INTRO.- The life we live, i.e. the Christian life, is different from the way most folks live. HAVEN’T YOU NOTICED?
ILL.- An old miser had very few friends. Just before he died he called his doctor, lawyer and minister together around his bedside. He said, "I have always heard you can’t take your money with you, but I am going to prove you can."
"I have $90,000 under my mattress. It’s in 3 envelopes of $30,000 each. I want each of you take one envelope now and just before they throw the dirt on my conffin you throw the envelopes in."
Well, the three attended the funeral and each threw his envelope into the grave. On the way back from the cemetery, the minister said, "I don’t feel right about this. I must make a confession to you. I needed $10,000 badly for a new church we’re building, so I took out $10,000 and threw only $20,000 in the grave."
The doctor then spoke up and said, "I don’t feel right either. I too want to confess. I am building a hospital and I took $20,000 and threw in only $10,000."
The lawyer spoke up and said, "Gentlemen, I’m surprised at you! I’m shocked! I’m ashamed of you! I just can’t believe what you did! I don’t see how you hold out that money! WHY, I THREW IN MY PERSONAL CHECK FOR THE FULL $30,000!"
What’s the moral of that story? Most people are greedy but some people are worse than others!
I Tim. 6:9-10 "People who want to get rich fall into temtpation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."
Greed is the way of the world! "Greed is good!" That’s the motto of our world!
The sad thing, however, is when people who claim to be Christians are greedy! That’s really bad, because if anybody ought to be unselfish, it should be Christians!
The Christian way of life should be different! It should be one of loving others, caring for others, sharing with others!
The Christian should be different in other ways.
ILL.- A man said, "I’ve been watching that mechanic for the last 15 minutes. There’s a man who really knows his business. He didn’t spill a drop of oil on the ground. He put the hood down gently and wiped his fingerprints off. He wiped his hands off before getting in the car. He spread a clean cloth over the seats and when he drove off he was extremely carefully before pulling into the street." Another man, "WELL, SURE, THAT WAS HIS OWN CAR."
Generally, the way of the world is self-centeredness. It’s every man, woman and child for themselves and I’m watching out for myself!
ILL.- Actress Shirley McClaine who is not one of my favorites once said, "The most pleasurable journey you take is through yourself. The only sustaining love involvement is with yourself. When you look back on your life and try to figure out where you’ve been and where you’re going, when you look at your work, your love affairs, your marriages, your children, your pain, your happiness - when you examine all that closely, what you really find out is that the only person you really go to bed with is yourself. The only thing you have is working to the consummation of your own identity..."
In other words, she is saying, "REALLY, THE ONLY PERSON WHO MATTERS IN MY LIFE IS ME!" And if that isn’t self-centeredness then I don’t know it is!
But the Christian person is different from that! THE CHRISTIAN’S LIFE DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND HIMSELF OR HERSELF! They think of others!
Phil. 2:3-4 "Do nothing about of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. EACH OF YOU SHOULD LOOK NOT ONLY TO YOUR OWN INTERESTS, BUT ALSO TO THE INTERESTS OF OTHERS."
The Christian is not selfish. He/she cares about others.
The Christian is different in other ways.
ILL.- Marilyn and Gary were playing golf one day and Gary said, "I’d move heaven and earth to break my 110 score."
Marilyn replied, "TRY MOVING HEAVEN, HONEY. YOU’VE ALREADY MOVED PLENTY OF EARTH TODAY."
ILL.- A church suddenly stopped buying pencils from a certain office supply. The manager called the preacher to ask what the problem was. The preacher, "We ordered some pencils from you to be used in the pews for visitors to sign their visitors’ card." "Well," the manager said, "Didn’t you receive them from us?"
The preacher replied, "Oh, yes, we received them all right, BUT YOU SENT US SOME PENCILS STAMPED WITH THE WORDS, ’PLAY GOLF NEXT SUNDAY’!"
ILL.- Two men were out fishing on Sunday morning and were beginning to feel guilty about it especially since the fish weren’t biting. One said to the other, "I guess I should have stayed home and gone to church."
The other fisherman replied, "I COULDN’T HAVE GONE TO CHURCH ANYWAY...MIFE WIFE IS SICK IN BED."
ILL.- An old united press survey found that the "typical American" male is 27-years-old. Although he may attend church, he is not interested in the spiritual. He is not concerned about heaven nor hell. His principal interests are: football, hunting, fishing and cartinkering.
Brethren, I’m just suggesting that we live in a society where most people are interested in anything that gives them pleasure....whatever that is. And generally, it has nothing to do with Christianity!
