Pastor's Blog

DEAR CHURCH: That's Feeling Weak

11/17/2019

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DEAR CHURCH: That's Falling Asleep

11/10/2019

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Today’s letter is to a church that needs to wake up! Our goal is to examine what Jesus means by that, consider if our church is sleeping, and learn from God’s Word what to do to wake up. Before we begin, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. Looking Alive

This letter starts in Revelation 3:1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits and the seven stars.”

Sardis was a city situated on the Hummus River valley. Records indicate that gold dust was found in the Pactolus River which surrounded the city. Historically, it was the first city to mint its own silver and gold coins. As a result, the citizens of Sardis could afford investing in military might and protection.

At the time, it was one of the greatest military strengths of the ancient world. It was an impressive fortress which had only been conquered twice in its history. Because it was so impressive, the ancients thought it has been founded by the sons of the mighty Hercules.

Yet amid this unconquerable city, a small church had formed with the goal of conquering hearts with the Gospel. Jesus writes this letter to that church.

He introduces himself as the one who holds the seven spirits and the seven stars. The spirits are a reference to the Holy Spirit. The stars represent the churches. With this illustration, Jesus is saying:

I am the one who holds the church in his hands.
And I hold the Holy Spirit who strengthens those churches.

Finally, Jesus opens with what seems like a compliment, but isn’t.
He says, “I know your deeds, you have a reputation of being alive…”
In the town, in the community, among other churches, the church at Sardis had it together!

Maybe they had programs.
…for the kids, programs for the adults, programs for the youth, the divorced, the teens, and the singles.

They probably had events. Things like…
Trunk or Treat. Pie Social. Food Drive. Clothing Exchange. Advent by Candlelight, Christmas for Kids, and Kids’ Christmas Program.

It’s possible they even had impressive places. Like…
A state-of-the-art Early Childhood Center, a freshened up fellowship hall, beautiful landscaping, and a Sanctuary Update Committee working towards updating their sanctuary.

They were alive…
…looking.

Jesus said,
You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (v.1)

It’s like someone approaching me while I’m eating a bag of Doritos and saying, “You have a reputation…of being healthy.”
They don’t mean it.

Jesus doesn’t mean it here either.

Think about it.
Every other church that Jesus wrote a letter to was under attack.
Some from outward persecution.
Others from inward false teachings.

The church at Sardis? It’s getting along fine.

The community lets it do its thing, because it wasn’t really preaching the message of Jesus.
Community leaders weren’t upset, because it wasn’t really rebuking sin.
No one was clinging to false teaching, because no one really cares what was preached.

It’s like one of those really intimidating spiders. Have you seen them? An orb weaver. If you ever come face to face with one of those, it’s terrifying. It happened to me once. They spin such impressive webs that he was right there when we opened the door to our house. He was at face level. His web spun between the roof line and the top of our railing.

Looking at that thing. It looked alive, deadly, and ready to take me out.
But then…I blew on it.
And it fell off the web…
…Dead.

Jesus says this church is like that spider.
It looks alive;
But really…
It’s dead.

TRUTH:
Religious ACTIVITY does not prove spiritual LIFE.

Just because a church has a busy calendar, lots of Facebook photos, and cars in a parking lot on a Sunday, does not mean it is spiritually alive.

Case in point:
There’s a Jewish Synagogue on this block. Granted, you won’t find any cars there on a Sunday, but on Saturday’s when they run worship – it’s packed. It’s bustling with activity. People are present, engaged, and excited.

But they don’t teach Jesus.
And Jesus says, “I am…the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn. 14:6)
And Jesus proved it by rising from the dead.

So…
Their church looks alive.
But it’s dead.

Granted – that’s with a church that publicly confesses that they do not believe in Jesus.
The church at Sardis publicly confessed to believe in Jesus.

And so do we...

So…

How do we know if we’re spiritually alive or dead?

II. Symptoms of a Spiritually Dead Church

If you look at the text, you can find some of the symptoms of spiritual death in a church:

(1) Members STRAYING

In verse 2 Jesus says, “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die…” (v.2a) The indication is that some people in the church still have a living faith in their Savior, but others have a faith that is dying.

They never attend worship.
They never attend group study.
They couldn’t care less about serving at church.
They’re just happy that their name is on the member list, because they figure – that’s good enough.

Essentially, their faith is no longer in Jesus, but in the fact that they are a member of the church.

Did you know at Gethsemane Church we were recently blessed to grow to over 300 members. That’s 300 people who, at some point, heard the Gospel, came to faith, grew in understanding and wanted to become a part of our mission.

But…

Did you know that we only average 160 people in worship on a Sunday?
In any given month we serve about 300 souls, but…
About 1/3 in that number are guests and visitors.
Meaning…

We average about 200 members in worship each month.

Where did the other 100 go? There’s reason for concern.

Jesus said, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you will do nothing.” (Jn. 10)
Just like a branch that’s fallen off the pine tree will quickly die, so will the person who is disconnected from Jesus.

Here’s the concern about straying members:
If they aren’t connected to Jesus, how are they going to grow in faith?
They aren’t.

And how do we know they’re connected to Jesus, if we don’t see them?
We don’t.

And this is pastor’s job, yes!
And it is the elder’s work, absolutely!

But this letter was written to the church at Sardis.
Not just the pastor.
Not just the elders.
The church.

Do you know someone who used to attend here, but doesn’t anymore?
Do you have a family member who no longer worships?
Do you know someone who belonged to your group study, but hasn’t come in weeks?

Check in them.
Care for them.
Share Jesus with them.

Because Jesus is the Life who gives life to the dead.
Physically.
And spiritually!

Share Jesus and you could will be sharing LIFE!

(2) Personal Faith Activity DECREASING

Jesus said: “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die…” (v.2a)
Sure, he was probably referring to straying members of their church family.
But also, couldn’t he be referring to staying members with a straying faith?

I need you to listen good right here.
These are Jesus’ words.
These are the words of your Savior.
He’s speaking to you.

Think back on your spiritual journey:
Did you used to be in Bible study?
Did you used to be an every Sunday person?
Did you used to be involved in serving?
Did you used to care about other members of this church family?

Did you used to, but not anymore…?

Sure…
Life gets in the way.
There’s things.
There’s stuff.
There’s things and stuff, but…

Remember the passage about the Vine and the branches from earlier.
Same truth applies to you.

If you aren’t staying connected to Jesus, your faith isn’t growing.
And if it isn’t growing…

It’s dying.

(3) Mission UNCARED FOR

Jesus says this, “I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.” (v.2) The church at Sardis hadn’t finished what they set out to do. And what did they set out to do? Follow Jesus’ mission. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations…” (Mt. 28:19) That included the people of Sardis! Not everyone was a believer.

And how did the church at Sardis feel about that?

“Meh!”

At Gethsemane, we’ve completed a lot of work. We just completed a big task in building that brand new Precious Lambs Early Learning Center. It’s a 1.4 million dollar project. To be fair, this church worked hard on it.

People gave lots of money.
People prayed lots of prayers.
People planned lots of plans.
Teachers taught lots of lessons.

When we were done, we breathed a sigh of relief.

Except…
We aren’t done.
Our goal is to Plant the Message of Jesus in the Hearts of North Raleigh…and Beyond!

If we’re content to say:
Welp, we built the building.
We did the Trunk or Treat.
We tried our best.

Time to sit, back relax, and be done.

We’re wrong! We need to keep sharing the Gospel.
If we stop sharing the Gospel, that’s evidence of a dying church.

Because…
If you have a living faith, you know Jesus is the Savior.
If Jesus is the Savior, you know people need him to be saved.
If people need Jesus to be saved, people need to hear about him.

III. What Now?

Members straying.
Personal faith activity decreasing.
Mission uncared for.

These are the symptoms of spiritual death.

So…Jesus says this to the sleeping, dying church: “Wake up!...If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. (v.3)

Because most thieves do not announce themselves.
They don’t call you up on the phone to say, “Is this Saturday convenient for a robbing?”
They don’t text you to say, “Be there in a second. Can you leave the crowbar outside?”
They don’t check in on social media, “@PastorPhil, excited to rob you tomorrow. Hope you can make it.”

When a thief comes, it’s swift.
It’s unexpected.
It’s a shock.

It will be the same with Jesus.

If we don’t wake up on our own, Jesus will return to wake us up.
And if Jesus wakes us up, it will be too late.

Wake up!
And how do you do that? Listen to Jesus. He says, “Remember what you have received and heard…” (v.3a)
Remember your Savior.
Remember his forgiveness.
Remember the faith that the Holy Spirit worked in your heart.
Remember that you received a place in God’s kingdom.
Remember you received the Gospel.
Remember that you received a mission.

Remember…
Hold it fast! (v.3b)

Because that is the Gospel message.
It’s what connects us to Jesus.
The reason that a dying church happens is that a church disconnects from the Gospel message.
But when we reconnected?

Jesus gives nourishment.
Jesus strengthens our faith.
Jesus gives us spiritual life.

And we Repent!

We turn from not caring for straying members and we turn to caring for them.
We turn from not growing our faith and we turn to growing our faith.
We turn from not sharing the message of Jesus and we turn to sharing the message of Jesus.

And we turn to Jesus, to his Word, to his work, because…God has some amazing promises to those with living faith:

(1) Dressed in White

Specifically, Jesus says, “Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.” Not that their worthy on their own, but they are worthy because of what Jesus has done. He lived, he died, and he rose for them. With a living faith in Jesus, they were actively wearing the robe of righteousness that Jesus provides.

And no look at God’s promise.
To the one who was dying in faith.
To the one who was sleeping.
To the one who repents and turns to Jesus:
The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white.” (v.4)

You won’t have to wear dirty clothes!
You won’t have to walk around in the stench of selfishness.
You won’t have to wear those pants with that prideful stained.
You won’t have to put on that awful ascot of apathy that smells awfully apathetic.
You get to wear clean clothes.
Clean from sin.
Clean from guilt.
Clean from shame.

(2) Active in Heaven

Jesus says about those people dressed in white, “They will walk with me.” (v.4)

Think about that.
When you die, it seems like you’re sleeping.
It seems like you’re not moving.
It seems like you’re dead.
And that’s it.
nothing to do but decompose.

But not according to Jesus.

According to Jesus, those with a living faith, will live; even though they die.
They will walk with him.
They will job with him.
They will sprint with him.
They will jump with him.
Hop with him.
Skip with him.
They will tap dance with him.
Spin in place with him.
And do a whole session of Zumba with him.

Those with a living faith in him,
Will live with him…
Because of him.

(3) Name Actively Used by God Himself

Finally, Jesus says this, ““I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.

Because sometimes you might be embarrassed to be associated with someone.
I remember when I and a friend met up for lunch. We were enjoying the meal, having a good time, telling jokes. But then, some people from his work stopped by.

He got up.
Slapped high fives.
Greeted them.

Finally, he got around to introducing me:
“This is Pa…….his name is Phil.”

I’m fine with that intro so I shook hands with his friends.
But afterwards, he confessed to me:
I’m sorry, I felt embarrassed to introduce you as my pastor.

Fair enough.

Maybe you’ve had a similar experience.

Here’s the truth:
Jesus is not ashamed of you.
In heaven, he won’t pretend he doesn’t know you.
He will speak your name.
Often.
To the Father.

He will look you in the eye.
Shake your hand.
And say:

Loved one, welcome home.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (v.6)
Amen.

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DEAR CHURCH: That's Attacked from Within

11/3/2019

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We’ve been studying letters from Jesus to various 1st century churches. Often these churches are dealing with persecution from the outside. Whether it was ridicule, violence or temptation towards idol worship, the attack always came from the outside.

But…

Sometimes the greatest attacks come from somewhere else.

I was playing soccer with some of the preschoolers. We divided up teams and I ended up on red team. We were trying to score against the blue team. And to be fair, it started with me doing that thing where I just dribble the ball by myself and let this entire wave of kids chase after me.

But eventually I decided I should let a kid from my team score. So, I passed the ball to him and…

He turned around and scored…

In our goal.

SABOTAGE!

Today we are continuing our series called Dear Church. We’re going to hear about a church that was being attacked from within. Our goal is to identify how they were being attacked, hear God’s warning for our church, and learn what we can do to defeat attacks from within.

Before we begin, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. Thyatira’s Problem from Within

This letter starts in Revelation 2:18 “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.”

A couple of notes:

Thyatira is to the east and south of Pergamum, the home of the last letter recipients. It’s located in the middle of modern Turkey.

It was the home of a woman named Lydia. If you remember from this summer’s sermon series, that’s the name of a purple dealer who was doing some work by the river when she heard the message of Jesus from Paul. She believed, was baptized, and then became part of the church’s mission work. As a result, it’s conceivable that she was one of the founding members of the church in Thyatira.

In this letter, Jesus introduces himself as the Son of God. It’s the first time in the book of Revelation. Using that name here, communicates that the letter isn’t from some bumbling human, but from God himself:

And the Son of God has eyes like blazing fire. That means he has divine vision. It’s better than 20/20 vision, better than X-ray vision, better than hawk-like vision.

