back to index2017-12-03 Worship Through Service
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Gracious Father, we thank you again for the privilege that we have to be able to come 00:00:14.460 |
We pray, Father, that you would give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts that are 00:00:21.840 |
We pray that your word would have the authority and power over our lives as it ought to. 00:00:26.760 |
Help us to understand and to apply your word this morning. 00:00:32.720 |
As we've been studying Romans chapter 12, we started in verse 1 where Paul says, "In 00:00:40.100 |
In light of his mercy and by the authority and the power given through us by his mercy 00:00:45.940 |
to present our body as a living sacrifice, which is our spiritual act of worship. 00:00:50.960 |
So our reasonable response to God in view of our salvation is to worship him. 00:00:55.920 |
And then it says in verse 2, "The application of that is not to conform to this world but 00:01:01.080 |
be transformed by the renewal of our mind so that we may test and may discern what is 00:01:05.840 |
the will of God, what is good, acceptable, and perfect." 00:01:10.000 |
So verse 3 and verse 8 basically is an application that specifically we are told to transform 00:01:17.460 |
our mind, not to be conformed but to transform by renewing of our mind. 00:01:21.440 |
So starting from verse 3, he'll go into details of what that looks like. 00:01:26.920 |
So this morning we're going to look at three separate principles that we see about sanctification 00:01:31.600 |
in application within the context of the body of Christ. 00:01:35.440 |
But before we even get into it, I want to give you the whole summary of what we're going 00:01:40.280 |
So I'm going to tell it to you now and then I'm going to repeat it later. 00:01:43.260 |
So if you happen to fall asleep in the middle, at least get the beginning and get the end. 00:01:52.560 |
Sanctification, Paul has been stating starting from chapter 1 through chapter 11, it happens 00:01:57.600 |
when we confront the glory of God and we are humbled and it leads us to repentance. 00:02:07.480 |
Christ offered himself as a living sacrifice for us and he took on our sins upon himself. 00:02:13.400 |
So when we are confronted by the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can either 00:02:18.000 |
say, "I don't believe in that," and walk away from that. 00:02:20.800 |
Or when you're confronted by that, it causes you to recognize your own sins and repent. 00:02:27.160 |
And as you know, the word repentance, metanoia, literally means to change your mind. 00:02:32.480 |
So repentance in justification isn't just, "I did something Tuesday or Thursday or I 00:02:38.880 |
have this act or a particular aspect of my life I'm repenting." 00:02:44.040 |
Justification happens when you recognize that there is a sin nature in you. 00:02:49.320 |
That the way you view the world, the way that you view what is right, what is wrong, creation, 00:02:55.080 |
purpose, death, life, all of it was tainted by this world. 00:02:59.760 |
So when you're confronted by the gospel of Jesus Christ, you repent. 00:03:05.720 |
But for some reason, when we come to sanctification, we think, "Well, we've done that. 00:03:11.320 |
And the rest of it is hard work trying to get closer to God through our works. 00:03:18.000 |
Now there's an aspect of it where it is true, where it does require our labor, it does require 00:03:24.200 |
But again, this is the summary of what we're going to be talking about this morning. 00:03:28.360 |
Justification happens when we humble ourselves before God. 00:03:34.480 |
Sanctification begins when we humble ourselves before man. 00:03:40.400 |
Justification happens when we humble ourselves before God. 00:03:44.000 |
Sanctification begins when we humble ourselves before man. 00:03:47.760 |
So it begins with humbling ourselves, and then we continue by humbling ourselves. 00:03:54.000 |
And that's exactly what Paul is saying in verse 3 to verse 8. 00:03:58.120 |
So typically, we can get into this and look at the different gifts and how they all fit 00:04:02.100 |
in together, and we are going to talk some about that, but I want to give you a bigger 00:04:05.520 |
picture and understand it in the context of how the Jews probably would have heard what 00:04:12.400 |
So the first thing that we want to look at is sanctification requires thinking soberly 00:04:21.080 |
Sanctification requires thinking soberly of ourselves. 00:04:23.720 |
He says in verse 3, "For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to 00:04:28.960 |
think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, 00:04:34.640 |
each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned." 00:04:37.640 |
Paul says in 1 Timothy 1, 15-16, that though he was being used to plant churches, many 00:04:47.000 |
He says to Timothy, his protege, training the young pastor, he says, "This saying is 00:04:52.700 |
trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save 00:04:59.720 |
Paul, even though by this time he was more than a decade into his conversion, he planted 00:05:07.540 |
maybe dozens and dozens of churches, revelation was coming through this man, and obviously 00:05:12.120 |
he was bearing much fruit in God's kingdom, yet he never forgot. 00:05:22.200 |
He doesn't say, "God didn't save me because I had so much potential and because I was 00:05:26.720 |
a Pharisee among Pharisees and because he was already probably somewhat famous, and 00:05:31.520 |
so God thought, 'Man, this man could be useful for me.'" 00:05:35.920 |
Instead, Paul recognized the very reason why he was saved and made an apostle was exactly 00:05:47.600 |
The whole purpose, for the purpose of putting him on a pedestal, not to highlight him, but 00:05:55.600 |
That if God could forgive him, if God could save him, the worst of sinners, and he really 00:06:02.280 |
Remember, he was responsible for the first martyr in the church. 00:06:06.560 |
He was willing to go and drag Christians into court and even kill them. 00:06:12.360 |
So when he confronts Christ on the road to Damascus, Jesus himself says, "Why are you 00:06:20.040 |
He doesn't say, "Why are you persecuting my people?" 00:06:24.240 |
So apostle Paul was responsible for all that. 00:06:26.680 |
He had so much hatred for Christ and his people. 00:06:32.240 |
So when Paul says he's the worst of sinners, he recognizes that God had every right to 00:06:38.840 |
On that road to Damascus, Jesus could have easily said, and humanly speaking, well-deserved, 00:06:44.440 |
"Who are you to persecute me and to kill my people?" 00:06:50.380 |
And then instead of blinding him and converting him and using him, God could have easily crushed 00:06:57.920 |
And that's why he says, "Timothy," this is a trustworthy saying, "that he saved me because 00:07:07.880 |
Because Timothy is being trained for ministry. 00:07:10.880 |
And he's telling Timothy to have a sober judgment about himself. 00:07:14.600 |
Now we may look at that and falsely apply, well, God is saying that we should recognize 00:07:20.880 |
ourselves as the worst of sinners and every once in a while I'll hear somebody say, "My 00:07:30.920 |
And I know they mean one, I don't mean to judge their intent, but it just doesn't come 00:07:34.980 |
off right because it almost sounds like there's a competition as to who recognizes who's the 00:07:53.120 |
It just doesn't sound right because I don't think we really truly believe that. 00:08:00.240 |
We say that because we think that that's what Paul means when he says, "Don't think of yourself 00:08:06.200 |
So we kind of deliberately try to lower ourselves and by lowering ourselves we're kind of indirectly 00:08:17.040 |
And I don't think that's what Paul is saying here either. 00:08:19.420 |
He's saying don't look at yourself higher than you ought, but to think of yourself soberly 00:08:28.620 |
In other words, he's not saying, "Don't say, 'Oh, I'm the worst. 00:08:48.340 |
Paul is not saying here not to think of yourself highly and say, "You're worthless. 00:08:57.180 |
You don't really mean it, but you think that that's what it means to be godly. 00:09:03.460 |
He says don't think of yourselves higher than you ought, but to think of yourselves soberly 00:09:12.500 |
To think how God sees us, the way God views us. 00:09:20.620 |
I think the perfect example of that, when Paul introduces himself in most of his letters, 00:09:26.660 |
he says, "I'm Apostle Paul," and then he says, "The bondservant of Jesus Christ." 00:09:35.580 |
And the word literally means slave of Jesus Christ. 00:09:39.140 |
So when you think of the word slave, automatically it's a title of humiliation. 00:09:44.460 |
During that period of time, I mean, to be a slave, obviously you had no right. 00:09:50.280 |
If your master decided to kill you, they could. 00:09:55.500 |
So when Paul says, "I am a slave of Jesus Christ," the title in and of itself is a title 00:10:03.540 |
But he says, "I'm a bondservant of Jesus Christ." 00:10:24.940 |
It is a title of humility, but because it's connected to the United States, it's a title 00:10:31.760 |
So when Paul says, "I am a slave of Jesus Christ," it is both a statement of humility 00:10:42.100 |
That's what Paul means when he says in Philippians 4.13, "I can do all things through Christ 00:10:49.500 |
It would be wrong if Paul said, "I can do all things." 00:10:52.260 |
Do you know what kind of training that I've had? 00:11:19.060 |
He says, "I can do all things through him who gives me strength." 00:11:24.860 |
So Paul sees himself and the power that he's been given, not in and of himself, because 00:11:33.740 |
Romans 8, 37, "Knowing all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who 00:11:41.540 |
For whatever the reason, we think that whenever we learn about Christ and his glory and what 00:11:47.380 |
