Is it just me or do you think like me that this world is messed up? People are just angry with one another nowadays. We have lost our ability to tolerate each other. We have lost our ability to accept a viewpoint that is different than ours. We are afraid to speak to anyone because we don’t know if what we say will result in their going off on us. And God forbid, but some of those same attitudes has even crept into the church house.
Add to those problems, there is not a day that goes by lately when you turn on the evening news that you don’t hear about riots or people killing one another or destroying other peoples’ property. Our world is in a mess.
And it is during these times, people are looking for answers so they turn to different places of authority looking for what they can do to straighten up our world.
Some people will turn to government to clean up this messy world, but I must tell you the government does not have the tools to change this mess. The government does not have the answers.
Some may turn to places on higher learning like universities and colleges thinking that our smartest people are associated with these institutions and they can provide us with guidance we need to straighten this mess up. But I must tell you they don’t have the tools to change this mess. Our smartest minds don’t have the answer.
Listen, the only person that has the answer to straighten up this mess is Jesus Christ, and most people will not look to Him. And if they are not looking at Jesus Christ then they are not looking to His church for the answers either since Jesus Christ is the head of the church. And I believe in all my heart if Jesus choses to clean up this mess that He is going to use His church as part of the solution because He loves His church.
So, you and I who are Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, need to ask the question: “What should I be doing as part of the church to clean up this mess?”
And my sermon points are the things that I believe God told me that you and I ought to be doing during this time.
Colossians 1:17-20 (NKJV)
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
18 \ And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,
20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
JESUS CAN USE YOU AND ME TO CLEAN UP THE MESS IN THIS WORLD IF WE WERE COMMITTED TO MEMORIZING SCRIPTURE AND THEN USING IT IN OUR DAILY CONVERSATIONS.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV)
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Wherever the devil goes, he creates mess. When he entered the wilderness to tempt Jesus, he was going there with one purpose in mind: to create mess- to prevent Jesus from doing what He came to earth to do, and that was to save mankind. But Jesus put an end to his mess by quoting Scripture.
So, just maybe, Jesus’ example in the wilderness was given to us so that we as Christian would know what to do when our world becomes messy. Share Scripture just like Jesus.
You see the power to be a change agent does not lie in my own strength but in the strength of the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit that lives within me.
Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV)
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The Bible never refers to you and I as having any power, but it certainly testifies of the power of the Word of God (as we just read) and the Holy Spirit. Remember, when Jesus was talking to His disciples He said, it is best that I go away so I may send the Comforter who will reprove this world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Jesus was saying that the Holy Spirit has the power to take messy things like sin and make them right.
So, if the world is messy, and I want to do something about it start memorizing and quoting Scriptures in your daily conversations and allow the Holy Spirit to bring them to your remembrance.
Try to think back to a time when things were good, we were hearing people more often than now using the Word of God in their daily conversation with one another. Unfortunately, that pretty much has stopped, and things got messy. We need to return to quoting Scriptures in our conversations.
JESUS CAN USE YOU AND ME TO CLEAN UP THE MESS IN THIS WORLD IF WE WOULD STAND FIRM IN OUR CONVICTIONS WHEN THEY COME UNDER ATTACK.
1 Peter 3:15-16 (NKJV)
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
The true test of convictions is when they come under attack you don’t back track. Unfortunately, we saw an example recently with the New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees. He made the statement “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.” That was his conviction. But when he came under attack by members of his own team and other teams, he backtracked his convictions saying that he stands with his team.
That same things happens to Christians. I stand solid on my convictions when I am around other Christians who think like me. The test of my convictions is when I leave the door of this church and I am ganged up on by my friends or others about something I believe. Do I find myself backtracking a little bit on my convictions to make peace with my friends or others?
And we got to remember that sometimes saying nothing when we actually should be speaking out about our convictions is condoning the world’s ways over God’s ways. That is just rolling over and letting the world steam roll us. And unfortunately, we did that with pray in school, pray before football games, when they took the 10 commandments out of the courthouse, and companies told employees no more Merry Christmas greetings. Greet our customers with Seasons Greetings or Happy Holidays. And look at the mess that has created in this world because we did not hold fast to our convictions.
If we want to clean up the mess, we got to be people of conviction and we cannot be ashamed of or try to hide our convictions to keep peace with the world.
James tells us James 4:4 (NKJV) Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? …
JESUS CAN USE YOU AND ME TO CLEAN UP THE MESS IN THIS WORLD IF WE WILL ALLOW OUR LIGHT TO SHINE INTO THE DARKNESS.
Matthew 5:16 (NKJV)
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Right now, we are living in a time that is anti-God and anti-Christian. And the big question is “What is the church to do?”
It reminds me of an article that I read about the Europa Hotel in Belfast, Ireland. It was built in 1971, beautiful hotel, mostly glass, and today it has the reputation of being the most bombed hotel in the world. Thirty-six times it was bombed, but it is still standing today and still serving guest.
During those times of bombing, management has three possible decisions it could make.
Close it up- It fact, a recent article in the Irish Times starts off with “It’s nothing short of a miracle that the Europa Hotel in Belfast is still standing.”
A Barna Survey just published at the end of August says that because of the times, one in five churches will close their doors within the next 18 months.
To me that is not an option, because it is God’s church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.
Board it up- When you board something up, you tell the world that you have resigned yourself to hang on. We want to keep what we got and that is our main goal.
And some churches take that same position, we will just hang on with what we got.
The Europa chose option number 3- Keep the line of communication open with our window supplier but keep doing business as usual. The hotel had a line of communication open with the window supplier to have every window duplicated and sometimes triplicated in case of another bombing. It told the world we are open for business.
Let me tell you people, we will keep our line of communication opened with Jesus and we need to put the world on notice “we are open for business.” That is what our light does it tells the world we are open for business.
JESUS CAN USE YOU AND ME TO CLEAN UP THE MESS IN THIS WORLD IF WE DON’T GROW WEARY.
Galatians 6:9 (NKJV)
9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
If that Barna survey is right and one out of five churches will close in 18 months, it tells me that we have a lot of weary church folks and a lot of weary pastors. In fact, prior to Covid 19, 1,500 ministers were leaving the pastorate every year.
And the only advice that I can give church members or pastors that say they are weary is to turn to the Lord.
Psalm 121:1-8 (NKJV)
1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills-- From whence comes my help?
2 My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.
8 The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.