He sees us…

Our thoughts.
Our souls.
Our hearts.

Finally, he has feet of burnished bronze. If you’re an NFL running back, that isn’t the best footgear. With bronze, you can’t move quickly. If you’re in the NBA, bronze footgear won’t win the Dunk contest.

But if want to stand still without moving, bronze footgear is perfect.

Jesus has bronze footgear.
Because he doesn’t move.
And his Word is unshakeable.

Look at what the unshakeable Son of God who sees into the very hearts of his people had to say:
I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. (v.19)
That’s good. They’ve been increasing their faith filled acts amid a challenging environment:

A Roman government that hated Christians.
A Jewish influence that hated Jesus.
False god worship that led people away from following Jesus.

Yet, that isn’t all Jesus sees:
Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. (v.20)

Have you ever heard of Jezebel before? She’s an Old Testament queen of Ancient Israel. She’s most famous for being wicked. During her regime, she organized more idol worship in Israel than ever before, she commanded soldiers to murder God’s prophets, and led hundreds of thousands her subjects away from the true God.

One-time Jezebel’s husband Ahab was sad because he wanted this nice vineyard that a neighbor owned. He had asked the neighbor to buy it, but the neighbor wanted to keep it because it had been in his family. As a result, Ahab pouted.

“I want it.”
“It’s not fair.”
“I’m the king.”

When Jezebel hears his tantrum, rather than giving him a time out or a lecture on how, “You can’t always have what you want, and pouting won’t get you anything anyway…”

She had the neighbor killed.

Scholars doubt whether the New Testament woman at Thyatira was called Jezebel. The reality is that thanks to OT Jezebel, the name wasn’t that attractive. Most parents didn’t want to name their children after a villain. (It’s why there aren’t a lot of Darths, Maleficents, or Voldemorts—although Jezebel would have made a very scary Halloween costume.)

Rather than being her real name, this could simply be Jesus’ way of describing how similar this woman was to that ancient queen. Both found joy in challenging God’s authority and leading people away from truth.

Both attacked from within:
Old Testament Jezebel tried to attacked God’s kingdom from within the palace of Ancient Israel.
New Testament Jezebel did it from within the pews of the Thyatiran church.

Both used deadly weapons:
Old Testament Jezebel attacked God’s kingdom with actual swords.
New Testament Jezebel? With false teachings.

She was misleading God’s servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. (v.10b)

It’s as if she’d gather her small group together and say: “I know pastor says that we shouldn’t sleep around, but…that’s unrealistic.”
Or she kept raising her hand during adult Bible study and said, “False God worship is just as good as fair as worship of Jesus. Equal rights!”
Or she wrote her own song to sing for meditation, “The church’s one foundation is illicit immorality.”
Or she taught the Sunday School Lesson, “The Bible says God created the world, but…that’s really not true kids. We’re all accidents evolved over billions of years. You don’t really matter.”

Jezebel was teaching falsehood within God’s church.

II. The Truth about False Teaching

That’s the difference from last week. If you remember, some of the people of the Pergamum church were holding to the same teachings of sexual immorality and false God worship. But none of them felt comfortable enough to teach them.

Jezebel, on the other hand?
She took every opportunity to teach falsehood within God’s church.

And Jesus?
He takes this opportunity to express his opinion on false teaching:

TRUTH:
God hates FALSE TEACHING in his church.

It’s like being a vegan. If you were a vegan and went to a healthy restaurant to get a Quinoa Burger. But then, as you took a bite of that Quinoa burger and it tasted like beef…You’d be upset.

But do you get the point? God is 100% for the truth.
In fact, Jesus said, “I am the truth.” (John 14:6)
That means God can have anything to do with falsehood.

And if his church, which is his body deals in falsehood, which he is against…
God isn’t happy.

He hates false teaching in his church.
And he hates it because…

TRUTH:
False teaching is DANGEROUS.

Look at what was happening in Thyatira. The teachings of Jezebel were leading other members of the church into a sinful lifestyle and away from their Savior Jesus.

It’d be like driving along I-540 to the East. You go to the end of it where you’re supposed to segue onto 87. But instead of having you segue onto 87, Siri simply said, “Go straight.” And if you listened, Siri’s false teaching would lead you off the road to death.
False teaching does the same thing.
False teaching can lead people to hell.
It’s dangerous.

And doubly so, when it comes within the church.
Because if you hear that teaching from someone in the church, you’ll probably trust it. You’ll think:

It was a church person who posted that message on Facebook…must be true.
It was a long-time member who said that thing in Bible study…must be accurate.
It was a big-time giver who wanted that thing in the leadership meeting…must be correct.

Now you might not think this is all that important for you.
You’re not a pastor.
You’re not a teacher.
But it absolutely is.

An example:

Sometimes people drop off books for us at Precious Lambs. And since we’re a Christian center, they often drop off Christian books. Seems safe, right?
A while back I was reading through a book all about Jesus’ life. It had cute little Jesus’ pictures. It had cute little rhyming words. It even had a child friendly picture of the cross.

But at the end of the book, it said this:

Jesus rose on Easter Day.
Following him is the way.
If we truly do what we should.
We’ll have heaven which is good.

Except…
We don’t do what we should.

Meaning…
We won’t have heaven by doing good.

And the point of Easter isn’t: Do good to earn God’s love.
The point of the Gospel is: You couldn’t do good, so Jesus earned heaven for you.

Can you imagine if a kid grew up hearing this?
The constant burden and weight of the law?
The guilt and shame of never being good enough?
The false teaching that they need to earn God’s love?

Rather than knowing her Savior.
Rather than knowing his love.
Rather than knowing forgiveness.

Be careful.
False teaching is dangerous.
Watch out for it in “Christian” books.
In “Christian” music.
In “Christian” friendships.
In “Christian” Facebook posts.

And if you find something that’s false, do something about it!
Because…TOLERATION of false teaching is a sin.

Look at whom Jesus is speaking to in this letter. It isn’t Jezebel. It’s the people that are tolerating her message.
And understand. Tolerate simply means, “to allow.”
And it can be a good thing.

It’s good to tolerate your country music.
It’s good to tolerate your kids’ TV shows.
It’s good to tolerate your coworker’s lunch smells.

But…
If you tolerated an alligator, that had gotten into your living room….
If you didn’t call 911.
If you didn’t call Animal Control.

And that alligator bites your kid…
That’s on you!

God doesn’t just want you to not teach falsehood, but he also doesn’t want you to knowingly tolerate it.
Because he doesn’t tolerate it.
Because it will lead people to eternal danger.

TRUTH:
Jesus will DEFEND his church.

That’s why Jesus speaks up. In fact, look at what he says about Jezebel:
I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So, I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children (most likely a reference to people who followed her teaching) …I will strike them…dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. (v.21-23)

This is one of those parts of the Bible that, maybe, sound harsh.
But it isn’t.
REMEMBER:
Jezebel was leading people to hell.
God wasn’t going to stand back and let that happen.

Think about it:
Jesus already went through hell to save us.
He lived perfectly on this earth.
He died innocently in your place.
He rose triumphantly for the forgiveness of our sins.
Through the Gospel, he has brought us into his kingdom.

God didn’t do all that to allow some false teaching to take us away from him.
He will defend his church.
And he will defend you.
In fact, that’s what he’s doing right now.
He’s calling out false teaching.
He’s warning us of its danger.
He’s calling his people to act against it
Because of his love for his church.
Because of his love for you.

III. Hold onto Truth

Look at what Jesus tells his church:
Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to HOLD ON to what you have until I come.’ (v.24)
And what they had was the truth.
Don’t cling to falsehood.
Don’t search for some ‘better’ teaching.
Don’t scour the internet for a more socially acceptable doctrine.

Hold onto truth.
Hold onto Jesus.
Hold onto God’s Word.

Hold onto the Son of God.
Hold onto the one with blazing eyes.
Hold onto the one with feet of burnished bronze.

Because.
TRUTH: The Truth will DASH falsehood to pieces.
To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father.”
He mentions that falsehood, is a lot like a clay jar. It’s fashioned by humans. It’s shaped how they like it to be. It’s frail and fragile because a human put it together. You’ve got to be careful to handle it gently lest it fall to the ground, smash, and be exposed for the short-lasting thing that it is.

But that’s not the only metaphor in these verses.

There’s also an iron scepter. It’s bold. It’s strong. It’s intense. That’s what God gives his people to fight against falsehood.

The iron scepter?
It’s truth.

And truth?
Smashes falsehood.

TRUTH:
Truth-holders are promised the MORNING STAR
A morning star is a scientific phenomenon. It’s not really a star. It’s a planet, like Venus, that on certain days can be visible from earth. Usually it’s visible just before morning. Hence, it’s called the morning star.

Because the morning star means…
…the night is almost over.
…the day is almost here.
…newness is about to star.

The morning star in the Bible?
Jesus said, “I am the morning star.” (Rev. 22:16)
Because of Jesus, the night is almost over.
Because of Jesus, the darkness will eventually end.
Because of Jesus, will experience something new.
Because of Jesus, we will shine…forevermore.
Amen.

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DEAR CHURCH: That's Compromising

10/27/2019

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I was sitting down for a delicious lunch of homemade Lunchables in the PreK 4 classroom this past week. After discussing how delicious the ham and cheese combination was and whether or not it was an acceptable use of food to wear the deli ham as a necklace, the conversation turned to Halloween costumes.

One little girl was excited to tell me that she was going to be a unicorn.
Another little girl was excited to tell me that she was going to be a princess.
One more said that she would be a unicorn.
And a fourth said that was would be a princess.

Finally, the little girl, who had been waiting and shaking with excitement to tell me her costume got her chance.

And she told me she would be something different:
An Elsa Unicorn.

I was curious. “What did that look like? Cause that might be hard to be both.”
She said, “I wear a crown and a horn on my head. Princess unicorn.”

A compromise.

Today we are continuing our series called Dear Church. It’s a series based on letters from Jesus to his church. Today’s letter is to a church that was compromising. But not in a good way. Compromising in a way that made them look about as silly as an Elsa Unicorn compromise. Our goal today is to identify why Jesus was reprimanding their compromise, when compromise is bad in our Christian lives, and what to do about fixing it.

Before we begin, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. The Good

This letter starts in Revelation 2:12 “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.

Pergamum was an ancient city located on a lofty hill. It was also a key state in Roman control of their empire and home to the Red Basilica of the Greek god, Isis.

To put it simply, everywhere that the people of Pergamum looked there was symbols of authority:

The high impressive hills showing the authority of nature.
The Basilica reminded them of the authority Greek gods had in their culture.
The large amount of soldiers representing the authority of the Roman government.

No wonder Jesus starts his address by reminding the Pergamum church of where true authority resides: Himself. He says that his words are a sharp double-edged sword.

Not just sharp on the left.
Not just sharp on the right.
Sharp on both sides.

That means his words don’t just take out everything on the left.
Nor do they take out everything on the right.
But both sides. He has all authority.

Briefly, I don’t think this is a direct reference to American politics, but still… It might be worth saying:
The right isn’t the ultimate authority.
The left isn’t the ultimate authority.
Jesus is the ultimate authority.

Next, Jesus gives the congregation a compliment: “I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.” (v. 13)

Pergamum was home to a large library of over 200,000 books. It was called The Library at Pergamum and is second in renown only to the Library at Alexandria.

Of course, this wasn’t Lifeway Christian Bookstore -- not all of these books were commentaries on the Bible. In fact, they often proposed ideologies and moralities in opposition to the Bible. These ideas from the books came influential in shaping Pergamum thought. Books that might have had titles like:

Greek Mythology – It’s not a Myth Anymore
101 Ways to a Good Relationship with the god, Isis
Temple Prostitution and You – a Beginners Guide
Food Sacrificed to Idols – 15 Minute Recipes for the Idol Worshiper on the Go

Pergamum was also home to a large theater. (Again, aptly named The Theater of Pergamum). It held over 10,000 people. By the way, its ruins are still there today.

At the time, attending the theater was a common way to spend the weekend. And common plays glorified things that weren’t so godly: worship of idols, pursuing money at all costs, adultery being okay as long as you sleep with the one you truly love, and generally bucking traditional morality and doing whatever you feel like doing.

In essence, this theater was doing what Hollywood does today.

That’s why Jesus calls this place Satan’s home.
There’s temptation everywhere.
There’s false teaching everywhere.
There’s evil everywhere.

In fact, it had gotten so bad that a believer named Antipas is killed.
Murdered.
Put to death because he witnessed to the truth of Jesus.

Pergamum was hard place to plant a church.
Yet… The church survived.

The Good:
The church held onto FAITH in a city surrounded by VIOLENCE against it.

That word “held onto” means to “grasp firmly.”

It’s like playing tug of war with a dog. You are holding one end of the rope until your dog grabs onto the other end. Then…

It pulls.
It tugs.
It bares its teeth.
It shakes its head back and forth.
It growls as it tries to wrestle that rope way.

