Matthew C. Mitchell's Blog, page 94

Re-Reading "Resisting Gossip"

Allison Bies, a Christian and a busy reader from the Chicago area, wrote me this encouraging note this week:

I wanted to connect with you because I just re-read Resisting Gossip, and I was convicted afresh of the power of our words.  Resisting Gossip is on my personal "re-read" list.  I have some Christian books that I read every 1-2 years for reminders, encouragement, and fresh conviction.  God's Word is alive, and His teaching impacts us in fresh was as we find ourselves in different circumstances. 

As I read the book for the second time, I was especially struck by the statement that I do not need to say something just because I think it.  I realize that I have been using careless words lately, feeling justified speaking them without considering their negative impact.  Also, I love how RG consistently brings readers back to the gospel.  Ultimately, we as Christians do not need to be overwhelmed with self-hate or wallow in disappointment since we have the tremendous privilege of access to Christ's power as we apply 1 John 1:9.  I was also reminded about how important our heart condition is, since words flow from our heart (Matthew 12:34).  

Thanks, Allison, for reading, then re-reading my book, but thanks even more for putting what you learned into practice!

#16. What has God promised us to do with our prayers?

Christian Prayer Catechism: Question #16

Q. What has God promised us to do with our prayers?

A. God has promised to answer our prayers!

We need to remind ourselves again and again that God has told us to persevere in prayer and that He will faithfully answer (Matthew 7:7, Luke 18:1ff).

Loving My Children: Embracing Biblical Motherhood by Katie Faris

Katie Faris has recently launched her first book, Loving My Children: Embracing Biblical Motherhood (paperback with a e-book version coming soon) with a corresponding Facebook page.

I've read it, and it's really good.

I'm not a mother, but I'm married to one and pastor a church full of them. Moms will definitely profit from reading this book.

Here's my short review and endorsement:

What do diapers, lullabies, laundry, and cleaning behind the baby's ears have to do with the gospel? Everything! In this gem of a book, our friend Katie Faris winsomely shares biblical wisdom on seeking the best for the children God has loaned us. Katie knows what she's talking about--we've seen her mothering in action--and she writes well. Sweet but not sentimental, direct but not demanding, Loving My Children helpfully connects the Bible's teaching on grace, sovereignty, and sanctification to the everyday hard work of being a mom. Heather and I highly recommend it.

In future days, I hope to offer a giveaway contest for a free book, but don't wait for that to get your copy. Buy one for you and for a young mom you love.

[Matt's Messages] “Sent”

“Sent”
July 12, 2015
John 20:21

You can open your Bibles to John chapter 20, if you want to, but today’s message is going to be very brief. I wanted to give you a chance to hear fully from your team that was sent this week to Pittsburgh to share the gospel with people who need to hear it.

And really, for the message today, I just want to wrap up all of what has been said into one word. A biblical word that I think we should give some more thought to in our lives.

It’s the word “sent.” Or “send.” And it appears in the gospel of John chapter 20. There are actually two different Greek words in that verse that are both translated with the same English word “sent” because the idea is basically the same.

We have been given a mission.

John 20:21 is part of that great story of Jesus’ resurrection. It’s one of His appearances after He was raised, the one right before He encounters Thomas.

And I’m not going to read the whole thing to you. I’ll just say this: the doors were locked and then Jesus appeared and said, “Peace be with you!” and then He showed his hands and side to the disciples and they were overjoyed.

And then he gave them this commission. “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

One of the things that grabbed me while we were on our trip to Pittsburgh was that the people at the host homes kept calling us, “the missionaries.”

“We’re hosting the missionaries this week.”

“The missionaries are using that room.”

And I thought, “That’s not right. That’s not me. I’m not a missionary.”

And I’m not. I’m not a foreign missionary. I’m not really a cross-cultural missionary. I’m not one of those folks across the back of our wall that we pray for and send money to, may their tribe increase!

We need more foreign missions cross-cultural language-learning take-the-gospel-where-it-hasn’t-been-yet workers to go out into the world and share the good news.

I’m continuing to pray that God will raise up career missionaries from our midst here.

But there is a very real sense in which I was a missionary this week.

