SERMON BRIEF
Date Written: June 8, 2006
Date Preached: June 11, 2006
Where Preached: OZHBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Idolatry in the Church
Sermon Title: Ridding Ourselves of Idols
Sermon Text: 2 Tim 1:6-7
Introduction:
This past week you heard me share with you several idols that have plagued us here at OZHBC and we learned that we need to abandon these idols and put them out of our lives… the idols we looked at… the idols we bow to here in our fellowship are…
1. Our Dismal Fixation on the Past
2. Our Distressing Fear of Change
3. Our Dreadful Failure to Submit to Leadership, and
4. Our Deadly Folly of Ignoring God…
Now understand that God had me share these idols with you… not to condemn you but to convict you and encourage you to turn from them and turn to Him!
In the Bible we read where the nation of Israel faced the wrath of God time after time because they had fallen into worshipping idols rather than Him…
We find that time and time again God sent prophets with basically the same message… TURN AWAY FROM YOUR IDOLS AND SERVE ME.
Usually Israel would ignore the prophet and God would have to discipline the nation through some sort of difficult time…then God would send a messenger with a message of repentance and the people would repent and turn back to God… only to repeat the entire process again and again…
I find that in our church as well, we find ourselves facing God’s discipline because we turn away from following Him to follow or bow to these idols we hold dear!
But if we are to become what God wants us to be… If we want to truly rid ourselves of the idolatry that haunts us and prevents us from growing, we must turn back to God!
God has said in Matt 6:33, “…But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you…”
God calls us to seek Him first in all we do… and when we put Him first… our idols are going to fall by the wayside. But God calls us to live for Him in this evil world… to be a witness for His love for all of humanity…
Acts 1:8, “…But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth...”
But it seems that we lose our focus and we stumble and fall much too easily. It seems as if we cannot stay ‘on track’ with God, and this morning I want to share with you that if we are going to remove these idols from our fellowship… changes must be made!
What we have to do is become VIGILANT Christians… we cannot allow the world and all its distractions to dissuade or distract our walk with God…
We must have a vigilant attitude in how we serve Christ. Vigilant as defined by Encarta Internet Dictionary means: WATCHFUL AND ALERT, ESPECIALLY TO DANGER OR TO SOMETHING THAT IS WRONG
This means we must become watchful and alert in our walk with Christ, because as believers we are in danger… and there IS something wrong in our world today…
The Bible tells in 1 Peter 5:8 (HCSB)
“…Be sober! Be on the alert! [Be VIGILANT!] Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour…”
It is dangerous because we have an ETERNAL enemy in Satan and all his minions. He seeks to destroy us in any way he can.
Once we come to know Christ as Savior, he knows he has lost the battle for our soul, but he is intent on keeping you from sharing what God has done for you with others…
He will attack you and influence you so that you will stumble and fall and become a bad witness for the Lord. He does this because he understands that when people see Christians acting like the world… it turns them against Christianity…
So as believers we are to be VIGILANT in our relationship with Christ. Turn with me this morning to 2 Tim 1:6-7 and I want you to follow along as I read the verses…
Therefore, I remind you to KEEP ABLAZE THE GIFT OF GOD that is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment…”
We are not called by God to be timid or weak or fearful… We are not called by God to stumble, bumble and fall…
We are called by God to be strong, courageous and vigilant in our walk… we are called by God to…
• stride confidently in our salvation, to
• speak firmly in our conviction, and to
• never waiver in our actions…
This morning I want us to look at how we as Christian can live this victorious and courageous life… how we can shed ourselves of the idols and false gods that so dominate us…
This morning I want to share the three ‘how’s’ in the believer’s vigilant walk in Christ…
1. Have a vigilant stride – In how you walk (1:8) “…So don’t be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me His prisoner. Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God…”
a. Don’t be ashamed (1:8a)
First and foremost, we must come to the understanding that serving God is a great privilege and we must NEVER be ashamed of being part of His plan.
So often we apologize for our faith and for any one or all of our stances on religious or social issues…
And what we NEED to do is stand tall and stand boldly in the knowledge that we are standing on God’s side… and we cannot worry about the WORLD disagreeing with us.
