No Condemnation part 1

This week, we began a new series called “No Condemnation,” through which we are trying to get a deeper understanding of the grace of God.   In Romans 6:10 Paul states that Christ, and we with Him, died to sin – once and for all. There are two ways in which one could die to sin. One is to die to the condemnation and punishment for sin and the other would be to die to sinful actions. There is only one of those to which Jesus could have died, and that is the first. Jesus had NO sinful actions.  I know we’ve probably heard or thought that Jesus took our sins to the cross. I don’t believe that is entirely accurate. I believe that what He took to the cross was the punishment of all of man’s sin. Isaiah 53:5 says (prophetically) that the chastisement or punishment for our sin was upon Him.

Christ’s work was complete. If He had taken upon Him and died to our sinful actions, then it would be possible for one to live free of sinful actions. We know that is not the case. It is impossible for man to live free of any sinful action. The complete work that Jesus did was to die to the punishment and condemnation of sin. While it DOES take a lot of renewing of the mind to do it, it IS possible to live free from the condemnation of sin.

We already do live free of the condemnation from God – as will be witnessed by all on the day of judgment for those who have received the gift of His righteousness. We must learn to be free of self-condemnation and wrong beliefs that God is condemning us. By that Spirit, that is possible. Living free from sinful actions is not possible, however, while we live in mortal bodies.

Then Romans 6:11 goes on to tell us to “in the same way” be dead to sin and alive in Christ. Verse 12 tells us not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies. You see, Paul got it. Sin is going to BE in your mortal body. To demand it not to be would be an impossible task. What he tells us is to not let it reign. Do not let sinful actions and desires rule your life, your decisions and your destiny. Sin is always going to be there, but do not let it be the ruler of your life!

Condemnation comes when we try to live under law instead of living under grace. Law always leads to condemnation and ultimately death. Grace, however, leads to forgiveness and life. The law demands righteousness from sinful man, but grace provides righteousness to sinful man.  God has not gotten soft on sin. He still hates sin and wants us to hate sin. He wants our heart to desire to break sinful habits and addictions. His concern is more for what sin does to us than the offense of the action itself. He also knows, and wants us to know, that the ONLY way to overcome sin comes when grace teaches us to say no to it (Titus 2).  If we choose grace, we accept forgiveness, and it leads to life.   Law demands righteousness from sinful men, but grace provides righteousness to sinful men.  Exodus 32 illustrates this in contrast with pentacost….Exodus brought the law and 3000 died, Peter received the Holy Spirit through grace, and 3000 people were saved!

There has been no shortage of thou shalt in the history of the church, yet sin continues to grow and worsen. Taking hold of the grace of God is the only way to reverse the tide. Let’s get on board. Let’s receive the covenant of grace in our lives and in our homes. The law is still good in that it shows us the best ways to live, but it cannot save us. We need to stop trying to be justified by it and stop allowing ourselves to be condemned when we don’t.

 

 

 

To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

What is Love Part 5

This week, we wrapped up the “What is Love?” series. In this part we discussed 1 Corinthians 13:6. We are not to rejoice in evil or iniquity but rejoice with the truth (the meaning in the original means rejoicing when “truth wins out.”  The Greek study of the words for rejoicing not in evil is pretty straight forward. It simply means not to find joy, elation or jubilance in injustice or something wrong.

We get a clearer understanding of this when we examine the truth we should rejoice in. Like love, the truth must be looked at from God’s perspective. We may think we do not find joy in evil. But there may be little ways that we do. For example, have you ever had that guy blow past you on the freeway only to find him pulled over a few minutes later? Now, be honest--You rejoiced a little bit.  But that’s just justice, right? I mean he WAS speeding, and he got caught. That is true. Actions have consequences, but we should not rejoice when we see it happen. Again, we’ll understand more about why as we understand truth better. Think of it this way: When we suffer consequence appropriate for our actions, does God rejoice, or does He desire that we not have to suffer that way at all? The answer lies in the fact that “while we were yet sinners, Christ was crucified.” He has made a way for us to escape the ultimate penalty for our sin – death and damnation, so we should wish for others to receive that grace as well when their sin leads them toward destruction, rather than being somewhat happy that they got what they deserved.