That’s what was happening in Pergamum – the culture was like a dog trying to wrestle faith away from the Pergamum church.

But…
They didn’t let them.
They held on tightly to their faith.

That was good.

II. The Bad

But that’s also not the end of the letter. Look at what Jesus says next: “Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans." (v.14-15)

Notice the word that Jesus uses.
He says, “Some of you hold to” these teachings.
That’s the same Greek word.
The one that involves holding tightly as if you’re in a canine tug of way.

The church at Pergamum was holding onto the teachings of Jesus.
But also…other teachings.

We talked about the Nicolaitans in the letter to Ephesus. Not much is known about them other than that Jesus hated their practices. (Revelation 2:6) It isn’t surprising he wasn’t impressed by the fact that some of the Pergamum church was holding onto practices that he hated.

But Balaam…

Balaam was a false prophet in the Old Testament. He dabbled in occult type stuff. (Appropriate for Halloween, right?) He used spells, secret chants, and the power of the devil to see the future and cast curses onto people.

He was good at it.

In fact, he was so good at it that a guy named Balak who was king of the Moabites, hired Balaam to cast a curse on the people of Israel. If you remember, the people of Israel were God’s people in the Old Testament. He guided and blessed them, because one day the Savior Jesus would come from their race. But this was back at the time when the Israelites didn’t own any land, but were simply desert nomads.

Still, at over one million people in camp, the nation was impressive. It’s why Balak was concerned that they might come into Moab and destroy his nation. So, he hired Balaam to curse Israel.

Balaam was a big fan of money, so he agreed.
He stretched.
He shook out his hands.
He began cursing:

Hocus, Pocus…Hocus Crocus…Hocus…How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? (Numbers 23:8)

Sorry, King. Let me try again:
Bibbiddiy, boddiy, bless….God has blessed Israel and I cannot change it. (Numbers 23:20)

Just a second. Maybe we need to change up the curse location. Let’s try over on that hill there:
Eye of newt and ointment of Gibraltar – God’s kingdom will be exalted. (Numbers 24:7)

Balaam couldn’t curse Israel.
God wouldn’t let him.

But Balaam was sly. He still wanted money. So, he offered some advice to Balak.

If you can’t curse them, maybe you can tempt them.
Send out some women.
Scantily clad.
Get their men, to…you know.
And you’ll become a part of their kingdom.
And lead them away from their God that way.

It worked. Numbers 31:16 says this: Some followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord.

Israel compromised.

Thousands of years later, the same problem was happening in the Pergamum church.
Sure, they were believers in Jesus. But some wanted to cover their bases:

I believe in Jesus, but I also believe that Isis might be able to help me with my crops. So, I’ll bring some offering to him and while I’m there I’ll sleep with the temple prostitutes. I’ll just have to remember to set my alarm so that I can get up for worship tomorrow. I’m ushering.

THE BAD:
Some held onto a TEACHING violently opposed to JESUS’ TEACHING.

And I do mean violently opposed.

Balaam said, “Worship false gods.”
Jesus said, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him 0nly.” (Mt. 4:10)

Balaam said, “Do anything to store up treasure on earth.”
Jesus said, “Do anything to store up treasure in heaven.” (Mt. 6:19)

Balaam said, “Sexuality is yours. Do with it whatever you want.
Jesus said, “Sexuality is God’s gift. Use it within marriage as He tells us.” (Mt. 19:4-5)

Do you see the problem?
The Pergamum church held onto Jesus’ teaching.
But they also held onto things that were the exact opposite of Jesus’ teaching.

They were compromising.

III. The Compromise

Now usually compromising is a good thing.

Kids on the playground compromise and they both get to be Spider-man.
Teens in school compromise and they both work on parts of the school project.
Adults at work compromise and they go the meeting for half an hour today and half an hour tomorrow.
Spouses compromise and they have asparagus (like mom wanted) with Doritos sprinkled on top (like dad wanted).

Compromise can be good.
But not always.

I was listening to a podcast called the Liturgists the other day. (Sounds Christian right?) And the topic was pornography. I thought – That’d be good to hear. Some good tips on how to continually teach people the extreme danger of this destructive thing.

But as I was listening. One of the speakers said this:
I’ve had some experiences with porn. And I found it to be helpful. I think it allows the opportunity to learn about sex and explore one’s sexuality. It’s just the lusts of the flesh, so whom does it harm?

And I started thinking in my head:
Your wife: who will feel like she can’t live up to it.
The actress: who will continue to feel like her worth is defined by how many watch her.
The industry: as you continue to give dollars to greedy jerks who don’t care how they treat women.
Me: because society will still see it as monetarily valuable and pump out pop-up ads and sultry material on the most tame websites.
And Jesus…who said – “I tell you if you look at a woman lustfully, you are guilty of adultery.”

But the people on the podcast?
The “Christians?”
They said:

You’re right. Porn is good.

Here’s the TRUTH:
Compromise is wrong when it treats BAD as GOOD.

Jesus loves good.
Jesus hates bad.
And he doesn’t compromise.

Which means there is no compromise in the Christian faith.

You can’t love Jesus and love watching porn.
You can’t fill your spirit with Jesus and fill your stomach with moonshine.
You can’t be faithful to Jesus and be faithful to your spouse.
You can’t worship Jesus and worship your bank account.
You can’t say the Gospel is most important, but them make your traditions most important.
You can’t claim to follow Jesus and then, do whatever you want.
You can’t claim to have the truth and then hold to teachings opposed to the truth!

In short,
If you want to hold onto Jesus, you can’t hold onto things that are opposed to Jesus.

Otherwise…
Look at what Jesus says:
Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. (v.16)

And my words are sharp.
They will cut your soul.
Your heart.

Because if you want to keep compromising your faith,
And keep doing the things opposed to my kingdom.

Then, I’ve got compromise for you:

You get to keep doing all that sinful stuff.
And I get to kick you out of my kingdom.
Forever.

IV. What Now?

Jesus says, “Repent.”
Look at your life.
See where you’re compromising your faith.
Drop anything that’s against your Savior.
Put your faith in your Savior.

Because….
Faith in Jesus isn’t about compromises:
Faith in Jesus is about promises:
To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.” (2:17)

Did you follow that section? It’s symbolic and yet rich with very real promises from Jesus:

(1) Hidden Manna

I had mentioned earlier that the people of Israel used to be nomads in the desert. Deserts don’t normally have a lot of food. There aren’t fast food places on every corner. Uber Eatz couldn’t bring you fried chicken. It wasn’t even a good place for growing your own crops.

So here what God did.
Early in the morning God send little pieces of bread, raining down from the clouds and landing softly on the ground next to their tents. These little wafer-like things tasted a bit like a honey, but not quite. A bit like bread, but not quite.

The food was so strange that the people simply called it: Manna.
In Hebrew, that means, “What is it?”

Manna was unexplainable. Its mystery was hidden. Yet God provided nourishment through it.

The same is true with the Gospel.
The message is mysterious.
Yet, God provides nourishment for souls filled with guilt.

In fact, Jesus said this: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry.” (Jn. 6:35)

Because in his Word, he gives us nourishment.
For all the times we’ve compromised.
For all the times we’ve done what we shouldn’t.
For all the times we’ve loved evil more than Jesus, God’s Word tells you:

Jesus loved you.
Jesus died for you.
Jesus rose for you.

And through faith in him, you will be given a:

(2) A White Stone

In the ancient courtroom, a judge would lead the trial and give the verdict. But around the time of this letter, the Greek world began to introduce trial by jury. A jury would listen to the case. They would listen to the prosecution. They would listen to the defense. Then, they would vote.

If a juror found the person to be guilty, he would take a black stone and drop it into the official vote casting bag.
But if the juror found the person to be not guilty…?

White stone.

Jesus says to the repentant: “I am giving you a white stone.”
You are innocent.
You are not guilty.
You are forgiven.

In fact, to illustrate the farther.
It says that on that stone will be…

(3) A New Name

Because if you are someone who has been compromising your faith, you might not have the greatest name.
You might call yourself:

A Failure.
A phony.
A fake.

A porn addict.
A drunk.
An easy woman.

A bad Christian.

But God?
He has a new name for you.
It isn’t based on you.

God calls you:
His.
Loved.
Forgiven.

And there’s no compromise on that.
You are God’s.

Don’t compromise on him. Amen.

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DEAR CHURCH: That's Suffering

10/20/2019

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When I was in Seattle, WA, I had the goal to get to the top of the highest point in the lower 48 states, Mt. Rainier. I bought the right gear. I went into training. I learned from a woman who had been up Mount Everest three separate times.

On the day of the climb, we hiked up to Camp Muir, a base camp about 10,000 feet up. From there, we slept in a tiny wooden cabin to acclimate to the altitude and rest up for the final ascent. We went to bed at 6pm and woke up around Midnight. (You have to leave early in order to cross the ice bridges before the daylight gets too hot, the bridge melts and you fall to your death.)

It was about eight hours up when a blizzard kicked in. The air was sparse. The wind was frigid. My fingers were frozen. And it was only getting nastier. Some of the other climb groups had already turned around and gone back.

About an hour from the top, the lead expeditions said:
“This is getting pretty bad. I haven’t seen it this bad before. What do you think? We could go to the top and see the marvelous views, but…
If we don’t turn around, we could get frostbite or die.

So we thought about it and said:

“I’m sure Google images probably has some might fine photos of the top. So...

Sometimes suffering isn’t worth it.

Today we are continuing our series called Dear Church. It’s a series based on letters from Jesus to seven different churches. The letter for today looks at a church that was dealing with suffering…even suffering because they were believers. Our goal today is to understand what kind of suffering believers have to deal with and whether it’s worth that suffering.

Before we begin, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. The One who Knows Suffering

This letter starts in Revelation 2:8: “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions and your poverty —yet you are rich!”

A few notes:

The letter is again written to the angel. We said that’s most likely referencing their pastoral leadership which, in turn, means it’s a letter written to the church in Smyrna.

Smyrna was an ancient Greek city at a central point on the Aegean coast. Because its positioning allowed for advantageous port conditions and an easily defendable city, Smyrna was full of people. In other words, it was a great place to start a church.

And someone had. We don’t know the exact apostle or disciple that founded it, which shows that the Gospel was spreading beyond the work rate of the apostles alone. This church was probably not started by one of the 12 apostles, yet Jesus considers it a church. Similarly, our church wasn’t started by one of the Apostles, yet Jesus would call it a real church.

Why?
Because the Holy Spirit was at work in the word.
In Smyrna.
Here in Raleigh.

So, both are churches.

Finally, the speaker is Jesus. This is his letter. And since this is a letter to a church that is suffering, he offers his credentials on the subject:

(1) Jesus Existed before SUFFERING

These are the words of him who is the First (v.8) Jesus existed eternally long before suffering ever existed. He created a world that was perfect, apart from suffering. Then, he watched as humans foolishly were led by the devil into suffering.

Don’t think that Jesus’ main goal is to end suffering?
To bring life back to the way that it once was?

It’d be like cleaning your living room, putting all the toys in their place and removing all the crumbs from the floor – making the place a gorgeous Better Homes and Gardens style living area.

Then, your kids happen.
And you’d like to see it back to the way it was when you were finished cleaning.

The same is true for God. He has on his heart a desire to bring things back to the way they were long before suffering happened.

And here’s the good news about that:

(2) Jesus will OUTLAST Suffering

These are the words of him who is the Last. (v.8) As in, he will last beyond all suffering.
He will outlast cancer.
He will outlast financial difficulties.
He will outlast persecutions.
He will outlast terrorism.
He will outlast racism.
He will outlast the little angry emojis that people put upon Christian content on Social Media.

He will outlast every form of suffering.
But…
That doesn’t mean he hasn’t suffered.

(3) Jesus is FAMILIAR with suffering

These are the words of him who died. (v.8)

Do you know how Jesus died?
He was arrested by a mob.
He was beaten by that mob.
He was smacked and slapped till the early hours of the morning.
He was whipped thirty times with a 7 stranded leather whip that had metal shards on the end. (Also known as flogged)
He had a crown of thorns smashed down onto his head.
He was hit with a staff.
He was laid down upon two giant pieces of wood.
He had one nail driven through his right hand.
He had another nail driven through his left hand.
He had one more nail driven through his feet.
He hung on that cross as his lungs slowly collapsed.

He was abandoned by his friends.
He was betrayed by his disciples.
He was crucified by his people.
He had our sin and guilt and shame plaguing his soul.

He was familiar with suffering.
Suffering even to death!

And yet--
Now – he lives.
He lives and walks among his churches.
And…

(4) Jesus Knows YOUR suffering

Pause and reflect on that truth.
Because it’s easy to think:
No one knows my suffering.
No one understands.
No one gets this sadness I feel.
No one grasps the loneliness that I go through.
No one truly gets the depths of my depression.

Jesus does.
He knows.
He understands.