DO YOU GET THE PICTURE OF WHAT I’M SAYING? The way of the world is money-centered, self-centered, and pleasure-centered!
II Tim. 3:1, 4 Paul said, "There will be terrible times in the last days: people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God."
But the Christian way of life is different from the way of the world! THE CHRISTIAN WAY OF LIFE IS CHRIST-CENTERED AND PEOPLE-CENTERED!
Col. 3:1-3 "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. FOR YOU DIED, AND YOUR LIFE IS NOW HIDDEN WITH CHRIST IN GOD."
For the Christian, the thing that matters the most in life is Christ and serving Him by serving others!
PROP.- Our text in Hebrews 10:19-25 tells us about the life we live as Christians. There are two basic things which our lives revolve around:
1- Our worship
2- Our work
I. OUR WORSHIP
V. 22 & 25 "Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith...." "Let us not gvie up meeting together..."
LET US DRAW NEAR. We need to draw near to God in worship! This should always be a priority for us as Christians! And the inspired writer is talking about two kinds of worship. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ARE?
Private worship and public worship.
What’s the first thing you do when you get up in the morning? Besides going to the bathroom and getting a cup of coffee.
ILL.- Many years ago I was serving as a teacher at the Gasconade Christian Service Camp which is near Ft. Leonard Wood, MO, actually, Waynesville, MO.
Our missionary speaker for the week was a native of Jamaica who had come to America to study at one of our Bible colleges. This fellow was staying in the same dorm that I was. And since I have always been an early riser I was generally awake before anybody else in that dorm.
One morning as I woke early, I decided to stay in bed a while because you really don’t get much sleep in church camp. I heard someone getting out of bed and happened to notice that it was my Jamaican brother. AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID? He slipped out of his bed and right down on his knees and folded his hands in the posture of prayer!
I WAS HUMBLED? Why? Because I didn’t do that! Oh, I did it, meaning I prayed, but I sure didn’t get down on my knees! And I still don’t do that very often.
BUT PERHAPS WE ALL SHOULD! As a minimum, when we get out of bed in the morning, we should pray! We should worship the Lord!
We should get up and begin praising the Lord the first thing in the morning! "Good morning, Lord. I praise you! I bless you! You are great and wonderful! You are all-mighty! You are all-powerful! You are everywhere present! You are eternal! You are gracious! You love me! THANK YOU, LORD. THANK YOU! THANK YOU!"
It doesn’t make any difference how you do it or what you say, BUT IT SHOULD BE DONE. It can be done in the bathroom, in the shower, at the breakfast table, in the car driving to work, etc. REGARDLESS OF HOW IT’S DONE, IT SHOULD BE DONE!
The Christian way of life is different. It’s a life of worshpping the Lord, praising the Lord, thanking the Lord for His goodness and greatness and for all the good things He’s done for us!
ILL.- When preacher Billy Sunday was converted to Christ, a Christian man put his arm around his shoulder and said, "Billy, there are three simple rules I can give you, and if you hold to them, no one will ever write BACKSLIDER after your name."
"Take 15 minutes a day to listen to God talking to you. Take 15 minutes each day to talk to God. And take 15 minutes each day to talk to others about God." EXCELLENT! He is talking about private worship.
Brethren, we should take a certain amount of time each day to let God talk to us. And basically, we do that by reading God’s Word, the Bible.
ILL.- Elaine just got back from her trip to Ireland. Two of her best friends also went. Elaine roomed with her good friend Alma. And Elaine said that every day Alma read her Bible. Alma said she was trying to read one chapter a day.
I don’t care if it’s one chapter a day or a dozen chapters a day. I’m saying that to worship the Lord we need to listen Him talk to us and we do that by reading His Word.
God’s Word deserves to be listened to! It’s the best words we’ll ever hear and besides, God’s Word will build us up like nothing else will!
We also need to worship God by talking to Him. We need to converse with the Lord, talk to Him like He is our very best friend. BECAUSE HE IS!
Brethren, there can be no success in life and in the Christian life without some kind of devotional life!
ILL.- Someone said, "The secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer."
Another said, "We are never so high as when we are on our knees."
Another, "Satan laughs at our toiling, mocks at our wisdom, BUT TREMBLES WHEN WE PRAY."
ILL.- Martin Luther said, "I have so much to do that I cannot get along without 3 hours a day in prayer."
ILL.- Matthew Hale said, "If I omit praying and reading God’s Word in the morning then nothing goes well all day."
