We Are An Holy Community

Text: Ephesians 4:17-25

Focus: Holiness as a part of our covenant with each other.

Function: To encourage members (attendees) to live in such a way that we can be proud of each other's commitment to Christ.

Form: Bible Study

Intro:

My Daddy was saved in a Nazarene Church. My twin brother and one of my elder brothers are very active in leadership at the Nazarene Churches they attend. My 4 of my nieces, 2 of their husbands and 1 of my nephews attended a Nazarene college. One of my nieces and her husband attended a Nazarene seminary.

The lady that lead me to Christ married a Nazarene evangelist. And if there is one thing that is common in that denomination it is their motto: Holiness to the Lord.

When you go to the town where the college is, you may be hard pressed to find a wedding ring on the finger of a married student or professor. You may be hard pressed to find hair that is cut on one of the female students, or even a pair of slacks.

They were the culmination of the holiness movements that swept the nation at the turn of the last century. I had a friend who told me a little bit of the history. Apparently they would incorporate smaller holiness movements and whatever item that the smaller movement used to prove their holiness, the entire denomination adopted it.

So, when they assimilated a group that didn't believe in wearing any jewelry, they all stopped wearing jewelry.

They had a General Secretary who was from North Carolina and being from the South, was given over to the habit of smoking a pipe.

When they incorporated a movement that denied the use of tobacco, they made it a rule that no one could smoke. But the General Secretary, who also had a tobacco farm kept his practice of smoking a pipe hidden.

Holiness was what it was all about. Holiness is what this passage is about. Holiness means to be different, to be set apart from the value system of the world around us because we belong to God.

In that movement, holiness was proven by what people didn't do. And this passage talks a lot about forgoing sinful practices because we now belong to God. Today we are going to do a sort of bible study and look at it.

But he starts out with the importance of community in what may have been a shoking reference, considering his audience.

Paul was the missionary to the Gentiles. Gentiles, were everyone who was not born of Jewish descent. Paul loved Gentile people.

But he starts out with what might be taken as a prejudicial statement about them. I want to unwrap that so we see the importance of our calling into the Church.

Gentiles. Gentiles, because of the influence of the Bible, throughout history has always meant all the people who are not born of Jewish descent. The root word behind the word Gentile is genos. That is the same word that we get genes from. It refers to “all the other families” of humanity that, again, are not Jewish.

Does this passage mean that everyone who is not Jewish is less? No. The primary audience that Paul is writing to is composed of Gentile believers. Is he insulting them? No.

Gentiles means “people from the nations” or “people who are members of the earthly kingdoms only.” He sets a pretty high standard for what it means to be a follower of Christ.

By this standard, we, as Christians should be known by our commitment to God's kingdom on earth instead of the politics of human kingdoms.

We should be known by how we reflect Jesus and His value system in our lives and not by the way we reflect the value system of the world around us.

Holiness means that as Christians, we are a different kind of people, with a different kind of value system.

I read an article by a man in California. He said this: “The unbelieving world is really in love with the Jesus they read about in the New Testament. But they are not sure about the Jesus they see reflected in the people who claim to follow Him.”

We understand where that comes from. When extremists picket the funerals of good people with signs that say: God HATES fags, we cringe. We cringe that extremists claim to speak for us and we want to shout: “No, it isn't true.”

That kind of attitude is unbiblical. It certainly isn't what Jesus taught us. Jesus never said anything about hating gay men. As a matter of fact, the entire bible says nothing about hating people who are caught in that lifestyle.

The bible speaks against sin. The bible declares that God created humanity to live in monogamous relationships between a husband and a wife. The Bible tells us that brokenness has come into the world and because of that Jesus paid the price to restore us to God.

But Jesus' death and resurrection makes it clear the God loves sinners. Sinners like me. Sinners like you. When someone shouts out that God hates people like that, they twist God's Word into something that it isn't meant to say.

I am convinced that the reason why the gay community is singled out is because it most often is the sin of others, and therefore we can make ourselves look better because we are not attracted in that fashion.