I was sent.

I was sent on a mission.

I was sent on a mission with a missions team.

You’ve heard all about it this morning and seen some of our 1,800 pictures.

These folks up here were missionaries. They were sent on mission.

Just like Jesus said to the apostles, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Who was the greatest missionary ever?

It wasn’t William Carey, the father of modern missions.

It wasn’t Jim Elliot who gave his life for the mission. Or Elizabeth Eliot who went back.

It wasn’t Hudson Taylor or David Livingstone, as great as those missionaries were.

It wasn’t even the Apostle Paul.

It was Jesus. He was on a mission from His Father.

He came to be the Word. He came to be the Savior.

He was sent!

And after He died and came back from the dead, He sent His people on a mission.

“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Now, of course, there are ways in which Jesus was sent that we never will be and the apostles weren’t either.

He was sent to be crucified, and I’m pretty sure He didn’t mean here that all of His followers would be, too.

And there is a sense in which John 20:21 applied most directly to the apostles and not to us. They were all sent as authorized representatives, apostles, who had an authority that we do not.

But still.

I think this is true for every Christian, no matter who you are. No matter where you’re from or where you live.

You and I are sent.

We are to live our lives “on mission.”

Some people are saying we need to live a missional lifestyle.  And by that they mean we are supposed to see our lives today as missionary lives.

Whether or not we ever move.

I put this picture up today for this text because it’s what we normally think of with “sent.”

On the road again.

And your team hit the road this week. We were only 2 hours down the road but it’s different world there.

And we’re not all called to go down the road.

But we are all sent.

“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

We have a mission–to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

We have a message–the gospel.

And we are sent to share it.

Do you see yourself as sent?

I believe that the church in America needs to increasing grow in understanding that we are missionary church sent to America.

For a long time, because of the rich heritage of Christianity in America, we have had a kind of “home-field advantage,” and have even thought of America as some kind of a Christian nation, if such a thing could exist.

And we’ve gotten comfortable and thought of America as our home.

But we are not home. We are guests here even if we have American citizenship.

We are citizens of heaven.

Philippians 3:20 says, “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

He’s our King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And we are to be ambassadors for Him.

We are sent.

Even if we never move an hour from where we were born, if we are Christians, we are SENT to where we are.

Sent on a mission and sent with a message.

And that should increasingly affect the way we think about ourselves and how we should act.

How do missionaries act when they arrive in a new land?

What do they do?

They learn the culture, don’t they?

They learn the language, the customs, and they begin loving the people there.

And they constantly look for ways to bridge the divide with their new neighbors and provide a bridge for the gospel. And it might look like Family Bible Week and the Good News Cruise.

Do you see yourself as an ambassador?

Ambassadors have to live with the values of the land they are from in the land they are visiting. That’s us.

We live the values of the kingdom of Jesus while we live in the world. And we try to bridge the gap.

We give no offense that is not necessary for our mission and our message.

We don’t give personal offense if we can help it. Only that offense that comes with the mission and the message.

We are sent.

I was talking yesterday with Tim & Kelly Beck about their move. They are here this week and then next week, and they’re off to the Harrisburg area.

They’ll come back to visit, I’m sure.

But this couple has a deep and growing sense of how God is calling them to be SENT. God is sending them to that area.

Not to be professional missionaries but to be ambassadors of Jesus over there.

Next week, I’ve asked for them to share a little of their story of how God has confirmed this calling on their lives again and again.

The point is that we are ALL sent.

Whether you go over the ocean (and I’m praying for more of you to go!) or over the 3 rivers to Mount Washington in Pittsburgh (and I’m praying for more of that) or if you don’t even go over the mountain to State College, that you would see yourself as ON MISSION for the Lord.

Sent on a mission to make disciples.

Sent on with message to see people’s lives changed now and forever.

The gospel!

Liatris (Blazing Star)

#15. Does God hear the prayers of nonChristians?

Christian Prayer Catechism: Question #15

Q. Does God hear the prayers of nonChristians?

A. God hears all prayers but has only promised to bless the prayers of His children.

Nothing goes unnoticed by God (Hebrews 4:13). And God in His common grace has used the prayers of nonChristians in the Bible and in human history (ex. Acts 10:31). God has not, however, promised to bless the prayers of nonChristians like He has for His children (Matthew 7:9-11).