Brethren, if we want God’s blessing on our lives then we must be quick to bless Him in worship!
We must also worshp God publically, that is, in church.
V. 25 "Let us not give meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more you see the Day approaching."
The inspired writer is talking about public worship.
You perhaps remember those two men I told you who went fishing on Sunday morning and one of them said he couldn’t go to church anyway because his wife was sick in bed. THAT’S RIDICULOUS!
The Christian way of life is different from the way of the world. People of the world consider Sunday a "fun" day, not a worship day! But the Christian first zeroes in on worship, before anything else!
Sure, we may go golfing on Sunday afternoon, or fishing, or whatever, BUT FIRST, WE GO TO CHURCH TO HONOR THE LORD! That’s our way of life!
ILL.- William Gladstone once said, "Tell me what the young men of England are doing on Sunday and I will you what the future of England will be." I WONDER ABOUT THE YOUNG MEN OF AMERICA!
ILL.- Billy Graham said, "Jesus spoke about the ox in the ditch on the Sabbath. But if your ox gets in the ditch every Sunday, you should either get rid of the ox or fill up the ditch."
ILL.- The story is told about President James A. Garfield’s first Sunday in Washington after his inauguration. A member of the cabinet insisted that a cabinet meeting be called at 10 a.m. the following day, which was Sunday, to handle a matter of grave importance.
President Garfield said that he had something to do at that time. The cabinet member insisted that the President break his previous engagement. GARFIELD REFUSED. The cabinet member said, "I would be interested to know with whom you could have an engagement so important that it cannot be broken."
Garfield replied, "I will be as frank as you are. MY ENGAGEMENT IS WITH THE LORD TO MEET HIM AT HIS HOUSE AND AT HIS TABLE AT 10:30 A.M. TOMORROW AND I WILL BE THERE."
Garfield was there and the crisis passed and the nation survived.
And that’s the kind of commitment that we all should have when it comes to public worship of the Lord!
When we commit ourselves faithfully to both private and public worship, the Lord will take care of us and bless us!
People who honor the Lord will be honored by Him!
II. OUR WORK
ILL.- The boss said to Jones, "How long have you been working here?"
Jones replied, "EVER SINCE I HEARD YOU COMING DOWN THE HALL."
Brethren, it’s true that some people only work when the boss is around. You know this is true and I know this is true. I’ve witnessed it in the retail world.
We who are Christians are aware that our boss is watching us all the time. Of course, we don’t do our work because he is a hard man to work for, BUT BECAUSE HE IS GRACIOUS PERSON TO WORK FOR! A gracious God!
And our work as Christians is not just what we do for a living. OUR WORK ALSO INVOLVES CHRISTIAN WORK!
The Christian person is interested in serving the Lord in various ways, because the Lord has been so good him and her!
Romans 12:11 "Never be lacking in zeal (don’t be lazy), BUT KEEP YOUR SPIRITUAL FERVOR, SERVING THE LORD."
ILL.- A wife said to her husband, "Did you see that hat Mrs. Jones wore to church?"
Husband: "No, I didn’t."
Wife: "Did you see the new dress Mrs. Smith had on?"
Husband: "No, I didn’t."
Wife: "WELL! A LOT OF GOOD IT DOES YOU TO GO TO CHURCH!"
Brethren, we go to church to worship the Lord, not to look at the clothes people are wearing. We may notice what people are wearing, but that’s not a big thing to us.
We are here to worship and work! That’s right! We’re here to work through serving and through encouraging others!
V. 25 "Let us not give up meeting together.... LET US ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER AND ALL THE MORE AS YOU SEE THE DAY APPROACHING."
The "day approaching" is probably the return of Christ. We encourage one another the more we realize how close Christ is.
Phil. 4:5 "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near."
How do we encourage one another in our meetings? In church? First, just by being here! YOUR ATTENDANCE AT CHURCH IS ENCOURAGING!
ILL.- I’ve heard people say things like, "Look at how many people we had in church!" And "Wasn’t it nice to see so and so back in church?" And "Everyone was so happy at church. It helped me so much."
That’s encouraging! We encourage one another by being here and by showing attention to one another!
ILL.- The first Sunday of August last year is when Elaine and I came so I could preach a trial sermon to the congregation. We stepped in the front door, talked to a few people and then just stayed out of the way. We watched you dear people and I told Elaine, "Look at these people! This is a good sign!" And of course, I was referring to everybody takling to one another....hugging one another, laughing, etc.
I said, "This is a sign that these people like one another!"
