3
I. Introduction
We confuse climate with weather. They are not the same thing. Climate is in fact defined as "a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years." So this is more than weather! Climate is in fact what sets weather into motion. Climate controls weather. Climate dictates what the weather will be like. Climate can be a great destabilizing force. So some of you are fighting storms, trouble, difficulties and you only seem to get temporary relief or respite. Then those same challenges show up on the horizon again! We expend all of our energy on fighting weather when if we would spend the same efforts on controlling the climate the storms, patterns, cycles would change! We have a tendency to react to the patterns and never do anything to address the climate that is causing those patterns. Some of you have been fighting the same fight new versions for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years and you rail against the weather but never deal with the root which is the climate that produces the weather.
So we began by saying that climate change must be preceded by climate control. Some of us are asking for climate change but we are unwilling to control the climate so the climate dictates no change. We talked about the fact that climate control dictates dismissal. There are folks in your life that have made a profession out of celebrating the death you are living through. They will try to talk you into believing that something is dead that is in reality only asleep. Until you dismiss them you will have no miracle. Then we said that the climate we allow/operate in will forecast our future. We talked about the fact that waves depends on wind. Who do you have in your life that can identify the wind and you make the changes so that the wave will stop?
So last time we shifted gears and I began to attempt to actually articulate from Paul's writings what a Kingdom Climate would look like in our individual life and in a church body. I am literally laying out for you line by line a climate that will produce a totally different weather pattern in your life. Again you can't complain about the weather that the climate you refuse to change produces. The issue is the climate we are talking about absolutely flies in the face and is absolutely opposite of our society's culture and unfortunately even most church cultures.
So Paul starts Romans 12 by addressing the first step to climate change which is to address the way you think.
II. Text
Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
So far we have said that Kingdom Climate is:
Connected
Serving
Sincere Love
Love Good/Hate Evil
Loyal
Honoring
We struggle to establish this kind of climate. Now however, it is going to get even harder. If you don't believe it can get harder. Look at what Paul does in verse 11.
Romans 12:11
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
He literally stops right in the middle of outlining Kingdom Climate and instructs us that we need to check our zeal and up our spiritual fervor if we are going to be able to establish the rest of this climate. He knew that being connected, serving, sincere in love, believe good, loyal, and honoring is difficult and will probably wear us out. So Paul says get that work done and then check yourself, refire, and revive because establishing the remaining characteristics of Kingdom Climate will require heightened zeal and spiritual effort! In other words, you had better get a double dose of Holy Spirit if you intend to establish this climate in your life and church!
Romans 12:12-13
12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
Kingdom Climate dictates that we are:
7. Joyful.
We have allowed Walt Disney to steal the tagline from the body because we haven't done the hard work of establishing this climate. Walt Disney says his parks are the "Happiest place on earth!" That should offend and almost anger us. It should certainly highly motivate us. Paul says Kingdom Climate is a climate filled with joy! No more sour Christians! Our countenance should testify of His goodness. Well I am melancholy. I am kind of a downer. So what you are saying then is that your personality is God! His power should overtake and override our personality. If our joy is a gift from God, then it should be evident in our body!
Psalm 45:7 - You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.
We are anointed with joy! Joy should be obvious in our interaction with one another here. It should be obvious in our interaction out there. It should be obvious in our worship. It should be obvious in our response to the Word we hear weekly.
Joy is our strength. Paul knew that a joyful climate produces strength. We are contagious! You have a choice to share either your joy or your sadness. Joy separates us from every other climate! In fact, did you know that the climate of joy reveals God's presence.
1 Chronicles 16:27 - Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place.
8. Patient in affliction.
I believe this does speak to how you go through trial. We have talked about having a pain perspective. We have talked about living though the seasons of nothing. However, we need to remember Paul is dealing with how we treat each other. So I think what Paul is actually sayings is that Kingdom Climate is one in which I am patient when you are going through affliction.
Have you ever gotten impatient with someone who was struggling? All they seem to be focused on is their pain. All they seem to talk about, Facebook about, pray about, they dominate conversation with, etc. is their affliction. Come on admit it you have avoided them. You have hidden their Facebook posts. You have allowed the call to go to voicemail.
