7/28/13 KINGDOM LIVING

The Foundation for Life

    The Sermon on the Mount is not just a set of rules & regulations - it is a picture of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is having His unhindered way with us. Oswald Chambers
    We are beginning a series on Kingdom Living -- How we are to live as followers of Jesus.  What impact does the Bible have in effecting real and continual changes in our daily lives?  The passage we will use is commonly known as The Sermon on the Mount.
    Let me start by sharing an experience a college professor had as he was startled by his students’ lack of an ethical foundation.
    Dr. Stephen L. Anderson, a professor in Ontario, Canada, had what he called a moment of “startling clarity” while teaching a section on ethics in his senior philosophy class. He wanted an “attention-getter”—something to shock his students and force them to take an ethical stand. He hoped that this would form a “baseline” from which they could evaluate other ethical decisions.  This is what happened.
    He showed, without comment, the photo of Bibi Aisha. Aisha is the Afghani teenager who was forced into an abusive marriage with a Taliban fighter, who abused her and kept her with his animals. When she tried to flee, her family caught her, hacked off her nose and ears, and left her for dead in the mountains.  She was saved by a nearby American hospital.  The professor was sure the students, seeing the suffering of this poor girl of their own age, would have a clear ethical reaction.
    Some of the students could not even look at the picture.  They were experiencing deep emotions.
    Then something amazing happened.  The students became confused. They seemed not to know what to think. They nervously spoke lacking confidence, afraid to make any moral judgment at all. They were unwilling to criticize any situation from a different culture. Their response, “Well, we might not like it, but maybe over there it’s okay.” Another said, “It’s just wrong to judge other cultures.”
    Ask yourself:  How can people be so numb to a clear moral offense?
    These students refused to leave their nonjudgmental position.  The professor said, “I left that class shaking my head. It seemed clear to me that for some students the lesson of character education initiatives is acceptance of all things at all costs.”  For many, the overriding message is “never judge, never criticize, never take a position.”
Dr. Stephen L. Anderson, “Moments of Startling Clarity,” Education Forum (Fall 2011)
    Let me read my response to this story:  While we live in a world of confusion and compromise, Jesus gave us His fundamental principles and expects us to follow them.  We see throughout the Bible, and especially in this sermon from Jesus, His solid foundation for life.  There ARE universal truths He expects us to follow.
    The Sermon on the Mount - foundational to Kingdom Living.  Jesus is called the King of Kings.  He is the eternal ruler Who will never lose His power.
Revelation 19:16 NKJV
16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
    The angel speaking prophetically to Joseph, when he was concerned about his fiancé, Mary, when she told him she was pregnant.
Matthew 1:21 NKJV
21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.
Matthew 2:1-2 NKJV
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”
    This King, Jesus, came to establish His kingdom.  As believers in Jesus we are part of that eternal kingdom.  As a sovereign ruler, He established the rules and expectations of His kingdom.  He laid down the law.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus expressed the basics of His law.
    I have heard this passage described as the constitution of the church.  That is another good description.
Question:  What is a constitution?
    A constitution is an established set of fundamental principles or precedents to govern a country or other organization.  These rules identify, establish, what the entity is.
    When you have a constitution, only those duly authorized can change that constitution.  Not just anyone can come by and say, “I don’t like that, I think I’ll change it.”
    Jesus established the foundation for His kingdom.  Anyone who wants to be a part of it must live the way the Sovereign established the rules.  We do not have the right or privilege of changing what Jesus established.  We are going to study the ground rules Jesus established for His followers to abide by.
    This sermon reveals God’s principles of righteousness we are to all live by.  We must not begrudgingly live by them, but hunger and thirst for them and joyfully live by them.
    After the teaching we know as the beatitudes (Jeff is covering them in the adult S.S. class), Jesus started out His sermon talking about Salt and Light.
Matthew 5:13-16 NKJV
13 You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
    Salt is necessary for life.  When someone hears from their doctor that they have to give up salt for health reasons there is usually a negative reaction. They go home and try it and say their food tastes horrible.  Something is missing.  Then they go to the store and get some salt substitutes.  They come home and try it and are disappointed.  “Give me my salt.”
    Two main things that salt does: gives flavor and preserves.  Since Jesus said we are salt, we must not fall into the moral decay and corruption of the world.  The only hope for the world and the mess we are in is the church. That is the church being the church Jesus established.  We are necessary for the world to be the best it possibly can be.
    We must resist the prevailing spirit of the world that compromises what the Bible teaches and accepts anything people want.
    Another thing salt does is that it creates thirst.  Think about helping people become thirsty for Jesus.
    Let’s talk about what it means to be spiritual salt.  Discussion.
    We are also called light.  What is light for?
What is spiritual light?
Verses on light.
Proverbs 4:14-15 NKJV
14 Do not enter the path of the wicked, And do not walk in the way of evil. 15 Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and pass on.
18-19
18 But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. 19 The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble.
Philippians 2:14-15 NKJV
14 Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
    Back then, as well as today, it can be said we live in a crooked and depraved generation. Jesus emphasized that the world we live in is an unbelieving, faithless and perverse generation.   Without God, people are living in spiritual deception and darkness.  As a result, they have a twisted and manipulated view of life.  Their values and understanding of religion are confused.  They create their own immoral ways of life as they reject God’s truth.  Sadly, I have met people who claim Christianity who have established their own ways of life, justifying it by financial, convenience or personal preference justifications.  But, what it must be is:
Believers contrast society with a different worldview.
    Godly values stand out from the popular ungodly beliefs and lifestyles.  Growing Christians endeavor to be pure so they can effectively demonstrate Christ’s message of hope and life.  This is where we are to be light shining to a spiritually dark world.
    ***God has called us to a higher righteousness.  A genuine life that reflects Christ in all we do.  Jesus said:
Matthew 5:20 NKJV
20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
    The Pharisees were known for being super-spiritual.  If you doubted it, just ask them.  But, Jesus knew something about them.  They were phoney.  The Pharisees lived by the law but were not right with God because their righteousness was external.  God was not in their hearts. They kept the rules, prayed and fasted as well as attending worship services.  The problem was that they substituted the outward religious actions for the inner heart attitudes and devotion to the Lord.  It is not a matter of which one we need, we need both.  Both the heart and the part others can see must be committed to Jesus.  Otherwise all we have is dead legalism.