he expects of the church, our natural response is, "We're such failures. 00:12:01.280 |
And then we create this environment where we think true maturity is a bunch of weak 00:12:07.420 |
people who never succeed, always sins, but God always forgives the end. 00:12:13.900 |
Is that what he is saying when he says, "Do not think of yourself higher than you ought"? 00:12:17.980 |
But he's saying, "No, think of yourself soberly from God's perspective, from what he sees." 00:12:24.780 |
See, 2 Corinthians 10, 12, it says, "But when they measure themselves by one another and 00:12:30.280 |
compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding." 00:12:34.980 |
The problem with our self-esteem or our arrogance is always comes because we compare ourselves 00:12:43.740 |
And it doesn't take a whole lot for us to become proud. 00:12:49.740 |
You walk into a room, and you're a little bit taller than everybody else. 00:12:58.740 |
You go to the gym, every other guy is lifting 160 pounds, and you got two plates on. 00:13:10.460 |
Recently, I just read that UC Irvine has bypassed UCSD in ranking. 00:13:27.740 |
And then there's UCLA graduates in here, it's like... 00:13:33.700 |
And then the Berkeley people won't even enter the conversation. 00:13:48.080 |
It doesn't take a lot for us to become arrogant. 00:13:52.580 |
You don't have to be so much greater than the next person. 00:13:55.140 |
But when we compare ourselves with ourselves, you have either two things. 00:14:00.220 |
Either one, you think you're better than everybody, and then you become proud. 00:14:04.460 |
You read a little bit more, you're a little bit more fit, you're a little bit taller, 00:14:07.660 |
you're a little bit better looking, your hair's straighter than somebody... 00:14:17.340 |
I'm unworthy, I can't, I don't make as much money as these people, I haven't been as successful, 00:14:27.020 |
Because we're seeing it from the eyes of the world, what we have learned from the world, 00:14:31.340 |
to value ourself based upon comparing with other people. 00:14:35.360 |
So pride and self-focus can manifest in pride and also false humility. 00:14:48.180 |
Paul is saying not to think of yourself highly than you ought to think. 00:14:53.140 |
In other words, besides what God says of you, but to think of yourself soberly. 00:15:01.340 |
And that's why you look at James chapter 4, 6, God said, "God opposes the proud, but gives 00:15:08.140 |
I mean, the perfect example of that is Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman. 00:15:14.460 |
Nicodemus comes to Christ, you know, and he's afraid about his reputation. 00:15:19.820 |
He's sitting up on the mountain because he's climbed this mountain and he's an expert of 00:15:23.740 |
the law and everybody's looking up to him because he's the moral example of Israel. 00:15:30.020 |
He comes and he's concerned about his reputation. 00:15:33.060 |
If I come and talk to him, what are my friends are going to say about me? 00:15:35.940 |
So he comes proud, even though he might be the Messiah. 00:15:39.960 |
You could see the pride in him and Jesus yanks him down from his mountain. 00:15:55.980 |
The spirit comes and goes where it goes and no one knows. 00:16:01.020 |
It's completely up to him, he has nothing to do with you. 00:16:03.340 |
And he basically yanks him off that mountain. 00:16:06.000 |
And then here's this woman in Samaritan chapter 4, she's concerned about his reputation. 00:16:12.620 |
You're talking to a sinner, a Samaritan woman? 00:16:18.220 |
And then she recognizes, "I'm a sinner, I don't have a husband." 00:16:21.220 |
And he engages her and he actually reveals himself to her and tells her, "I am that Messiah." 00:16:30.580 |
In James chapter 4, 6, he opposes the proud, he humbles the proud, but he gives grace to 00:16:38.260 |
There's a reason why Ephesians 2, 8, it says, "For by grace you have been saved through 00:16:42.340 |
faith and not of yourselves, so that no one may," what? 00:16:50.220 |
So the whole point of justification was to humble us. 00:16:54.940 |
To humble us so that we could see ourselves from God's perspective. 00:17:00.980 |
So again, he's not calling us to be like, "Oh, I'm nothing, I can't be useful." 00:17:05.460 |
Paul says, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." 00:17:09.880 |
It's because of him, it's because of our connection to him. 00:17:12.400 |
So when we compare ourselves with ourselves, either you become arrogant or you start having 00:17:20.800 |
And then either way, you become useless in the kingdom of God. 00:17:25.860 |
But when we see ourselves in the eyes of God. 00:17:28.920 |
See, if you were a slave, if you were a slave without this connection to God, that would 00:17:40.920 |
But because you are a slave of Jesus Christ, every single one of us, no matter how successful 00:17:48.920 |
you were, when you came into church, we all had level ground. 00:17:55.680 |