Brethren, this is the most laid-back, friendly, lauighing, hugging church that I’ve ever been in! AND I MIGHT ADD, CRAZY. AND IT IS SO ENCOURAGING TO PEOPLE!
Some of you people are crazy! But it’s okay! Go ahead and be crazy! And I understand it will get even crazier next Saturday at the Spring Fling!
But you people are not just a bunch of crazy, laughing huggers! YOU ARE ALSO VERY LOVING! I’ve witnessed your love many times! You’ve demonstrated your love to me and Elaine! AND YOU’VE DEMONSTRATED IT MANY TIMES TO OTHER PEOPLE IN CHURCH!
ILL.- For example, last Thursday, our Hillary Spitz went into the hospital. And I don’t know how many of you either called or went to the hospital to be with Hillary and her family. THERE WAS A BUNCH! And before Hillary was transferred to Champaign we all gathered in the family room, made a circle and had prayer. AND THEN EVERYBODY HUGGED EVERYBODY!
What a demonstration of love! If people aren’t encouraged by actions like that then there isn’t going to be any encouragement!
I say, keep on laughing! Keep on hugging! Keep on showing love! Keep on being crazy! YOU’RE AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO ONE ANOTHER!
Now our work as Christians involves something else.
V. 23 "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess."
What is the hope we profess? It’s the hope of the forgiveness of our sins and the hope of eternal life which we have in Jesus Christ! WE HAVE THIS HOPE! And we should go around "professing" this hope!
Professing this hope in Jesus or witnessing for Christ is our work as Christians!
Matt. 28:19 Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..."
In Acts 1:8 when Jesus ascended back into heaven He said, "You shall be my witnesses..."
Our work as Christians is the witnessing business! Are you doing this? Some of you are. I know you are. Because some of you are getting people to visit our services and that’s a part of our witnessing business.
KEEP IT UP!
All of you have friends, neighbors, family members, and fellow workers who do not go to church! ARE YOU WITNESSING TO THEM? If not, why not? The least you can do is invite them to church.
ILL.- Two professed Christians worked for 10 years in the same business office. Over the years, however, neither of them knew that the other was a Christian. One of them said to a minister one day, "Wasn’t it funny that Bill and I were so intimately related to each other in business and yet neither of us knew until today that the other was a Christian?"
"FUNNY!" the minister said, "WHY, THAT’S NOT FUNNY! IT’S TRAGIC! In my opinion neither of you have ever experienced the miracle of regeneration...."
Brethren, I’d say that preacher was a little hard on that man. Just because some Christian person doesn’t witness at work it doesn’t mean they’re not saved!
But there is something wrong with us if we’re not interested in witnessing to others about the Savior and salvation!
Christian people should be interested in and excited about the privilege of witnessing for Christ!
ILL.- As Robert Speer said, "Any man who has a religion is bound to do one of two things with it: change it or spread it. If it isn’t true, he must give it up. IF IT IS TRUE, HE MUST GIVE IT AWAY!"
ILL.- Some years ago two boats passed each other on the Mississippi River. An aged man was talking with a friend on the deck of one of the boats when suddenly he said, "LOOK! YONDER’S THE CAPTAIN!"
The other man asked, "Why are you so excited about that captain?" The man replied, "Well, years ago, as we were going along like this, I fell overboard. I couldn’t swim and I thought I was going to drown but the captain rescued me, saved me. AND SINCE THAT DAY, I JUST LOVE TO POINT HIM OUT TO OTHERS!"
Do we just love to point out our Savior, our Rescuer to others? Sure makes a lot of sense.
CONCLUSION-------------------------------
ILL.- Many years ago a family sat eagerly in front of their TV set waiting to see the first U.S. Moon Rocket firing. They heard the rocket’s hissing roar and saw it begin to lift off toward the moon.
Suddenly the tension broke when a child entered the room and said, "I WANT TO SEE HOWDY DOODY!"
Brethren, there are two classes of people in world: Howdy Doody people and moon rocket people! Those who look up and those who are only interested in what is going on down here!
Paul said, "Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above..."
Brethren, we are supposed to be different than most people in the world, in that we are interested in worshipping our Savior and serviing Him anyway we can.
WHY? Because we know that there is more to life than this life! We are looking beyond to the eternal! We are walking by faith!
Because we believe, we trust, we have faith in Christ we make a deliberate choice to be different than other people in the world!
Choose Christ! Choose that which is eternal! Worship Christ and work for Him. Only one life, twill soon be past, only what is done for Christ will last.
