back to index2020-02-16 To Know Him and Make Him Known
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If you could turn your Bibles with me, let me read again Matthew 22 starting from verse 00:00:10.360 |
37 down to 40 before we jump into the text again. 00:00:13.160 |
Again, I'm going to be spending today and then one more week next week before we jump 00:00:19.640 |
And I want to make sure that we're on the same page as to what we are emphasizing and 00:00:26.960 |
And so to know him and to make him known is our theme. 00:00:30.360 |
So we spent last week talking about loving God and today is part two of that. 00:00:34.840 |
And then next week we're going to be talking about making him known and what does that 00:00:40.960 |
And so again, it's a semi-topical sermon that we'll be having until we jump back into Hebrews 00:00:46.160 |
All right, so let me read from starting from verse 36. 00:00:48.920 |
"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 00:00:52.560 |
And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all 00:00:57.880 |
And this is the great and foremost commandment. 00:00:59.800 |
"The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself." 00:01:03.560 |
On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. 00:01:10.760 |
Father, you truly are worthy of all our worship, our attention, our finances, our whole life. 00:01:21.000 |
Help us to deepen in our understanding of what it is that we profess. 00:01:26.120 |
That our life, our thoughts, our emotions may all be consistent with what we profess 00:01:32.120 |
Help us to understand and apply this commandment to love you with all our heart, soul, mind, 00:01:38.160 |
Help us, Lord God, as a church collectively that our fellowship will be known as people 00:01:47.400 |
Let the word go forth, let it not return until it has accomplished its purpose. 00:01:55.440 |
All right, I'm going to be talking about Kobe and Shaq this morning. 00:02:01.200 |
I promise today is the last day that I will talk about Kobe. 00:02:06.080 |
And they're going to have a memorial for him and his family and all the people who passed 00:02:10.240 |
But I thought it was appropriate, again, not to honor Kobe, okay? 00:02:15.360 |
Just that clearly what happened has been on many people's mind for a while. 00:02:21.640 |
But I wanted to kind of set things straight because there's been a lot of talk because, 00:02:25.520 |
you know, I'm sure almost every other video that you've watched in the last two to three 00:02:29.440 |
weeks or longer have been about tribute to Kobe, about stories about Kobe and all this 00:02:35.200 |
And one of the things that keeps circulating is about the rift between Kobe and Shaq. 00:02:41.520 |
And clearly there's plenty of evidence, and those of you who are a little bit older, you 00:02:45.200 |
remember the rift that they had and then, you know, Lakers chose to go with Kobe rather 00:02:51.360 |
But those of you who watched Lakers during that time know that it was more than just 00:02:59.000 |
Prior to Shaq leaving the Lakers, they won three championships, 2000, 2001, 2003. 00:03:07.800 |
And so Shaq clearly was the most dominant player in all of the league. 00:03:14.000 |
And so Kobe was an up-and-coming star and Shaq was the one who was dominant. 00:03:19.240 |
But after he won the third championship, starting from 2004, again, some of you guys may not 00:03:24.920 |
remember this, those of you guys who are a little bit older may remember, it was so frustrating 00:03:31.680 |
Because he played like somebody who'd already achieved the peak. 00:03:35.880 |
And he wasn't running down, and I remember watching him, again, and I wasn't a huge Lakers 00:03:40.080 |
fan at that time because once Magic stopped playing, I just kind of lost interest. 00:03:47.960 |
And Shaq came from another team, so it was hard for me to get attached. 00:03:51.880 |
But it was hard to watch Shaq because Shaq's such a big guy and the opposing team would 00:04:03.920 |
So he actually became a liability on the team, so clearly Shaq was not playing like he was 00:04:10.280 |
Shaq played like he won three championships, he had nothing more to prove. 00:04:14.980 |
And then on the other side, Kobe, even though he won three championships, he was an up-and-coming 00:04:19.160 |
star, they always said, well, Kobe won because he was on a great team. 00:04:23.760 |
So Kobe wanted to prove that he was that guy. 00:04:27.440 |
He's the next Michael Jordan, or he's going to surpass Michael Jordan. 00:04:30.300 |
But here's this superstar who's actually getting in the way, right? 00:04:34.980 |
So some of you guys may remember, may not remember, that had a lot to do with the Rift 00:04:39.120 |
because Kobe was frustrated that he was playing with such a dominant superstar who just didn't 00:04:46.040 |
seem like he had anything to prove, where Kobe was just coming up. 00:04:49.120 |
And that's why when he won the championship later on, the two championships, a lot of 00:04:53.240 |
that had to do with him proving himself, that it wasn't just Shaq, that he was a superstar 00:05:02.160 |