We must NEVER be ashamed of who we are in Christ or what we are living for in Christ…
As believers, we should stand strong on issues of our faith and we CANNOT be ashamed to say that…
• Jesus was born of a virgin, the only begotten of the Father
• Jesus is part of the Holy Trinity and co-eternal with the Father
• Jesus was the Son of God and came to open up heaven for all who would accept Him…
• That one can only be saved through Jesus Christ… and Him alone!
• We believe that salvation is a personal and individual event that cannot be passed on from generation to generation or from person to person…
• We believe that the Holy Bible as we have it today is the true, inspired, inerrant, infallible, unchanging Word of God that is sufficient for all faith and practice…
As believers, we MUST stand strong on social issues and we CANNOT be ashamed to say that…
• We believe life begins at conception and that abortion is murder of a living person…
• We believe that God is the creator of life and human attempts at cloning are an affront to God himself…
• We believe that the marriage covenant is a sacred covenant established by God for one man and one woman…
• We believe that ANY sexual activity outside the bonds of marriage between a husband and a wife is against the Law of God…
• We believe that… to serve Christ fully and holy… one must abstain from ALL forms of alcohol and mind altering substances…
• We believe the father is the head of the household and the wife is his helpmate as God established it in the Garden…
We believe all these things and we are CANNOT be ashamed that we believe them… because we have faith in the Word of God that teaches us about these things…
So brothers and sisters… stride proudly in your walk, not boasting in yourself, but in Christ whom you serve.
As a born again believer, who is eternally secure… YOU should be walking with a special spring in your step… and certain confidence in your stride… Never doubt God… never be ashamed!
But another reason we need to have a vigilant stride is that we need to realize…
b. Persecution is blessing (1:8b)
Paul tells us here in this verse that we are to, “…share in the sufferings of the Gospel…”
Do you remember the story in Acts chapter 5? The one where Peter and John are arrested again… NOT because they healed a man at the gate… but because they were STILL preaching the message of Jesus Christ!
They were arrested, questioned and released… and what does the Bible share with us when they were released?
“…after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them to speak no more in the name of Jesus, and then released them. So they [Peter and John] went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.
Acts 5:40-41
We need to understand that Satan wishes to destroy us and that we are going to face persecution in many forms. It could be bodily persecution like the disciples faced and so many more around the world today face… but more than likely our persecution is going to come in the form of criticism, ridicule and mocking…
People are going to mock you for your faith. People are going to ridicule you and criticize your beliefs. But realize that when this happens you should REJOICE… because you have been found worthy to suffer for the sake of the Gospel…
But there is yet another reason we need to have a vigilant stride and that is that we need to realize that we have…
c. Success thru leaning on God (1:8c)
Paul is saying to Timothy that his success will only come when he is fully, “…relying on the power of God…”
Timothy could only stride with vigilance if he chose to rely on God and lean on God’s strength…
The psalmist teaches us in Ps 46, “…God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is ALWAYS found in times of trouble, therefore we will not be afraid…”
If we want to rid our lives of the idols that hinder our walk with Christ we must realize that we cannot do it on our own… but we must rely on God’s strength to deliver us… when we are in trouble He is going to be there for us…
We must learn to have a vigilant stride in how we walk in Christ, walk proudly in Christ, never ashamed, rejoicing in trials, and leaning on Christ each and every day…
But there is another HOW you must look to as well and that is that you must…
2. Have a vigilant speech – In how you talk
“…hold onto the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard, thru the Holy Spirit who lives in us, that good thing entrusted to you…” 1:13-14
a. Learn sound doctrine (1:13)
• You must submit to teaching…
This instruction from Paul to Timothy was pretty straightforward… it says, apply the teachings you have learned from me in your life. Hold onto the teachings so that you will be able to share and pass along those teachings…
We see how it applied to Timothy, but how does this apply to us today? Well the implication here in this passage is that it is our duty to learn and study and hold onto the teachings of those who are placed in leadership over us…
This means, when the preacher preaches a sermon, it is something you MUST hold onto… something you MUST listen to… something you MUST heed and make application in your own life!
The Bible does not share this because the pastor or preacher is something special… but that God is using the pastor or preacher to do something VERY special…
Take in the teaching… absorb it into your life… begin to seek out God’s leadership and application of His teaching so that you can become a better witness for Him...
