Dr. David Soper, in God Is Inescapable, suggests that basically the difference between a prison and a monastery is just the difference between griping and gratitude. Undoubtedly this is true. Imprisoned criminals spend every waking moment griping; self-imprisoned saints spend their time offering thanks. Dr. Soper says that when a criminal becomes a saint, a prison may become a monastery; when a saint gives up gratitude, a monastery may become a prison. Read the rest of this entry »

For us here, the way we think about things should ultimately flow from how we think about God. So, in that light, I wanted to follow up the sermon from last week. Read the rest of this entry »

Matthew 5:13-16 (ESV)
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

As we move toward Thanksgiving and Christmas we are hoping to help those around us. In an attempt to do this as a fellowship, we are, again, going to be offering a meal to those who could use a meal and we’re going to be offering food to those who could use food. I just want you to know that I am thrilled about this and I’m thrilled about the broad-based enthusiasm for this effort. Two weeks ago we talked about how our “good works” should be an introduction to the gospel. Today I’d like to bring a bit of clarity to “good works” so that we can better be who God wants us to be as we try to be the people God wants us to be.

Matthew 5:16 (ESV)
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

This says, I think, that we should be on display as a born again people who have not only been rescued from facing God’s judgment for our sin; we should be on display as people full of hope and joy and purpose – consumed by Jesus. We should let what gives us life, shine before others such that when they see our good works (food distribution, Christmas meals) they will give glory to God. The life we live in front of our neighbors, co-workers, family, community is VERY important as a necessary part of declaring God as supremely glorious. The way we live should make the gospel attractive (Titus 2:9-10).

If you pay attention to “Christian” thinking on doing good deeds, it seems that the norm is one of two positions. Either good deeds / acts of mercy are everything and the gospel is, at best, secondary, or the gospel as primary has no real connection to good deeds / acts of mercy. Both of these views are a disgrace to the vision of Jesus – and it seems difficult to get it right. And the answer is not let’s meet in the middle.

So this morning I’d like to talk about good deeds / good works / acts of mercy for the Christian. Before I do that, however, I just want to clarify. No one is made right before a holy God by doing good things or keeping the commandments – we don’t keep the commandments:

Romans 11:6 (ESV)
[Those God saves are saved] by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Galatians 2:16 (ESV)
…we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Bible talks much about ‘good works’

It is impossible to read Scripture without seeing our call to good works / good deeds / acts of mercy.

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

1 Timothy 6:18 (ESV)
[The rich] are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share…

Titus 2:7a (ESV)
Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works…

Titus 2:14 (ESV)
[Jesus] gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Titus 3:14 (ESV)
And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.

Titus 3:8 (ESV)
The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

Hebrews 10:24 (ESV)
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

James 2:14 (ESV)
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

It’s pretty clear from Scripture that we should be about doing things that are good. We should be thinking of others – in every way. If we walk away from Scripture here, however, we will be in big trouble. Good deeds, good works, acts of mercy can be done by anyone – right? Perhaps we should join a more organized, better funded, public group in food distribution. Should we? If I sincerely asked that question I’m sure someone would jump up and say something like, “No, we’re doing this from a different motivation. Not only do we want to help people we want them to see God in us. Not only do we want to help people here and now physically, we would love for them to see Jesus. While we need food to sustain life here, we desperately need the ‘food’ that will sustain us eternally.” A more organized, better funded, public group can only supply a little bit of what is needed – not the most important “food”.

So, how do we do this so that it is more than food distribution? How to we do this such that we are not like the church of Sardis:

Revelation 3:1 (ESV) – John to the 5^th church
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

How do we do this so that it is Christ here, and not us? The answer is not a formula. There are too many formulas. A formula does not require God to work and requires little faith.

People that work for Jesus:

Are deeply united with Jesus and his purposes – John 15:4-5 (ESV)
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 3:19-21 (ESV)
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.”