I will be clear. God hates sin. And the Bible says that God despises wicked people. But is very important to understand wicked people in God's eyes are the violent, or the self-righteous who turn they eyes away from a poor widow in distress and justify their own greed. Greed is evil whenever we pursue it and thereby harm others. Business practices that take advantage of others, practices that are not win-win are wicked. God hates those actions and, the Bible says, he despises that kind of behavior in anyone.

Evil exists. And we as followers of Christ must turn away from it.

And this passage is about what it means for us to live as followers of Christ in a pure and holy way.

And the whole thing starts out with this attitude that we, as Christians, are members of the heavenly kingdom. That is what he is talking about when he talks about the peoples from the nations. Every national system of government, no matter how just it is, is designed to protect the specific interests of its own people. And that is fine. It is something that God has ordained.

But, we have to start out, as Christians, with an attitude that says that the things that accomplish God's purposes in the WORLD are the ones that we need to be passionate about.

Last week we saw the command to preach the good news in our local area, our state, our nation and even unto the ends of the earth.

God cares about the world entire. That is why Paul, who is the Jewish person whose calling from God is to preach the gospel to the Gentile nations, uses this language. He isn't criticizing people of other nations, he is reminding them, and that includes us, that we are members of the heavenly family first and foremost.

So, our behavior should reflect that we are members of God's Kingdom here on earth.

Any action that benefits ourselves and harms another is not a Christian action.

So, let me develop this idea from our passage today.

In verse 18, we read of the problem that people who are not members of God's kingdom live alienated from the life of God because their hearts are hard.

Hardening your heart to the suffering of others is the core behind a godless life.

Hard hearts meant then, exactly what it means today. A hard hearted person is a person who has the ability to turn their head away from someone who is suffering and not care, or do anything to help.

1 John 3:16-17 (read from bible) tells us that if we are Christians, and we love one another, and we see someone in need and do nothing to help them out, then we really are not Christians.

I love something about this passage. It delves into the psychology of why human nature can be so corrupted.

There is a picture as to what causes this kind of hard-hearted behavior. And the opposite of this value is one of the core values of our Church, and it should be one of the core values of every Christian denomination.

Sin, hardened-hearts spring from selfish ambition.

Verse 19, (read from bible)

When he says they have lost their sensitivity -he means to others-,

When he says they are licentious, he means that have given themselves over to acts designed specifically for human pleasure,

It happens when personal pleasure becomes our God.

We can look at that and say: “well, that isn't us, certainly.”

And thankfully almost all of you can say that.

But there is a warning in this passage about Christians falling back into that kind of behavior.

The door to it is opened by greed and living for pleasure.

Well, what is wrong with pleasure you may ask?

Nothing, unless it becomes your god.

It is a tricky thing. God created pleasure for our happiness. Pleasure is healthy. To enjoy the beauty of this earth, and the gifts that God has given us is even an act of worship.

Just like watching our children enjoy their first birthday cake, it is an act of love between the parent and the child.

Between an husband and wife, pleasing each other makes the marriage vows special and wonderful.

When the food tastes just right, it satisfies a person's hunger.

When the iced tea is cold and flavored just right, it quenches our thirst. The satisfaction of those cravings is a gift and blessing from God.

But people who live for pleasure, people who make pleasure their god leave love for others behind.

I have heard people say: “the man who dies with the most toys wins.” I know we don't believe that.

We adhere to the principle that there are no u-haul trailers following hearses.

We would say, the man who dies with the most toys is still dead.

We know this. We understand this.

But Brother Paul is warning us just how easy it is for us to leave behind our Christian calling, leave behind a soft and kind heart.

It all happens when we place ourselves, our greed, our personal fulfillment, or happiness above our commitment to Christ Jesus.

Let me read James 4:1-3 (read from bible)

Brother James tells us that the source of most of our sin comes from wanting something that we cannot have, and placing pleasure above others.

Pleasure is good, but never good when it harms others. The world system teaches us this: “what is good for me is good.” But the Christian system is this, “If what blesses me harms someone else, then it is not from God.”

Christians are distinguished by seeking the welfare of everyone as well as their own.

And Paul is telling them the importance of holiness and living by that kind of standard.