Jesus is speaking to you. He says:

“I know.
I know it feels like no one knows, but I know.
I know what it’s like to suffer.
I know that you are suffering.
I know what it is you’re suffering:
I know that you feel so poor because you are suffering.

But…
In the midst of suffering…
Never forget…
You are rich.

(5) Jesus Gives Eternal RICHES to the Suffering

Wait, what?
You are rich.
Rich in my love.
Rich in forgiveness.
Rich in the promise of eternal life.
You have a place in my family that all of the money in the world would be unable to buy.
You may be suffering, but you are not suffering from a lack of my promises.

II. Truths about Our Suffering

After giving his credentials as to why he is an expert in suffering, Jesus has a few things to say about the suffering that the people of Smyrna were going through. He says:
I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan. (v.9)
Apparently there was a group that was slandering the church. It was a group that claimed to be Jewish but wasn’t. This isn’t genealogical. Jesus is referring to people who were did not have a faith that matched the Old Testament faith, but pretended they did.

Because the Old Testament Jewish faith was that God would send a Messiah to save us from our sins. Overtime some Jews abandoned that faith and replaced it as, “God doesn’t need to save us from our sins, because I am Jewish and do Jewish things.”
When Jesus showed up, a “phony” Jewish faith is exactly what the Pharisees had. Jesus was the Messiah. The real Jewish faith would have believed in him. Instead, the “phony” Jewish faith rejected Jesus as Messiah because “they were good enough Jewish people on their own.”

Now after Jesus, this group was persecuting the church in Smyrna and it was bad enough to be called “suffering”:

Maybe they were calling them names.
Maybe some of them worked on the local tax board and were taxing their church building heavily.
Maybe some of them paid of the Roman soldiers to throw church members in prison.
Regardless, the church was suffering. What did Jesus say about this suffering? A few things:

(1) Believers WILL Suffer for their Faith

Look at what Jesus says in Verse 10: Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. At first glance, this seems comforting. But if you are a Smyrnian, don’t you think they read this and responded by saying:

What? About to suffer? You mean this isn’t even done yet?

Yes.
That’s the truth.
For the Smyrnian people.
And for us:

The truth is that believers in Jesus will suffer.

Some suffering will happen because we’re on a sinful world where sinful people hurt one another. (Gossip, racism, and unfaithfulness)
Some suffering will happen because we’re in an imperfect world. (Cancer, pollution, and natural disasters)
Some suffering will happen because we’re believers in Jesus. (Things like angry comments on your Christian blog, being excluded from parties because you’re “That lousy Christian,” being yelled at by your spouse because “I’m not into that Jesus junk.”)

Jesus said this:
Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me. (Luke 10:16)
Just like you might not like a football team and, as a result, you don’t like fans of a certain football team.
Or you don’t like a politician and, as a result, you don’t like followers of that politician.

It’s the same thing with Jesus:

If someone doesn’t like Jesus.
They don’t like his followers.

If sinners made Jesus suffer,
They will make his followers suffer too.

(2) The Real Villain is the DEVIL

Because if it was just a bunch of humans making us suffer, you might think:
I can take them, Jesus. I took a few defense classes once, so…I got this.

But these people aren’t the real ones behind it. Look at what Jesus says about who was really behind the Smyrnian suffering:
I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you. (v.10b)

Now it wasn’t as if the devil showed up with a red pitchfork in his hands and pointy ears like some kind of Halloween costume.
But he influenced.
He tempted.
He gave people ideas like:

You should tell that Jesus supporter that he’s an idiot.
You should tell that Roman guard that Christian is breaking law by praying in public.
You should break up with your wife because the amount of Bible talk she has is crazy.

The same is true today.
The real villain isn’t whoever is persecuting you.
It’s the devil himself.

(3) Suffering Lasts for AWHILE

Because look at what Jesus says next:
You will suffer persecution for ten days.” (v.10c)

That doesn’t sound awful.
It’s the reason I sign up for ten days at a fitness camp. I figure – that’s not too long. I can handle it.
Or maybe you sign up for a ten day visit to your in-laws. You figure – that’s just over a week. I got this.

10 days of persecution? That’s doable.

But here’s the thing about numbers in revelation. They are metaphoric:

The number 3 represents God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The number 4 represents humans. Humans were created in God’s image, but aren’t God.
The number 7 represents the church. It’s 3 plus 4, where God connects with humans.

The number 10? It represents completeness.
Meaning the church at Smyrna would suffer until the suffering was completed.

In other words, for a while.

And the reality is that Christians will suffer…until their suffering on earth is completed.

Suffering will be a part of your life when you’re 5.
When you’re a teenager.
When you’re middle aged.
When you’re a senior.

Suffering…
Even suffering for your faith…
…will be a part of your life for a while.

But…
Only for a while.

Not…
Forever.

(4) The faithful will receive the CROWN of LIFE

Look at what Jesus says at the end of verse 10:
Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.

Back at this time, the victor’s crown was associated with the Olympics. It was made of olive branches and given to the winner.

To the winner of the 100-meter dash: Victor’s crown.
To the winner of the 1600-meter run: Victor’s crown.
To the winner of the pole vault: Victor’s crown
To the winner of the steeple chase (whatever a steeple chase is): Victor’s crown.

After all the training.
After all the sweating.
After all the suffering.

A victor’s crown.

Look at what Jesus promises to those who are victorious.
Who go through suffering in this life.
But hold on to Jesus:

A victor’s crown.

But not just any victor’s crown. This isn’t made from olive branches.
It’s made of life.

Do you get it?
If you hold to Jesus despite the suffering this life brings, you will have eternal life.
Death won’t win.
You will defeat it.

Just like Jesus defeated death, you will defeat death too.

You will live.

And about this life…
It won’t be one of suffering.
Because…

(5) The Faithful’s SUFFERING will END

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death. (v.11)

Second death?
That’s sounds awful.

First death is bad enough.

Second death?
That’s terrible.

It’s nothing but suffering.
Nothing but awful.
Nothing but hell…

…because it is hell.

But dear believers, that’s not anything you have to be worried about. The faithful will not be hurt even in the slightest by hell.

Because in heaven? There is no hell.
In heaven? There is no death.
In heaven? There is NO suffering.

No suffering for faith.
No cancer.
No loneliness.
No sadness.
No diseases.
No arguments with spouses.
No rebellious kids.
No ostracization from friends.
No racism.
No sexism.
No terrorism.
No violence.

No suffering of any amount, variety or kind.

In heaven, SUFFERING is done.
Because you’re with the one that defeated suffering.

You’re with Jesus.

III. WHAT NOW?

Jesus’ words are simple: Be Faithful.

Because when being a believer gets hard, it’s tempting to not be faithful.

“I became a believer and I still get sick.
I still have work problems.
I still have financial difficulties.
Only now people ridicule me for my faith.”

It might seem easier to stop being faithful so that you won’t have this momentary suffering.
But…
If you stay faithful, in the midst of the momentary suffering, you will have eternal blessings.

Not might.
Not could.
Not possibly.

Will.

Because God is faithful.
That won’t change.
He sent his Son Jesus for you.
And through faith in him you will be removed from suffering…forever.

Amen.

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Dear Church: that has the Wrong Love

10/13/2019

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When you go to a restaurant, you can often tell what’s important to them based on what happens while you’re there:

A restaurant might have hired a five-star chef, serve food you can’t pronounce, and for a price you can’t afford because they love quality.

Another might have a laid-back atmosphere, chilled jazz music, and eclectic decorations because they love atmosphere.

Another might have inexpensive prices, smiling faces, and quick turnover on dishes because they love customers.

There’s a restaurant on one of Gordon Ramsay’s show a while back called Amy’s Baking Company. And after watching the episode, it’s pretty obvious that Amy’s Baking Company loved their own Amy. There were photos of her hanging throughout the restaurant. The food took hours to complete because Amy needed her time to work. The customers were sent away without any of their complaints being answered because Amy was always right. Even Gordon Ramsay left the show without turning the restaurant around because they didn’t love becoming a good restaurant as much as they loved Amy.

It’s easy to tell what a restaurant loves by looking at how they operate. It’s the same thing with churches:

This church loves community outreach.
This church loves beautiful music.
This church loves fantastic architecture.

Today we are continuing our series called Dear Church. It’s a series in which we examine letters from Jesus to seven different churches. The letter for today looks at a church that had the wrong love. Our goal: Identify what that love is, compare it with what we love as Gethsemane Church, and consider what we should love most of all.

Before we begin, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. The Wrong Kind of Love

The lesson comes from Revelation 2:1. Take a look at the beginning of this letter from Jesus: “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.”

A few notes:

The letter is written to the angel. That’s either a reference to (1) an actual angel or more likely (2) the pastor of the church in Ephesus. Angel literally means “messenger” and since the pastor is the messenger bringing God’s Word to the people, the angel could easily represent that.

This church is the one in Ephesus. Ephesus was a church that started up after Paul did some groundwork there during his second missionary journey. If you remember, that’s the place where Paul stayed for two years until a riot started by the merchants and workers behind the Artemis of the Ephesians industry. Granted that would have been around 45 A.D. and Revelation would be around 90 A.D. So, a great period of time has passed within this church.

The one writing the letter is John, but these are the words of Jesus. Flashback to last week’s sermon:
Jesus is the one holding the seven stars.
Jesus is the one walking among the golden lampstands.
Jesus is the one speaking to his churches.

And remember, Revelation 1:20 reveals that the lampstands are the churches.
The symbolism is that Jesus walks amongst his churches.
He is there with his people.
He is with believers.
He is with YOU.

This was true for the Ephesian church. Jesus had been with the Ephesian church, he knows a thing or two about what is important to them. Look at what Jesus says to them:

I know your deeds. (v.2a) I know how you’ve been bringing bread to the local widows. I know how you’ve helped the poor in your community. I know how you’ve been kind to any foreigners who come to the area.

I know your hard work and your perseverance. (v.2b) I know that you’ve been battling city ordinances aimed against you at the hands of idol making industry. I know that some of your members have left because of persecution. I know that you’ve gathered up extra funds just to keep the church’s budget above water.

I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people. (v.2c) I know that you speak out against the greed of the city. I know you speak out against the temple prostitution ring. I know that you speak out against the local merchants as they go get wasted every evening after work.

I know that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them false. (v. 2d) I know that people have been coming to you claiming to be from Jesus, but they teach anything but Jesus. I know that rather than keep them around, you called them out. You pointed out their hypocrisy. You told them what was right.

You have persevered.
You have endured hardships for my name.
You have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. (v.3b-4)

Do you see the problem? Because as the letter begins, Jesus addresses them doing a bunch of things that a church ought to be doing!
It looked like there wasn’t any problem with what they were doing.
At least, not to the human eye.

But remember:
Jesus’ eyes, are blazing fire. (1:14)
And his eyes saw the heart.
And their hearts had forsaken their first love.
And their hearts now had the wrong love.

TRUTH: The Ephesian church had the WRONG love.

Because they had forsaken their first love. Their first love was Jesus. When Paul had brought the message of the Gospel to them forty years earlier, they had loved the incredible news that he brought.

They loved how Jesus had been the only real God in a city of fake gods.
They loved how Jesus had made them a part of His kingdom.
They loved how Jesus had brought them forgiveness.
They loved how Jesus gave them confidence in the promise of eternal life.

But now, years later…
But now, years removed from when they first believed.
But now, they loved something else.
Now they had the wrong love.

Since this letter was written down and preserved, we’re able to reflect upon it today. Here’s where it’s a big deal. When our love becomes anything other than Jesus.

For example:

1) Doing Good

There’s a lot of good for churches to do: Food banks, food drives, working with youth, working with seniors, working with children, helping widows, helping veterans, singing down at the retirement home, knitting sweaters for refugees, collecting Toys for Tots, Bottles for Babies, and Doritos for Daddy’s.

It’s not wrong to do good.
It’s not wrong to love doing good.
In fact, if you aren’t doing any good, there’s a problem in your church.

But…
If the thing you love most is simply “doing good” …

Did you know that the Church of Satan has a Facebook page? It’s a church dedicated to worshipping Satan. The page is filled with pictures of the devil and ancient cult-like worship. But it’s also filled with a request for socks.

The church of Satan ran a sock drive. They collected dry socks to give out to the homeless in their area. The idea was simply to “do good” and help people in the community.

And so I ask…

If all we love is doing good, then what’s the difference between this church and the church of Satan?
If we leave out Jesus, then what’s the difference between us and anything else?

2) Enduring

Enduring as a church can get hard. You lose a couple of members. The cost of keeping a building open increases. The budget becomes harder and harder to make work.

So, if you have been around for a while, that’s awesome. You might love the fact that you’ve been around for awhile and you might be wiling to do whatever it takes to continue to be around for a while.

But if you love enduring more than anything…

Then, maybe you don’t teach what God’s Word says about hell. (We don’t want people to leave.)
Maybe you don’t rebuke that church member for sleeping with his girlfriend. (We don’t want to upset him.)
Maybe you don’t call out that church leader who gives a lot of money for bitter attitude because (We need his funds to survive.)