Discussion:
The statement I just made:  The problem was that they substituted the outward religious actions for the inner heart attitudes and devotion to the Lord.
The king, the sovereign, gets to make the rules
Our eternal King knows best
Our King has our best interest at heart
Question: what is better - submit or resist Jesus?
Then, why do we resist so much?

As we work through Christ’s sermon over the next weeks, let’s strive to learn all Jesus wants us to grasp and submit so we can grow in our walk with Him.
    A closing thought:  God doesn’t force us to serve or obey.  We must make the choice.  What if God forced us to believe and controlled people with Taser guns?
    This is an interesting thought, having taken some training with them and seeing the impact they have on a person.  What if God set a deadline for ridding the world of evil? Suppose God announced that next Monday at midnight He will step in and stop all suffering caused by evil people. How would He do that? Let’s say God decides to use a tool carried by many police officers—a Taser gun.
    A Taser gun shoots an individual with a temporary high-voltage current of electricity, up to 50,000 volts.  Generally they cause a person to drop to the ground in agony.  The makers of Taser guns boast of a 95 percent compliance rate.  The goal of using a Taser is compliance.  Hit a person with enough electricity and you can get him to do anything.
    Again, suppose God gave a deadline for stopping evil.  When that time comes, God gets us to comply with his wishes by shocking us. Start to tell a lie, and you are hit with a half-second zap. Try to rob a person, and you get two seconds of shock. A would-be murderer would be incapacitated. However, knowing that evil thoughts often lead to evil actions, God also zaps us for sinister thoughts.
    What would be the result? A world of twitchy people, who obey God like cowering, beaten dogs.
Thoughts taken from J. P. Moreland & Tim Muehlhoff, The God Conversation (IVP Books, 2007), p. 26
    That is not God’s plan.  He wants us to know the blessings of new life in Jesus and the joys of serving Him.  Let’s be salt and light to the world.