[Matt's Messages] “Lessons from the School of Affliction”

“Lessons from the School of Affliction”
July 5, 2015 :: Psalm 119:71

I was as surprised as you probably are that we aren’t opening our Bibles to Romans again this morning. However, it’s clear to me that we should take a brief break from Romans for the next three weeks and then come back to it at the end of the month.

Don’t worry! I still plan to finish Romans in less than a year. I promised not to be one of those pastors who go into Romans and never come out, and I’m still doing my best to lead you through.

But for now, we’ll take a break. This week, Psalm 119, verse 71. Next week, we’ll get the report from our Pittsburgh Ministry Team, and then 19th will be our Family Bible Week finale–and I’ve got a special message to go with our theme for this year.

Today, Psalm 119, verse 71.

Do you know much about the 119th Psalm? It’s the longest Psalm in your Bible. 176 verses! I’m not going to read them all to you today. Maybe some day, we will!

And Psalm 119 is elaborately and carefully written to celebrate the psalmist’s relationship with God through His word. If you have the NIV, you’ll see that there are  22 sections of the Psalm, one for every letter in the Hebrew Alphabet. And most of them have 8 verses each that all start with a different word that begins with the letter of that section. A-B-C and so for, so to speak. It’s truly a literary work of art–and we don’t see some of how ahmazing it is because we have to translate it into English.

But verse 71 is in a section of the psalm the “Teth” section, verses 65-72 that don’t all start with a different word with a Hebrew “Teth” on it, but instead, 5 of the verses begin with the same Hebrew Word “Tov” or our word for that is “Good.”

In fact, the Hebrew word for “good” appears 6 times in these 8 verses, and I don’t think that that is a coincidence.

There is something good going on in these 8 verses.

But what we find out is good might be a little surprising to us!

Especially in verse 71.

I quoted it, kind of badly, from memory last Sunday in the message, and it’s been on my mind all week. So, I thought we might study it more closely this morning together.

I want us to focus on the peculiar perspective of verse 71.

“It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Psalm 119:71).

That’s a peculiar statement if you understand what “afflicted” means.

To be “afflicted” is to be troubled, pained, distressed, ailed, bowed-down, humbled, pushed, oppressed.

Does anybody here like to be afflicted?

I don’t think so.

But the psalmist says, “It was good [tov] for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your [God’s] decrees.”

Now, we’re not sure who the psalmist was. It might have been David, many of the psalms are by David, but they have his name attached to them. This one has no attribution.

And we don’t know what this psalmist’s affliction was.

Verses 69 and 70 describe how some arrogant enemies had slandered his name–perhaps it’s likely that’s the affliction he is referring to.

But it doesn’t say that is so many words, perhaps so that we can apply this principle of affliction to lots of different areas in our lives, as well.

Troubles. Hardships. Adversities. When things are going against us and it hurts and it’s hard, so hard.

Here’s the testimony of this writer after times like that: “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.”

Today’s message is entitled, “Lessons from the School of Affliction.”

We could say, “Good things to learn from the school of hard knocks.”

“Lessons from the School of Affliction.”

And here’s the first point of two:

#1. IT CAN BE GOOD FOR US TO BE AFFLICTED.

Now, that may not be what you wanted to hear this morning.

At first, that sentence is not very comforting.

Nobody wants affliction, and those few that act like it, masochists, are crazy.

Affliction is painful and difficult and harmful and grueling.

And it’s important to note that this verse does not say that the affliction was itself a good thing. It was a bad thing. It came to this poor guy because the world is fundamentally broken.

The Bible is a realistic book. It describes things the way that they are.

It doesn’t paint this painful experience in deceptive rosy terms.

The psalmist is not saying that it felt good to be afflicted.

“It didn’t even hurt a bit!”

The psalmist is saying that the end result of that painful affliction brought a benefit to him. It was worth it. In the end, it was good.

“It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.”

It can be good for us to be afflicted.

Now, I’ll tell you why I was attracted to this verse for today.

