back to index2017-05-07 Sunday
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One particular day, I had a paper due and it took me all night and probably half the 00:00:08.640 |
next day finishing up this paper and I was almost done. 00:00:11.800 |
And as I was leaving the room, I flipped the switch, turned the light off, and as I turned 00:00:16.260 |
the light off, I realized the computer turned off. 00:00:19.360 |
And in a split second, I realized the computer was, you know, plugged into that one plug 00:00:24.080 |
where it turns the light on and off and not realizing that. 00:00:27.040 |
And again, you know, we're brand new to the computer world and so after it turned off, 00:00:33.200 |
Does that mean that everything I did was turned off? 00:00:35.200 |
Like, you know, it's not like computers today. 00:00:38.400 |
So I went back on and I tried to retrieve everything that I did and obviously it was 00:00:43.800 |
And I called whoever, you know, knew anything about computers and they said, no, if you 00:00:48.640 |
didn't save it on the floppy disk, so some of you guys may remember the floppy disk, 00:00:53.320 |
you know, if you didn't save it on that, you can't retrieve it. 00:00:56.160 |
And then I remember after that, I was so traumatized by this computer that I never used it again. 00:01:03.320 |
And it wasn't until, I mean, maybe our third or fourth year in seminary that I started 00:01:07.120 |
using the Mac, you know, because the school offered it and I started using that. 00:01:10.760 |
But ever since then, I have this fear that if I touch something wrong, I'm not really 00:01:15.840 |
afraid of the hardware, I'm more afraid of the software, that I might go in somewhere 00:01:19.920 |
and delete something and that's going to ruin the whole computer, you know, and everything 00:01:23.680 |
that I've saved on there, I'll never be able to retrieve again. 00:01:26.680 |
I become a little bit better than that, but not a whole lot because I have fear of touching 00:01:33.760 |
And I'm not bad with, like, machinery, like, something I can touch with my bare hands, 00:01:38.800 |
but when it comes to computer, for some reason I have this fear, so I just don't like touching 00:01:44.080 |
There's plenty of people who are good at it and I just let them handle it. 00:01:51.440 |
Years ago when GPS first came out, I was in Chicago and I had a rental car, and this must 00:01:56.920 |
have been about 16, 17 years ago, and we were headed toward Urbana. 00:02:01.840 |
I think there's a few of you guys who were with us and they gave us a GPS to use and 00:02:06.080 |
I remember that GPS took us to the wrong place and we were lost maybe about three or four 00:02:09.840 |
hours and then I realized that GPS didn't work properly. 00:02:13.320 |
It told us to go somewhere that we weren't supposed to go and I never touched GPS again 00:02:16.960 |
for the next 10 years because, like, how do you trust this thing, right? 00:02:21.760 |
It might tell me to make a left turn or right turn. 00:02:23.920 |
So I think every single one of us can relate to have poured your energy into something 00:02:28.880 |
and at the end of the day found out that it was completely useless, whether it was a term 00:02:32.960 |
paper or maybe you went north when you should have went south, you know, and then all of 00:02:37.720 |
a sudden there's a sign saying, "Welcome to Big Bear," and realize that you're not in 00:02:43.060 |
How you feel, that overwhelming feeling of you've wasted your time. 00:02:50.920 |
The gospel that Apostle Paul has been preaching probably struck the Jews, again, in a much 00:02:58.860 |
exaggerated way, but in a similar way, at least emotionally, the way that I felt when 00:03:03.940 |
I turned off that computer or maybe when you felt when you got lost for a long period of 00:03:07.460 |
time and you didn't recognize it and realize you've been going the wrong direction. 00:03:12.820 |
Apostle Paul is trying to preach salvation by grace, justification by faith alone to 00:03:19.020 |
a group of people who devoted their lives to obeying the law. 00:03:24.820 |
So Paul's gospel wasn't simply saying, "Hey, what you were doing in the temple was wrong." 00:03:31.060 |
He wasn't simply saying the sacrifice that you were giving wasn't sufficient. 00:03:37.180 |
The message that Paul was giving basically says that everything that you were thinking 00:03:41.960 |
about your righteousness was completely wrong. 00:03:45.540 |
That you've been going the wrong direction and you've been doing it fervently with all 00:03:52.940 |
So Paul has been preaching salvation by grace, justification by faith up to chapter 8 and 00:03:59.260 |
we've been studying, again, jumping into chapter 9, and so they're trying to answer this question, 00:04:04.500 |