This is how I'm going to link this to the sermon, okay? 00:05:08.320 |
Shaq got to the peak, or he thought he got to the peak, and he had nothing more to prove, 00:05:18.160 |
He was the one making everybody laugh, he was the one who was generous, and there's 00:05:21.640 |
just stories about him buying people's cars and all this stuff. 00:05:25.200 |
And yet, when he came to basketball, it was just something that, kind of like, he's done 00:05:29.820 |
everything he needed to do, and he's just going to ride this out. 00:05:34.080 |
Now I say all of this because our Christian lives, oftentimes, look a lot more like Shaq. 00:05:46.320 |
Since our sins have been justified, from the moment we are justified until we are glorified, 00:05:55.280 |
Because we're constantly reminded, we've arrived. 00:05:58.160 |
He's already accomplished the work, and so we have nothing to prove, we can't earn our 00:06:02.040 |
salvation, so we're just going to get on this boat and just ride this out. 00:06:08.120 |
When this question came up to Jesus, you know, like, should we offer these coins to Caesar? 00:06:16.200 |
You know, obviously we talked about that last week, that was a source of contention. 00:06:20.440 |
If we offer it up to Rome, they're going to use it for pagan purposes. 00:06:24.800 |
So Jesus, in his genius, between these two rivals, between the Pharisees and the Herodians, 00:06:29.560 |
he says, "Well, render to Caesar what is Caesar's, render to God what is God's." 00:06:33.740 |
So we know what it means to render to Caesar's because Caesar's face was on the coin. 00:06:39.160 |
But what is he talking about to render to God, then? 00:06:42.920 |
See, what he says there is connected to the passage that we just read in Matthew 22, 37. 00:06:50.600 |
Because there was a tendency among the Pharisees to get caught up in, "Is it okay to pay taxes? 00:07:07.740 |
And they were so concerned about keeping the law, thinking that somehow that that was going 00:07:12.980 |
to make them righteous and get them closer to God. 00:07:16.000 |
But what Jesus was saying to the Pharisees and the Herodians, "Your focus is on the wrong 00:07:25.780 |
But what God desires from you is much more than those coins." 00:07:30.160 |
You see, you have to read this text all together, and not just read the text that we just read 00:07:36.760 |
The two other questions that he answers sets up for this. 00:07:43.040 |
Where he says, "What God really desires from us is you shall love the Lord your God with 00:07:48.720 |
all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind." 00:07:54.200 |
It wasn't just simply the coins, paying the taxes, coming to church. 00:07:59.280 |
You and I know you can come to church all your life because out of habit, out of superstition, 00:08:06.000 |
because this is your social center, because of football, so football season, the softball 00:08:14.680 |
season's coming, the basketball season's coming. 00:08:18.280 |
So we can come to church for all kinds of reasons, and we can feel confident that we've 00:08:23.280 |
just decided to get on the right boat, and we're just coasting along. 00:08:27.600 |
But what Jesus is trying to indict the nation of Israel is that you think that if you just 00:08:32.520 |
check off these boxes that somehow that you're going to be safe. 00:08:35.880 |
He said, "No, what God is looking for are people who will worship him in spirit and 00:08:43.200 |
Not people who are just checking off the boxes. 00:08:46.000 |
That's why Ephesians chapter five, that's a passage that you hear a lot at weddings, 00:08:51.440 |
between a husband and wife, and how husband ought to love his wife like Christ loved the 00:08:55.160 |
church sacrificially, and how the wife is a submit to the husband as the church does 00:09:01.200 |
He gave a beautiful sermon about that beautiful passage, but he concludes that passage saying, 00:09:09.480 |
He concludes that passage, "I'm telling you this because I'm trying to show you the relationship 00:09:17.160 |
And it is deliberate that God chooses the most intimate human relationship to describe 00:09:27.400 |
That he didn't just purchase the church and said, "You know what? 00:09:32.920 |
That's not how he describes our relationship. 00:09:35.440 |
He describes our relationship between a husband and wife. 00:09:40.320 |
A love, intimate relationship, a covenant relationship. 00:10:09.880 |
We didn't somehow fulfill a need of his that he didn't have within himself. 00:10:27.560 |
I think God would do a much better job if he just opened the heavens and just talked 00:10:52.000 |
The only thing that I can think of and the only thing that the Bible, to me, reveals 00:11:06.600 |
When the Bible says that God desires from us before evangelization of the world, before 00:11:11.520 |
practice of this and establishment of the church, what he desires more than anything 00:11:18.600 |
Again, it's another way of saying worship, true worship in spirit and in truth. 00:11:27.240 |
Now what does this have to do with our theme for this year? 00:11:29.920 |