Romans 15:17-18 (ESV)
In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience – by word and deed,

Colossians 3:17 (ESV)
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Conclusion

Why is this so tough? Why is this so difficult? I think what’s happening here is a reflection of the battle going on inside each of us. If you have been born-again, there are times, I hope, when you are absolutely amazed at the kindness of God and the beauty of Jesus. There are times when we see and feel and know how sinful we are and how good God is. HOWEVER, to take the next step and say, “I am fully yours”, is a war.

Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

If you have been born again; if you see Jesus as the very core of life and the source of all satisfaction, God should be moving you away from the pursuit of comfort and pleasure and self-reliance, and toward his purposes.

Last week we talked about how, the lives we live should be an introduction for the gospel.

1 Peter 2:11-12 (ESV)
Beloved, I urge you as [those who’s home is not here] sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God [when he comes to visit them] on the day of visitation. Another way of saying this is, “Live a uniquely God-saturated life in front of those around you so that when the time for salvation arrives, they won’t miss it. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning I would like to read four passages of Scripture that speak about how the lives we live can and should be an introduction for the gospel being received by those we connect with regularly – neighbors, co-workers, family, etc. Read the rest of this entry »

To me, it’s amazing to think that God would include us in the work that he’s doing. To think that Jesus would come here, allow us to kill him so that in his death he could absorb the judgment that we deserve, and then merge us into his cosmic mission – that leaves me almost speechless. I think most Christians would like to experience God continually living through them. Wouldn‘t that be great? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be an instrument of God’s grace in the lives of others? I want to talk about that this week. Read the rest of this entry »

Today I’d like to talk about something that is often misunderstood – church membership. My experience would say that very few people get excited about this topic – I understand. One of the reasons it is misunderstood is that church leadership often does not follow through with their responsibilities. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the last few weeks I’ve talked about what the Bible says about the local church – why we exist. We’ve seen that primarily we are here to worship God, to mature each other in the faith, and to be salt and light to those who need Jesus.

Today I’d like to speak to those who think that, for the most part, the church is broken. Today I’d like to speak to those who don’t want church as it has always been. I’d like to talk to those who believe that if we were who God wanted us to be, things would be different. THIS IS ME! That is what I think too! I believe, at least in part, that this culture is falling away from God because the people of God have not been who they should have been. Read the rest of this entry »

For 2,000 years Christians have been baptized. We are here today to witness the baptism of a group of Christians who want to be faithful in their walk with Jesus. Not only are we here to witness this – as a family, we are here to share this with them. So here’s what we’re going to do: Read the rest of this entry »

Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV)
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Since, in two weeks, we are meeting together for a baptism service, I thought we should talk about baptism. I have found that this is a fairly controversial topic – there are different views of what baptism is, why we do it, it’s importance, etc. Fundamentally there are two different understandings or beliefs around physical baptism. At this level the differences are very important. Some believe there is salvific merit in the act of baptism – the act of baptism results in salvation or the forgiveness of sins. To be clear, this view would say that my salvation is or can be contingent on physical baptism. Read the rest of this entry »

First – We were meant to worship. This is our core call with all that we are and have – to worship the God of Gods. To worship the One who created all that exists and is sovereign over everything. If we do not feel this call we have missed God. God is the only necessary and free being that exists – we are contingent and dependent. Read the rest of this entry »

As we rebuild this local fellowship we are taking a few Sundays to talk about what the local fellowship of Jesus-followers is, what we are to do, how we are to do it, what it means to be an elder, church membership and church discipline, etc. So, I’ve defined the local church, at a minimum to be – a group of born again, baptized believers who, under the guidance of biblical leadership, regularly meet to worship God through Jesus Christ, sit under the authority of Scripture, and celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week we started a series on the church. In this we defined the local church. At a minimum the local church is a group of born again, baptized believers who, under the guidance of biblical leadership, regularly meet to worship God through Jesus Christ, sit under the authority of Scripture, and celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Today I’d like to start talking about why the church is here – why we exist. Read the rest of this entry »

Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV)
[Because Christ died for ALL who believe], you [gentiles] are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with [believing Jews] and members of God’s household,  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.  In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Read the rest of this entry »

Acts 16:22-34 (NIV) Read the rest of this entry »