how can this gospel that you're preaching be fair? 00:04:09.040 |
So the easy way to nullify the gospel is to nullify the messenger. 00:04:13.200 |
So Paul has been arguing the fairness of the gospel, of righteousness that can only be 00:04:20.160 |
And so chapter 9, if you remember, he begins by conveying, "It has nothing to do with my 00:04:27.200 |
In fact, if it had any power, I wish that I could be a curse for my countrymen." 00:04:33.600 |
And so he's been arguing in chapter 9 the fairness of the gospel, the sovereignty of 00:04:40.000 |
Chapter 10 is part 2 of his argument and he begins in a similar manner, chapter 10, verse 00:04:45.520 |
1, he says, "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be 00:04:58.320 |
Now, again, you and I live in a culture, in a part of the world where individualism is 00:05:09.040 |
Americans are known for being individualistic. 00:05:12.640 |
But if you grew up or if you know anything about other countries where nationalism takes 00:05:17.560 |
center stage, above your family, above your personal freedom, again, if you understood 00:05:24.640 |
that you would understand Apostle Paul's heart. 00:05:27.920 |
Nationalism for the nation of Israel was at the core of the nation. 00:05:31.560 |
That's what they were taught from generation to generation. 00:05:33.560 |
In fact, Paul is called specifically as an apostle to the Gentiles. 00:05:38.980 |
But if you look at his ministry, every city that he goes into, where's the first place 00:05:48.080 |
The only reason why he doesn't go to a synagogue is because they don't have one. 00:05:52.440 |
And the reason why he ends up preaching outside of the synagogue is because he gets persecuted 00:05:58.360 |
And so as a result of that, he would go to the marketplace and begin to preach the gospel. 00:06:03.040 |
So you could see that Apostle Paul was not simply desiring and just praying and wishful 00:06:09.560 |
He actually did his best to bring the gospel to the Jews. 00:06:14.160 |
But as a result of his failure or their rejection, he would end up going preaching the gospel 00:06:22.240 |
Generally speaking, what God called Paul to do is absolutely impossible. 00:06:32.560 |
Can you imagine somebody coming up and saying, "You know, your hairstyle is wrong. 00:06:45.840 |
"The husband, your wife, that you chose, it's wrong. 00:06:49.960 |
The money, the way you spend your money, it's wrong. 00:06:55.240 |
Your hope, the way you're raising your children, it's wrong. 00:07:02.140 |
That's exactly how the Jews probably heard it. 00:07:05.820 |
He wasn't just talking about a certain aspect of their life. 00:07:08.800 |
He was saying that everything that they valued, all their energy that they poured into was 00:07:16.960 |
Humanly speaking, the task that Paul has to preach the gospel was impossible. 00:07:25.280 |
So we can understand why they had such a hard time receiving, humanly speaking, why they 00:07:30.400 |
had such a hard time receiving the message of Paul. 00:07:33.960 |
The text that we're going to be looking at today, I started this week thinking that I'm 00:07:38.680 |
By the time I got to Wednesday, I realized that I'm probably not going to do that. 00:07:45.800 |
I really think that this is so important, especially for us, every single one of us, 00:07:53.160 |
That because you and I live in a post-Christian culture where Christianity just kind of is 00:07:57.320 |
secondhand, it's been handed to us, and all you have to do is not resist it. 00:08:02.580 |
You don't have to pursue it, you don't have to chase it, you just have to not deny it. 00:08:06.760 |
Just get on the boat and just do what everybody else is doing. 00:08:12.680 |
As a result of that, we can completely miss the central message and central calling of 00:08:18.800 |
what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. 00:08:21.600 |
So Paul says in verse two, and I'm going to go through this outline just in this verse, 00:08:27.520 |
because I believe that what he has to say in this verse is not just important, it is 00:08:33.000 |
He says to the Jews, "Your zeal, I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but 00:08:42.360 |
First thing I want to point out here is that Paul is not indicting their zeal. 00:08:49.760 |
I can bear witness that you guys are passionate, that you're zealous." 00:08:55.400 |
The problem with Israel was not lack of effort. 00:09:00.240 |
Typically, when something goes wrong, or something is not happening the way that we think it 00:09:05.920 |
ought to happen, or it doesn't accomplish the desired goals that we have, our immediate 00:09:16.460 |
Maybe we haven't prayed enough, maybe we haven't read enough, maybe we haven't been trained 00:09:20.400 |