In the book of Jonah, we find an example of someone who was used by God (albeit reluctantly), yet struggled in this area. After Jonah’s life experiences brought him to his senses and he obeyed God and spoke His message to Nineveh, he chose to sit and wait for God’s wrath to pour out – even though the people did obey and change their ways.  In chapter four, we find that he was actually angry that God was gracious, merciful and compassionate. While Jonah was stuck in his pity party, God sends a vine to shade him. Then he also sends the worm to destroy the vine. Jonah actually finds himself in misery as he sits and waits and hopes for God to pour out some wrath on Nineveh.

Poor, Jonah. No one told him to stay there. He chose to stay. He was so eager to see God’s wrath poured out on the people of Nineveh. This is NOT rejoicing in truth. Some may think that when Paul mentions rejoicing in truth that he means we get excited when someone’s sin is exposed. This story of Jonah shows this is NOT the case.

Another example was Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. We know the story, but we want to focus on the character of the older son. We studied a few weeks back about how, when you read the parable carefully, you find that the older son was given his inheritance as well at the same time as his brother. Personally, he had nothing to be offended about. When the father rejoices in the younger son’s return, the older son becomes angry. He wanted his brother to get what he “deserved.” He wanted his father to reject the son.  Then Jesus pulls all of this into perspective in John 8. We are pretty familiar with what is says in verse 32 – that they will “know the truth and the truth will set them free.” To understand the meaning, we need to look at context. If we look at chapter 8 as a whole we get a better idea of what the truth is.

At the beginning of the chapter, we find the story of the woman caught in adultery. The Pharisees bring her before Jesus to try and trap him. They state that the Law demands she be stoned, but they also know Jesus tendency toward compassion. When Jesus demands that the one without sin cast the first stone, one by one they walk away. 

Much has been discussed regarding what Jesus was writing in the sand when He was engaged in this encounter. I am sure that if it was important, the Bible would tell us. There are, however, a number of interesting theories. One of my favorites is that Jesus may have been writing the names of those in the crowd who had been “acquainted” with this woman in the past. That would certainly explain why they suddenly lost interest in punishing her.  I have, counter to this, always believed it had something to do with avoiding temptation. Jesus was a man, tempted in every way that we are (yet without sin). He may have needed something to occupy his eyes and mind to avoid sin. If the woman had been “caught in the act” of adultery, she may not have been modestly clad.

After all of them walk away, Jesus tells her that he does not condemn her and to now, go and sin no more. The order of those statements is very important. He did not tell her to go and sin no more so that she would not be condemned. The truth is that grace comes first, and then sin falls away.

 Later in the chapter, Jesus has a discussion with the Pharisees about who His father is and who their father is. They are infuriated that He implies God is His father and they claim first that Abraham is their father and later that only God is their father. Jesus’ response to their claim of being Abraham’s descendants is telling in regard to the definition of truth. He tells them in verse 39 that if they were children of Abraham they do what he did. What does He mean by that?

 Abraham lived long before the Law. He lived by faith and grace. Abraham believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness. He had no list of rules to be justified by. Then in verse 56 Jesus says, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” That sounds a lot like “rejoicing in the truth” from 1 Corinthians 13:6.  When God took Abraham outside his tent and showed him all the stars in the sky as a picture of the number of his descendants, it was not just physical descendants God was speaking of. He was showing him all of us; we who now live by faith and grace before God!