Remember that God has placed a teacher over you to reveal and teach you the Word of God, and He is going to be held to a higher standard… He is going to face a stricter judgment…
To have a vigilant speech you must take in teaching, but you can also see that you must…
b. Let your faith do your talking (1:14)
“…guard, thru the Holy Spirit who lives in us, that good thing entrusted to you…”
We are to guard the salvation and forgiveness that Christ has brought into our lives thru the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives…
What Paul was saying to Timothy here was that people need to see your salvation… they need to see your faith… you need to be bold in your speech, but speak with your life… speak with your actions… speak with your faith as well…
This applies to us today in that there are many times when it is simply NOT possible for us to share our faith by word of mouth, and we must not allow Satan to win the battle… we are to speak loudly with our lives… with our hearts… with our actions!
Guard your salvation by living your life a witness of Christ Jesus in all you do and say!
Living for Christ by our actions is very important, but we will come to the time when we must share our faith with our words. And when this time comes Paul shares with Timothy that he was to share it with a gracious and loving tongue…
c. Be gracious and share your faith… (2:1-2)
“…you, therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And what you have heard from me…commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also…”
I was watching a special on the Discovery Channel or the National Geographic Channel, I really can’t remember what channel it was… but the show as this past Monday night… it was called “Revelation 666” It was all about the Anti-Christ and the number 666.
There were many people who were interviewed on this show that were ANTI-GOD and showed a great disdain for God. And to be totally honest with you my first reaction was… wow, they deserve to burn in hell!
But God instantly convicted me and brought a sadness over my heart for these people and the cry from my heart was then changed to, “Oh no! These people are lost and headed for hell, how sad; we must reach out to them…
I can imagine what it was like for Jesus to stand outside the city of Jerusalem just a few days before He was to be crucified… He could have been so judgmental, but instead he had great compassion for those who were lost and misguided…
This is what Paul was saying when he told Timothy to be STRONG in grace! We must be strong in our faith, but we must also be strong in our grace toward those who are lost…
SO often as believers we write these sinners off and we have them going to hell… with NO chance or hope of being saved. Did you ever stop to realize that God placed them in your life so that they could hear the message of Christ!
We are to share the message of salvation with the world around us, no matter HOW bad and lost they are! Salvation is FOR the lost!
But Paul does not stop here with mere evangelism, he continues and completes the plan with discipleship as well… look what he said…
“…And what you have heard from me…commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also…”
We are NOT to stop sharing when people come to KNOW Christ as Savior, but we are to continue to share God’s Word and teach so that those coming to salvation will be able to share and pass on the Word of God to others as well… And the cycle continues…
We were saved because someone shared with us… we were witnessed to because someone was taught to witness and share his or her faith…
We need to be a strong link in the chain of the gospel, strong in our grace, reaching out to all who are lost, and strong in our teaching that we pass on teaching so that it can be taught again and again to many others…
• You must have a vigilant stride in walking for Christ each and every day…
• You must have a vigilant speech in talking about Christ each and ever day…
• But finally this morning, I want to share that you must also…
3. Have a vigilant sensitivity – In how you serve
2:7 – “…consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding [discernment] in everything…”
As a believer, it is not enough simply that we serve, but it is all important as to HOW we serve God.
How many believers do you know who do all the things the Word of God shares with them, yet they seem to be missing something in their walk…
They read their Bible, they come to church, they pay their tithes, they go to Sunday School… they even invite others to church… but yet something is missing…
Simply going through the motions of Christianity will NEVER be enough in serving God. We must serve God with all our heart, with all our minds, with all our body, with all our strength…
a. Joy comes in obedience (v.2:3)
In v.3 Paul tells Timothy to do something that may seem odd to most of us… He tells him to share in the suffering as a good soldier in Christ Jesus.
A good soldier is the one who is willing to follow his commander into battle, regardless of how bad it looks, regardless of what may happen to him. A good soldier will carry out his orders even when he is wounded.
What Paul is sharing with Timothy is that he should follow Christ and be obedient to His call; even if suffering comes his way… he is to do this because he is a good soldier! He is to be obedient to God and in obedience there is a joy that fulfills our hearts.
Just as the soldier who obeys feels a sense of pride and fellowship with his commander… the believer who obeys Christ builds a pride and fellowship with Jesus Christ.