Every single one of us comes to God as wretched sinners in need of his mercy. 00:18:06.760 |
It doesn't matter how successful you were, how much you've read, and no matter what it 00:18:11.480 |
is that you've done, at the core of who we are, all have sinned and fall short of the 00:18:18.640 |
But as a result of that, as a result of it, God forgave us and made us what? 00:18:23.160 |
Our source of pride is not your achievement, is not how you look, what school you came 00:18:43.000 |
That's why Paul says, "I boast in my weakness, because in my weakness, he is strong." 00:18:46.920 |
So our title, in and of itself, is humiliation. 00:18:51.440 |
But when we're connected to Christ, it's a source of great strength. 00:18:58.260 |
First, we need to have a proper view of ourselves. 00:19:01.120 |
Our thinking needs to change, that we don't apply what the world says into our Christian 00:19:08.000 |
Secondly, sanctification requires humbling of ourselves, recognizing our unity. 00:19:17.120 |
For as in one body, we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 00:19:22.160 |
so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 00:19:28.040 |
Now as a Gentile, which all of us are, when we read this passage, certain things are naturally 00:19:38.280 |
We think about the diversity, we think about the oneness, and we're the body of Christ, 00:19:42.840 |
and how we ought to support one another, and all of that. 00:19:45.560 |
And all of that is true, but I want you to think like a Jew. 00:19:50.920 |
Jew in the first century, if he heard this, how he would have understood this? 00:19:56.100 |
What would have been his first emotional response to this? 00:20:06.540 |
So if you were a Jew, and you heard this, how you would have responded? 00:20:11.480 |
Again, Paul says in Ephesians 4, 4-7, "There is one body and one spirit, just as you were 00:20:16.680 |
called to one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, 00:20:26.000 |
and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 00:20:30.120 |
But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift." 00:20:35.400 |
We as Gentiles read that and say, "That's awesome. 00:20:42.200 |
The reason why Gentiles hear this and we say, "Great, because we weren't in the kingdom. 00:20:57.960 |
So when a Gentile hears this, "Great, we were the ones who are far off and he brought us." 00:21:12.000 |
You've been practicing the commandments for hundreds of years. 00:21:20.600 |
And then you're entering in, and again, it didn't take a whole lot to fill the Israelites 00:21:27.620 |
They were proud that they were children of Abraham. 00:21:31.500 |
Remember that conversation that Jesus has with the Jews in John chapter 8? 00:21:35.420 |
He says, "If you abide by my truth, you will be my disciples and you shall know the truth. 00:21:41.380 |
And then they react like, "We're children of Abraham. 00:21:43.420 |
Why would you even say that we need to be set free?" 00:21:47.480 |
Because it was a source of pride that they were Jews, descendants of Abraham. 00:21:55.300 |
Even within the Jews, compared to the rest of the world, it was a source of pride. 00:21:58.640 |
But even within the Jews, they had a hierarchy of which tribe that they belonged to. 00:22:02.840 |
So the most prestigious tribe, obviously, were the tribe of Judah. 00:22:05.860 |
And then the second most prestigious was the tribe of Benjamin. 00:22:09.800 |
And then you had the other 10 who fell out and joined the rebellious kingdom, the northern 00:22:15.660 |
But if you happen to be, whatever tribe you are, whatever history, good or bad, you had, 00:22:20.700 |
So they say, "Well, we're a tribe of Benjamin, a tribe of Judah." 00:22:25.540 |
And then even within that system, you had the Pharisees, you had the Sadducees, you 00:22:29.940 |
had the Zealots, you had the different sects in the group where there was a source of pride. 00:22:35.420 |
So the most prestigious within the different groups was the Pharisees because they were 00:22:42.620 |
They were considered the moral examples of Israel. 00:22:47.320 |
So if you happen to be a member of the Sanhedrin among the Pharisees, I mean, you were the 00:22:55.640 |
That's why Paul says in Philippians 3, 4, "For we are circumcision, who worship by the 00:23:01.340 |
Spirit of God in glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh." 00:23:06.420 |
And the reason why he says that is because he's talking to people who are putting confidence 00:23:15.980 |
You know, these Gentiles are coming in and we're going to be equal? 00:23:20.700 |
How can we possibly be equal with somebody who's been studying and trying to obey the 00:23:24.520 |
law for hundreds of years with these Gentiles who were just a few days ago, were at the 00:23:33.660 |
They were worshiping idols, sacrificing pagan worship, and now they're in the same church 00:23:41.420 |