The theme for this year is to know him and to make him known. 00:11:33.360 |
One of the questions I asked on Facebook is what is the correlation between loving him 00:11:39.520 |
Well, in John chapter 17, three to six, Jesus' high priestly prayer, he says, "This is eternal 00:11:47.600 |
This is eternal life, that they may know you." 00:11:52.920 |
Eternal life, he doesn't say this is eternal life that you save them from punishment, which 00:11:57.240 |
He said, "This is eternal life that they are not condemned and not go to hell," which is 00:12:01.520 |
also true, "but in his priestly prayer, which he deliberately prayed so that others may 00:12:07.960 |
hear and so that he may be recorded in eternity to make it absolutely crystal clear. 00:12:16.820 |
This is eternal life that they may know you to have this covenant relationship with you 00:12:36.240 |
Because without knowing him, without seeing him, how can you worship him? 00:12:45.320 |
The whole purpose of Jesus' incarnation, he says, was to glorify him so that when we see 00:12:54.980 |
Remember the disciples as they were going to Jerusalem, he said, "Let me just see God. 00:13:01.060 |
And Jesus says, "How long have I been with you? 00:13:02.980 |
I've been telling you, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father." 00:13:08.240 |
His whole purpose of going to the cross was to glorify the Father and the Father to glorify 00:13:15.160 |
Having accomplished the work which you have given me to do, now, Father, glorify me together 00:13:19.840 |
with yourself and with the glory which I had with you before the world was. 00:13:24.960 |
I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world. 00:13:29.560 |
They were yours and you gave them to me and they have kept your word. 00:13:33.780 |
So the whole purpose of Christ's incarnation, death, and resurrection is described in these 00:13:41.880 |
For the purpose of opening your eyes to see God. 00:13:46.600 |
And by seeing God, that those who believe may have this covenant relationship with him. 00:14:05.620 |
So this morning, I want to give four biblical principles of what the Bible teaches us about 00:14:10.780 |
knowing God and how this ultimately relates to loving God. 00:14:15.160 |
So number one, knowing God is the central pursuit of every Christian. 00:14:24.480 |
When he says, "This is eternal life that they may know you," it is not simply in the past 00:14:33.040 |
You don't get married to somebody and then have a ceremony and then you go your own way. 00:14:37.960 |
The whole purpose of why you have the ceremony when you get married is so that you can live 00:14:44.000 |
Nobody has a ceremony and then finds two apartments or two houses and live separately. 00:14:49.960 |
The whole purpose of justification is to continue to unite us to Christ. 00:14:56.480 |
So when he says that they may know you, he's not talking about so that they may have an 00:15:00.320 |
encounter with you and then just enjoy themselves. 00:15:05.800 |
Christian is to know him, is to be married with him, that we become his bride and him 00:15:14.280 |
So our primary pursuit of every Christian is to pursue God, pursue Christ. 00:15:23.800 |
But the problem with us, and part of the reason why there's so much superficial love for Christ 00:15:28.880 |
is because the pursuit oftentimes stops early. 00:15:33.840 |
When you first become a Christian, it's always encouraging when you're around brand new Christians 00:15:38.600 |
because they have some of the best questions. 00:15:46.320 |
I've had people come up to the front because we ran out of room in second service and ask 00:15:55.280 |
Nobody who's been a Christian for a while would ever ask that question. 00:15:58.720 |
But a brand new Christian is so eager to do it right. 00:16:05.960 |
Of course, we're trying so hard to get them to come. 00:16:09.400 |
And they're asking permission if they can come. 00:16:12.560 |
But at some point in our walk with God, we become a shack. 00:16:35.600 |
We know how often we get scam emails, often from some foreign country, Nigeria or somewhere. 00:16:45.880 |
And they'll give you this long story saying they're the son of some king or some prince 00:16:51.580 |
and he has to take some money out because the government is corrupt. 00:16:55.680 |
And he has a million dollars that he needs to send over. 00:16:58.400 |
And if you would just deposit $3,000 to make all the transactions and pay the fees, I will 00:17:04.200 |
transfer it over and I'll give you a portion of that. 00:17:13.560 |
If you have, you're probably not going to admit it. 00:17:18.840 |
All of us, we know enough when we read that thing, it's like, "This is too good to be 00:17:24.800 |
So if it's too good to be true, what do you normally do? 00:17:38.520 |
I mean, it sounds too good to be true, but what if it is true? 00:17:43.120 |
But that's a lot of money that you have to deposit. 00:17:54.520 |
And make sure that it clears, that it seems like it's legit. 00:18:05.480 |
A couple years ago, when we came into this building, we got contacted from this air conditioning 00:18:10.760 |