enough, maybe we haven't been organized enough. 00:09:22.920 |
Then all of these things are important things, but that's our natural instinct, because that's 00:09:29.280 |
See, the nation of Israel, that was not the problem. 00:09:33.120 |
It was clear that was not the problem, because their indictment was not that they were not 00:09:38.180 |
zealous enough, that they didn't try hard enough. 00:09:45.200 |
Galatians 1.14, it says, "And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among 00:09:50.000 |
my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers." 00:09:56.880 |
Paul was not only one of them, he was a leader among them. 00:10:00.800 |
In fact, in Philippians 3.5-6, Paul actually compares his zeal to their zeal. 00:10:07.360 |
And the reason why he's doing that is because these Judaizers were accusing him, "Maybe 00:10:17.040 |
And that's why you're so easily abandoning this system and embracing this whole new way 00:10:24.180 |
So basically, Paul is saying, "I'm going to take you upon your challenge. 00:10:29.040 |
If you want to weigh the zeal for the law of God, and who's a good Jew, let's go at 00:10:34.960 |
And he's going to sit down, "I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews, that's the law of Pharisees, 00:10:38.000 |
to zeal, persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, I was absolutely 00:10:44.980 |
And no one, no one can accuse him of being a bad Jew. 00:10:49.720 |
You remember, Apostle Paul was the one who was responsible for the martyr of Stephen. 00:10:55.240 |
Now you have to understand, he might have been a hero in the nation of Israel, but that 00:11:00.360 |
would have made him a criminal in the Roman government. 00:11:05.280 |
He packed up his bags and gathered a bunch of soldiers and went up all the way to Damascus, 00:11:11.480 |
willing to beat up, kill, imprison whoever stood in the way, because he was persecuting 00:11:18.200 |
So in other words, when he says, "as to zeal, persecutor of Christians," he was saying, 00:11:26.800 |
That's how passionate I was for the nation of Israel, for the law. 00:11:32.200 |
Paul knew better than anybody else, and he says, "I understand your zeal. 00:11:41.340 |
But Jesus never condemned the Pharisees for not having enough effort. 00:11:47.620 |
He didn't condemn them for not praying enough. 00:11:52.720 |
He condemned them for why they prayed and how they prayed. 00:11:57.160 |
But it wasn't an amount of prayer that he condemned them for. 00:12:00.600 |
He didn't condemn the Pharisees for keeping the law. 00:12:04.500 |
He never condemned them for that, but he condemned them for keeping the law selectively. 00:12:11.440 |
Some of the things that they made weighty, some of the things that they didn't make weighty. 00:12:15.880 |
He didn't condemn them for not keeping the Sabbath. 00:12:19.680 |
They kept the Sabbath like a person who had OCD. 00:12:24.200 |
Every single little thing, they were in fear that they were going to somehow break the 00:12:32.560 |
They added more and more laws to make sure that they kept it holy. 00:12:35.760 |
Jesus never condemned them for not keeping the Sabbath. 00:12:39.640 |
He indicted them for not understanding what the Sabbath was for in the first place. 00:12:45.960 |
So their indictment was never about their zeal. 00:12:53.080 |
In Matthew 23, verse 15, Jesus says, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, 00:12:58.040 |
for you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte. 00:13:03.200 |
And when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourself." 00:13:10.680 |
These Pharisees were actually doing mission work. 00:13:14.040 |
They might have been doing short term, maybe long term. 00:13:16.900 |
And he says, "You travel across sea and land." 00:13:21.600 |
This was not a short term trip where they went and came back. 00:13:24.800 |
These guys, a lot of these guys packed their bags and went into foreign countries, risked 00:13:28.640 |
their lives crossing the sea to spread what their understanding of righteousness was. 00:13:34.840 |
So you're talking about a group of people who were committed to this cause. 00:13:45.120 |
In fact, Josephus, the early first century Jewish historian, he actually writes about 00:13:53.960 |
Part of the reason why they were so zealous is because they believed, according to their 00:13:57.720 |
tradition, not according to the Old Testament teaching, to their tradition, that when they 00:14:01.840 |
converted somebody to Judaism, they believed that they were creating a whole new soul. 00:14:07.320 |
So in some sense, they were playing God by converting people. 00:14:11.160 |
And obviously, if you're talking about merit, there's no greater merit than to create another 00:14:18.880 |