Suddenly, you’re enduring.
But not as a church of Jesus.

3) Hating Evil

Understand. God hates evil, too.
In fact, God is holy.
That means he hates evil more than you ever could.

But if our first love is pointing out evil:
Then, I imagine my sermons would just be about how bad everyone is out there.
Your homework would be to go on Facebook and put an angry face next to every article that supports something evil.
Our elder’s job would be to simply go onto blog posts and write angry messages.

Without mentioning Jesus.

Imagine that you were struggling with lying. Lying is a sin. Lying is evil. Then, you came to me and said: “Pastor, I have been lying. It’s wrong. It’s a sin. I’m so sorry.”

And I leaned in.
Looked you in the eye.
Then said: “You know lying is an awful sin deserving of God’s hellfire wrath. Go and do better or else.”

How do you feel?
Close to Jesus?

Here’s the truth:
If we loving “Hating evil” more than Jesus, then it leads us to not teach Jesus.
And if we don’t teach Jesus, isn’t that…

…Evil?

4) Being Right

At the time of the Early Church, pastors would travel from city to city. They’d introduce themselves as “a pastor of Jesus” and then ask to preach in the local church.

The problem is that some people weren’t really teachers of what Jesus taught. As they’d begin preaching things that Jesus didn’t teach and say things that Jesus didn’t. So, it was good for the church in Ephesus to point out where those apostles were wrong so that they didn’t lead people away from Jesus.

The problem was that over time the church seemed to stop teaching what was right because it would lead the people to Jesus, but because it meant “they were right.”

I think this is an especially important warning for our church. As Lutherans we trace our roots back to people who defend the truth. 500 some years ago a monk named Martin Luther defend the truth that we are saved by faith in Jesus against Catholic teaching that we had to earn it. 50 some years ago our group of Lutherans decided to hold to the truth instead of teaching what the Bible doesn’t say like so many other varieties of Lutherans.

That’s good.

But if our main love becomes “Being right” instead of “teaching Jesus”, then suddenly:

We aren’t right.

And all of this about the wrong love is a big deal. Look at what Jesus says next: Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (2:5)

Remember what the lampstand represented?
The Church.

Remember who walks among them?
Jesus.

And Jesus says that you if you are a church that keeps having the wrong love, he’s going pick up your lampstand, remove it from where he walks, and leave you by yourself.

Do you get it?

If you are a church whose first love is not Jesus, then, you are NOT a church.

If you aren’t a church, then you aren’t part of God’s family.
And if you aren’t a part of God’s family, then you’re far from Jesus.

II. The Right Love

The word used for love in verse 4 is AGAPE. AGAPE is a Greek word that means, “unconditional love.” It’s a love that’s all the time. It’s a love that’s independent. It’s a love that continues from one side, even when the other side does not reciprocate.
It’s also a type of love that humans fail miserably at.

That’s why in the Bible humans aren’t often described as having that type of love.
Most often the one described as having that type of love is God.

Why?
Because God is AGAPE…This is AGAPE: not that we AGAPED God, but that he AGAPED us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 Jn. 4:8, 10)
Do you get it?
Even when our first love is lost.
Even when we love other things more than God.;
Even when our love for Him grows cold.

God’s love for us does not.

TRUTH:
God’s first love is YOU.
God loved you more than being in heaven.
God loved you more than staying away from this world.
God loved you more than suffering.

So, God came to earth.
God loved you more than his own blood.
God loved you more than his own breath.
God loved you more than his own life.
God lived for you.
God died for you.
God rose for you.

And that “first love” is more than just ordinally. As in, “you are my number one.”
God also loved you chronologically “first.”

Because God didn’t say: “I’ll wait up until you love me back before I do this.”
Nope.

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
While we were still with the wrong love, God showed love for us.
While we were still void of love for Him, God filled our hearts with His love.

In fact, that leads to a second truth:
Because God loved us FIRST God is our FIRST LOVE.

It’s like Kool Aid. If had a cup of Kool Aid and I wanted to give you Kool Aid, but didn’t have any Kool Aid in my cup, then I couldn’t give you any Kool Aid because of my severe lack of Kool Aid.

But…

When God is involved.
And God is a pitcher of Kool Aid.
And God pours his love in my heart.

Then, God has just enabled me to show love.
Love for God.
Love for Jesus.
Love for the Gospel
Love for others.

1 John 4:20 says this, “We love because Christ first loved us.”

The truth is that God’s loved empowers us to love him.

And our love for Jesus compels everything else.

Because notice that after Jesus reprimands the church for losing their first love, he gives them a compliment. He says: “But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” (v.6)

Who exactly the Nicolaitans were is unknown.
That’s lost to history.

What isn’t lost to history is that Jesus was against them.
Which means the stuff that the Ephesians church had been doing, they should continue to do.
They should do good.
They should endure.
They should hate evil.
They should hold to what was right.

But they should do so, because of their love for Jesus.

Instead of doing good because “I love being called good;” we do good “because God is good to us.”
Instead of enduring because “I enjoy enduring;” we endure because “God’s love keeps us enduring.”
Instead of hating evil because “I like to think of myself not evil,” we hate evil because “God has saved me from evil.”
Instead of holding to what is right because “I like to be right,” we hold to what is right because the truth of Jesus is what saves.

III. WHAT NOW?

Look at how Jesus ends this letter to the Ephesians: Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (v.7a)
And if you’re wondering if that applies to you, put your hands to the side of your head.
Do you feel some flappy, cartilage things?
Those are ears.
You have them.
Please listen to Jesus’ letter.

Because I can’t look at your heart.
And you can’t look at mine.

So, God is asking each of us to look within ourselves:
To see where has our love grown cold.
Where have we loved other things more than Jesus.

When we find the answer, to repent:
To confess the wrong love that we have.
To return our first love, Jesus.

Look at Jesus’ promise: To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” (v.7)

Paradise.
Doesn’t that sound good.

For you, paradise might be a trip to the beach, sitting under a fancy umbrella, sipping martini’s and listening to Bob Marley.
But this is the paradise of God.

What’s God’s version of paradise?
Being with you.
Apart from things that get in the way.
Apart from sin.
Apart from fear.
Apart from shame.
Apart from guilt.
Apart from pain.
Apart from death.

By the tree of life.
So you’re with him forever.

That’s God’s version of paradise.
To be beyond the very last, with his very first love.

May God keep our hearts strong with him. Amen.

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Dear Church: Intro

10/6/2019

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At Gethsemane, we get a goodly amount of mail. At times, I’ll open the mailbox and it will be chocked full of letters. If I’m honest, I feel excited. Maybe I’ll get something cool.

So, I read the envelopes:

Precious Lambs’ Director.
Precious Lambs’ Director.
Bill.
Financial Secretary.

Gethsemane Admin.
Gethsemane Admin.
Bill.
Treasurer.

Letter to Julianna.
Letter to Julianna.
Bill.
Letter to…Me!

Oh!
How thoughtful.
Let me look inside:

“Dear Pastor,
I didn’t have Julianna’s address.
Could you get this to her.”

Maybe you feel the same way. If the letter is for someone else, it isn’t that exciting to you.

Our next sermon series is called Dear Church. It’s a study of the first chapters of Revelation. These first chapters contain a collection of seven letters written to seven first-century churches.

Yet none of these letters are addressed to “Gethsemane Church in Raleigh.”
None of them have the address of delivery listed as 1100 Newton Road.
None of them have your specific name on it.

So, you might wonder: “How valuable is studying a bunch of ancient letters that aren’t written to me?’

Today our goal is to identify the author, identify the recipients and discover the value these letters have for us. Before we begin, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. The Writer

Our lesson starts in Revelation 1:1-2. It says: The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servant what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw. (Revelation 1:1-2)
A couple of notes:

The word Revelation is the Greek Word apocalypsis. It’s where we get the word Apocalypse. It means the “unveiling of something that previously was hidden.” In this case, what is being unfolded is the future of the Christian church.
The writer is a guy named John. This is John the Apostle. The apostles were a special group of twelve men that Jesus had specially called to follow him for three years of ministry and continue his ministry after he left. During the time he was with Jesus, John learned deep theological truths and witnessed other worldly miracles.

In fact, John was one of a group of three Apostles that were witness to a few special events:
John saw Jesus’ face transformed into a brilliant sun like light.
John saw Jesus touch a dead girl’s hand and bring her back to life.
John saw Jesus in deep anguish as he prayed deep within a garden the night before he died.

In addition,
John saw Jesus die.
And John was an eyewitness to Jesus’ resurrection.

As a result, John wanted to share his experience. He wrote a book in the Bible called John. In that book, he wrote about all that Jesus said and did while on earth. Later, John wrote a letter to believers everywhere called 1st John. It encouraged believers in their Savior Jesus. Finally, John writes two more letters called: 2nd and 3rd John that deal with supporting the truth of God’s Word.

That’s four books of the Bible that John had already authored. Revelation is his 5th book.
This letter has value, because it comes from a guy whose life was intimately connected with our Savior.

Look what else John says about himself: I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. (1:9)

Notice that John calls himself brother. Even though he has led an impressive life, John does not refer to himself as “The apostle” or “the guy who knows a lot more than you.”

Nope.

John calls himself a brother.
A brother in sin.
A brother in salvation.
A brother in faith.
A brother in the church.
And…
A brother in suffering.

Like you, John knew suffering.
He knew the physical pain of life on this earth.
He knew the emotional pain of being ridiculed for his faith.
He knew the spiritual pain of fighting sin, of fighting guilt, of fighting loneliness.

Matter of fact, John wrote this letter while he was on the island of Patmos. He had been exiled there because of his faith. He was alone. He probably felt lonely. He was familiar with suffering.
This letter has value, because it comes from a guy who understood the struggles of believers.

II. The Voice behind the Writer

Yet…

John wasn’t a millennial.
He’s never been to the Triangle.
He didn’t own an iPhone.
He wasn’t familiar with how to run Windows 10.
He didn’t know any of the characters from Stranger Things.
John didn’t know what it was like for 21st century believers in Raleigh NC.

His letter might be valuable for a history class,
But not nowadays…

Look at what John writes next:

On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit. The Lord’s Day would have been Sunday. The fact that John was in the Spirit seems to indicate that he was in some form of worship.

Maybe singing songs to God’s praise.
Or on his knees in prayer.
Or preaching himself a sermon and writing down his own sermon responses.

When suddenly…
In the middle of worship all by himself.
On the island all by himself.
In prayer all by himself.

John heard someone else:

I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on the scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches.” (v.10)

Do you get it?
John’s letter; isn’t his own.
He wrote it down.
But it came from someone else.

It’s kind of like Siri. If you’re driving down the road and you don’t want to text and drive (because you shouldn’t text and drive), you can tell Siri: “Siri. Text Julianna: Hi Love, I’ll be home at seven.” Siri will write it down. Siri will send the message. Siri will let Julianna know: “Hi Bub, I’ll be home at eleven.”

Jokes aside. When you send a message through Siri, Siri writes it down, but it’s really your message.

It’s the same thing here.
John wrote it down, but the letter come from this voice.

So, who is the one behind John’s letter? The text is full of clues:

(1) Trumpetlike Vocal Chords

It says the voice was like a trumpet. (v.11) On the one hand, it could be a reference to the decibel level. A trumpet is loud and boisterous, so this simile may be a reference to the voice being loud and boisterous. (There’s a reason the trumpet plays the daily wakeup call in the military)

Or perhaps has a brass instrument like quality to it. It literally sounds like a trumpet with a nasal, air filled quality to its melodies.

Either way, trumpetlike vocal cords are other worldly. Because most people can’t speak louder than a trumpet. And most people can’t speak in a voice that perfectly mimics a trumpet. (Go ahead and try – I’ll wait.)

(2) Surrounded by High Priest Gear

When John heard the voice, he turned around to see where it was coming from. He wrote, “When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. (v.13)

All that language is very Old Testament.
Old Testament worship involved these very ornate golden lampstands that held the burning candles during worship.
Old Testament worship was led by a high priest who wore a long white robe reaching down to cover his sandals.
Old Testament worship robes were decorated by a golden sash across the chest.

John, who was familiar with Old Testament worship, would have understood that this was a high priest.
The only thing he wouldn’t have understood was…

Where did the high priest come from?
And how did he set up the lampstands without making a sound?
And can you get the golden sash on sale down at Target?

(3) Human-Ish

Look at John’s description of the high priest. He describes him as, “like a son of man.” (v.13)

A son of man is a human.
Just like a son of a cow is a calf.
And the son of a cat is a kitty.

But John is careful in his words. He doesn’t say, “a son of man,” but, “like a son of man.”
As in similar, but not quite.
As in like, but also unlike.
As in human, but more…

(4) Otherworldly Facial Features

Verse 14 describes why John didn’t consider him your average human. He writes, “The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.”

White hair isn’t unheard of. It’s common. Yet the emphasis on it being “white like snow”; gives the impression this is an otherworldly type of white.