company and they said that they have this program where they will replace all of our 00:18:16.080 |
old air conditioning and they would add to our new air conditioning and it would save 00:18:22.040 |
us, basically cut our electric bill by two-thirds. 00:18:27.480 |
So we're paying like $3,000 a month for electric bill and stuff and it's going to save us $2,000 00:18:38.400 |
And they said all these air conditionings, we know how much it costs for us to put these 00:18:41.360 |
in and we didn't replace the old ones on the other side, but to do that would have cost 00:18:48.200 |
So we waited and they said, well, it's going to cost, the actual cost of it with the labor 00:18:52.200 |
would have been about $230,000 and we asked them, what do we have to pay? 00:19:18.080 |
And then we got another mail and then they came and they said, hey, can we make an appointment? 00:19:21.320 |
And so we started getting curious because they were relentless. 00:19:25.040 |
We got some email, they came, we talked to them and even after we talked to them, they 00:19:28.040 |
gave these fancy brochures and left it at the table. 00:19:32.620 |
We pass it on to our elders so that they could look into it. 00:19:35.200 |
And then we sat on it because we couldn't believe it. 00:19:43.600 |
So we sat on that for almost a year with them pursuing us. 00:19:55.160 |
We have other churches in the neighborhood that they've done it. 00:20:04.040 |
We had Elder Joe call Southern California Edison. 00:20:11.160 |
And so slowly we started realizing, hey, these guys are scared. 00:20:21.120 |
Because they got somebody at Southern California Edison picking up the phone for them. 00:20:28.760 |
And so reluctantly and carefully, we decided to open the door and allow them to come and 00:20:39.360 |
We'll give them a little bit of money to see what they do. 00:20:42.200 |
And hold on, they were here up on the roof taking things down. 00:20:45.680 |
And even then we're coming in and I would ask Pastor Mark, are they up there? 00:20:56.240 |
So we just walked out and I'm doing my study. 00:21:14.120 |
And there was maybe two or three that wasn't covered so we ended up paying maybe about 00:21:19.600 |
We asked them, while you're up there, can you just change this too? 00:21:21.960 |
But basically we had over $200,000 of air conditioning work done for free. 00:21:28.120 |
And just like they said, our electric bill dropped by more than half. 00:21:34.920 |
And even now I'm thinking, after a whole year, are we going to get a bill at some point? 00:21:45.200 |
So they somehow had convinced the Southern California Edison and the California, they're 00:21:51.280 |
very careful about saving the planet and all this stuff. 00:21:55.120 |
So they somehow convinced California to flip the bill for churches like ours so that they 00:22:01.640 |
can reduce the electricity even if they had to pay $200,000 out of their pocket. 00:22:10.460 |
And even now, somebody just gave us $200,000. 00:22:21.320 |
Let me tell you something even more hard to believe. 00:22:27.080 |
John 3.16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son." 00:22:36.240 |
That should have stopped us right there already. 00:22:44.520 |
One God, God, God of the universe, who wiped out the whole world because he was angry because 00:22:56.360 |
over the sins, that God, he didn't just pay attention, he didn't just call our name, he 00:23:10.360 |
I have a hard time believing the $200,000 air conditioning on our roof. 00:23:26.320 |
Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. 00:23:33.080 |
So the only cost for me to meet this God and to be saved from eternal damnation is just 00:23:50.840 |
Romans 5, "But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, 00:24:00.120 |
We were blaspheming his name when he did this. 00:24:07.960 |
You got a phone call from Michael Jordan or Shaq or the president and he's like, "You 00:24:19.160 |
This is God of the universe who gave his only begotten son while you and I were blaspheming 00:24:31.460 |
We heard this message and so many of us said, "Okay. 00:24:40.920 |
If you actually believe that, just come down the aisle. 00:24:49.520 |
Ephesians 4 and 5, 1, 4, and 5, "In love, he predestined us to adoption as sons through 00:24:56.640 |
Jesus Christ according to the kind intentions of his will." 00:24:59.840 |
Not only did he save us while we were blaspheming, he didn't just prevent us from going to hell. 00:25:04.680 |
He lifted us up so that we can call him Abba Father. 00:25:19.360 |
You get a mail from Nigeria and you just take it to the trash can because it's too good 00:25:27.000 |
And yet, in Christianity, we hear this fullest message of the cross and we gave it no other 00:25:43.200 |
And it's the superficial, shallow way that we receive this gospel that is reflected in 00:25:53.080 |
If we ever have given a minute's thought to what we sing and what we profess, it is beyond 00:26:06.080 |
You see, the Bible calls the gospel the mystery of Christ. 00:26:18.360 |