So, in verse 21, he reminds us to that this is exactly how we felt when we first became Christians.

How contrary is that system to the way that others live! Jesus said it this way: I love you all, and I will prove my love by sacrificing myself for you!

Can we live sacrificial lives as well?

Christian discipleship needs to do this. Vs 21, “you were taught...”

And then he goes into a kind of Value System Fashion show.

Cast off your former way of life. Put on a new way of life, Clothe yourselves with a new self.

And, he says that this will be our new fashion statement. We will be righteous and holy.

The word righteous can be translated in two different ways. Most often, almost always, it means that we are just people. And a few times, especially in the book of Romans, it means that we are people who have been forgiven by God. But the word is like a coin. The head of the coin means “just.” The tail of the coin means “forgiven by God.” It never means that somehow we are more special, or favored by God. And, just like any other coin, it cannot be cut apart. It loses its value if it is cut and it no longer has an head or a tail. So, in this passage, when he says righteous, he is talking about people who are just, who do the right thing by others. We will be just people. We will be fair, we will be forgiving, we will be merciful.

And holiness, in this case means that we will be like Jesus. Jesus set Himself apart from the world He lived in, in order to serve others. So will we.

It is sad that at times Christianity is sold as the means to the personal success. Paul reminds them that the nations look at success completely differently than we do. Jesus, by the world's standards was poor, never had a mansion, and was killed by both the government and the religious leaders. By the standards of success in this world, He failed.

But, He was soft-hearted. He healed everyone who came to Him. He loved the religious hypocrites, the notorious sinners, and also the good, decent and kind-hearted people of His day.

The first description of sinners in this passage is people who are hard hearted.

Do we ever harden our hearts? Do we every refuse to forgive? Do we ever refuse to treat someone who disagrees with us with respect? Do we ever refuse to ignore the pleas of someone who wants to reconcile with us? Do we ever think about the poverty in 3^rd world countries and say to ourselves: “not my problem?” Do we ever regard the poor here in our own nation and convince ourselves that they are poor because they are lazy?

In all of these cases, we harden our hearts. And this text tells us that we harden our hearts because we place our own pleasure over the plight of others. We are more concerned with accumulating more for ourselves than loving a person in need. And all of that leads us away from following Christ Jesus.

And finally, verse 25. (read). Be honest with one another. This isn't just a tag on to the previous verses but a conclusion.

We are members of one another. When those guys claim to be Christian and carry signs that say God hates someone else, they cast a poor reflection on us.

When we sin, we cast a poor reflection on the other attendees of this Church. We live for Christ together. We need each other to keep ourselves focused on loving others.

I am not talking about judging each other. I am talking about the need to encourage each other.

So, when he says “speak the truth to our neighbors” he is telling us to be honest about our failures and weaknesses.

When we are, we should get encouragement from each other, not judgment.

We are members of each other. We are members of each other in spite of our own weaknesses or theirs.

None of us can faithfully live this Christian life in a vacuum.

And that kind of brings this passage around full-circle. It starts out with the knowledge that they are part of a greater kingdom, with much more noble values than the personal greed and selfish motivations of the word around them. And it ends the the way that the community they have now joined needs them to be faithful to this value system.

The Difference is God

Text: Acts 2:1-13, 1: 13-26

Focus: Man's strength vs God's strength

Function: To help people see what a difference God makes.

Form:

Intro:

Today we celebrate the birthday of the Church. We have been looking at the work and the power of the Holy Spirit as He is the one who gives all the power to the Church.

I love the disciples in this passage.

We read the last verses of Acts 1. Last week, we saw how God told them how only power of the Holy Spirit would make them successful.

At the end of Mark and at the end of Matthew, in both places, the apostles are given the order to go Galilee to wait for God. The command is for them to not get ahead of themselves and wait for the leading of God.

Do you ever find it hard to wait for God?

It is ever difficult for us to wait when it feels like we are in limbo with nothing to do?

In my morning devotions, I have been studying the book of 1 Samuel, the story of King David's beginning and the story of the failure of King Saul.