See, if you were a Jew and you heard what Paul was saying, you wouldn't have, your initial 00:23:47.500 |
response would have been like benevolence, like, "Oh, great. 00:23:53.540 |
So it's good for us, for a Jew who invested all their time and energy and money to elevate 00:23:59.360 |
themselves to say, 'No, you guys are all the same.'" 00:24:05.900 |
Paul says to them, "If you want to go head to toe with me, if anyone else thinks he has 00:24:11.940 |
reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. 00:24:15.700 |
Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew 00:24:18.820 |
of Hebrew, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness 00:24:25.900 |
But he said all of that that he had achieved, and every single thing that he says here wasn't 00:24:33.340 |
in the context of chasing money, it wasn't in the context of idol worship, it was in 00:24:38.980 |
the context of worshiping God and obeying and studying the scriptures and applying the 00:24:46.420 |
All of that, in light of the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ, it was rubbish. 00:24:52.420 |
So when he says, "First recognize that we are all one in the body of Christ," it is 00:24:57.180 |
a call to humility, that the gospel, it humbles the haughty and it raises the humble. 00:25:08.940 |
That's why in Galatians 3, 28, it says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek." 00:25:13.180 |
That's great for the Greeks, because the Greeks never sacrificed. 00:25:20.740 |
But he says to the Jews, "No, we're the same. 00:25:26.140 |
Imagine if you're in the church and you used to be a slave owner, and then one of your 00:25:29.420 |
slaves is sitting in the church, and then Paul says, "You're the same." 00:25:44.700 |
And then now we're in the church and he's my brother? 00:25:47.820 |
There's a whole letter written to address this issue, Philemon. 00:25:54.580 |
You had these guys who studied the scripture, Old Testament, and applied it, and all of 00:25:58.660 |
a sudden a tax collector is there teaching them about the kingdom of God. 00:26:06.980 |
If you were a slave, slave, that's great news. 00:26:13.700 |
Everything that I've achieved out there, all the honor and prestige that I had up there, 00:26:26.180 |
You know, it's strange that you and I live in a culture where if somebody has great honor 00:26:30.580 |
over there, they're multimillionaires or sports figures or movie stars, and all of a sudden 00:26:35.060 |
they convert and they become a follower of Jesus Christ, and then they become leaders 00:26:41.580 |
Because we're applying whatever honor and achievement that they had here, and then we're 00:26:48.460 |
And again, there's a whole letter written about that too in the book of James. 00:26:51.740 |
They're honoring the people who are rich and putting them in the front seats and how 00:27:01.660 |
He says, "Slave or free, there is no male or female." 00:27:08.300 |
It's like, "Oh, you know, male chauvinist pigs. 00:27:10.740 |
Apostle Paul saying that, you know, wives submit to your husband." 00:27:14.020 |
And I remember one of the earliest weddings that I officiated, again, they're not here, 00:27:22.460 |
I remember, and I didn't know the wife that well, you know, it was just somebody that 00:27:26.140 |
I knew and I decided to, okay, I'll officiate. 00:27:28.220 |
And I didn't get to meet them until about three days before the wedding, and we were 00:27:41.460 |
I don't want to create this environment in the wedding." 00:27:47.980 |
You know, I was a young pastor at that time and I don't have a lot of experience. 00:27:53.700 |
I don't want to ruin their wedding, but at the same time, it's going to go against my 00:27:58.480 |
And so I prayed about it, and the next day I contacted the guy that I knew and I said, 00:28:04.220 |
He said, "I'm going to help you find somebody, you know, but I can't officiate your wedding." 00:28:10.020 |
You know, because what I'm asking you to do is to quote scripture. 00:28:15.820 |
And if you can't quote scripture, it bothers my conscience. 00:28:19.220 |
I can't come before God and say, "God, the Lord blesses this wedding when I know in my 00:28:22.900 |
heart you're refusing his lordship in your life." 00:28:26.860 |
We get a bad rap because you say, "Well, you know, Christianity, it puts women in one place 00:28:33.060 |
But it's Christianity that gave equality among men and women. 00:28:39.700 |
The reason why the world has this knee-jerk reaction against leadership and submission 00:28:44.140 |
is because of this worldly principle of if you have more money, if you're in a higher 00:28:53.120 |
But the kingdom of God is completely different. 00:28:57.000 |
You have God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:29:02.280 |
And yet, each one of them functions to serve one another, glorify each other. 00:29:06.820 |
So when we put men in leadership and women to submit, automatically wrong. 00:29:12.420 |