And you know, there's all kinds of mysteries, right? 00:26:27.940 |
But the mystery of the cross is the mystery above all mysteries because it is a puzzle 00:26:34.600 |
that we have accepted but it's hard to comprehend. 00:26:40.480 |
He made it as plain as he could possibly make it. 00:26:44.280 |
And yet, the more we study it, the more we look at it, the more perplexing it is. 00:26:51.920 |
So the whole Bible is a revelation of this mystery. 00:26:59.040 |
We ask this arrogant question, why would he condemn the world if he is so loving? 00:27:12.720 |
If a robber came into your house and you picked up a gun and shot him and he died, the legal 00:27:24.520 |
He came in with a gun trying to murder your family and you sat there and you did nothing 00:27:29.120 |
while you had everything in your power to stop it and you did not do it. 00:27:34.920 |
They're not going to say, "Why weren't you gracious and let him rob you?" 00:27:41.880 |
Why wouldn't he crush a world that is in rebellion against him? 00:27:46.200 |
Why wouldn't he crush people who are blaspheming his name, dragging his name through the mud? 00:27:52.340 |
So that's a completely arrogant question of human beings who have an inflated view of 00:28:05.220 |
The whole purpose of the Bible is to reveal that mystery. 00:28:10.360 |
And when that mystery is revealed for us to continue to know him, who is this God that 00:28:28.780 |
What does it mean for me to call him Abba Father? 00:28:32.160 |
What does it mean for me to say I'm co-heirs with Christ? 00:28:35.920 |
What does it mean to have fellowship with him? 00:28:38.600 |
So the revelation of all of scripture is to give us a glimpse of this mystery and cause 00:28:50.440 |
In Colossians 2.2 it says that their hearts may be encouraged having been knit together 00:28:54.440 |
in love and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding 00:28:58.640 |
resulting in the true knowledge of God's mystery. 00:29:03.440 |
True knowledge of God's mystery, that is Christ himself. 00:29:08.800 |
Christ is a glimpse of a revelation of that mystery. 00:29:13.180 |
The more you dig, the more mystery that you understand, the more you realize how far we 00:29:24.240 |
We have become so easily satisfied with our justification. 00:29:36.460 |
It is our superficial acceptance of this knowledge of the cross that results in a superficial 00:29:45.740 |
First Peter 1.10-12 it says as to this salvation the prophets who prophesied of the grace that 00:29:51.380 |
would come to you made careful searches and inquiries. 00:29:58.500 |
When the coming Christ was revealed to the Old Testament prophets, when they heard it, 00:30:11.300 |
Who is this that's going to come to take away the sins of the world? 00:30:18.920 |
So they, even as they were prophesying, even as they were speaking on God's behalf, they 00:30:26.680 |
themselves were attracted to this mystery, asking questions, seeking to know what person 00:30:32.640 |
or time the spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the suffering of 00:30:41.500 |
The prophets were prophesying that Christ, you know what Christ means, Messiah, the King, 00:30:49.200 |
And they were prophesying that this King, immediately when you think of King, you think 00:30:53.560 |
of throne, you think of power, you think of sovereignty, and yet the prophets were prophesying 00:31:04.840 |
That's why the prophets were seeking carefully, who is this? 00:31:13.600 |
And it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you. 00:31:19.160 |
In these things which now have been announced to you through those who preach the gospel 00:31:22.620 |
to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. 00:31:32.280 |
Even the angels, when they were delivering this message, as they were delivering this, 00:31:39.600 |
Why would the God of the universe who created me, who created you, send as the only begotten 00:31:44.040 |
Son to deliver us, blaspheming his name, so that we can become co-heirs with Christ, calling 00:31:56.520 |
And yet, the way the gospel is preached, the way it is received, the way it is practiced, 00:32:03.920 |
all points to maybe that we never really believed. 00:32:17.640 |
We were just satisfied that we got on the boat and that was it. 00:32:27.160 |
See, again in Philippians 3, 7 through 11, I'm not going to read the whole passage, but 00:32:33.080 |
Paul describes all that he had gained as a Jew, as a Pharisee, possibly a member of the 00:32:42.600 |
He said, "Whatever things were gained to me," and Paul had a lot to gain. 00:32:46.120 |
He was a wealthy man with a Roman citizenship. 00:32:48.080 |
He was a direct disciple of the top scholar of that time, Gamaliel, a Pharisee among Pharisees. 00:32:55.600 |
There's a reason why when they killed Stephen, they took all their cloaks and put it on Paul's 00:33:04.200 |
By doing that, Paul was taking responsibility. 00:33:07.680 |
So Paul was a man who had much authority already. 00:33:13.240 |
"Everything that was counted to me as lost for the sake of Christ. 00:33:18.640 |
More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing 00:33:27.400 |