Joy comes when we are as obedient as good soldiers. But Paul keeps on here… not only is a good soldier to be obedient to the point of suffering, but a good soldier is also told…
b. Don’t sweat the small stuff (v.2:4)
Here in v.4 Paul tells Timothy to not get tangled up in the mundane, everyday concerns of life…
Is Paul telling Timothy to ignore life and not pay attention to life issues… such as paying the bills, feeding the family, providing a shelter…?
Absolutely NOT! What Paul is addressing in this passage is for Timothy to be on guard and not allow the things of this world to consume his thoughts and actions…
As a soldier, you have a certain duty to do in the field. You know that you have to eat, sleep and function within your unit… BUT you have a job to do and you have to focus on that job and make sure that you do that job to the best of your abilities…
And if you are thinking about what you are going eat… or how the Lt. treats you or the other guys… or that you are scared because of where you are and what you are doing…your mind will NOT be focused on what it is supposed to be focused on… and you will NOT be able to help your team succeed in its mission…
Likewise as Christians, God gives us a spiritual gift and calls us into service in a particular area within the church. We cannot allow the basic needs of life to consume or thoughts or we cannot allow petty thoughts or differences sway or obedience…
And we CANNOT allow fear to rule our hearts… we all have a calling in Christ Jesus and regardless of what Satan puts before us we are called to be focused on God and His calling in our lives…
So when you are serving God… don’t sweat the small stuff…
Just like our US Soldiers know that our armed forces are the best equipped, best trained, bravest and strongest military in the world and we are going to prevail…
We must also know that OUR God is the strongest… He is the One who is going to prevail and we need not fear defeat, because “…greater is He who is in me than he that is in the world…”
For you to have a vigilant sensitivity in how you serve God, you must know that joy comes through obedience and that you cannot sweat the small stuff because Jesus is going to take care of you… but finally what you need to have a vigilant sensitivity in HOW you serve God you must…
c. Focus on the eternal (2:10)
Regardless of what we go thru as a believer it is for a greater cause than our own happiness or success… look at what Paul says in v.10
“…this is WHY I endure all things for the elect: so that they also may obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory…”
Our focus cannot be of this world, but has to be on the eternal things. Now I am not saying that we need to be so heavenly minded that we are NO earthly good…
What I am saying here is that our focus must be on winning lost souls into the kingdom of God. It cannot be on the number of people attending Sunday School, or worship service…
It cannot be for the glorification of any accomplishment here in this world, but it must be for the eternal salvation of all who God places in our path…
Our focus must be on witnessing to the world about a risen Savior who wants to forgive their sins and save their souls… Paul wanted Timothy to know that his focus must be on the reaching the lost…
What does this mean for us? Does it mean that we all have to take a Spiritual Witnessing Course and begin to knock on doors each and every day? Well no it does not mean that is what you should do, even though that is a great and grand idea for you TO do…
No, for us to apply this in our lives we have to understand that Paul was saying basically what Jesus was saying in Matt 28… Go out and tell…so that others will know about the mercy, grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ…
Conclusion:
Ridding ourselves of these idols that we have may to be a long and almost assuredly a difficult process…BUT it can be done, in Christ we can be healed. Paul tells us that, “…I can do ALL things thru Christ who gives me strength…”
Do you want to rid yourself of these idols today? TURN TO GOD!
Do you want to live as you should and be the Christian God wants you to be? TURN TO GOD!
This morning if you feel God convicting you of your idolatry… then it is time to stop your foolishness in ignoring God’s call on your life…
It is time you stepped out and came down to this altar and made things right with God.
I call on you to come forward and pray with me or pray at the altar for God to renew your heart and cleanse you of your idol or idols…
I call on you to come down to the altar and do this and NOT to stand where you are… for 2 reasons…
First and foremost, it is said in God’s word that when you confess Jesus before humanity that Jesus is going to go to bat for you before the Father…
Secondly, when you step out and come down to pray and make things right with God, you automatically put an accountability on yourself…
And you are telling your fellow believers that you are willing to surrender to God and that you want them to encourage you and support you in your walk…
I urge you to call on Him this morning… call on God so that He can and will deliver you from your idol worship… from your self-centered desire to be the king of your own soul…
Surrender this morning… run up the white flag and give up to God!