But is that sense of wrong coming from the kingdom or is it coming from the other kingdom? 00:29:19.220 |
We would never tolerate if a rich person comes in and giving them honor. 00:29:26.900 |
If somebody is better looking, somebody has more money, we know innately that's wrong. 00:29:32.020 |
But why do we apply that principle when it comes to the order of creation? 00:29:43.460 |
To call somebody, to love somebody sacrificially to the point that even if they curse you out, 00:29:51.100 |
even if they're slandering you, to not only tolerate it but give them your best. 00:29:58.100 |
Or support somebody that despite no matter what you do, despite everything that you've 00:30:04.220 |
done, that they're going to forgive you and cover over that and just honor that person. 00:30:09.620 |
Because that's exactly what it says in Ephesians 5.22. 00:30:12.160 |
We look at the word submit and say, "Oh, how dare you? 00:30:19.200 |
And yet if you read it carefully, it's saying for the husband to be like Christ who gave 00:30:30.480 |
He demonstrated his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, he loved us. 00:30:35.300 |
So if there's any knee-jerk reaction, kingdom-minded person is like, "What? 00:30:47.940 |
Why would you ever call perfectly righteous people who've done nothing wrong to sacrifice 00:31:04.540 |
It's fallen paradigm that we apply to the church. 00:31:09.340 |
That's why we have this knee-jerk reaction because the word submit automatically we have 00:31:14.780 |
But if you see the Trinity, the beauty behind how each one takes their role and supports 00:31:19.140 |
one another, and that's what was supposed to be reflected in the home and in the church. 00:31:25.060 |
So when he says there is no difference, yeah, it's the same guy who says there is no male 00:31:29.900 |
or female, it's the same guy who tells us the order of the church and order of the home. 00:31:38.500 |
The female wouldn't have a problem with this. 00:31:39.820 |
It's the male that would have had a problem with this. 00:31:47.180 |
So when he calls us to be one, it's calling to shift our paradigm to think that in the 00:31:58.940 |
We're all sinners who are saved by the grace of God. 00:32:04.220 |
There's no one should be walking into the church thinking that I'm better than other 00:32:13.420 |
Number three, sanctification requires humbling ourselves by serving one another. 00:32:18.700 |
Thirdly, sanctification requires humbling ourselves by serving others. 00:32:22.940 |
One, again, just to review, we humble ourselves and see a proper view of ourselves as God 00:32:28.820 |
Secondly, we humble ourselves by recognizing the unity that we are all the same, same body. 00:32:34.700 |
And thirdly, we humble ourselves by actively serving one another. 00:32:39.180 |
So sanctification is not just having right thinking, but right thinking that's leading 00:32:46.140 |
Verse six, "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them 00:32:57.900 |
Whatever gift it is that you have been given, it says first and foremost, you didn't earn 00:33:04.620 |
So to envy something that you didn't earn or to say, "Well, that's not fair. 00:33:12.100 |
It's basically you're not questioning the church. 00:33:15.780 |
He says, "In proportion to the faith given to you by grace, if service in our serving, 00:33:22.620 |
the one who teaches and is teaching, the one who exhorts and exhortation, the one who contributes 00:33:26.180 |
in generosity, the one who leads with zeal and the one who does the acts of mercy with 00:33:31.860 |
God calls us in our sanctification not to simply, "Well, I've studied the word of God 00:33:37.780 |
and I know this and I know the intricacy of theology." 00:33:57.420 |
But you cannot love God and not love the church. 00:34:09.180 |
Sometimes I get frustrated, "Oh, they're so selfish. 00:34:14.740 |
But if somebody else joins in, it's like, "Yeah, yeah, our felt selfish." 00:34:23.020 |
Or maybe you're saying, "Yeah, my mom doesn't do this. 00:34:32.740 |
Because even when we're complaining, I mean, we shouldn't be complaining, but even when 00:34:35.700 |
we're complaining, we're complaining in the context because we love them. 00:34:38.980 |
Maybe you don't get along with your siblings or maybe you don't have the best relationship 00:34:42.060 |
with your parents, but deep inside, if something horrible happens to them, you react differently 00:34:50.460 |
because they're your mom, they're your dad, they're your kids. 00:34:58.740 |
That's what he is saying, that we're all part of this one body. 00:35:05.460 |
You can't love God and say, "I don't want the church." 00:35:12.340 |
God gave us and put us into the church and all he said, "If you want to love God," what 00:35:21.100 |
The most tangible way to express the love for God is to love your neighbors, to serve 00:35:24.700 |
them in uniquely whatever gifts that God has given you, to humble yourselves. 00:35:30.180 |