See, the only reason why anybody would pick up their cross, as Jesus said, is because 00:33:38.680 |
What is it about Christ that we would be willing to pick up our cross? 00:33:50.440 |
If we are not in love with Christ, if we are not attracted to the mystery of Christ, the 00:33:59.760 |
cross is just a torture, a place of humiliation. 00:34:09.040 |
But when Christ is the reason why we pick up our cross, the cross is an avenue of salvation. 00:34:17.240 |
Cross is the door that we take to know this Savior. 00:34:22.640 |
That's why Paul says, "In view of all of this, all of this, knowing Christ is the reason 00:34:29.400 |
Ephesians 4, 11-13, "And he gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to evangelists, 00:34:34.120 |
some to be pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the service, 00:34:38.520 |
to building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain the unity of the faith and the 00:34:43.400 |
knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs 00:34:53.320 |
Whole purpose of church is not to meet your felt needs. 00:35:02.400 |
The whole purpose of the church is not to make lonely people find community. 00:35:08.640 |
The whole purpose of the church is not to gather together to make the political scenery 00:35:14.960 |
right, to feed the poor people, to release people who are captive. 00:35:20.880 |
All of these things are good things that Christians should be engaged in, but the primary purpose 00:35:25.880 |
of our gathering is to proclaim Christ, that you and I may know him, that we may be filled 00:35:35.240 |
with Christ, not to just taste Christ, not to be near Christ, not to simply be affiliated 00:35:41.240 |
with Christ, but to have a deep covenant love relationship with Christ. 00:35:47.120 |
Because when we are in love with Christ, we will obey Christ, and his law is not burdensome. 00:35:55.800 |
When we are in love with Christ, we tend to talk about things that we love. 00:36:00.580 |
If you love Boba, Boba comes out of your mouth. 00:36:05.120 |
If you watch the movie and you loved watching that movie, it doesn't matter if you're an 00:36:11.160 |
Nobody watches a movie that they really, really like, then comes home and your wife says, 00:36:22.480 |
You end up talking about it, you end up sharing it with other people, you put it on your post, 00:36:26.640 |
you put it on your Instagram, you take pictures and you send it to people because you've experienced 00:36:35.880 |
Evangelism happens when people fall in love with Christ. 00:36:39.720 |
Worship happens, not because we set the right mood or because we had the best worship leader 00:36:44.720 |
or because there was the greatest preparation or we chose the best songs and all of these 00:36:49.640 |
things are helpful, there's nothing wrong with any of these things, but worship happens 00:36:56.900 |
You can sing the most simplest of songs and you can encounter Christ because Christ is 00:37:06.640 |
See, that's what it means to have the fullness of Christ. 00:37:13.000 |
Let me see if I can get through this sermon today. 00:37:20.240 |
That was the longest part of the sermon, so this is the second one, which is all related. 00:37:28.080 |
Knowing God is the primary, is first before serving God. 00:37:34.440 |
John 5, 39-42, Jesus said, "You search the scriptures because you think that in them 00:37:43.100 |
You are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life. 00:37:46.120 |
I do not receive glory from men, but I know you that you do not have the love of God in 00:37:52.080 |
It's not because they didn't study the scriptures. 00:37:56.640 |
They studied the scriptures to think that if they followed what it says that they're 00:38:02.960 |
The primary purpose of the scriptures is to bring you to me." 00:38:10.560 |
Before we look at scripture to find out what we ought to do, he said, "The primary purpose 00:38:22.040 |
He says, "If you miss him, all the other stuff that you do is for nothing because there's 00:38:31.720 |
A lot of times what happens is we study the Bible like we're doing homework. 00:38:39.160 |
If you're an A student, you're good at homework. 00:38:44.440 |
You do it and you memorize scripture and you do all of these things and you're good at 00:38:47.560 |
it, but your affection for Christ never grows because you missed the whole point of the 00:38:53.360 |
The whole point of the Bible study is our pursuit of this mystery. 00:39:01.820 |
Why there's three chapters of the gospel revealed in detail. 00:39:07.840 |
You know, I can say all of that in the New Testament, but Ephesians in particular, especially 00:39:13.640 |
the first three chapters, you can literally give a sermon on every single verse of that 00:39:22.400 |
Predestination, election, regeneration, adoption, atonement. 00:39:31.680 |
But all of it is not simply so we can say, "Oh, now I got the gospel down." 00:39:38.120 |
The whole purpose of it is so that we may come to a fuller understanding of who he is. 00:39:45.680 |