 

 

 To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

 

What is Love part 4

This week, we continued our series, “What is Love?” This week we discussed 1 Corinthians 13:5. In this verse we are given more things that love is NOT.  The first one we talked about this week is not being self-seeking. The Greek word here is zeteo. It paints a picture of one who is so bent on getting his way that he’ll twist the facts, look for loopholes, put words in others’ mouths, try to hold others accountable for promises they never made, leap on insignificant mistakes as opportunities to twist someone’s arm. Sounds like the kind of person who might have a career in politics J

It also can describe one who gets so upset about not getting what he wants that he will drag others to court to get what he wants. This is not talking about legitimate legal disputes. Paul was addressing a growing trend in Corinth where people were dragging one another into court for frivolous reasons. If someone has robbed you or truly defrauded you, the legal system is there.   As a modern example, I would use a situation where you slip and fall in a neighbor’s house. You were not really hurt, but then you see one of those accident lawyer commercials on TV and decide to see how much you are “entitled to.” That is not what LOVE does! 

 

The next thing love is NOT is easily angered. Strangely enough, the word “easily” is not in the original Greek text. Some believe that the King James translators may have added it to appease King James who was known to have a pretty short fuse. That is speculation, but certainly within the realm of possibility.  The Greek word is paroxsuno and is a compound word made up of para – which means to come alongside (like para-legal or para-medic) and oxsus – which means to pole, prick or stick with a sharp object with the intent to provoke. That is the verb form. So Paul is saying not to be one who CAN be easily provoked. I picture this provoking to be like the classic, back-seat sibling battle. “He’s touching me!... He touched me first!...”  If people at work know you are a Christian, and you let someone else provoke you to anger, when you snap, you provide a bad example of love.

 Finally, we talked about keeping no record of wrongs. The Greek word for keeping the record is logidzomai. It is actually an accounting term. It gives a picture of keeping painstaking detail of every mistake, disappointment, failure, or perceived wrongdoing in order to use it for future opportunities. Guys, you might think this is what your wife does, but remember, you’d do the same thing if you were capable of remembering like her ;)

You see, God chooses not to keep record of our wrongs. As soon as we seek forgiveness, He forgives and casts our sin as far as the east is to the west (Ps 103). He does not bring them up again. 2 Corinthians 5:19 says that he “reconciles” the earth through Christ Jesus and is not counting man’s sins against him. He reconciles the “books” that contain all our sin and it is balanced by the blood of Jesus – leaving an empty ledger.  Unfortunately, the enemy likes to keep his own set of books and try to show you and others that there is still a debt – one that needs to be exposed. Proverbs 10:12 says that hatred stirs up dissention, but love covers over all wrongs. 1 Peter 4:8 says that love covers a multitude of sins.  Love does not seek to expose the sin of other, but cover it. This does not mean condoning it, but simply not exposing it. Allow grace to do its work. Grace will teach us to say no to ungodliness (Titus 2:11-12).

 Nowhere is this example more clear than in Genesis 9:18-29. Shortly after Noah and his family exit the ark and begin rebuilding the earth, Noah gets drunk and naked in his tent. He has three sons. One of them, Ham, sees his father’s condition and exposes it to others. The two other sons choose not to look at their father’s condition but instead cover him up (a picture of grace).   The one who exposed, Ham, had a son named Canaan. Yes, the same as the land of Canaan. He was cursed by his father for his action and ended up being defeated by God’s people – the line of Shem.  And then we, the Gentiles, are connected through the line of Japheth (that’s all another sermon for another day).

Instead of looking for the faults in others – both in the world and in the church family – let’s look for the good. When we find the junk, let’s help people through their junk instead of exposing it. Instead of condemning sinners for their sinful actions, love them and extend grace. I’, not saying accept sin. I’m saying love sinners. Let grace do its work!

 

 

 

 To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

What is Love? Part 3

This week, we continued the “What is Love?” series. In this part we took an in-depth look at the issues of boastfulness and pride as discussed in 1 Corinthians 13:4.  The word boastful or vaunting in Greek is perperuomai and describes one who is full of self-talk, self-promotion, one who exaggerates his own virtues, is full of hot air/windbag and on the border of (and probably crossing the border of) lying – all in order to make others think more highly of them.  You may not think you do this – and maybe you don’t. But I bet you can think of someone (though you shouldn’t, since that is judging). This is because the nuisance of this type of person’s self-promotion is all too memorable.