There aren't certain people, "Oh, you're gifted with serving, but I'm gifted in leadership. 00:35:40.060 |
God called every single one of us to humble ourselves and serve one another because we're 00:35:59.300 |
If we're actively going to give our life as a living sacrifice, which is a reasonable 00:36:03.940 |
act of worship to God, everyone who has been given, which is every single Christian, is 00:36:16.660 |
Remember in John chapter 21, when Peter is being restored, he said, "If you love me," 00:36:26.700 |
He didn't say, "If you love me," "Of course I love you," "Then write me a letter." 00:36:37.900 |
The very last thing that Jesus tells his disciples before he goes to the cross, what did he tell 00:36:48.220 |
The one who is the greatest in the kingdom of God is the one who serves. 00:36:52.380 |
Unlike the world, or the world knee-jerk reaction is the one who is being served is the greatest. 00:36:59.580 |
But in the kingdom of God, the one who serves is the greatest. 00:37:03.740 |
That's the last formal lesson he gave to his disciples. 00:37:08.660 |
It is when we begin to apply the worldly wisdom and worldly paradigm into the kingdom of the 00:37:19.060 |
Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing 00:37:24.380 |
We need to start thinking like kingdom people, recognizing who we are through his eyes, not 00:37:31.340 |
through your eyes, not through your friend's eyes, not through your partner's, but through 00:37:41.060 |
Like every single one of us, there's not a single one of us, including myself and any 00:37:44.180 |
of the leaders who have been given all the gifts. 00:37:48.500 |
In the church, whether you are a small church or a larger church, every single one of you, 00:37:53.420 |
no matter how mature you think you are, there are certain areas of your life are not as 00:38:14.140 |
You do what's right to do, but you have no compassion. 00:38:21.620 |
You're always bitter and angry toward people. 00:38:23.700 |
And then some of you are really good at serving. 00:38:29.140 |
You're always in the background serving and cleaning. 00:38:41.260 |
You just hold on to your time and your money for dear life. 00:38:46.780 |
Some of you are good at praying, but you hate reading. 00:38:50.820 |
Some of you are really good at theology, but you hate serving. 00:38:54.580 |
There's not a single one of us who can stand and say, "I'm better than you at everything." 00:39:03.740 |
And so what happens is God has distributed the gifts, and then you're doing your work, 00:39:08.020 |
and then you're in the kitchen working, and you want to serve God. 00:39:11.020 |
And then eventually you start grumbling inside, "How come nobody is helping me?" 00:39:15.500 |
And then you're saying, "How come they're all outside?" 00:39:17.060 |
And the people who are outside serving the snacks, and they're serving. 00:39:20.740 |
And then as they're serving, how come nobody's outside? 00:39:23.840 |
They only want to work inside because it's shaded. 00:39:29.580 |
Here we're under the sun, so nobody's serving here. 00:39:33.220 |
And then the people who are in the nursery, it's like, "Wow, the kids are acting up. 00:39:36.860 |
All they want to do is serve in the kitchen, but they don't want to help with the kids." 00:39:41.300 |
And the people who are in the prayer rooms, "We're praying for revival, and all these 00:39:46.620 |
And the guys who are in theology, they're reading their scripture, and we're getting 00:39:50.100 |
to deep things of God, but they're never helping out with anything else in the church." 00:39:54.100 |
And you've got people who are out feeding the homeless people, but they don't care about 00:40:00.580 |
And so you have various gifts in the church, and everybody's doing their thing, and everybody 00:40:04.980 |
thinks that everybody ought to be doing what I'm doing. 00:40:07.580 |
Whatever I'm good at is what everybody else should be doing. 00:40:14.380 |
So instead of giving it to God as an act of worship and inspiring other people to be better, 00:40:19.620 |
you start saying, "Why aren't you good at this?" 00:40:22.220 |
And usually what happens when somebody starts pointing fingers, "How come you're not good 00:40:27.020 |
Somebody who's praying, "How come you don't do this? 00:40:29.380 |
And again, these are all things that we all ought to disciple each other and be challenged 00:40:34.300 |
We're not saying that somebody who's praying should never study the Bible, or somebody 00:40:39.180 |
We're just saying if we approach sanctification by, "What is wrong with you? 00:40:43.500 |
Be more like me," what is the initial response you always get? 00:40:51.740 |
Let me take that and point it at you and see what is wrong with you." 00:41:08.260 |
And then you've got the other people who didn't go to the UC. 00:41:16.340 |
And then that's the environment that you create in the church. 00:41:23.540 |
