back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 1/30/2022
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Good morning Church family. Happy Lord's Day. We will now begin our service. 00:16:14.000 |
All right, good morning. Welcome to Bering Community Church. I just have a few 00:16:20.800 |
announcements before we get started, but first of all, next Sunday we have 00:16:24.360 |
communion service coming up and again, I want to remind you that our communion 00:16:28.120 |
service is something that we ought to take very seriously and it is a sacred 00:16:33.040 |
time for the church to reflect, to celebrate, and so that we don't 00:16:38.040 |
participate in an unworthy manner. And so that's why I'll kind of give you a heads 00:16:41.520 |
up to prepare your hearts, unconfessed sins, to deal with that before you 00:16:45.920 |
come before the Lord. If there's things that, relationships to be reconciled, to 00:16:50.520 |
be able to do that. And so when we come to the communion table, that we are 00:16:54.120 |
truly coming together with sacredness and to sanctify the church. And 00:16:59.800 |
so I want to give you a heads up, next Sunday we are participating in that and 00:17:03.240 |
so prepare yourself for that. Second, we have the equipping classes that are 00:17:10.280 |
starting next Sunday at 2 p.m. And so the equipping classes, we have two. One is to 00:17:16.720 |
help you along with inductive Bible study and how to do that. And so Pastor 00:17:19.960 |
Mark is leading that class, three-week class at 2 p.m. starting from next 00:17:23.520 |
Sunday. And so if you are in the Bible study right now, Wednesday, or if you're 00:17:28.200 |
in one of the home groups and this is kind of like going over your head and so 00:17:31.760 |
if you've never done inductive Bible study, it's probably kind of frustrating. 00:17:35.640 |
Like how do you do this and you know I've never done this before and so this 00:17:39.160 |
Bible study is for that purpose. And so it'll help you to kind of guide you 00:17:43.280 |
through how to do inductive Bible study. So if you haven't done that or you're 00:17:47.080 |
struggling or you want some help, that's the class that you want to take to do 00:17:50.440 |
that. Secondly, Pastor Peter Chung is leading the New Testament survey class. 00:17:54.960 |
If you've never taken a survey class, that's one of the things that I 00:17:59.360 |
highly recommend. Whether it's Old Testament survey and then this section 00:18:03.480 |
is the New Testament survey because understanding the over overarching view 00:18:08.400 |
of how things were organized, why are there four different Gospels, how come 00:18:12.200 |
the Bible is organized a certain way, what are the major themes that it's 00:18:15.840 |
trying to teach. Understanding all of that helps you when you go in to study 00:18:19.840 |
the Bible. It will make a lot more sense to you. So if you've never taken a survey 00:18:23.560 |
class, I highly recommend that you take that class and it'll be hugely 00:18:28.120 |
beneficial for you for a long term in understanding and studying the Bible. So 00:18:31.920 |
if you haven't done that, that class is starting next Sunday at 2 p.m. It's a 00:18:35.640 |
four-week class and it's one hour each. Okay, so if you haven't signed up for that, 00:18:39.800 |
we encourage you to do that. The other announcements I'm just gonna have you 00:18:44.240 |
guys look at it on online. After our praise time, our sister Tiffany Pham is 00:18:51.720 |
gonna come up and she's gonna give her testimony and be baptized this morning. 00:18:54.500 |
So let me pray for our offering and then again those of you who are new to the 00:18:58.560 |
church and you brought a physical offering, we have a physical offering box 00:19:01.360 |
underneath that big clock and so after the service you can go and drop it off 00:19:05.120 |
there and for the rest of you, you guys can give electronically. Okay, let me pray 00:19:09.080 |
for us. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you and praise you for sustaining us 00:19:16.120 |
another week, Lord God, and just asking for your continued grace and love to 00:19:22.200 |
overwhelm us, help us, Lord, to give praise and worship in true spirit and in truth 00:19:28.480 |
that we would not come into service, Lord God, out of a simple habit but we ask 00:19:34.040 |
that you would open our eyes, soften our hearts, Lord God, that we may be easily 00:19:37.440 |
molded according to your word and your purpose. We pray for your blessing over 00:19:42.200 |