And check out the eyes!
Yes, there are now contacts that exist that you can put into your eyeballs to change the color of your iris. If you have blue eyes and want brown, there’s contact lenses for that.
If you have brown eyes and want blue, there’s contact lenses for that.
If you have regular colored eyes and want yours to look like fire, there’s contact lenses for that.

But…
Those colors contact lenses weren’t invented until 2010.
And contact lenses in general didn’t exist until 1887.

So…

That’s fire in his eyes.
Otherworldly.

And that’s not it for the otherworldly facial features:

In verse 17 it says, “Coming out of his mouth was a sharp double-edged sword.”
And in verse 18 it says, “His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.”

Otherworldly.

(5) Otherworldly Footwear

Look at verse 15: His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace.

Bronze is a precious metal. It’s used in making beautiful plates, decorations, and lampstands.

But…

How many of you today are wearing bronze shoes?
How many of you own bronze shoes?
How many of you have ever seen bronze shoes?

But then, notice that the bronze was glowing! Did you know that bronze begins to glow & melt at about 1562 degrees Fahrenheit?

This is other worldly.

(6) Trumpetlike Riverlike Vocal Chords

I love this note. Because earlier John said that the voice was like a trumpet. And then at the end of verse 15 he says, “his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.”

What’s the deal? Can John not tell the difference between the sound of trumpet and the sound of a river? Nope.

John’s just in such shock at the other worldly voice of this being that he is struggling for metaphors.

The voice is that amazing.
That otherworldly.

(7) Star Grasping

Verse 16 records, “In his right hand he held seven stars.” There is no distinction here.
It doesn’t say, “In his right hand were seven things like stars.”
Nope.

It doesn’t say, “Seven lights like stars.”
It doesn’t even say, “Seven shapes like stars.”

Just stars.
Legitimate, gas burning entities.

Three white dwarves.
Four red giants.

Or maybe…
Four red dwarves
And three blue giants.

Regardless, the fact that this being has legitimate stars in his hands…
Otherworldly.

(8) The First & the Last

Because the voice speaks again and said this: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.” (v.17)

Think about that.

The voice says He is the First.
As in before all the sun.
As in before the moon.
As in before the earth.
As in before Adam.
As in before Eve.
As in before everything.

God.

And the voice says He is the Last.
As in after the sun.
As in after the moon.
As in after the earth.
As in after all Adams.
And after all Eve.
As in after everything.

Also, God.

But…
More specifically.

(9) Formerly Dead

The voice continues, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!” (v.18)

How many people do you know who are dead? Lots.
How many people do you know who are dead, but then came back to life?
Did you know the Bible records at least 9?

The widow of Zarephath’s son…dead; brought back to life.
The Shunnamite woman’s son…dead; brought back to life.
A random Israelite body…dead; brought back to life.
The young daughter of Jairus…dead; brought back to life.
The young man at Nain…dead; brought back to life.
Jesus’ friend Lazarus…dead; brought back to life.
Tabitha, the faithful church widow…dead; brought back to life.
Eutychus, the sleepy church goer…dead; brought back to life.

But did you know…
All those people died again.

There’s only one.
Only one who died.
came back to life.
And stayed alive.

Jesus Christ.

TRUTH:
This letter is from JESUS.

Your Savior.
The one who lived for you.
The one who died for you.
The one who rose for you.
The one who lives for you.
The one who protects you.
The one who rules all things for you.
The one who will take care of you.
The one who will bring you home to heaven.
The one who will grant you eternal life.

This is a letter from Jesus Christ himself!

III. The Recipients

But there’s more. Look at the people to whom Jesus wrote this letter:

Jesus said, “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

And to be fair John mentions the seven churches that will receive the letter earlier. The churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. (v.11)
But…
Numbers are important in Revelation.
A few numbers come up frequently.

3 is the number of God. It represents the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
4 is the number of humanity. It’s close to God, but not quite. It represents the four corners of the earth that humans live upon.
7 is the sum of the two. It represents God in communion with humanity. It represents where God graciously connects with the souls he loves. It represents the place where God brings sinful lost humans into his family.

We’re talking about the Church.

Here’s the truth:
This is a letter written to YOU.

Dear believer.
Dear brother.
Dear sister.
These letters are important.
Because they are written to YOU.
And they have been preserved for YOU.
And they are being proclaimed to YOU.
And these words are from Jesus for YOU.

IV. What Now?

Pay Attention

There is no letter you have ever received more important.
No letter you’ve ever received with more value.
No letter you have ever received that comes from a higher place than these letters from Jesus himself.

Pay attention.
Take notes.
Read ahead.
Make sure you’re here.
If you can’t be, listen online.

Don’t miss the very important words of Jesus himself.
He loves you.
He cares for you.
He has a message for you, dear church.
Amen.

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FIGHTING TEMPTATIONS: Lessons from the Champ

3/10/2019

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Our sermon series is all about the fight that goes on between humans and temptation.
Fighting temptation is something that we all are familiar with in some shape or form…
Fighting temptation is something that we all struggle with in some shape or form.

I have every confidence that this will be a good series for you to be a part of.

To start our study of temptation, we’re going to watch a film.
If you’ve ever been in a sport before, maybe you’ve done that. You’ve watched films of those who are good at the sport in hopes that you’ll learn how to be better at the sport.

And if you wanted to be a better fighter, there is no shortage of epic fights that you could watch.

Muhammad Ali against Joe Frazier in the Thrilla at Manilla.
The Immortal Hulk Hogan versus Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania III.
Holly Holm defying the odds and taking out Ronda Rousey at UFC 193.

If you want to learn to be a fighter, it is valuable to watch the best fighters battle against some of their most feared opponents.

Today we’ll do that. We’ll examine a one-on-one battle between the Undefeated Against Temptation, Jesus, and the Master of Temptation, Satan, the devil himself. Before we do, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. The Stakes

The battle we’ll look at today is recorded in Luke 4:1-13. But before we get into the specifics of the fight, I think it’s important to look at how high the stakes were.

Because epic fights, usually have high stakes:

A championship belt.
A gold medal.
Even a $100,000,000 purse.

What were the stakes in Luke 4?

1. Title of “Most Powerful”

The devil is powerful.

He has been winning temptation battle after temptation battle since way back in the Garden of Eden! Back then, in the first temptation battle ever – Satan did not really break a sweat in getting Adam and Eve, two people who had never sinned, to…sin.

Since then, the devil had been on a rampage causing person after person after person to fall to temptation.

Hundreds of millions of people…
All people in all of history up to the point of Luke 4…
All losers to the devil.

He’s powerful.

Along came Jesus.
He was supposed to be the Savior…
Could he be the One to break the devil’s power?

2. Unblemished Record

Up to this point, Jesus hasn’t sinned. The reason takes a bit of explanation:

Jesus, unlike any other human ever, was born differently.
He was born of a virgin and God.
As a result, he didn’t have a naturally sinful heart like all other humans do.
And was not tempted by his own sinful heart like all other humans are.

In short, he had no sin.

But in Luke 4, the devil gets a chance to go at Jesus in a one-on-one attack out in the desert, away from other people, in a desert wasteland. All with the goal of taking Jesus’ perfect record and adding one blemish to it.

If he can only do that, he can do more than ruin Jesus’ perfect record against temptation, he can also ruin…

3. Your Salvation

The Bible teaches that “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) We have sinned; we deserve death; even eternal death in hell. The Bible also teaches that Jesus came to be our substitute. He would pay the wage of our sins for us by dying on the cross.

In order for Jesus to be able able to pay for our sins, Jesus needed to live his own life without any sin.
Otherwise, when he went to the cross to pay for our sins, the Father would look down at Jesus’ record, see his own sinful blemish, and say, “The wages of sin is death.”

It’d be similar to me having one dollar and wanting to pay for your Dollar Menu Item at McDonalds and the cashier at the register says, “Sir, before you can pay for your friend’s McChicken, I’m going to need you to pay for your own Dollar Fries.”

Sorry, dude. No McChicken for you.

If Jesus sinned – even once, he would have to give his life to pay for it.
And then he couldn’t pay for ours.
And then we wouldn’t be saved.

II. The Fight

The stakes are high. Let’s look at what happens:

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. (Lk. 4:1-3)

Right away, did you notice that the deck is stacked against Jesus?

He’s Alone. No one else is around. No one to encourage him not to sin. No one to tell him, “Hey, don’t do that.” Sometimes the harshest temptations hit us when we’re alone. That’s not a good start.
In the Wilderness. There aren’t any amenities around to get his mind off the temptation. He can’t relax in the hot tub. He can’t grab a drink from the minibar. He can’t just ignore the devil while watching HBO in the hotel room.
He’s hungry. Like…he hasn’t eaten in over 40 days. That’s crazy. Because…I have a hard time fighting off the temptation if I don’t eat every two hours!!! We call that hangry.

And the devil knows it.
This is the opportune time.
Hit ‘em, while he’s weak.

1. Round One

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” (v.3)

It wouldn’t be hard for you. You control the elements. I know you changed water into wine not that long ago. This should be as easy as a snap of your fingers.

Because…yes…I know the Father promised to care for you but…. 40 days!?! Without food? That’s love!?!

He forgot about you.
He doesn’t love you.
And those pangs in your stomach?

Proof.

Take matter into your own hands.
Love yourself.
Make that stone into some bread.

At first, does that even seem like it’d be sinful. Because Jesus absolutely had the power to change stones into bread.
He once turned five loaves of bread into food for 5,000.
He also turned 7 loaves of bread into food for 4,000.
It wouldn’t have been hard for Jesus to turn stones into a nice warm loaf of Subway herbs and cheese bread, smothered in butter!

But that’s not really the heart of the temptation.

Because Jesus had gone into the wilderness because the Spirit led him there.
He went into the wilderness because it was part of his Father’s plan.
He went into the wilderness trusting his Father loved him and would keep him alive.

The heart of the temptation isn’t: “Use your powers,” it’s, “Distrust God’s Love.”

That’s important to recognize.

Because specifically speaking this is a temptation that the devil could never bring to you or me. Because if the devil told me, “Change that stone into bread,” I would simply say, “I can’t.”
But categorically? He uses this all the time.

“If God loved you, you wouldn’t be so far behind on your rent. Better take it into your own hands. Commit a little fraud on your taxes.”
“If God really loved you, why would he let your relationship be so difficult? Go ahead. Start flirting with other women.”
“If God really loved you, your sister wouldn’t be so sick. Denounce him. Move on.”

The temptation to distrust God’s love is great.
I’ve failed at this plenty of times, too.
You?

But look at Jesus. He says, “It is written: (pay attention to that phrase, we’ll hear it again) ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” (v.4)

In other words:

It isn’t bread that sustains. God does.
It isn’t bread that determines that God loves me, the fact that I’m alive does.
And I’m alive so…

Devil, you lie.
I trust God’s love; not your words…

Boom.

It’s like the devil came in with a few left jabs, Jesus blocked them and countered with a punch to the gut.

Round One. Jesus.

2. Round Two

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. (This is a bit of a miracle. Don’t forget. The devil is powerful. Not all-powerful, but powerful. And in an instant he shows him the kingdom of Israel, the Roman Empire, parts of Asia, down into Africa and maybe the futuristic Kingdom of Raleigh NC in 2019.)

And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.” (v.6-7)

Because Jesus… I know God’s plan.
I’ve read the Scriptures.
He said that once you’ve finished your work on earth, that you will sit at his right hand and rule over all things.

Once you’ve finished your work…

Doesn’t your work involve betrayal?
Doesn’t it involve being arrested?
Doesn’t it involve you being punched, beaten, whipped, crowned with thorns, nailed hand and foot to a cross, and dying by asphyxiation on two old, blood stained pieces of wood?

That sounds awful.
That sounds terrible.
That sounds…like a BAD plan.

Jesus, I’ve got a better plan.
Bow down to me.
It’ll be quick.
It’ll be painless.
All of this will be yours.
And it will all be yours.

Never mind the fact that the devil doesn’t actually rule anything.
Never mind the fact that the devil’s promise was something he couldn’t deliver on.
Focus in on the temptation.

Because the heart of the temptation isn’t: “Bow down to me, but “Distrust God’s Plan.”

Specifically, this isn’t a temptation that could apply to us. God’s plan is not for you to suffer and die on a cross.
Categorically this temptation is something I am sure you have dealt with.

Is God’s plan really that you be kind to your enemies at work? That’s foolish. We need to go call them a few very specific names.
Is God’s plan really that you stay faithful to your spouse? You’re missing out. Check out this xxx website and you’ll feel instantly better.
Is God’s plan really that you sweat your way up the ladder? That’ll take too long. Go on Facebook and spread rumors about your coworkers. You’ll get the promotion faster…
Is God’s plan really that you share the Gospel? They’ll probably ridicule you. Just listen to my plan. Clam up. It’ll be a lot easier.

Avoid pain.
Avoid suffering.
Wow. That’s a good temptation.
I’ve failed at it too many times to count!

But Jesus responds his way, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only’” (v.8)

In other words:

It isn’t you who is all-knowing, God is.
It isn’t you who is all-loving, God is.
It isn’t you who is all-powerful, God is!