7/21/13 DESIGN FOR LIFE

The Lord’s Presence

Song: The Lord Will Bring You Out
Psalm 42:1-11 NKJV
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
    Pictures: Ein Gedi, Israel, near the Dead Sea.  The area that inspired these thoughts.

Worship and seek the Lord as we sing.  Worship -- Worth-ship, ascribe worth, value.  The strong sense of God’s presence makes all the difference.

Worship is not about:
□    us, but the object of our worship -- God
□    what worship does for us
□    what we get, but rather, what we give
□    not about a feeling we get when we sing
□    entertainment - a fancy presentation
    Worship is all about our Lord, bring all to Jesus and gaze on Him.
    The good feeling, the inspiration, is the by-product of real worship.  God is worthy of our worship even if He never did anything for us.

Worship the Lord as we give, tithes and offerings.  This is an act of worship.

Psalm 42:1-11 NKJV
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
    This is when we thirst for God.  It’s been hot lately, and water is necessary and greatly desired.  It is very refreshing.  Our Lord and His presence are essential for spiritual life and wholeness.  When we really trust God we will hunger and thirst for a deeper relationship with him.  When we drink of His presence, we will be satisfied.
    When a person stops thirsting for God they die spiritually.  So, don’t allow anything to steal your deep desire to be close to God.  Live His plan for your life.  Never allow yourself to be distracted by the circumstances of life.  They will destroy your hunger and thirst for God.
    Faithfully serving and worshiping God will keep our desire for God’s presence strong.  This will keep our spiritual passion strong.
    Jesus said:
Matthew 5:6 NKJV
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
    This hunger and thirst is so important that Jesus will bless the one who does so.
Psalm 42
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance. 6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar.
    HOPE in God.  We have a solid and real hope for life and eternity.  This hope is genuine, especially when the signs around us are dismal.
    Wait on God when things don’t look promising and it seems to take long to see results.  The faithful will keep on pursuing a deeper relationship with God, whatever the feelings or circumstances may be.  God will not abandon you.
    God may seem to be silent, but He has not forgotten you.  Keep developing your relationship with him and build your Christian character.  Never give up, never give up hope in Christ.
Psalm 42
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
    Hey, self.  Why are you so upset?  What are you discouraged and thinking of giving up?  There is solid hope in God. Praise Him and see Him intervene.
Lamentations 3:22-24 NKJV
22 Through the LORD’S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”
    The book of Lamentations is not a book that gets much coverage in Bible study.  It was written by Jeremiah. The theme is “Present Sorrow and Future Hope”.  Because God is faithful every day, we can rejoice in hope.
    Jeremiah wrote this series of laments as he expressed deep sorrow and emotional hurt over Jerusalem’s destruction. The prophet pours out his grief similar to the tragic death of a relative or close friend.  These laments describe God’s judgment on Judah for centuries of rebellion against him by its rulers and people. Jeremiah shows that God was justified and correct in all He did in relation to this nation.  Also noted was the truth that God is merciful and compassionate to those whose confidence, faith and hope are in him.
Psalm 63:1-5 NKJV
1 A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. 2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. 3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. 4 Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. 5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.