 Have you ever “juiced up” your testimony because you felt it wasn’t radical enough? Then, what you did was boast (read: lie) to try and help God. He doesn’t need that sort of help. If He has placed someone in your path to share the Gospel with, then stick to the truth. He knows what He’s doing!   

Why do people feel the need to boast? It comes from insecurity and a need to be accepted by man. Sometimes it is rooted in having never felt accepted by a parent or other important figure in life. Regardless, it is something we need to get over because it is NOT love.  If we put too much value in the acceptance of man, we miss the mark in our acceptance before God. Now understand that, by grace, you already ARE accepted before God. You don’t need to work or do works to earn it. Sometimes I think we WANT to earn it. We want to think God must accept us a little more than others because of all the good things we do or bad things we don’t do but that is simply not the case.

 Instead, we should seek to be God pleasers as opposed to man pleasers. In John 12:42-43, Jesus talks about those in the Jewish community who, deep inside, did believe in Him, yet were afraid to admit it because they feared rejection by the Pharisees. Allowing man to give you your acceptance is a dangerous place to be. It’s tiring too.  If you are trying to please man, who is flesh, you will always end up having to do what flesh desires (sin) in order to please flesh. You will find yourself eventually having to check your morals at the door to keep someone happy.

Galatians 1:10 says that if we try to serve God while seeking the approval of man, we will always end up marred by compromise.  If we seek to please God, He will never lead us to sin.  Romans 8:8 echoes this and emphasizes that we are spirit and should be led by the Spirit.    Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God, and it also says that we must have faith in the fact that HE will reward those who diligently seek Him. We please God by placing more value in His opinion of our lives than the opinions of men. We must believe that, even when it is very hard to do it, if we avoid the temptation to please men, God WILL reward us.

Proverbs 3:3-4 tells us to make our lives about loving others. In doing so we will gain favor in the eyes of God AND man. Now, I understand there will always be haters. But, by and large, if you live a lifestyle of loving others which is what pleases God, you will also end up pleasing most men.

Then we must deal with pride. Pride, or being “puffed up” as the King James version puts it, by definition doesn’t sound much different than boasting. I would say the difference is this: Boasting is usually done out of insecurity. Pride actually believes one’s own boasting. It believes its own hype.  In 1 Corinthians 4 Paul addresses an issue with pride in the church of Corinth. The church leaders had become prideful about their knowledge of the Word. The problem was that in all their pride they seemed to be okay with blatant, unabashed sin in one of their brothers. Their spiritual pride had blinded them from truth.

In chapter 8 and verse 1 he brings the topic to a head by declaring that knowledge “puffs up” while love edifies. Knowledge itself is very good. We need it. But knowledge can also magnify pride – especially when our pride is in our knowledge. It is a trap many Christians fall into. Instead of true knowledge of the Word driving one to love more, it can cause one to instead judge harshly. Love builds others up, not tears them down.

 To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

What is Love? Part 2

This week, we continued our series, “What is Love?” In this part we discussed the patience of love.  First, we examined the word agape. This is the Greek word for love that is used throughout 1 Corinthians 13. This particular word is only used in the Bible to describe God’s love and the love that flows from us to others. It gives the picture of a love that gives and gives and gives – even if it is never responded to or acknowledged. It is love that is a choice and not a response.

This is contrary to the way we tend to love. Our love is usually a response to being loved. In fact 1 John 4:19 tells us that we love because He first loved us. Love starts with Him. When we receive that love, we then are able to love much more like He does.  We are told to “have” love. But God “is” love.

Let’s look at patience. The word used for patience in 1 Corinthians 13:4 is makrothumia. It is a compound word made up of makros which means long, distant, remote, long duration and thumos which means swelling emotion or growing passion. The King James version uses the phrase “suffereth long.” God’s patience is one that actually continues to grow as we flounder about. It is a patience that goes for as long as needed. The longer the fight, the more committed to being patient that agape love becomes.  That is quite the opposite of what we do. We are looking for the list of things that can occur that allow us to stop being patient with one another. When do I not have to love anymore? So, how can we be expected to be truly patient with one another?