You know, typically when we think of discipleship, we think it's like one person discipling another 00:41:29.580 |
I mean, that is one of the methods that we could use to do that. 00:41:33.220 |
But you know the beauty of the church is we disciple each other. 00:41:36.980 |
We disciple each other because some of you are so compassionate. 00:41:45.540 |
If somebody gets sick, you don't think about money. 00:41:52.420 |
Your life falls apart when somebody gets sick. 00:42:03.820 |
And I watch some of you guys in the way that you just have compassion. 00:42:11.820 |
I've watched your life and that disciples me. 00:42:29.460 |
So you know like 14 different community groups, 14 different—I mean, you just love to serve. 00:42:36.380 |
You know, and sometimes we go, "Hey, calm down. 00:42:38.060 |
Just pick a couple and just be faithful at those stuff." 00:42:41.180 |
I remember when we were going through that one week before we came in here and it was 00:42:46.900 |
It was like nine months of labor and then we thought we were going to have a C-section 00:42:51.500 |
and then it just normally—normal birth happened. 00:42:53.620 |
Remember, some of you guys know what I'm talking about, right? 00:42:57.580 |
You guys came out here and some of you guys were here till four in the morning, went to 00:43:04.260 |
Were here till four in the morning, went to work and came back and swinging hammers. 00:43:07.660 |
And I was praying behind the scene, "Please God, let nobody get hurt." 00:43:11.460 |
But my heart was so full because you guys—I mean, there's some of you guys who are just 00:43:21.180 |
Some of you guys are so good at administration, you know. 00:43:26.700 |
And whenever you're in charge of something, just everything runs better. 00:43:31.540 |
And I'm just so encouraged by that, that you guys are detail-oriented and you just want 00:43:34.940 |
to be excellent at everything that you're doing, you know, because that's not me. 00:43:42.100 |
So if the big picture is okay, I don't worry about the details. 00:43:48.820 |
I get discipled by the various gift in the church and the way that you guys are serving 00:43:52.900 |
God because it rebukes me, it encourages me, and it challenges me all at the same time. 00:44:02.640 |
It doesn't have to be one person meeting up with one person. 00:44:06.500 |
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. 00:44:10.460 |
But the beauty of the church is God has given various gifts. 00:44:13.180 |
So if you're only being discipled one person to another person, that one person has all 00:44:21.540 |
So you're not going to learn everything from that one person. 00:44:24.220 |
You're going to learn something from that person, but not everything. 00:44:27.500 |
He gave the body of Christ and he distributed the gifts so that we may humble ourselves, 00:44:32.800 |
recognize what we're good at, use it as an act of worship, and when we worship God through 00:44:37.200 |
the gifts that God has given us, we disciple each other. 00:44:41.840 |
So some of you guys who are good at mercy, that challenges the church. 00:44:46.720 |
And a lot of times it doesn't require a movement. 00:44:52.720 |
One person who is just so faithfully serving God and worried about the homeless and the 00:45:05.880 |
Not because they're complaining, not because of some movement, it's just they watch that 00:45:09.020 |
person's life and it's like, "Yeah, I need to do that too." 00:45:16.060 |
You're just faithfully constantly telling your coworkers to come and sharing the gospel 00:45:21.300 |
And because you're worshiping God through those gifts, other people in the congregation 00:45:25.220 |
are like, "Wow, that's something that I need to work on." 00:45:30.980 |
Instead of putting you down, it encourages me. 00:45:33.300 |
So we disciple one another with the various gifts that God has given in the church and 00:45:50.300 |
What I started in the beginning, let me finish with the end. 00:45:52.760 |
So if you remember anything of today's, this morning's passage, remember this. 00:45:58.240 |
Justification happens when we humble ourselves before God. 00:46:01.980 |
Sanctification begins when we humble ourselves before man. 00:46:06.060 |
Let's take some time to pray as our worship team comes up. 00:46:10.540 |
Again, I want to encourage you that as you heard the Word of God, apply it specifically. 00:46:21.020 |
What is an area of my life that I'm using either as an excuse because I'm better than 00:46:24.620 |
other people or I'm, you know, like I got nothing to offer. 00:46:28.300 |
And so either way, we're not thinking ourselves soberly. 00:46:33.300 |
Think specifically how should I apply today's Word into my life. 00:46:37.380 |
So let's take some time to pray and ask the Lord, "Search me in normalcy. 00:46:39.980 |
If there's any hurtful ways in me, how can I apply this in a practical way?" 00:46:43.380 |
So as our worship team leads us, let's take some time to pray.