I want to draw a correlation between the beginning of the Israeli Kingdom and the beginning of the Kingdom of Heaven that is now here on planet earth.

I want us to see how they started out in their own power instead of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Saul was Israel's first king.

Saul was either an impatient man, or he was a faithless man. It seems that his problem was that he was more concerned with what people thought of him than with what God thought of him.

Either that, or he was afraid to trust in God's power and he resorted to taking matters into his own hand.

In 1 Samuel 13, right before a significant battle, Samuel, God's prophet told him to wait to go to battle until Samuel showed up, offered a sacrifice for God's blessing and then they could go do what they were called to do.

Except they were facing a large army. And the prophet delayed his coming. And while he was waiting for the prophet, more and more men from his army kept deserting him.

He kept looking at the size of his own army getting smaller and smaller and it didn't make sense to him to delay.

The Bible says that Saul waited 7 days for Samuel to show up. His army dwindled down to 600 men.

So, he thought to himself: “after all, I am a leader, called by God as well as Samuel, there is nothing wrong with me offering the sacrifice.”

And of course, as soon as the sacrifice was over, the prophet shows up and Saul makes an excuse.

The prophet tells him that he is wrong in what he has done, the explicit instructions were to wait for the prophet to arrive.

And Saul tells him he is sorry, but then he asks Samuel to bless him in front of the people. It seems that he wants to look good, but he doesn't really trust God.

Saul, I am sure, knew the story of Gideon who defeated an huge army with just 300 people. God had Gideon reduce the size of his army first from 30,000 men. God said, the army is too large and if they win, they will think they did it in their power, not mine.

So it was reduced from 30,000 men to 10,000 men and again God said it was too large. So it went from 10,000 men to 300 men and then everyone knew that it is in God's might and power we have success.

Saul knew this story.

But, can we judge Saul for his lack of faith? When I place myself in his shoes, and I think of how he must have felt when his army was deserting him, I see the temptation to take matters into his own hand.

Although he is not the prophet, he is a divinely appointed leader. He expects God to help him because God is the one who called him to this position.

I wonder if I can blame him? He didn't ask to be king.

If you know the story, he was just the son of a farmer. But a farmer who was pretty well off.

And one day, he was looking for a couple of runaway mules when he ran into Samuel and Samuel anointed him king of Israel.

Why did God do that? God didn't want them to have a king, not really, God's plan was for everyone to obey the law, be kind to each other, live in faith.

But the people, without a leader kept wandering away from God and so, they begged Samuel to ask God to give them a king.

The Bible says specifically that they wanted to be just like all the other nations. But God wanted them to trust in him.

And so, Saul is the one God chooses and Saul has one distinction, he is very handsome, and very tall. He is an head taller than anyone else in all of Israel. He is just the kind of people we want to follow. His family is well off. He is a man's man. I am sure that when people looked at him, they saw a successful person, someone who certainly would be able to move people and lead them well.

But that isn't the kind of leader God can use. From a human perspective, he was the perfect leader, but not from God's perspective.

I believe that the people, by asking for a king were telling God that following Him would be easier if someone could take their place and do it for them.

Now listen, leadership is important. But the leader has to follow God. The leader has to trust God. The leader cannot get in the way of what God is doing.

God gave them a perfect human leader, who tried his best to lead in human principles. But what they needed was a leader who refused to get ahead of God, who refused to do things his own way, who was willing to wait on God and not get ahead of the Holy Spirit.

So, what does this have to do with Acts 2:1-13, the day of Pentecost?

I don't think the apostles sin in the rest of Acts 1, after Jesus tells them that the only way they are going to succeed is if God, by the power of the Holy Spirit is involved.

So, in the rest of Chapter 1, the apostles are having an hard time waiting for God.

They believe that Jesus has risen from the dead. Last week we saw that we are off track if we are busy looking at the skies instead of doing the work.

So, they decide to get busy. They didn't want Jesus to think that they were being lazy. So, they elect an apostle to take the place of Judas the betrayer.

There is no command from God to do anything but wait for God's Spirit to empower them.

I don't blame them for wanting to be busy. But what real good did they do?