The purpose of the study of the Bible is really for the purpose of pursuing Christ. 00:39:53.840 |
This mystery that was revealed that caused us to know, want to know more. 00:40:06.960 |
Years ago, when I had to get a side job to make ends meet, I used to work as an ESL teacher. 00:40:16.320 |
They assigned me, because I was Korean and my Korean was good enough, they assigned me 00:40:20.640 |
for Lamarda School District, assigned me to a bunch of old Korean ladies. 00:40:25.520 |
The young ones there were in their early 70s. 00:40:32.160 |
The reason why they were there, part of it was because they were trying to kill time. 00:40:35.920 |
They weren't really that interested in learning English. 00:40:40.480 |
I literally had one lesson for five years because the next class started, they forgot 00:40:48.680 |
But some of them started really hard because they're trying to get their citizenship. 00:40:52.640 |
After the class was over, I would always have a citizenship class. 00:40:55.040 |
I remember this one particular lady who failed the citizenship test about three times. 00:41:01.240 |
She was so distraught, but she was so determined. 00:41:04.240 |
She's 85 years old, and I would say, "Good morning, students. 00:41:07.760 |
Today is August 2nd, the Tuesday of 1995," or something like that. 00:41:23.060 |
She was determined to pass this test, so I worked with her. 00:41:27.920 |
In my mind, I'm thinking, "She's not going to pass this test," but you know what I mean? 00:41:33.160 |
I would ask back and forth these questions, which she already did three times. 00:41:38.880 |
I would ask her questions like, "Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?" 00:41:42.360 |
It's a hard question, but she's been studying this for 10 years. 00:41:55.600 |
What are the three branches of the government?" 00:41:57.280 |
She would answer these questions that some of you guys probably don't know. 00:42:05.440 |
This 85-year-old lady was doing this, and finally the day came, and then she was answering 00:42:13.480 |
But what was interesting is if I asked in any other way, if I changed one word in the 00:42:17.840 |
way that I asked her, she wouldn't understand. 00:42:21.000 |
Instead of saying, "Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?" 00:42:25.240 |
If I said, "The Declaration of Independence, who wrote it?" 00:42:28.480 |
She'd look a blank stare, like, "What did you just say?" 00:42:41.000 |
I could tell by the smile on her face that morning that she was elated. 00:42:45.280 |
She finally passed, and she packed all of these Korean food for me, because she was 00:42:56.040 |
It took her 10 years, but she passed, and she was so thankful. 00:43:00.380 |
In the middle of the class, we were just thanking her, and you did a great job, and all the 00:43:04.560 |
younger ladies were patting her, and it's like, "Grandma, you did such a great job." 00:43:11.080 |
Then I asked her, "Who wrote ...?" Just for fun. 00:43:28.160 |
She couldn't understand a single question that I gave her, because once she passed the 00:43:40.880 |
Now I don't think most Christians are that bad, but there's a huge difference between 00:43:48.060 |
somebody who's pursuing Christ through his word, versus somebody who's doing homework. 00:43:57.560 |
Many of you experienced cramming for tests, and maybe you got an A, but literally a week 00:44:02.280 |
later you don't remember a thing you studied. 00:44:08.040 |
The Word of God, knowing God, first and foremost, the Word of God is about knowing him before 00:44:16.760 |
That was the difference between Mary and Martha. 00:44:23.960 |
Martha's just sitting there, just like, "I want to hear from you." 00:44:28.000 |
That's why we always say when young guys want to go into ministry, a typical thing that 00:44:36.880 |
we will hear is they want to teach, which is great, but in order to be a great teacher, 00:44:45.960 |
There isn't hungering and thirsting for Christ. 00:44:53.000 |
Third, knowing God is ultimately the fuel for sanctification, and we go faster here. 00:45:00.600 |
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord, seeing 00:45:05.720 |
that his divine power is granted to us, everything pertaining to life of Godliness through the 00:45:10.800 |
true knowledge of him, who called us by his own glory and excellence. 00:45:17.720 |
The Bible says that everything that you and I need for Godliness is found where? 00:45:24.400 |
In some seminar, some conference, seminary, some church that kind of figured out a new 00:45:33.760 |
Everything that you and I need to know for the life of Godliness is where? 00:45:41.680 |
Think about when you first became a Christian and when you were the most excited about your 00:45:47.680 |
It might have been when you first got saved, it might have been some other point in your 00:45:56.640 |
You could be in love with Christ almost anywhere because he was overflowing in you. 00:46:06.880 |
When my heart is right, I can hear a sermon from a 15-year-old just talking about how 00:46:12.440 |
much they love Jesus and I would be filled because my heart is fertile. 00:46:28.800 |