This year has been a year of affliction for me, health-wise.

I’m a little sheepish to say anything about this because I know that many of you have suffered much more than I have. Some of you have had the same things as I, and many of you have had much more difficult health problems.

So, I’m hesitant to talk about it, but because I’d been relatively healthy for the first forty some years of my life, these new health battles, one after another, have really set me back on my heels.

And they have caused me to think.

As I said last week, I want to learn what I’m supposed to learn from these illnesses.

From my diverticulitis. It flared up again this week. I’m on two antibiotics this morning. Not one, but two. Back in May, I had a perforated colon to go with it. I was worried this week that it had happened again. I missed prayer meeting because I was sick.

And from my gallbladder attacks. If that’s what they were. I’ve had several tests now and some of them came back quite normal. My last one was a HIDA scan, a nuclear test where they lit up my gallbladder with stuff that has a half-life and took a video of it in operation. I hope to find out something from that soon and see what else is needed.

As we said last week, Heather likes to say, “I hate your guts!” And I do, too, right now!

But I want to learn what I need to learn from this experience of affliction.

The other day, after they injected the radioactive stuff, they also injected some chemicals that simulate eating a greasy meal.

And, oh, was that painful!  Ouch! And I hadn’t eaten for several hours beforehand or slept for some reason so I was just miserable when my test was over.

And I’m not yet feeling 100% yet.

But I don’t say that to complain. I say that to say that I want that affliction to be GOOD for me.

I want to learn the lessons God has for me in the school of affliction.

All of us who are Christians can give this testimony, too, can’t we?

I’ll bet that every one here has a story or two or two hundred about what God taught you through a painful experience. Am I right?

It seems to me that God often teaches more courses in the school of affliction than He does in the school of blessing!

C.S. Lewis in his little book The Problem of Pain says that God uses our pain to get our attention.

He writes, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

We’ve all had those experiences.

That’s why James can say, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds...”

Because we all know that it can be good for us to be afflicted...

...if we are willing to learn from it.

That doesn’t mean that the suffering is good in and of itself.

Suffering is bad. It’s a result of the Fall. It’s not good. And one day it will end.

This also doesn’t mean that the suffering stops when we learn our lesson.

Sometimes we joke that we want to learn the lesson of this school of pain so that we don’t have to repeat the course!

But that’s not how this school works.

Sometimes we learn plenty and yet the pain persists.

But it does mean that God can redeem the pain of any affliction.

Remember what we learned back in Romans 8:28–“And we know that in all things [including the afflictions] God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

It can be good for us to be afflicted.

That’s actually comforting when you think about it. That God can use the most painful things in our lives for our good.

Whether they be illnesses, or attacks, or setbacks, or losses.

God doesn’t waste pain.

That’s comforting to me.

Now, I wouldn’t share that truth with someone else who is suffering. Not right away.

Don’t run to the hospital today and go up and down the halls saying, “What is God teaching you in your affliction?”

That’s heartless and insensitive.

Job’s counselors had it right when they just came and sat with him. And were silent. That’s when they acted like his friends. When they opened their mouths, they got in trouble.

We don’t lead with this when someone is suffering.

But we who are Christians still need to know it.

It can be good for us to be afflicted.

Here’s why? The second half of the verse.

“It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.”

#2. WE CAN LEARN GOD’S WAYS.

We can learn God’s ways in the school of affliction.

That word “decrees” in verse 71 can also be translated, “statues” or “inscriptions.”

It means written down instructions.

The 119th Psalm is amazing in how it contains so many different synonyms for the Word of God. The psalmist must have worn out his thesaurus trying to come up with different words to mean basically the same thing–God’s holy Word inscribed in His Law.

And the emphasis isn’t on the promises of God here but on God’s commandments, God’s instructions, God’s decrees of how a believer should live.

We could say, “God’s ways.” God’s paths to walk in.

When you study at God’s school of affliction you can learn how God operates and how God wants His followers to live their lives.

And that, of course, includes believing His promises!

“It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.”

The New Living Translation says it this way: “The suffering you sent was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your principles.”

Are you getting that out of your sufferings?

I’m trying.

I’m trying to learn God’s ways in the middle of mine.