Romans 5:5 tells us that the love of God (agape) has been poured abundantly into our hearts. He has already given us HIS love as a resource because He knows ours isn’t enough.  The fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22) has been placed inside of us. We don’t have true love, goodness, self-control… patience. But it is inside of us waiting for us to allow it to flow from us to others.

 We studied the question from the disciples from Matthew 18:21 and the parable that follows.  We talked about how the use of 7’s means that we forgive until all is completed and we are with Jesus.  During the story of the debt owed, we discussed the difference between the debts.  The original debt was $15 million by today’s standards.  The debt he would not forgive was $15.  We talked about the punishment of being turned over to his jailers. When we don’t forgive, we are turned over to bitterness and its results, as opposed to living by love and its fruit.

2 Timothy 4:2 was what we left with this week as a final comment.

 

 To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

What is Love? Part 1

This week, we started a new series called “What is Love (Baby Don’t Hurt Me).” In this series, we will be examining the topic of love from God’s perspective. We are not capable of truly loving as God loves – except by the Spirit working through us. We will use the famous “love chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13 as our basis for this series.  In this first part, we looked at the very first verse. Paul states that we can be as spiritual as we want to be, but, unless we are doing so with love, we are just a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

 First, keep in mind the context of this chapter. It sits between the 12^th and 14^th chapters, which spend a great deal of time discussing the gifts of the Spirit. Sandwiched between them is this admonition on love. You see, the world has seen plenty of believers walking in spiritual gifts and doing a good job of being religious – without love.  The fact that Paul describes this as sounding like a clanging cymbal made me think of a band. If our spiritual walk is a lot of religion without love, we are a band that is just one clanging cymbal. We’re missing the rest of the band. Love brings the guitar, piano, bass, singers and the rest of the drum kit. So, religion and spiritual gifts are good and PART of the band. But without love, they are just annoying and irritating.   Also, a cymbal is made of brass (bronze or copper, with Tin mixed in, so that the sound is hollow and not as clear as that made by bronze or copper).  The word resounding means echo or reverberate.  The two words resounding gong together originally in Greek mean “endless beating of metal that produces a hollow, annoying, irritating echo that seems to eternally reverberate.”

In Corinth, there was a major Pagan contingency. Part of their worship ritual included clanging cymbals incessantly. So, Paul’s choice of imagery is double-edged. Not only is loveless religion irritating and pointless, but it is actually worse than what the Pagans did. At least the Pagan cymbals didn’t turn people AWAY from Christ as loveless Christians do.  The clanging cymbal also paints the image of how the Jews would go into battle clashing cymbals. This instructs us then on both sides of the image. We should try not to be the resounding gong, but we should also fight the urge to be driven to battle by the resounding gongs in life.  We must learn to look at everyone as God does, through the eyes of grace.  The two words together “clanging cymbal, mean “constant loud crashing of cymbals.”

 We also covered a sort of top ten list of signs that you might be a resounding gong or clanging cymbal. Here it is in summary:

 10. You see yourself as “more spiritual” than others

9. You judge those who don’t hold all the same standards as you

8. You are quick to find fault with others – and point out those faults to anyone who will listen

7. You have an unhealthy interest in arguing doctrine

6. Your feeling are easily hurt and you are easily offended (especially by those who are not accepting your “corrections”)

5. You put a great deal of effort into presenting an image of yourself that is far better than your reality

4. You can never admit being wrong

3. You make others feel like they can never measure up

2. You like to draw attention to all the rules that you keep (that others are not keeping) and get defensive if anyone points out that there are other rules you seem to be ignoring