Paul says we must learn to be patient with each other's affliction. Here is a news flash not everyone is blessed as you are right now. There are some around you that are in a struggle and fight for their life. If you don't establish Kingdom climate you will grow impatient with those who aren't overcoming and winning as fast as you would like. There are some struggles and hard times that are going to take an extended amount of time for people to exit. Be patient. Yes some of us stagnate in trials and we should have already moved on. We are like the Children of Israel who circled too long. However, we must remember that it is our climate that we believe they will walk into their promise one day. Be patient. Be more understanding. If you aren't with me in my struggle you can't be with me when I succeed. Then Paul shows us the climate response to those who are in the middle of affliction.
9. Faithful in prayer.
Again this refers how we deal with one another. To establish Kingdom Climate I should be in prayer for you on a regular basis. Yes, I pray for me but I must also pray for you. (Pastoral Team) How faithful are you in prayer for the other members of your body! I am not talking about during prayer time during church. Your faithfulness in prayer during the week should be foundation of our prayer time together on Sunday. The reason some of us struggle and are uncomfortable with praying for each other on Sunday is because we haven't prayed for one another during the week! I am encouraging you to allow the Holy Spirit to build a prayer list for you concerning others in this body! Is the climate of your life marked/set by faithful prayer or are you so busy with your life and your issues that you never call anyone else's name in prayer?
10. Share with those in need.
Notice Paul doesn't say to share with those in want. In other words, we feel no compulsion or directive to assist those who buy what they want and then beg for what they need. We are not called to establish a climate that perpetuates and rewards laziness. Don't ask me to help you pay your utilities if you have internet service, the latest and greatest phone, weekly appointments to get your nails done, and wearing the latest $200 pair of tennis shoes. No . . . Paul says the climate is that we should rally around those in need. That also speaks to a climate where we are comfortable enough to share our needs! We can't meet a need that we don't know about. But once the need is shared the climate we must establish is one that is responsive. We rally to family in need. We don't use up everything we have on ourselves. We look for those who are in need and we respond. Who's need have you met lately? Why do you have extra? Is it to use up on you? Probably not . . . most likely God has given you more than enough to bless someone else! This isn't even about an organized effort from the platform. This is a way of life where we intentionally make efforts to be sensitive and responsive to the needs we recognize around us! We should look for needs!
11. Hospitable
This is a climate change. This requires us to love each other differently. Why would someone's heart be changed today if you won't even talk to them in the lobby. Your willingness to produce a climate of hospitality is the key to softening and preparing someone for change. We can't walk in here lazy, uninterested. No climate change. We must come in here ready and expecting. There are people who walk in here who have lost expectations and your attitude of expectation causes them to hope again. I am convinced that the climate of hospitality has more to do with someone being positioned for change than even the quality of my preaching, of the worship team, etc. Why? Because if we aren't friendly it literally preaches louder and more effectively than I can. If we aren't friendly it literally unpreaches the message. How you look at and treat someone in the parking lot or lobby may be the difference between them getting touched by God or not! Lack of hospitality undermines worship because how can you love a God you haven't seen and treat your brother who you can seen badly! Why would I want what you have or worship who you worship if what you have and who you worship makes you grippy, selfish, unpleasant, scowling, angry, in a bad mood, etc. We do pretty well but I am talking about ramping it up so that people walk away from here going man that place is the friendliest place I have ever been. That means no one sits by themselves. That means if someone looks like they don't know where to take the kids we jump in and help. That means I go out of my way to speak. It means I touch.
I am more convinced than ever that hospitality is the seed bed for change!
Look at your neighbor right now and answer this question in your own mind "Are they hospitable?" Would you want the Jesus they have represented today?
Our climate should be:
Connected
Serving
Sincere Love
Love Good/Hate Evil
Loyal
Honoring
Joyful
Patient in Affliction
Faithful in Prayer
Sharers
Hospitable
Listen this is hard work. Climate is harder to change than weather. We can seed a cloud to create rain. However, climate is a God thing. We have got to get before God and ask Him and allow Him to change our climate.
What if everyone is as joyful as you? What if everyone is as patient and faithful in prayer as you? What if everyone responded to need like you? What if everyone is as hospitable as you?