Verse 67 says that the affliction got the psalmist back on the right track. V.67

“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.”

Sometimes God sends us affliction to discipline us and to get us back on the right track.

Sometimes it’s a 180 degrees, sometimes it’s just a 1 degree course correction, but the painful nudge is what it took.

I’m not saying that all suffering is discipline. But that that we can learn God’s ways from all suffering.

Here are some things I’m learning, or think I’m learning from my present affliction.

- It’s not all about me.

My life is not all about me.

Do remember when we studied the book of Genesis and we learned that God was the main character in the book? It wasn’t Abraham, or Jacob, or Joseph?

We said, “You’re not the main character in the story of your life.”

That’s what’s coming to me recently.

My life is not about me. It’s about God.

So in pain or out of pain, what matters is the Lord and living for Him.

Am I doing that?

And the same is true for ministry.

This Pittsburgh Ministry Team is not about Pastor Matt.

They will do just fine today and tomorrow without me.

And if I end up not going on tomorrow or Tuesday as I’m now planning to, they’ll do just fine without me, then, as well.

Because it’s not about me! It’s about the Lord.

Here’s another things I’m learning in the school of affliction.

- God meets you in your waiting.

I’ve been in a lot of waiting rooms recently. Every doctor’s office has a waiting room.  And some have more than one. And often even after you get to the last room, you still have to wait.

So, I’ve been trying to learn to wait.

I’ve never been much of a wait-er.

I’m always pushing, trying to get the next thing done.

I love to be productive.

But I’m trying to learn patience in this season of my life.

It’s not about productivity right now. It’s about patience.

I’ve made an idol of productivity, of getting things done.

I’m trying to learn to enjoy the right here right now.

Look at all of the gifts God has given me. Let me enjoy each one in the moment. Not after I lose weight, after I get that next test done, after I feel better.

Right now.

And let me give thanks right now to that God that meets me in the waiting.

I’ve been in too much of a hurry to get somewhere else when God was right here.

Now, I’m trying to learn those things, I’m not saying that I have it down.

But I think God is teaching me His ways in the school of affliction.

I could tell you other things I’m learning: about love for others, about how much I’m loved by God and by His people, about how trustworthy God is, about good God is.

Verse 68, “You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees.”

But the point I’m trying to make is that in the school of affliction, the curriculum is God’s precepts, God’s decrees, God’s statutes, God’s law, God’s command, God’s word, God’s way.

And it’s so GOOD! V.72

“The law from your mouth is more precious [more TOV, more Good!] to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.”

I’d rather be wise than rich.

That’s what he’s saying.

I’d rather have God’s wisdom, know God’s ways, than to have riches untold.

And one of the best ways to get that is to be enrolled in the school of affliction.

Not to enjoy the classes themselves but to wring out of them every bit of the knowledge of God that you can.

“It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.”

Are you suffering right now?

What might God be trying to teach you?

It might hurt too much right now to think about that.

Perhaps you just need to have your hand held and be told that God loves you.

You are beloved of God.

He is going through this with you right now.

You are not alone.

He hates evil and suffering. And one day He will wipe away every tear from your eyes, Christian.

Maybe that’s what you need to hear right now.

But when you have a chance and can think about it, think about whether or not there might be deeper lessons for you to learn from that painfulness.

Is He trying to wake you up? Have you been going astray, and this is a wake-up call?

Make verse 66 your prayer.

“Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands.”

Verse 68, “Teach me your decrees!”

I want to learn from this school of affliction!

I want to be able to say when my life is over and pain (which has been very little in the grand scheme of things, I must say again). But when my life is over, I want to be able to sing this verse with the psalmist in the new heavens and the new earth.

“It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.”

Gladiator Katydid

#14. What makes prayer effective?

Christian Prayer Catechism: Question #14

Q. What makes prayer effective?

A. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

God responds to who I am, not just formally to what I say (James 5:16). He listens to the totality of my life, not just my words. I am not righteous in myself (thankfully!), but in Christ and in His “positional righteousness,” I am to grow in practical righteousness. The more I grow in Christ through repentance and faith, the more conformed I am to the image of Christ and the more I pray according to His will. The more I pray according to His will, the more effective my prayers become. W. Bingham Hunter has called this “The Prayer/Obedience Cycle” (The God Who Hears, 214). It is not a “magic formula,” but rather, a description of God’s active work of conforming us to the image of His Son and conforming our prayers to be efficacious like His, as well (Romans 8:26-31).