So you can understand the zeal that they had. 00:14:29.720 |
It's that they had zeal, but it wasn't according to knowledge. 00:14:35.160 |
That's the second thing I want to talk about in this text. 00:14:37.600 |
Their zeal was motivated, was not motivated by true knowledge. 00:14:43.600 |
Now again, in some circles, and I don't think it's in every circle, but in some circles, 00:14:48.960 |
and I'm pretty sure you have some friends who think that way too, the moment the term 00:14:53.160 |
theology is thrown, it's like, "Oh, you're legalist. 00:14:59.800 |
So the idea of emphasizing too much theology somehow automatically makes you a legalist. 00:15:06.800 |
In fact, I don't know about you, but I've been in so many conversations trying to talk 00:15:10.400 |
to somebody about right theology and the right gospel, and the way that they would excuse 00:15:16.560 |
this is, "Well, but look how passionate they are. 00:15:20.400 |
Look at how many people come to their services. 00:15:25.320 |
Look at all these things that are happening." 00:15:26.840 |
So even though they're not preaching the right gospel, they're a good people. 00:15:31.680 |
In fact, some of these people are much better than these people who are Calvinists or these 00:15:38.200 |
And so if they're passionate, if they're giving a lot of effort, somehow that excuses that. 00:15:43.520 |
Well, Apostle Paul says it clear to the nation of Israel. 00:15:49.000 |
It was passion, but wasn't based upon true knowledge." 00:15:54.160 |
You know, I read an article this week about Brad Pitt. 00:15:57.760 |
Yeah, you're probably thinking, "Why is he reading about Brad Pitt?" 00:16:02.760 |
I read this article about Brad Pitt because the title of the article says, "Why Brad 00:16:07.960 |
Pitt, who grew up in a Christian home, became an atheist." 00:16:12.120 |
And so I was reading that and it said he grew up in a very staunch, committed Christian 00:16:18.420 |
And he says when he was younger, he would go to these retreats or he would go to these 00:16:21.600 |
revivals and he would come back filled with the Holy Spirit. 00:16:27.480 |
He's experienced all these things, so he knows all the lingo. 00:16:38.560 |
But he said, and he doesn't pinpoint one thing, but one of the things that he said on that 00:16:44.280 |
article that was surprising, and this is what he says. 00:16:48.000 |
He said, "I'd go to a Christian revival and be moved by the Holy Spirit, and then I'd 00:16:53.840 |
go to a rock concert and feel the same fervor." 00:16:59.080 |
And he interpreted that as, well, that same kind of hype and that emotion, that passion 00:17:06.400 |
Well, when I went to the rock concert, I realized that they were experiencing the same thing, 00:17:22.600 |
See, Apostle Paul says of the nation of Israel that there's zeal, there's passion, there's 00:17:28.680 |
commitment, there's sacrifice, but it wasn't in accordance with knowledge. 00:17:35.000 |
Before we get carried away and think, "Well, good thing we're not charismatic, that we 00:17:40.000 |
don't believe in emotions here, so we're safe," before we start to think, "Well, I have enough 00:17:46.080 |
theology, and I've read enough books, and I know right and wrong. 00:17:55.200 |
Just because we have all of these things, that's not what Paul is saying. 00:17:59.880 |
In fact, the word that he uses for knowledge here is epigenosko. 00:18:06.120 |
And I'm just going to read directly what it says in the Word Study of the New Testament. 00:18:11.920 |
This word that we have for knowledge here is, "It is more intense than gnosis," the 00:18:17.120 |
word knowledge, "because it expresses a more thorough participation in the acquiring of 00:18:24.600 |
In the New Testament, it often refers to knowledge which very powerfully influences the form 00:18:29.600 |
of religious life, a knowledge-laying claim to personal involvement." 00:18:35.920 |
He's not simply talking about assenting to saying the right things. 00:18:39.520 |
"Oh, I believe that, that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, that I know what verse to 00:18:45.480 |
I know all the right theology because I've been taught properly." 00:18:51.600 |
It may be the beginning of it, but again, this word epigenosis is used in Matthew 22:29, 00:19:01.800 |
He says to them, "You are wrong because you neither know the Scriptures or the power of 00:19:09.200 |
Now, any Jew would listen to that and say, "What do you mean we don't know the Scriptures? 00:19:14.720 |
I mean, we've been reading and studying the Bible. 00:19:22.640 |
What do you mean we don't know the power of God? 00:19:26.920 |
If you asked Him, "Do you believe God is powerful?" 00:19:38.960 |
So why does Jesus say, "You don't know the Scriptures, and you don't know the power of 00:19:55.080 |