Devil, you lie.
I trust the Father’s plan, not yours…

And WHAM!

The devil tried to come back with sideswipe, but Jesus stepped out of the way and clocked him in the back of the head.

Round Two. Jesus.

But the devil hasn’t given up. He slugs some water, spits out some blood and heads to the final round.

3. Round Three

The devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here.” (v.9)
Because, I get it. I misjudged you, Jesus. I really did.
You trust the Father implicitly!

You trust His love.
You trust His Plans.
You trust His Word.

Let’s do something to show that trust. Just jump. The southern most part of the temple is only about 450 feet about the ground. It’s scary. But…you’re so good at trusting. Look at what God promised:

For it is written: (“I know you’ll like that Jesus. It’s the Scriptures.”) “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
You won’t strike your foot.
And you won’t splat.

Trust your Father, Jesus.

Wow. Talk about tricky.
The devil makes jumping off the Wells Fargo Building in downtown Raleigh sound like it should be our next church outing.
Something like that would be sinning if we didn’t do it!

But it isn’t.
Because God never told us to.

This temptation is tricky.
It isn’t a temptation to MISTRUST, but to TRUST.
Specifically: It’s a temptation to Trust Presumptuously.
To trust beyond what God promised.
To let your trust lead you into a realm that God has clearly forbidden!
To be fair – you’ve dealt with similar temptations:
It’s good to trust God. He promised to always protect you. So, go ahead: Drink and drive.
It’s good to trust God. He promises to hold you in faith. So, go ahead: Stop going to worship.
It’s good to trust God. He promises to always forgive you. So, go ahead: Sin as much as you want. In fact, if you don’t go on sinning, you aren’t very good in trusting God’s forgiveness.

If you are a long-time Christian, be especially careful of this one. Because the devil plays on our desire to feel like a good Christian at the expense of being a good Christian!
He only tells half the story.
He only brings up half the truth.
He’s lying!

And Jesus knew that: Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (v.12)
Because the Father is the one who sets limits.
And the Father is the one who determines when those limits are broken.

Devil. You’re wrong. God is the one testing, not the one to be tested.

Get.
Away.
From me.

And the devil unleashes a barrage of jabs to Jesus’ stomach,
But Jesus just stands there, absorbing the blows.
And then…
Winds up….
And delivers a killer upper cut to knock the devil out.

Winner.
The Most Powerful of All.
The Unblemished by Sin.
Your Salvation-Winning-Savior – Jesus Christ.

III. WHAT NOW?

1. Celebrate His Victory!

Because you may have fallen to temptation.
You might have lost to the devil.
You might have lost to the devil so often that you feel like your record is 0 - 76,845.

You might feel like a loser.
But you aren’t.
Because Jesus won.

He defeated the devil.
He didn’t sin.
When he died, he paid the price for your sins!

And then – three days later…He rose triumphantly defeating the devil’s counterpart known as death!

Jesus is victorious!
And as a result…
You are victorious.

You are forgiven.
For all the times you have mistrusted God’s love, you are forgiven.
For all the times you have mistrusted God’s plans, you are forgiven.
For all the times you have trusted God presumptuously, you are forgiven.

Take a moment.
Celebrate that.
When the devil tries to get you to think about all the times that you have lost to him…
Remind him about how he lost to Jesus!

2. Fight with your Greatest Weapon

A phrase that Jesus uses time and again throughout this entire fight is “It is written.” It’s a reference to Old Testament Scripture. And it’s Jesus’ favorite way of fighting temptation.

I think that’s incredible!
Because if I was predicting how this battle would go, I would imagine that Jesus would have sent lighting bolts to turn the devil to a crisp.
Or maybe called down a bunch of flying monkeys to toss him off the top of the 450-foot temple point.
Or even imprisoned him inside of a heavenly cage where he isn’t allowed to eat bread for 40 some odd days!

Nope.

Jesus doesn’t use his miraculous power.
He simply uses God’s Word.

A weapon – that you and I have access, too.

Hebrews 4:12 says this, “The word of God is living and active sharper than any double-edged sword.”

Friends, use God’s Word to battle temptation.
I don’t mean pick it up and swing at the devil.
Nope.
I mean use God’s Word.

It’s powerful.
It’s effective.
It tends to knock the devil out.

When he tempts you to lust, tell him, “It is written: Don’t lust.”
When he temps you to hate, tell him, “It is written: Don’t hate.”
When he tempts you to doubt God, tell him, “It is written – that Jesus kicked you in a one-on-one temptation battle. Then he died and rose again. Tell me again…Why should I doubt God?”

3. Fight Alongside Jesus

You don’t need to fight on your own.
You don’t need to take on temptation by yourself.
You have the Savior on your side.

And what happens when Jesus fights the devil?
Well…
Check out the last verse.

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left… (v.13)

Did you catch that?
He retreated.
He gave up.
He submitted at the hands of Jesus.

That is what Satan will do when you fight along Jesus.
And as a believer in Jesus, you fight along Jesus.
May God give you confidence to fight temptation this week and always. Amen.

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BREATHE: When You're Short of Breath

4/12/2016

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I. The Worst Kind of Fear

The doors were locked.

A deadbolt. Another deadbolt.. A few boxes stacked in front of the door. One of those giant wooden planks that sits atop two metal supports on both sides. There was no way anyone was getting in.

It was evening on the very first Easter Sunday. The disciples were gathered together and talking in hushed voices:

“Do you think the Pharisees will come after us?”
“Do you think they’ll want us dead? Or was Jesus enough?”
“Do you think they know who I am? I can’t remember if they saw my face when we were running away last Thursday night!”
“Do you think crucifixion will be as bad as it sounds?”

Then, their hushed panic was interrupted by a knock on the door. A few of them jumped. Quietly Matthew peeped through the tiny hole in the door.

It was Mary Magdalene. They let her in, they told her not to scare them like that. But she wasn’t listening. She was a sobbing mess. “They’ve stolen his body!” She sobbed. “I couldn’t even see him.”

Peter and John put their arms around her. They lifted up their hoods so that they wouldn’t be seen. They ran with her to investigate.

As the other disciples waited, they heard another knock. Their breaths were short again. Slowly they opened the door to reveal the group of women that Mary had abandoned. They weren’t nearly stressed. In fact, they seemed joyful.

“Shhh!” Nathanael tried to quiet them down. “You’re making too much noise. They’ll hear us.”
“What of it!?!” Today is too great not to shout HALLELUJAH!” They began talking about angels – and resurrection – and how they had seen Jesus.

Okay. That was impossible. Jesus was dead.

Maybe, they needed to lay down. Maybe their emotions were getting the best of them.

But then, Peter and John returned. Yep. The tomb was empty alright. There wasn’t a trace of a body in there. And if you didn’t trust John, you could trust Peter. He was thorough like that.

Then, a third knock. “It’s Clopas!” said a voice. As they opened the door Philip exclaimed, “I thought you were heading to Emmaus today!”

“We were, but then…we saw Him….Jesus….He’s alive.”

As all of these stories marinated, the mood of the room changed. There was a buzz. Could it be? Could he really…? Could Jesus be...alive?

Then, someone else joined them.

Someone else who didn’t knock.
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them.

And at first, the disciples were shocked. Was this a hallucination? No, the others saw it too. Was it a ghost? No…the floor creaked when he walked. Was it a look alike? No…they had spent three years with the Lord, they knew his unmistakeable face.

Suddenly, a dread fell over the disciples. Jesus wasn’t a hallucination. Jesus wasn’t a ghost. Jesus wasn’t a vision. It was much worse than that.

Jesus was alive.

(1) They Had Wronged Him!

You might be thinking. Why? Why would that be bad news to them? Jesus was alive!

Tell me -- Have you ever had a bad morning? You’re on the way to work and you kind of brush past some guy to get into the elevator – you force him to take the next one – and about fifteen minutes later as your boss is leading the morning meeting for work – you see the elevator guy again – turns out; he’s the C.E.O.

Or maybe you’re at the edge of Falls of Neuse. You’re waiting…and waiting…and waiting to turn left onto it. Finally, you pull out just a tad close to a car that looks like its pretty far away, but as soon as the car turns on it’s flashing blues and reds, you realize that cop car was a lot closer than I thought.

This is exactly how the disciples felt!

Jesus was alive, sure. But he was also the guy they had just abandoned. He was also the guy some of them had just denied knowing. He was the guy they had let die on that cross.

(2) They Couldn’t Hide from Him!

Remember: The doors were locked. And that locked door was meant for the Romans. But when they looked behind Jesus, the doors were still locked. They couldn’t hide from Jesus.

That meant when Matthew tried to slip behind Simeon – “Maybe he can’t see me.” Or Andrew pretended to be asleep. And Philip sat in back thinking – “If I don’t move, maybe he won’t see me.”

Jesus still saw them. They couldn’t hide from Jesus.

(3) He was God!

Here’s the scariest part of all. It wasn’t like they had sinned against one another. It wasn’t as if one of them was yelling at the other one for stealing his favorite tunic without asking. It wasn’t as if they had sinned against another human.

If Jesus was really standing before him, it meant He had really risen from the dead. If he had really risen from the dead, it meant he really was God!

The God of heaven. The God of hellfire and brimstone. The God who when he got sick of storms told them to buzz off. The God who when he was angry with demons sent them away from this earth. The God who spoke to terrible disease and sent them packing with his burning anger.

What was to stop him from doing just that. To them. Right now.

Do you understand the disciple’s fear? Maybe you’ve wronged God. Maybe you’ve done some pretty bad sins. Maybe you came here today troubled by something awful that you did just last night. In fact, maybe that’s why it was hard to get here today. (Or maybe it's why you are only reading this online.)

But here's the problem...

Have you ever played hide & seek with some kids before? Kids have pretty good hiding spots. They can get into a lot better hiding places than dad. Dad gets to hide behind the shower curtain and behind the door and that’s about it. (And now I just gave away my two best hiding spots.) Kids can get into really good spots though. Behind the washing machine, inside the cupboard, under the bed.

But what happens when you find them. What do kids do? They cover their eyes. They cover their eyes because they figure that somehow you can’t see them, if they can’t see you.

Do you ever get so scared of God that you think like that? That you figure – as long as I don’t approach God – as long as I don’t go to church – as long as I don’t read that one part in the Bible – then, I’m good.

That doesn’t work. You can’t hide from God.
He sees your sins. He sees all your sins.

Even the sins that you think he doesn’t see – He sees.
The pornography at night?
The flirting with the guy that’s not your husband?
The cheating on the test when the teachers isn’t looking?
Stealing that money from your friend's purse?

Others might not see it. God does. God hates sin. He hates it with a hellfire vengeance.

II. The Best Kind of Antidote

Do you feel that? I do. It’s fear. Fear because we’ve sinned. Fear because God knows it. Fear because that sin was against God.

That’s the kind of fear the disciples were experiencing. They trembled. Each hoping that Jesus would make it quick and painless. Then, Jesus moved. His mouth opened. The disciples braced themselves. He spoke:

“Peace be with you!” As in…It worked. As in…You have been saved. As in…You’re forgiven.

Can you imagine that collective breath that was let out in that room? Jesus wasn’t there to get revenge. He was there to give them assurance. He was there to tell them of their salvation. He was there to tell them that his sacrifice had worked. He was there to tell them that He was victorious and they were at peace with God!

Because that’s what the resurrection means. Jesus’ resurrection means that he defeated sin, death, and hell. It means that those who believe in him are forgiven. It means that you are forgiven!

Pastor, I know all that. But I still get scared. Life is tough. Finances are difficult. Relationships are hard. My job is in the air. The devil…the devil loves to make me doubt this peace I have with God. What do I do when I’m scared?

A couple things.

1)      Don’t Hide.
We already said that doesn’t work. God sees all things. God is there for all things. It’s like when you see your kid do something he isn’t supposed to. He might as well come clean. You saw him do it.

God’s already seen it. Don’t lie. Don’t hide it. Bring it to him.

Secondly, bring it to him, because he wants PEACE with you. Even though He isn’t the one who wronged your relationship – that’s on you – God still wants peace with you. That’s why he came to this earth. That’s why he died on the cross. That’s why he rose from the dead and spoke to the disciples and had the disciples write it down so that you would hear His desire. PEACE.

Scripture says this, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just. He will forgive us all our sins.”

Confess your sins to God. Confess the ones that are public. Confess the ones that are obvious. Confess the ones that are private, hidden, known only to you and God. Confess your sins – and hear his promise of forgiveness.

2)      Come Back to Reality

I remember the very first haunted house I ever went to. It was a gym at our local grade school – with a few spooky cobwebs hanging from the basketball hoops. But there was one part that was creepy. They made me put on a blindfold and reach my hand into a bowl. I grasped what I thought was earthworms and eyeballs!

I was bawling. I threw them on the ground. I was panicking as we left – so badly that my dad took me back inside to show me that I hadn’t touched worms and eyeballs but spaghetti and meatballs.