[Matt's Messages] "What Time Is It?"

“What Time Is It?”
All Roads Lead to Romans
June 28, 2015 :: Romans 13:8-14 

If you remember, two weeks ago, we looked at verses 1 through 7 where Paul, as part of his call on us to live our lives in total dedication to Christ unconformed to the world and transformed by the renewing of our minds–asked us to be submissive to the governing authorities because they are God's servants.

And we said two weeks ago that that is not always easy to do, to be submissive to the powers-that-be. Especially when that speed limit sign says “25 miles per hour.”

And after the week our nation has just had, it’s become much harder for me personally to live out those verses.

But live them out, we must! I’m sure that it was much harder for Paul to live out verses 1 through 7 living under the Roman Emperor Nero than it is for us here today.

Paul ended (v.7) by saying, “Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”

That’s not how the world operates, but it is how transformed disciples operate. Those with a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Now, in verse 8, Paul picks up on that language of “owing” something to someone, but he then takes it in a different direction.

“What Time Is It?”

That’s the title of today’s message. Not a request to look at your watch.

“What Time Is It?”

In verse 11, Paul says that we are to do the things he’s saying, “understanding the present time.”

King James puts it, “...knowing the time.”

Heather and I experienced a good bit of jet lag and time disorientation last week when we traveled to California.

That first day, we were so mixed up because nothing worked according to plan (or at least according to the airlines’ plan). We hardly knew what time it was.

We got there to San Diego at 11pm. We had expected to get in at 5pm, but it was 11pm. But it was 11pm Pacific Time.

Anybody know what time that is here?

Yes, two o’clock in the morning.

And we still had to get a rental car and then drive an hour north to Carlsbad!

So, it was like 3:30am here when we tumbled into our bed at the hotel.

But it was only 12:30am there.

And then it was fall asleep and wake up and try to figure out, what?

“What Time Is It?”

What time is it here? What time do we need to leave to go to the conference?

Where’s the coffee?

We got up, and it was time for breakfast in California, but you all here were having lunch. And we were still tired!

And it was like that a bit all week and then we came back, and we lost 3 hours on the way. We were in Phoenix, and I thought that would be Mountain Time, but it turned out to be still Pacific Time so we got on a flight that took about 4 hours in the air, but when we landed it was 7 hours later.

“What Time Is It?”

And all of this last week, we’ve been readjusting and getting back on this time zone.

In Romans 13, Paul is reminding us what time it is and how we should live in view of that time. What moment are we in God’s plan for human history?

We, as Christians, need to know what time it is and act accordingly.

I have three points this morning, and they are all applicational.

The first is this.

#1. IT IS TIME TO LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR.

Christian, it is time (it’s always time) to love your neighbor.

That’s what Paul is saying in verse 8.

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.”

Now, Paul is not forbidding the borrowing of money. He’s not saying that we can’t ever take a loan.

He is saying that if we take a loan, that we must repay the loan. We must fulfill our obligation to pay our debt.

But, he also says that there is debt we owe that we never stop paying on.

It’s the debt to love one another as Christians.

That debt is never ending. That debt never goes away.

We always owe LOVE.

Why? I think it’s because of how deeply we’ve been loved by God.

Remember the first sermon in this series on Romans and how we learned that we are BELOVED of God?

You are loved by God.

And because of that, you are called to love others. And not stop.

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.” v.9 “The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Do you see what Paul is doing there?

Paul quotes four of the commandments that we might call the “horizontal commandments” the ones often called the second table of the law.

These are the commandments of the 10 commandments on how to treat other humans.

“‘Do not commit adultery,' ‘Do not murder,' ‘Do not steal,' ‘Do not covet,'...and whatever other commandment there may be...” I think that means whatever other laws there are in the Old Testament or anywhere if they are just laws that govern our relationships with other people.