2 Timothy 3.7, He says, "In the last days, there are going to be people who are always 00:19:59.440 |
learning but never able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth." 00:20:05.760 |
Always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 00:20:09.840 |
Now, if what He's saying about knowledge, "Oh, it has to be based on at least correct 00:20:17.280 |
But obviously, that's not what He's referring to. 00:20:21.240 |
He's not simply talking about having right theology and saying the right things. 00:20:26.320 |
As important as that is, the epi in front of the gnoscle basically takes us further 00:20:36.160 |
It is a kind of encounter that you have with God that absolutely changes you. 00:20:43.000 |
The Christ of the cross that you encounter changes your perspective. 00:20:48.680 |
The reason why we worship, the reason why we evangelize, the reason why we serve is 00:20:53.520 |
not simply because we have the right theology and we have the right doing and that's what 00:21:06.520 |
You can attest to His power, but you don't know Him. 00:21:11.040 |
All the efforts that you're giving, it's your effort, it's your ability, but you have no 00:21:19.400 |
Their problem was not that they didn't give enough effort. 00:21:24.040 |
Their problem is not that they didn't pray enough, they didn't give enough, or they didn't 00:21:32.920 |
You see why this is so dangerous in our culture? 00:21:37.000 |
You and I live in a culture where we have more access to the Bible, more preaching, 00:21:42.320 |
more theology, more fellowship, more opportunities to do work than any other generation, any other 00:21:54.080 |
And yet we are in the greatest danger of this exact same thing. 00:22:07.840 |
And he says, "Well, the Jews were just as busy, maybe even busier, but they completely 00:22:20.280 |
Third and final part that I want to take a few minutes to talk about is the characteristics 00:22:28.840 |
Now I would like to take credit for this, but this is actually from Martin Lloyd-Jones. 00:22:37.880 |
And I think because there's a lot of overlapping. 00:22:41.480 |
I think these four things does a good summary of things that we need to watch for. 00:22:47.240 |
First of all, he said, "False zeal is motivated by fear of man rather than fear of God." 00:22:55.640 |
False zeal is motivated by the fear of man rather than fear of God. 00:23:00.500 |
In Matthew 23, 5-8, Jesus indicts the Pharisees that they do all their deeds to be seen by 00:23:06.160 |
others for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the 00:23:12.660 |
places of honor at feasts and at the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the 00:23:17.120 |
marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. 00:23:26.220 |
So their whole effort is fixated on how people respond. 00:23:32.160 |
So if people, if they get honor for the activity that they're doing, then they give a lot of 00:23:38.180 |
In fact, even their whole prayer life in Matthew 6, 5, it says, "When you pray, you must not 00:23:42.960 |
be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street 00:23:50.540 |
Truly I say to you, they have received their reward." 00:23:52.900 |
See, they're not being reviewed for not praying. 00:23:56.060 |
But it was why they were praying, who they were praying for, what they were praying for. 00:24:13.220 |
In contrast, true zeal, we see in Apostle Paul. 00:24:19.260 |
Every time I read the Corinthians, there's a side of me that's always like, "Why does 00:24:26.300 |
I know why he cares, but there's a side of me, my flesh comes out like, "Drop these suckers!" 00:24:34.900 |
You planted this church and you sacrificed all of this, and now they're questioning your 00:24:39.940 |
Now he's writing a letter, they didn't like the first letter, and then now he said, "Maybe 00:24:46.700 |
And he's writing this gut-wrenching letter to this church that he so loved. 00:24:55.020 |
Apostle Paul had enough on his plate to worry about this group. 00:25:03.700 |
He writes this gut-wrenching letter to this church pleading with them. 00:25:10.140 |
He says 2 Corinthians 5, 17, "For the love of Christ controls us." 00:25:15.680 |
If he was a man who was motivated by the fear of man, as soon as he's not honored, as soon 00:25:21.940 |
as he's not accepted, shake off your dust, just move on. 00:25:26.220 |
The reason why he endures is because the love of Christ in the NIV says compels him. 00:25:37.500 |
Despite all of his sins, despite all of his failures, despite all he was going to do, 00:25:55.460 |
In fact, if it was up to him, he said, "I'd rather be with him." 00:26:01.340 |
The only reason why I want to be here, why I'm here, is because it means fruitful labor 00:26:08.980 |