It is like we have a contrast, in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. In Chapter 2, God does it all. In Chapter 1, at least they were busy, but they weren't getting anywhere.

Sometimes I ask myself: “Is it important to be busy? Or is it important to be following God?”

And then, I go back to the story of Saul and the reason why God gave them a failure as a king.

When they asked Samuel to give them a king, God comforts Samuel.

Up until this time, there was no king, but they had a leader. For the last 400 years, all through the book of Judges, God would give them a prophet, a spiritual leader and that prophet's role was also to be the judge. He settled legal disputes between the people and kept the people faithful to God's word.

But the people wanted a King. If they had a king, then they had a person for them to focus their hope on to.

So God tells Samuel, “It isn't you they are rejecting, but it is me.”

And God's point is that it is very difficult for us to trust in what He is doing. They wanted the power and success that the nations around them had.

But God wanted them to be a unique people. God wanted them to be a people who had no other claim to success than God's Spirit at work.

Saul didn't work out for them and yet, he was the son of a prominent family, with leadership in the genes, he was tall, handsome, he was everything they thought they would get with a king.

But unless God is behind the work, we really don't get anywhere.

This happened to them in a physical sense in the OT and in a Spiritual sense in the NT.

But none of this is to judge the apostles for what they did.

The neat thing is this: In spite of what they did, right or wrong, getting ahead of the game or not, God didn't chide them for it. Instead, God sent the Holy Spirit and started the Church.

We have a lesson to learn from this. God does it. God has not abandoned His Church. God has not abandoned this Church.

I do not want to get ahead of what God is doing in the Church.

I appreciate the fact that Peter wasn't lazy and I appreciate the fact that he was chomping at the bit to get busy carrying on the work that Jesus called the Church to do.

But look at the difference in the work when the Holy Spirit got involved.

The apostles called Matthais to replace Judas the betrayer. But Matthais is not listed in any of the lists of the 12 apostles. His appointment amounted to nothing. In the book of Acts, later on, the Apostles appoint deacons to do the work of caring for the sick, and managing the church. And these deacons did some pretty tremendous things by the power of the Holy Spirit, but this is the first and the last that we hear about Matthais.

However, in Chapter 2, when we read about what happens when the Holy Spirit comes, and the Church is working in God's power and not its own, in one day 3,000 people are added to the church.

This is our birthday. This is a day for us to commit again to believing in God's power for us.

There is really only one catalyst for this great move of God in Acts 2. The scripture says that they were together praying, and there was no division among them. They were still the same people who could have had grudges, but because of their mission, they refused those grudges.

I appreciate the fact that they were not lazy. Peter tried something to do to lead them when he convinces them to appoint Matthais as Judas' replacement.

It didn't amount to anything. And, they didn't hold it against him.

Instead, the Bible says the Church began its growth when they were in unity, praying together. That is when the Holy Spirit came.

Power

Text: Acts 1:6-11

Focus: Evangelism

Function: The Power of the Holy Spirit to Evangelize.

Form: Bible Study

Intro:

I want to take this passage section by section in a form of Bible Study, because there is a lot to it that refers to current events. So, let us look at verses 6: ⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

ASK: What are the disciples wanting from the Lord at this time?

(right, they want power).

ASK: Do you remember what Jesus said to Pilate when Pilate asked Him if Jesus was indeed, a king?

(right, the Kingdom is not of this earth)

Is this the time to restore the Kingdom?

ASK: Why is this the wrong question to ask?

(right, verse 7)

⁷He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.

ASK: Why do we want to know the time?

I believe there is an important concept in Jesus' answer: the Kingdom is already here. It isn't important to deal with that issue. Don't get sidetracked with dates and issues, that belongs to God. Be faithful here and now.

The Kingdom is here, and that leads us to verse 8: ⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

ASK: When your hear this verse, what sticks out the most to you?

(Some -power, others -go out and others, after the Holy Spirit comes)

Right, three things: 1). the Holy Spirit is coming in a new way 2). We need to wait for the Holy Spirit to do the work, 3). The Holy Spirit's call is to go out into all the world.