The apostle says that they call be summed up with one rule. “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Who does Paul sound like?

Jesus, right? Remember when the expert in the law asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was? And he answered:

“'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).

Paul is echoing Jesus.

Do you want to fulfill the law? Here is the goal of the law, the focus of the law, the heart of the law, the full measure of the law, the thread that runs through all good laws: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

V.10 “Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

It’s always time to love your neighbor.

And if we ask “Who is my neighbor,” then we hear Jesus’ voice again telling us the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Our neighbor is the one near us whom we might have nothing in common with and might naturally despise but has a need that we can fill.

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

How are we doing that today?

How did you do this week at loving the people around you?

Not loving your brother, here, but loving your neighbor.

Not just the people in your neighborhood, but the people who crossed your path like that Jewish man who was robbed and the Samaritan took care of?

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

How are you doing at that?

Loving ourselves comes easily, but loving as we love ourselves is not natural. It’s supernatural. It takes the grace of God.

Is there someone in your life right now that you need to show some love to?

Who is it? And what does love look like right now in that relationship?

It’s time to love your neighbor.

Looking back over last week’s Supreme Court decision about same-sex marriage, it struck me that if we had done a better job twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more years ago at genuinely loving our neighbors who had same-sex attraction, we might not be in the situation we are now.

Of course, it’s more complicated than that and there have always been some Christians who did show genuine love to people with those attractions. And no matter how loving we are, there will always be people who are mad at us for proclaiming the truth about God’s good design for sexuality.

But still. The most heart-wrenching things I read this weekend about same-sex marriage was how many people finally felt loved and affirmed and accepted.

What if we, as Christians, had consistently sent the message that those folks, our neighbors, were loved and affirmed and wanted even if they were different? Perhaps some of them, more of them, wouldn’t have made the errors they did in following their confusion and wrong desires and built their lives around a mistaken identity and twisting of God’s design.

Instead of being bullied and ignored and shunned and made-fun of and blamed for everything bad that ever happened. “It’s because of those gays!”

And now it’s going to be much harder to reach them and those who have developed sympathy for them.

It’s past time to love our neighbors. Not just in words but in actions.

“Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Who is the neighbor that God is calling you to love right now?

#2. IT’S TIME TO WAKE UP FROM YOUR SLUMBER. V.11

“And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”

Paul says that it’s time to wake up from your slumber.

I think that the “and do this” is not just “and love your neighbor” but doing all of chapters 12 and 13. All of that stuff we’ve been learning about as being a transformed people.

Do all of this transformed living in view of what time it is. “Understanding the present time.”

What time is it exactly?

It’s time to wake up.

“The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”

What kind of sleep do you think Paul is talking about?

All of the commentators that I studied this week about this verse agree that the slumber is “moral drowsiness” (Tom Schreiner’s phrase). It’s Christians who are lazy about living the Christian life. Christians who claim to know Jesus but haven’t let Him change them very much at all.

Spiritual lethargy.

People who claim to be followers of Jesus but are asleep at the wheel of their lives.

Paul says, “Wake up!

Hey, you!

What are you doing?

What do you think you are doing?

You say you love Jesus, but you keep living like this?”

The King James says, “...it is high time to awake out of sleep.”

I like that. “It’s high time to get up!”

"Let’s get going, soldier.

Because your commanding officer is on the way."

“The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”

That’s what time it is. It is almost time for the return of Christ.

And if that was true for Paul 2,000 years ago, how much more true is it for us today?

Your salvation is nearer now than when you first believed.

So wake up and live the life you’re called to live right now. V.12

“The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

He’s using the categories of night and day to refer to two different epoch or eras.

The present evil age in which we now live is almost over. The day of the Lord when Christ returns and begins to make all things new again is almost upon us.

That’s what time it is. So how should you and I live?

Like the night or the day?

Like the day, right?

“So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

Wake up from our spiritual sleepyheadedness and put off and put off.

Put off the deeds darkness (the night) and put on the armor of light.

What’s that?

It’s the weapons we need to fight the ongoing battle we have with sin.

This is call to live out our Christianity.

Yesterday, we had the Membership Seminar here at the church, and we have 6 people take the seminar.