Again in Acts chapter 4, 18-21, the early apostles, Peter and John, said, "After being 00:26:16.120 |
whipped and beaten, they called them and charged them, the leaders of Israel, not to speak 00:26:24.580 |
But Peter and John answered them, 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen 00:26:28.180 |
to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen 00:26:35.580 |
I mean, these are the same people who crucified Jesus. 00:26:39.820 |
Peter, just a few days ago, was denying Jesus to his faith because he was afraid that he 00:26:48.380 |
If he was motivated by the fear of man, this makes absolutely no sense. 00:26:57.760 |
What gave them this courage to say, "Is it right for me to listen to you rather than 00:27:09.460 |
He encountered the resurrected Christ and his whole paradigm of life, of good, of success 00:27:25.840 |
So that's why they were able to risk their lives because they were not motivated by fear 00:27:32.940 |
Secondly, he says, false zeal is focused on the external rather than the internal. 00:27:42.020 |
If you're motivated by the fear of man, you can only be judged by the things that they 00:27:48.420 |
So obviously, everything is focused on external. 00:27:52.000 |
How do we change what's happening externally? 00:27:55.100 |
The Pharisees were constantly concerned about how people honored them. 00:27:58.940 |
In fact, one of the very reasons why they turned against Jesus was because Jesus was 00:28:07.060 |
Initially they were coming out, "If this man is really a prophet of God, we better 00:28:12.580 |
But when they would get in line, what would John the Baptist and Jesus do? 00:28:19.940 |
You guys spend all your time cleaning up the outside, but inside it's filled with dead 00:28:27.740 |
I mean, if their whole goal was to be honored by people, Jesus made it very difficult for 00:28:32.900 |
So as a result of that, he said, "We need to get rid of this guy." 00:28:39.940 |
In fact, in 1 Timothy 3, 2-3, we have the qualification of an elder. 00:28:47.340 |
You know, we may read that and say, "Well, I'm not an elder. 00:28:49.980 |
I don't have any aspiration to be an elder, so therefore these things don't apply to 00:28:55.380 |
These qualifications are for men who are to set an example to the rest of the church to 00:29:01.020 |
These are examples, characteristics that every man and woman ought to follow. 00:29:06.140 |
And in the qualification of an elder, he said, "An overseer must be above reproach, husband 00:29:11.020 |
of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not 00:29:16.860 |
to be drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not lover of money," and on 00:29:22.940 |
And if you look at that, the majority of what he says is about character. 00:29:30.260 |
He doesn't talk about, "We need overseers who are good managers of money." 00:29:43.780 |
All of these things are good qualities to have. 00:29:49.860 |
The qualities that are listed of an exemplary man for the rest of the church are all characters. 00:29:57.940 |
Transformation that is taking place internally. 00:30:01.260 |
So that whether we do, again, according to the eyes of the world, a good job or a bad 00:30:05.100 |
job, that he calls men who are being transformed internally. 00:30:10.900 |
But zeal without knowledge, without encountering Christ, is always focused on the external. 00:30:22.060 |
Thirdly, he says false zeal usually lacks balance. 00:30:26.740 |
Again, this is, and I thought this was very insightful because it makes total sense. 00:30:35.060 |
If an individual is highlighting what he's good at for the purpose of honor, to get attention 00:30:41.140 |
from other people, or maybe fear of what other people will say if I don't do this, there's 00:30:50.340 |
So if you happen to be good in missions, then you kind of elevate, yeah, we need to do missions. 00:30:58.780 |
And we usually elevate missions and we judge everybody according to that one particular 00:31:03.820 |
If you happen to be about social justice, that's the hobby horse that you end up riding. 00:31:07.180 |
It's all about social justice, helping the poor, and we elevate that. 00:31:11.100 |
And then we judge everybody based upon whether you're doing that or not. 00:31:22.740 |
Whatever it is that that person is good at ends up being elevated, and then everybody 00:31:30.920 |
And then all the other things that you're not good at, you just kind of sweep under 00:31:33.580 |
the rug because the goal of it is not to necessarily meet Christ and glorify Christ and become 00:31:50.300 |
And fourth and finally, falseo elevates themselves rather than God. 00:31:56.600 |
If your whole motivation is fear of man and not fear of God, then everything that you 00:32:03.260 |
do, even if you have the name Christ in it, the ultimate goal is to elevate yourself. 00:32:08.140 |