1. FINALLY…. You thought of or pictured people you know for numbers 10 through 2 (ouch!)

In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells a parable directed at the “clanging cymbals” (or those self-righteous). He uses as an example a Pharisee, an expert in the law, who comes to the temple to pray and thanks God that he is not like all those heathens who aren’t keeping all the rules.  He also uses a tax collector as a counterexample.  Tax collectors were hated by the Jews of Jesus’ day even more than they are today. The tax collectors of that day were Jews who were hired by Rome to collect Caesar’s taxes. It was an unwritten rule that they were free to collect whatever they wanted on top of Rome’s tax for themselves.  The tax collector was seen as a traitor and a turncoat – utterly despised. In Jesus’ parable, the tax collector came to God and sought mercy – acknowledging his own shortcomings while the Pharisee exalted himself. Jesus said the tax collector will have found favor before God and not the Pharisee.

 We must learn to walk in grace toward all. This does not mean we cannot judge the fruit in someone’s life as a gauge for how close they can come to me , my family and my ministry. I can make that call by looking at fruit without judging a person’s salvation or their eternity based on a set of legalist rules. Only God can do that and we are NOT Him.

 

In Matthew 7 we are told not to judge, lest we be judged and that we should not point out the speck in the eye of another while we have a plank in our own eye. What does that mean? It means we will be qualified to judge others when we are perfect – so, pretty much never.

 

Let’s put love first and then religion and see if we don’t begin seeing better results in our goals of reaching the world with the Gospel.

 

 

 

 To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.

West Side Story Part 4

This week, we wrapped up the "West Side Story" series with deeper study into the issues of greed that can be a trap in Promised Land living.  We looked at the passage in 1 Timothy 6 that discusses the "love of money." The first thing to notice is that it does not say (as is often misquoted) that money is the root of all evil. For one, it is the love of money that is the problem. Money is a tool or a resource. We are not to love the creation, we love the creator.  However, if we choose to hate money, we will always struggle to see our own needs met and never get to a place of helping meet the needs of others or to help expand the Kingdom. We should not shun money or fear its ability to corrupt us so much that we avoid it.

 

Instead, love God. You see, whatever you direct your love to, you will never get enough; you'll never be satisfied. Directing our lvoe toward money or power or anything other than God will always lead to an emptiness and unfulfilled desire. Instead, you should direct that love to God and be in a position of never being able to get enough of Him, and you will live a much more satisfied life.  The passage also did not say that the love of money is the root of ALL evil (it is A root of all kind of evil). Sure, it is a top three for sure, but there are many other ways evil is birthed in our lives. We can’t think that avoiding money is a way to avoid evil and become holy.

 

Jesus talked about this as well in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. If we get our priorities out of whack and spend our lives in constant desire for more money, we lose much more important things. He warns us not to lay up for ourselves treasure where moth and rust destroy, but in heaven.  Some have taken this to mean we can't have ANYTHING in this life, even to the extent of a savings account. Let's not get crazy here. We need to understand why He used the example of a moth and rust destroying.  Maybe you have a fine suit hanging in your closet. The only way the moths destroy it is if it stays hung in your closet. If it is being used, or is in motion, the moths can't touch it. A machine that sits unused will have its gears rust and cause it to be ruined, but if the machine stays in motion, rust cannot destroy it. What Jesus is warning us against is collecting "stuff" and having it just lie around and serve no purpose.

 

Is it a sin to have a nice boat (provided you can truly afford it)? No. If you use it to invest in your family by spending time together and building memories and relationships, it is an asset and is serving a noble purpose. If it sits next to your house for years on end and collects dust and rust, it is wasted resource. Let's avoid that!

 

Since we found at least three places that warned us to be sure to not use our godliness for personal financial gain, that must be a real problem. If godliness only led to poverty, there would be no need for these kinds of warnings. The fact that we must be warned so many times seems to indicate that leading a godly life CAN lead to wealth. Promised Land living can lead to blessing flowing in your life.  So, do not allow the stuff to become your focus. Remember where the stuff comes from. Remember that, even if you lost it all (or God asked you to give it all), you are still connected to the SOURCE of all good things. 

 

Now, let's keep on taking territory in our hearts and in our lives!

 

 

 To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php.  To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.