Oh. Thanks for that reality check.

That’s what Jesus helped the disciples do. A smile. Kindness. Words of promise. The reality was that Jesus wasn’t dead. He wasn’t dead and he wasn’t mad at them. He had died for their sins and there was no reason to be afraid.

When you’re dealing with fear, come back to reality.

When you think you’re all alone, come back to reality – Jesus is with you.
When you think everyone is against you, come back to reality – Jesus has your back.
When you think God can’t handle this, come back to reality – Jesus died and came back to life!

3)       Examine His Wounds

That’s one of the things Jesus did for his disciples. He showcased that it was really him. He let them run their hands on the nail marks in his hands and place their hands into the spear mark in his side.

When they touched his wounds, they didn’t just see some kind of really cool scars.

Nope.

They saw his love. “He did this for me?”
They saw his power. “These scars defeated death?”
They saw his resurrection. “They are moving; he is still alive; praise God!”

Pastor – how can I do that? I don’t get the privilege of seeing the resurrected Lord Jesus with my physical eyes like the disciples.

I’m gonna tell you the same thing we said last week. If you want to examine his wounds, examine the Scriptures. Read his Word. It’s not overkill that God’s telling us to do it a second time. In his Word we see the pain God went through. We see the pangs that his heart goes through as we sin against him. We see the pain he suffers at his betrayal. We see the awful suffering of his crucifixion. You’ll see that he did this for you. Because he loves you that much.

4)      Understand this Phrase: “Peace be With You.”

That’s God talking! There is no one higher. It isn’t me talking. It isn’t an angel talking. This is a message of peace, straight from the top!

If you’ve got peace with him…

Romans 8 says just that. Take a look. It says this, “31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things…35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?" Can money troubles? Bill collectors? Cancer or AIDS? Drugs or alcohol? Divorce or loneliness? Terrorists, explosion and attacks? NO!

"37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!"

May these words keep us from fear now and always. Amen.

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BREATHE: The Most Important Breath in the History of Breaths

3/29/2016

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Breathing is kind of important. Agreed?

(Who knew we’d all be on the same page within 10 seconds of the start to a sermon?)

Breathing is important, but …some breaths are more meaningful than others:

The deep breath as you ask your first crush on a date.
A gasp when your significant other gets down on one knee.
The final Lamaze breath as your child enters the world.
Your first breath as you enter the world.

But…what if I told you the most important breath of your lifetime didn’t even take place in your lifetime?

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MAIN BIBLE PASSAGES:

Matthew 27:45, 50-55
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and[e] went into the holy city and appeared to many people. 54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” 55 Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. 56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph,[f] and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

Matthew 28:1-7
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

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I. The Most Important Exhale

It was Friday afternoon. Almost 2000 years ago. The people were doing one of the things they did for fun back then. No, they weren’t checking Instagram. No, they weren’t sampling their favorite sushi. No, they weren’t leaving work early to get on I—440 before it got hectic.

They were watching a crucifixion.

It was a larger commotion than normal. Three men were being executed. Two of them were fairly routine culprits — everyday thieves. But the third was of intrigue:

His name was Jesus. He was famous in the land of Israel. He had had quite a following and it was reported that he had done many miracles. And he wasn’t being killed for any of those. He was being crucified because he claimed to be the Son of God.

Now that is a strange claim, agreed? We’re getting used to strange claims though. Politicians make them all the time. “I’ll save you billions.” “You’ll never have to pay taxes again.” “I’ll fix America in a few months.”

But as outlandish as some of their claims are, I don’t think any of them have claimed to be the Son of God. If they did, we could go on Factchecker.com just to confirm, it ain’t true.

Here’s what’s interesting though – the fact surrounding Jesus seemed to point to the fact that it was true! He was reported as making the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear. He walked on water, stopped storms and changed water into wine. He healed the sick, drove out demons, and raised the dead.

Even his death had some strange, significant events surrounding it.

Around the 6th hour (which in Jewish time was about noon. 6 am was the first light and was therefore the first hour…making the 6th hour, 6 + 6 = 12 noon)…around the 6th hour darkness covered the earth. (Matthew 27:45) That word “darkness” there doesn’t refer to slightly overcast day. It’s a word used to describe the much thicker darkness of nighttime.

Nighttime darkness at noon? Strange.

Still the crucifixion continued as planned. In the darkness each one of the condemned slowly crept closer to death. Until in a loud voice, Jesus cried out “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Then, he exhaled.

And His followers watched.
They held their breath.
They waited.

Nothing. His chest didn’t move. His mouth made no sound. His breath didn’t return.

Nothing.

But then, something.

Matthew 27:51 says, “The Curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” Notes on that curtain. (Cause if we don’t talk about it, it isn’t that impressive.) It wasn’t made from silk. It wasn’t made from Kleenex. It wasn’t made from those hippie beads that you can hang from the ceiling and tear in half with a wave of your hand. It was a long, woven veil. 60 feet long, 30 feet wide and 1 inch thick. It was heavy. In fact, it was so massive that it the Israelites used hundreds of priests to manipulate it. That’s not something that’s torn easily. Probably not torn without heavy machinery.

The fact that it was torn, completely half at the time of Jesus’ death? Strange.

But that’s not it. Matthew continues, “At that moment…the earth shook and the rocks split and the tombs broke open.” This wasn’t just a tremor. It was large enough on the Richter scale to split through large rocks that were used to mark the graves of the people. Also strange.

Now maybe if one of those three things happened the day Jesus died – the darkness at noon, the earthquake, or the curtain ripped in half, I’d say: It’s a coincidence. Even two? I can understand. Three…that might be pushing it, but not impossible.

But then a fourth thing happened that would be impossible if it happened all alone. Let alone in conjunction with the other things we have already mentioned. “The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the city and appeared to many people.”

Pastor, you don’t believe that! That’s impossible! It could never happen. Dead people don’t come back to life. That would be a miracle!

Um…isn’t that the point?

And notice that these resurrected people appeared to many people. It wasn’t just one guy saying, “I think I saw Aunt Edna last night.” It was a whole city that awoke to unexplained sightings. It wasn’t just the crazy guy down on the corner of Fayetteville St. It was real, everyday, respectable people. They all had seen these incredible thing!

Understand what the Bible is. It’s a record of some fairly incredible things. True. But it was written down at the same time that the people who saw these things had lived. It was written down, shared, made public, and approved by hundreds of people who saw the very things that Matthew wrote down happened.

That means that these incredible things aren’t a myth.
They weren’t an accident.
They weren’t a coincidence.

They were signs.

And just like you can head to the mall after church and find signs everywhere that say, “Meet Easter Bunny Here!” “1/2 OFF Easter dresses there” “Egg Hunt POSTPONED." These incredible signs were telling the people that something incredible just happened. Today these incredible signs are telling you – when Jesus breathed his last – something incredible happened.

What incredible thing happened? Take a look at Romans 4:25, “He was delivered over to death for our sins,” “on behalf of our sins,” or "because of our sins.”

Why? Because...God hates sin.

Like drunk driving. Does drunk driving make you angry? If you’ve ever been affected by it or lost a loved one, I bet it does. In fact, that message has gotten out there enough that – I imagine almost all of us – Republicans and Democrats are Independents – are against drunk driving. Mothers can belong to a group dedicated to prosecuting offenders (MADD). Even Budweiser ran a Super Bowl ad against it. So…when someone is caught drunk driving – there is punishment. We get it. We are ok with punishing that sin because that sin makes us angry.

Get this: That sin makes God angry, too. Actually, all sin makes God angry. Not just big sins like murder, theft, and adultery, but smallers sins: like a grabbing a few dollars from your co-worker's wallet, taking a quick peek down the secretary’s shirt, or making a tiny racist remark about your friend from another culture.

God hates those things. He hates it because they hurt others. These things hurt his children.

So he prosecutes sin.
He threatens to punish all sinners.
If you’re a sinner, he threatens to punish you. If you don’t like to hear that, tough. God will not be stopped.

But if you’re hearing me, if you’re convicted, if you know your sin and you know you deserve punishment, hear this: God doesn’t want to punish you. He never did. That’s why he died.

He was delivered over to death for your sins. To save you from sin’s consequence!

Which is a nice thought. But, how do you we know this worked? He died. How do we know this whole thing isn’t just one big made up, pretend thing that we celebrate at Easter to make the day a little sweeter?

II. The Most Important Inhale

Enter the inhale.

Same week. Three days later. Early in the morning a group of women were on their way to the graveyard. They brought with them some spices and special herbs. Traditionally these were things they would use to honor their dead – kinda like grabbing a bouquet of flowers to take and place on Grandpa’s tomb.

And as the crisp morning air awakened their senses, the tears started flowing. They missed him. He was their dear friend. He had shown them love when no other man had. He had rescued them from dark places. He had given them hope…and a future.

When he died, that hope had been ripped away. It felt like her heart was gone. They had killed him. They had killed her hope.

But their sadness was interrupted.

2 There was a violent earthquake. And an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.

Have you seen pictures of these stones? Jesus had been buried in a standing tomb. It was a rich person's tomb. And rich people won’t be buried in the ground with a tiny little grave marker. No. They had these big, cut out of a cliff walk-in tombs – with enough space for a small dinner party – if you wanted to have a small dinner party in a tomb.

For a door? They would use giant rocks to withstand grave robbers. I don’t know the exact size and weight of these rocks. But…I think it’s safe to say that rocks the size of a door are pretty heavy. I could probably do about a dozen bicep curls with these. And it isn’t even close to door sized.

Tomb door rocks were so big that they needed to be moved in place by a soiree of heavy duty Roman soldiers. In fact, this was such a problem that the women were even discussing amongst themselves whether they had made a mistake in coming out there in the first place. Who was gonna move the stone? There were guards in front of the tomb, but were there enough?

Turns out…they didn’t need to worry. An angel moved it out of place like Arnold Schwarzenegger moving a pair of 2&1/2 pound ankle weights.

If the earthquake and opened tomb wasn’t enough to stir up some excitement, the angel did! 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. In other words – he was glowing. Long before the days of face paint and special effects. There isn’t a pyro guy off in the corner trying to trick the women. It isn’t David Copperfield using the illusion of the camera to throw the ladies off guard.

In fact, the women weren’t the only ones to see the angels. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The big, tough, I’ll get killed if I screw up my job, Roman guards – fainted!

5 The angel held up a hand. He calmed them. He spoke gently to them. “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”

Process that for a moment. Jesus – the guy who died in front of hundreds – whose death was confirmed by the Roman soldiers at the cross, the Roman soldiers who took him down, his followers who left with tears, his buriers who took his body, the Roman governor who allowed them to take his body, and the Roman soldiers who had closed the rock door over Jesus’ dead body – that Jesus – who had really died….

…was alive again.

And just in case the women didn’t believe the angel, he let them see it for themselves. Go ahead. Look! He’s gone. He should be here; he died. But he’s not here. Miraculous? Yes! Impossible? Not with God.

This brings us back to Romans 4. He was delivered over to death for our sins, but raised to life for our justification. Justification is a courtroom term. It’s the opposite of condemnation. If we are guilty we are condemned; if we are innocent, we are justified. Condemnation bad. Justification good.

Jesus’ resurrection is proof that we are justified! It was God’s almighty, Divine declaration about you and your life. Listen to it: Hear the rumbling of the earthquake, listen to the cracking of the rocks, and the shrieks of the guards and the voice of your LORD:

You are justified.
You have been declared innocent.
By faith in Jesus Christ, you are saved.

This is why the inhale is so important. If Jesus doesn’t take that breath in the grave on Easter Sunday morning, then you and I are still in our sins. Jesus’ death didn’t work. His promise of forgiveness didn’t mean a thing. You and I have to face God standing in the filthy, disgusting cesspool of all our awful sins.

In fact, 1 Corinthians 15:14 takes it a step farther. “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” In other words, if Jesus doesn’t take that breath in that tomb, then the Christian faith, is one big useless, irrelevant, irreverent, cruel joke! And I’m a big old fool for teaching it to you.

But…if Christ does take that breath, if his lungs do move again, if blood starts to circulate in his veins and brain activity returns to his nervous system. Then…there is no moment more important.

That breath means you are forgiven.
That breath means you are at peace.
That breath means that all will be well.
That breath means that God did what he said he’d do.
That breath means that God was victorious.
That breath means that you are victorious.
That breath means that God rose from the dead.
That breath means that you will rise from the dead.

Treasure it. Celebrate it. Take a breath…breathe out with joy! Jesus has inhaled. He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen!

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DEAR CHURCH: That's Feeling Weak

DEAR CHURCH: That's Falling Asleep

DEAR CHURCH: That's Attacked from Within

DEAR CHURCH: That's Compromising

DEAR CHURCH: That's Suffering

Dear Church: that has the Wrong Love

Dear Church: Intro

FIGHTING TEMPTATIONS: Lessons from the Champ

BREATHE: When You're Short of Breath

BREATHE: The Most Important Breath in the History of Breaths

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