1). When Peter realizes who Jesus is and confesses that He is the Messiah, Jesus tells him that God has revealed it to him. When Jesus gives his final instructions in John 13-17, He tells them that there is still a lot for them to learn and that the Holy Spirit will reveal it to them. He calls the Holy Spirit the comforter, the advocate and the source of our wisdom. He tells them that if His physical presence is away from them, His Spirit will come and dwell in them.

The Power of the Holy Spirit is what the Church bases its power on.

2). He tells them this is going to happen in the future. Behind this is the theology behind the filling of the Spirit and the seal of the Spirit. When Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to the disciples and He breathes on them and tells them the Holy Spirit is in them. But at this point, He is telling them that the Holy Spirit is coming in a new way. When we trust Christ, we are given a measure of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8 tells us that it is a seal, a witness, a sense inside of us that we truly belong to God.

But there is also the infilling. It happens at the day of Pentecost, it happens again in Chapter 4 and it happens at different times throughout the book of Acts.

This is important for us to remember. We cannot do anything in our own strength. We must trust and depend both the work and the timing of the Holy Spirit.

There is an OT concept behind this. When the Children of Israel were wandering in the dessert, they were commanded to march 600 feet behind the Ark of the Covenant. They never knew where they were going to camp, and for how long. But, God's presence showed up in a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of smoke by day. Whenever the pillar moved, the people would follow.

Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, The Holy Spirit moves like the wind. God chooses His own direction.

Throughout the book of Acts, we read phrases like: “It seemed good to us... …we felt a strong urge to go to Macedonia... ...Paul had a vivid dream about a certain place.... These men learned to depend on the leading of the Holy Spirit.

ASK: So, how is prayer linked to all of this?

We pray, sense God's leading and then act. If we act in our own time, and in our own power, then we may seem to be trying, but we aren't really faithful.

Prayer is the way forward.

3). Go out, this is an addition to the great commission, to make it .

The great commission is for us to GO, preach, teach and baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We often emphasize the three elements, preach, teach and baptize, but the operative word is to Go.

And the Lord wants us to think globally. His one plan for changing the world through the Church. And the Church is not to wait for people to come to it. In the book, “Reclaiming the Great Commission” the author reminds people that the Church, since this day has almost always worked in cycles. It doesn't seem to be important to the world, so it works on its mission and outreach, and then it gets to a place of dominance and it works on maintenance. I submit that God's plan is for it to always be in mission and outreach.

When the church focuses on itself, and its own preservation, it isn't focusing on its mission and outreach. I believe that if we focus on the outreach, then the maintenance is left to God.

The maintenance of the Church is important.

In Acts 2, the church grew 300% in one day. It went from 120 people to over 3,000 people.

We read about Acts 6 a few weeks ago and the time when the apostles choose deacons to manage the church. The scripture says that they kept themselves involved with preaching, teaching and prayer.

Now think about it what would happen if all of a sudden 3,000 more people joined our church. Where would we put them? How would we organize them? Where would the Sunday School classes meet? Who gets elected to the board?

All of those details needed to be worked out then. But the focus, was not, and never will be on maintenance, it is on mission. The Church that focuses on maintenance will die.

Keep in mind what is important to God.

Now, let us change gears once again:

⁹When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. ¹¹They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

This is about ascension, which was celebrated on Wednesday.

I appreciate what the angels are saying.

As if to drive home the thought about what is the most important.

I love the angels statement: “Why are you staring at the clouds?”

They tell the disciples that Jesus will return.

But they warn them: “Stop skygazing, get busy.”

So look at this passage. It starts and ends with the disciples focusing on the wrong thing.

It starts out with speculation about Jesus restoring an earthly Kingdom and Jesus warns them to focus on witnessing about Him instead of politics. This is a big distraction for the church.

Now, at the end of the passage, the angels warn the apostles to stop looking for the return

The principle is the verse we spent the most time on this morning, verse 8. Be faithful planting the Kingdom of God. Here and now.

Every believer in America had egg on their faces May 22 when Jesus didn't return May 21. It happened because of a false prophet. If we keep our eyes on what is important right now, we don't get into that kind of embarrassment.