    David expressed his heart towards God - Earnestly I seek You.  We all need to pray as David prayed.  He had a deep longing for God.  It could only be satisfied by a close, personal relationship with the Lord.
    Good questions for believers to ask:
Do I really have a strong passion for God’s presence and plan for my life?
Is worldly pleasure and earthly accomplishments primary?
How important are prayer and Bible study?
Do I focus on really serving the Lord?
Do I seek God’s power and glory in my life?
Do I seek God’s power to be strongly felt when we come together?
Do I trust God to overcome the powers of evil?
Do I believe that the answers to the struggles face will be found in Jesus and a strong personal relationship with Him?
Do I seek to inspire others?
Is our mind God-centered?

    We started today talking about worship and God’s presence.  Then we sang and worshiped the Lord.  We have been talking about this more as we read from the Bible.  Now, what’s next?
THE APPLICATION OF THIS MESSAGE
Seek HIM, let’s do it again right now.  Worship the Lord.

7/7/13 DESIGN FOR LIFE
Guard Your Heart
“God never measures the Mind. He always puts His tape measure in the Heart.”      Corrie ten Boom
    What do words say about people?
Google Word Search Shows Rise of Individualism
    A few years ago, Google released a database of over 5 million books published between 1500 and 2008. You can now type a search word into the database and discover how often words have been used over the centuries.
    Based on this data, The New York Times columnist David Brooks offers what he calls the “story of the last half-century”. The first part of this story is the rise of individualism. In the past 50 years, “individualistic words and phrases increasingly overshadowed communal words and phrases.” For instance, these individualistic words have been used more frequently: “self,” “personalized,” “I come first,” “I can do it myself.” In contrast, the following communal words have been used less frequently: “community,” “share,” “band together,” “common good.”
    The second part to the story Brooks sees is the decline in moral virtue. Certain words were especially hard hit, including words associated with courage or gratitude. But all of the following words have dropped in usage: “modesty,” “humbleness,” “discipline,” “honesty,” “patience,” “faith,” “wisdom,” and even “evil.”
    Brooks offers his interpretation for these trends:
    So the story I’d like to tell is this: Over the past half-century, society has become more individualistic. As it has become more individualistic, it has also become less morally aware, because social and moral fabrics are inextricably linked. [The first two trends] have led to certain forms of social breakdown, which government has tried to address, sometimes successfully and often impotently.
David Brooks, “What Our Words Tell Us,” The New York Times (5-20-13)
    This is an interesting study.  Who would think to check out the words people use in writing?  These observations show where people are and our culture is.  There have been so many changes in the world, so many changes in society, and so many of those changes are not positive.  People are more and more concerned about “self” and “what I want”.  What is on the inside comes out.
    The Bible says your heart is the source from which your life flows.  Are you dealing with the source so life’s output is clean and attractive?  We are continuing to talk about the heart.
    The heart represents the center of our being—the source of desire and decision.
    The Bible points to the heart as the center of our being - let’s look at these verses again:
Proverbs 4:23 NIV
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
NLT -- 23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
NKJV -- 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
    New Testament teaching from Jesus.
Luke 6:43-45 NIV
43 No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
    Guard your heart!  An important command.  What is in our heart is what comes out as life goes on.  Never allow anything to come into your heart that does not please God and is not helpful for our personal spiritual growth.  Don’t let anything into your heart that you don’t want to come out when people can see.
    God spoke to Israel about their actions and their spiritual inaction.  He was pleading for them to return to serving Him.
Jeremiah 4:1-3 NIV
1 “If you will return, O Israel, return to me,” declares the LORD. “If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray, 2 and if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ then the nations will be blessed by him and in him they will glory.”
3 This is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns.”
    They needed to plow the soil they had been ignoring.  Their hearts were hard against God.  They were facing impending disaster because of their hard hearts.  In order to avoid the terrible coming disaster, God’s people needed to experience a total moral renewal—a change of heart.  They needed to commit themselves to doing what God says is right and staying in right relationship with him.  Their consciences needed work, they needed to listen to God.   They had to break up the hardened soil of their hearts.  The evil in their hearts had to be removed.
    In Proverbs, a chapter warning a son about the snare of the adulteress - it starts out  Proverbs 7:1-2 NIV
1 My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. 2 Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
    It ends:  Proverbs 7:24-27 NIV
24 Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say.
25 Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths. 26 Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng. 27 Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.