And we studied our EFCA Statement of Faith. Article 9 says this on the return of Christ:

We believe in the personal, bodily and premillennial return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission. 

"Godly living, sacrificial service, and energetic mission!"

Paul said, “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

Are you doing that? Are you awake?  V.13

“Let us behave decently, as in the daytime [there he goes again], not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.”

He’s giving us some categories to put to the “deeds of darkness.”

Orgies or rioting and drunkeness, getting out-of-control with alcohol.
Sexual immorality and debauchery. That’s all sex outside of God’s design for marriage. It includes homosexuality but also sex between a boyfriend and girlfriend or sex between two people who are married to others, that is adultery. All sex outside of God’s good design.
Dissension and jealousy, quarelling and envy.

These are not how disciples of Jesus Christ are supposed to live.

Not because we are perfect but because we belong to the world that is to come.

“Let us behave decently, as in the daytime...”

What time is it?

Is the daytime here yet?

It’s not actually here yet, but we are supposed to live like is.

You and are called to live out the values of the world to come while we live in the world that is.

Wake up from your slumber.

Do you need to hear that today?

Some of you probably don’t. Some of you have tender consciences and you feel every little thing that you do wrong and hate it and regret it and want to change and repent and confess and need to be reminded of Romans 8:1. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

But a lot of “Christians” do need a wake-up call.

They need to be reminded that their life is not about them.

That they are saved by grace and by grace are called to CHANGE.

Do you see how this is another call to be transformed?

We used to be one way, conformed to the world.

But because of the mercy of God, because of the gospel of grace, we are called to a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

So we live differently now. We put aside our old lives and we live out the new ones.

If you aren’t, it’s time to start.

It’s time to wake up from your slumber.

And #3. IT’S TIME TO BE CLOTHED WITH YOUR SAVIOR. V.14

“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”

It’s time to wake up, and it’s time to get dressed.

And what clothes we have to put on!

Not just “the armor of light,” though that sounds really good.

But Paul actually says, “...clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.”
What does that mean?

It means to become like Him, I’m sure.
It means to live like Him, I’m certain.

It also means to remind yourself of who your Savior is.

Put Him on each day.

Wrap your mind with Jesus.
Wrap your heart with Christ.

Immerse yourself in your relationship with Him.

So that when people look at you and the way you act, they get a glimpse of Jesus.

Do you see the opposite? It’s not Satan. It’s the flesh. V.14 again.

“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not [even] think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”

Don’t go there. Don’t go to where you flesh wants to go.

Put on Jesus.

The old you has to go. Jesus has to come.

This is another way of saying Romans 12:1-2, isn’t it?

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world [take it off, that’s the night!], but be transformed by the renewing of your mind [put on Christ, the day is coming].”

Are you clothed with your Savior?

To be so, you first need a Savior.

Do you have Savior?

Have you come to trust in Jesus Christ and what He did for you on the Cross?

All of you sin, all of your shame, loaded down on Him.

The penalty paid so that you could go free.

Not so that you could feed your flesh what it wants.

But so that you could be freed from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and someday soon even the presence of sin.

I invite you to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.

And then to put Him on. Not just once but continually.

Clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Fight the flesh by knowing yourself to be clothed with Christ and choosing yourself to be clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ who is coming soon and bringing the day with Him.

That’s what time it is.

***

Messages in this Series:

01. All Roads Lead to Romans
02. I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel
03. The Bad News
04. Hope for Holy Sexuality
05. The Even Worse News
06. The Worst News
07. Justified
08. Father Abraham
09. The Blessings of Justification
10. How Much More
11. New You
12. Slaves Of...?
13. A Life-Changing Relationship with Jesus Christ
14. No Condemnation
15. If the Spirit Lives in You
16. The Spirit of Sonship
17. We Know
18. For Us
19. Who?
20. God's Word Has Not Failed
21. Israel Stumbled
22. God Raised Him From the Dead
23. God Always Keeps His Promises
24. Therefore
25. How to Think of Yourself
26. A Transformed People (Part One)
27. A Transformed People (Part Two)
28. A Transformed People (Part Three)
30. A Transformed People (Part Four)
31. God's Servants