But when your heart is not fertile, you can hear John Piper, John MacArthur, Jonathan 00:46:39.200 |
You can hear the best sermons that the top theologians, the top pastors, top conference 00:46:45.200 |
speakers and if they're not on their A game, you get very little out of it. 00:46:53.520 |
That is not about their sermon, it's our hearts that become hearted. 00:46:57.160 |
So he said everything that we need is found in Christ. 00:47:06.360 |
Knowing him, having an intimate relationship with him, loving him, solves so many problems 00:47:16.720 |
Social conflict, small group, lack of communication, differences of opinion, shortcomings of others, 00:47:26.280 |
people from different backgrounds, racial reconciliation, so many problems are easily 00:47:33.360 |
fixed when the church is filled with people who are in love with Christ. 00:47:41.560 |
What is lacking is not technique or organization, it is lacking the fuel that causes us to be 00:47:48.360 |
It's the fuel that causes us to love one another and to forgive and to be gracious, 00:48:02.240 |
Knowing God is what ultimately leads to loving God. 00:48:08.840 |
Knowing God is what ultimately leads to loving God. 00:48:12.480 |
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, "For the love of Christ controls us or compels us. 00:48:17.480 |
Having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died and he died for all so 00:48:21.360 |
that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose 00:48:28.160 |
See, loving Christ, you can't love Christ from a distance. 00:48:35.640 |
It's because a lot of times it's because we've accepted this tremendous message of the cross 00:48:42.880 |
and all we did was, "Okay, anybody want a free gift of salvation? 00:48:49.240 |
The God of the universe died for you on the cross so that you don't go to hell? 00:48:59.360 |
And Christ means nothing more than fire insurance to a lot of people in the church. 00:49:05.220 |
And that's why all the other parts of scripture where we are told to love our enemies, to 00:49:12.000 |
share the gospel, to pick up the cross, to sacrifice, to put his kingdom first, all of 00:49:16.600 |
these other things have become a burden because all Christ was to so many in the church was 00:49:22.640 |
fire insurance and that's all they want of him. 00:49:27.320 |
But those of us who have tasted the goodness of God, when our eyes became open to the glory 00:49:34.820 |
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, a hunger was ignited in us that can never be satisfied 00:49:50.760 |
Maybe some of us have learned to be religious and come to church and do our homework. 00:49:56.600 |
Maybe some of us have become really good at doing our homework. 00:50:01.040 |
But you don't know what it means to love Christ. 00:50:06.560 |
As a Christian, there's nothing more important than to obey what Christ says. 00:50:13.120 |
To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:50:19.080 |
And as an overflow of that, we will talk about what we talk about tomorrow. 00:50:30.120 |
If you jump straight to love others as yourself without knowing, practicing, and having and 00:50:40.440 |
confessing the first part, loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:50:44.080 |
Without that, there's nothing more miserable in life than to love sinners as yourself. 00:50:52.900 |
Those of you who are young and inexperienced, say, "Man, this guy's really cynical." 00:50:59.040 |
Those of you who lived a little know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:51:04.880 |
There's nothing harder to do than to surround yourself with sinners and to sacrifice for 00:51:16.680 |
But as I conclude today, I know we're all busy. 00:51:21.480 |
Some of you guys are parents with small children in the home. 00:51:25.560 |
For you, a vacation is just not being around kids for a short period of time. 00:51:33.000 |
Some of you guys are just trying to make ends meet. 00:51:38.320 |
Some of you guys are trying to get a job and you don't know about your future. 00:51:44.120 |
Some of you guys have faced tragic things in life and you're in the middle of dealing with 00:51:51.520 |
And I do not mean to be flippant, but I am absolutely convinced that no matter where 00:51:58.400 |
you are in your life, the answer is always Christ. 00:52:08.240 |
And I really hope that you would let this digest when Jesus says, "I am the way and 00:52:29.000 |
Heavenly Father, I pray for myself, I pray for our church. 00:52:35.680 |
Lord, in the midst of the spiritual battle that we are in, help us, Lord God, not to 00:52:42.600 |
Help us not to simply coast along and drift, but teach us what it means to be anchored 00:52:47.440 |
in Christ, that we may know Him, that we may pursue Him, that we may study Him, that we 00:52:57.800 |
We pray, Father God, that Your Holy Spirit would continue to convict and guide us, protect 00:53:05.540 |
Give us to say our daily bread, that the Father's name will be hallowed, that His will be done 00:53:16.720 |
Amen. Let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.