You know, we talk about, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." 00:32:14.820 |
But the way that that is read by this individual, a zeal without knowledge, is, "I can do all 00:32:29.100 |
So that we talk about God, we talk about strength, but it's I. 00:32:33.860 |
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. 00:32:46.300 |
It's about what he's able to do, what he cannot, what he's able to do. 00:32:49.780 |
Because it's all motivated by self-interest, by human fear. 00:32:57.820 |
But Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, 10, it says, "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and 00:33:05.140 |
On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace 00:33:11.580 |
Apostle Paul was a man who was humbled by the grace of God. 00:33:17.940 |
He worked harder than anybody else, but he knew full well that that wasn't him. 00:33:27.260 |
He saw the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he was never the same. 00:33:31.860 |
So all that he was doing, he said, "If you're asking me who I am, I am the worst of sinners, 00:33:36.260 |
but it's only by the grace of God that I am who I am." 00:33:39.580 |
Again in Colossians 1, 28, 29, "In him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone 00:33:46.060 |
with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ, for this I toil, struggling 00:33:51.100 |
with all his energy that he powerfully works within me." 00:33:55.700 |
So you had a man and a woman who has encountered Christ, the Christ of the cross. 00:34:03.380 |
First thing that happens when you're in the presence of something bigger than you, first 00:34:07.420 |
thing that happens is you forget about yourself. 00:34:18.760 |
If something wows you, maybe you're going through Facebook and some video, something 00:34:24.760 |
catches your attention, you might have been hungry, but for that moment you forget. 00:34:29.020 |
You have to go to the bathroom, but for that moment you forget. 00:34:34.500 |
You go watch a baseball game or a football game or a basketball game and something spectacular 00:34:39.380 |
happens, whatever it is that you were concerned about. 00:34:44.900 |
For that split second in the presence of something magnificent, you forget about yourself. 00:34:50.500 |
See, that's the quality that we see in Apostle Paul. 00:34:55.700 |
He's a man who was so enamored by Christ and what he has done, the first thing that happens 00:34:59.740 |
is like, "I'm doing all of this stuff, but it is not me. 00:35:06.900 |
Imagine the ridiculousness of the proposition that Christ has called us to change ourselves. 00:35:16.980 |
And then not only to change ourselves, and then to go and change other people. 00:35:23.100 |
I don't know how many of you have ever done any kind of sales. 00:35:28.020 |
Some of you guys may have that kind of personality and maybe you're good at sales. 00:35:36.180 |
Maybe you're the type of person that can sell used vacuum cleaners. 00:35:42.420 |
Can you imagine how difficult it would be to sell a product that you know down the street 00:35:46.380 |
is selling for half the price and is newer than yours? 00:35:49.180 |
But you've been given the task to go sell so many of these. 00:35:53.300 |
I mean, as difficult as that may be, can you imagine the task to go convert people? 00:36:00.820 |
You know, to convert people to Jesus Christ means that everything that they've been working 00:36:08.020 |
up to that point, you're asking them to surrender that. 00:36:15.560 |
The reason why Jesus Christ had to die was because everything you did up to that point 00:36:28.220 |
The things that you were attracted to was wrong. 00:36:32.260 |
The money you put into the bank, what you're planning to do with that was wrong. 00:36:35.860 |
Everything that you were doing up to that point was wrong. 00:36:37.900 |
Now you surrender all of that, give it to Christ, and pick up your cross and follow 00:36:43.740 |
Can you imagine if that's what Christ called us to do? 00:36:50.100 |
I mean, if you can do that by your own strength, by your own might, I mean, I want to put some 00:37:00.440 |
Because you're going to be able to sell socks that was used. 00:37:04.580 |
You're going to be able to sell ice to Eskimos, right? 00:37:08.300 |
If you can somehow, by your effort, convince somebody to turn their life, give up everything 00:37:15.620 |
And then by your own effort, become a different person. 00:37:26.700 |
To do this and will yourself to change and then will others to change. 00:37:32.060 |
You would be the best motivational speaker, best apologist, best salesperson that this 00:37:41.860 |
See, that's what He was indicting the nation of Israel. 00:37:48.220 |