    Keep your heart on track and don’t let the sin resident in the hearts of others cause you to stray.
    Who we are on the inside determines our outward behavior.  Our “inside” must change from what we were in order to comply with God’s standards and intention. With no inward change, we won’t live God’s will or fulfill his plan for our lives.
    Many believe that people are basically good at heart.  The Bible is clear about a heart that is separated from God.  It is wicked and deceitful.
Jeremiah 17:9 NIV
9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
    Human nature is not foundationally good.  A heart that is not in communion with God is dangerous.  By itself, the heart is desperately evil and corrupt and leads to devastation and death.  The only way we can listen to our heart is when we are hearing God speak to and through it.  Without Christ in control, the heart is desperately dangerous.
    People are basically selfish and follow paths contrary to the ways of God.  Because the heart is corrupt, we can’t make the necessary changes by ourselves.  Salvation purchased by Jesus on the cross, His grace is the only solution.  Transformation comes from the heart change Jesus makes.
    Let’s look at a few Bible examples and insights to the heart.
SAMUEL
    The prophet Samuel was sent to the house of Jesse to anoint one of his sons to be the next king of Israel, since God had rejected Saul as king.
1 Samuel 16:6-7 NIV
6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.” 7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
    God looks at things completely differently than we do. We are impressed by looks, by first impressions, by the standards of the world.  God knows that the easiest way to impress and fake something is to clean up the outside.  But, He also know that what is on the inside is what counts.  The inside is genuine.
DANIEL
    Jerusalem was under siege by King Nebuchadnezzar - attacked and cut off from outside help and supply.  They were at war, experienced destruction, the capture of its king and many future leaders.  Among the young people Nebuchadnezzar took hostage were Daniel and his three friends.  They were prisoners of war, but their faith in God was not shaken.
    The King put Daniel & his friends in a top training program.  They had a bright future for good positions in his administration.  But, in the process of that training they would be asked to eat things they knew would not please God.  They had to decide.  Daniel resolved not to defile himself, whatever the cost.  Babylon’s moral and spiritual climate was totally corrupt.
    Daniel determined not to compromise his spiritual values and convictions, even if it meant death.  Even though he was in a foreign culture and didn’t have his parents around to tell him what to do, his love for God filled his heart so that he never lost his desire to serve God.
Daniel 1:4-5 NIV
4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.
Daniel 1:8 NIV
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.
NKJV
But Daniel purposed in his heart
TIMOTHY   
Paul’s advice to Timothy.
II Timothy 2:22 NIV
22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
    Everyone faces the pull of evil desires.  It is especially challenging when you are young.  To be tempted does not mean there is anything wrong with you, it means you are alive.  The key is to do the right thing - get as far away as you can.  Avoid the places where temptation hangs out.  If you get surprised by temptation, then RUN.
    What is in the heart comes out.  Last week I shared a story.  Jesus used parables to get a point across.  This is a modern parable, a story written by a man named Russell Kelfer.
Key people:  Edith Burns, a wonderful Christian who lived in San Antonio, Texas.  She was the patient of Doctor Will Phillips.
Dr. Phillips’ head nurse, Beverly.
Hospital head nurse, Phyllis Cross.
“My name is Edith Burns.  Do you believe in Easter?”
LIFE APPLICATION: The Next Step
DESIGN FOR LIFE
What are the key points of this message?
How can we apply this message?
Discussion Questions
What should we learn from the parable about Edith Burns?
What do you think the general public doesn’t understand about Bible teaching about the heart?
What questions do you have about the heart? (Some questions we might need to write down and research.)