You're giving yourself to godliness and prayer and even proselytizing. 00:37:52.860 |
But by your own might, it is absolutely useless. 00:38:05.040 |
Even proselytizing, He didn't say, "Go and make disciples. 00:38:12.000 |
If you go and train them and give them the right knowledge, they'll be able to go and 00:38:18.600 |
I mean, think about the task of that, humanly speaking. 00:38:30.460 |
You will receive power, not because of your effort, not because of your education, not 00:38:35.020 |
because of your many years of experience, not because of your education, not because 00:38:44.620 |
When the Holy Spirit comes out inside of you. 00:38:47.520 |
Something completely foreign that you know nothing about because of what Christ has done 00:38:54.080 |
That He took an empty vessel and made it a new wineskin that the Holy Spirit, something 00:38:58.140 |
completely foreign that you had nothing to do about, when that comes upon you, you will 00:39:03.500 |
receive power and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the remotest 00:39:11.500 |
That was the only way that the gospel was going to spread. 00:39:16.180 |
That was the only way that you and I could ever change. 00:39:21.700 |
That's why zeal without knowledge is absolutely frustrating. 00:39:29.780 |
What we lack today isn't strategy, it isn't better funding, it isn't better organization 00:39:40.260 |
All of these things have its place, but that is not what we lack. 00:39:45.780 |
Second Peter 1.3, it says, "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain 00:39:50.260 |
to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and 00:40:00.400 |
At the core of our salvation is encountering Christ. 00:40:12.500 |
That's how ultimately glorification will happen. 00:40:16.100 |
When we encounter this Christ of the Bible at Paganosco, and He changes us. 00:40:23.700 |
So our goal in our worship isn't simply to know what the Bible says, it's to encounter 00:40:33.180 |
Our goal in the book of Revelation is not to simply know how the end time is going to 00:40:45.020 |
The goal of prayer meeting is not to get it done. 00:40:51.540 |
So all that we are doing, all that we are singing, all the fellowship that we have, 00:40:56.740 |
really, is to bring and gather people to encounter Christ. 00:41:03.820 |
We can be the best theologian, we can be the best organized, we can have the best funding 00:41:07.740 |
with the nicest people, and we can become the biggest church and be absolutely empty 00:41:22.180 |
I pray with all my heart, and again, I told you in the beginning why this is so crucial. 00:41:35.060 |
I don't know, on the day of judgment, how many people in Orange County are really going 00:41:42.540 |
to be saved, according to what I see in Scripture. 00:41:49.940 |
I know there are a lot of people who haven't heard the gospel. 00:41:54.220 |
There are people in India, there are people in China, there are people all over the place 00:42:00.780 |
But my concern, at least as of now, is that I don't know how many people who are in 00:42:06.980 |
the churches who really know Christ, who really encountered Christ. 00:42:14.140 |
I am not talking about people who are attending church regularly, people who go to Bible study, 00:42:19.220 |
I am talking about people who have zeal because they met Christ, the Christ of the Scripture, 00:42:26.860 |
And that is why they are coming to worship God. 00:42:32.740 |
The whole nation of Israel completely missed Him. 00:42:38.220 |
They are busy sacrificing, proselytizing, making disciples, giving, organizing, and 00:42:49.500 |
yet when the author of life was standing right before them, they did not recognize Him. 00:43:04.740 |
Search me and know me, see if there are any hurtful ways in me. 00:43:19.220 |
Can I say, "I love you, Jesus," and mean it from the bottom of my heart? 00:43:31.220 |
It's for every single person who has devoted themselves to religious life superficially, 00:43:38.460 |
who are frustrated, and they feel like they are going in circles. 00:43:47.580 |
Let's fix our eyes upon Jesus, the only one who is the author and the perfecter of our 00:43:56.460 |
Let's take some time to pray as our worship team comes up. 00:44:03.540 |
And I know that some of you may think this is a broken record, and I know because I hear 00:44:11.180 |
it, but I'm also very aware that superficial worship does absolutely nothing other than 00:44:24.180 |
Let's take some time to come before the Lord and honestly pray that whether we are many 00:44:30.620 |
or a few, whether we're by ourselves or whether we're in groups, that what we pursue, what 00:44:38.380 |
we give, and the worship that we give is sincere in spirit and in truth. 00:44:43.540 |
Let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.