this time as we've come to bless you and as we give this offering, help us to give 00:19:46.360 |
it to you cheerfully, joyfully, generously, Lord God, that it may be 00:19:49.800 |
multiplied for your use in your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. 00:20:44.480 |
One day, one day when heaven was filled with his praises, one day when sin was as black as could be, 00:21:06.000 |
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt among men, my example is he. 00:21:18.000 |
Word became flesh and the light shined among us, his glory revealed. 00:21:27.000 |
Living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sins far away. 00:21:39.000 |
Rising he justified, freely forever, one day he's coming, oh glorious day, oh glorious day. 00:22:01.000 |
One day they led him to Calvary's mountain, one day they nailed him to die on a tree. 00:22:13.000 |
Suffering, anguish, despised and rejected, bearing our sins, my redeemer is he. 00:22:25.000 |
Hands that healed nations stretched out on a tree, and took the nails from me. 00:22:34.000 |
Living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sins far away. 00:22:46.000 |
Rising he justified, freely forever, one day he's coming, oh glorious day, oh glorious day. 00:23:07.000 |
One day the grave could conceal him no longer, one day the stone rolled away from the door. 00:23:19.000 |
Then he arose, oh Lord, death he had conquered, now is ascended, my Lord I come home. 00:23:32.000 |
Death could not hold him, the grave could not keep him, rising again. 00:23:41.000 |
Living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sins far away. 00:23:53.000 |
Rising he justified, freely forever, one day he's coming, oh glorious day. 00:24:04.000 |
Living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sins far away. 00:24:17.000 |
Rising he justified, freely forever, one day he's coming, oh glorious day, oh glorious day. 00:25:03.000 |
Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer, greatest treasure of my longing soul. 00:25:18.000 |
My God, like you there is no other, and true delight is found in you alone. 00:25:33.000 |
Your grace, a world too deep to fathom, and your truth, a faith that heavens reach. 00:25:48.000 |
Your truth, a fountain perfect blister, my highest good, and my unending need. 00:26:15.000 |
Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer, most triumphant founder of my weary heart. 00:26:30.000 |
My sword to fight the cruel deceiver, and my shield against the slave of time. 00:26:45.000 |
My song, an enemy surrounding, my hope in times of sorrow rise. 00:27:00.000 |
My joy, my trials are abounded, your faithfulness, my refuge in the night. 00:27:26.000 |
Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer, gracious savior of my grieving heart. 00:27:41.000 |
My guilt, a cross laid on your shoulders, and my grace, you suffered, bled and died. 00:27:56.000 |
You rose, the grave and death were gone, and burned. You rose, the palace of sin and shame. 00:28:11.000 |
You rose, the grave and death were gone, and burned. You rose, the palace of sin and shame. 00:28:26.000 |
Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer, may all my days bring glory to your name. 00:28:56.000 |
Good morning. My name is Tiffany, and it's a privilege to stand before all of you this morning and share the work God's done in my life. 00:29:18.000 |
The unfolding of my testimony isn't linear, but looking back, God was working in every season of my life. 00:29:24.000 |
And by God's grace, he radically transformed my heart, mind, and soul. 00:29:28.000 |
He took my heart of stone and gave me a new heart of flesh. 00:29:32.000 |
Spiritual death reigned in my body, and even when I believed, I was saved. 00:29:37.000 |
But his relentless love was greater than any chains of sin that held me down. 00:29:41.000 |
I acknowledge that God's gift of grace through faith saved me, and although it took time, 00:29:46.000 |
he allowed me to see my depravity leading me to repentance. 00:29:49.000 |
I am nothing without Christ, and even when I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. 00:29:54.000 |
His love is more than I could ever comprehend. 00:29:56.000 |
Because of God's saving grace and redemptive work, I was made spiritually alive by grace through faith in Christ alone. 00:30:03.000 |
Although I grew up in a practicing Buddhist family, my parents put me in a Lutheran school from preschool until fifth grade, 00:30:12.000 |
Growing up in a Buddhist household made it difficult to explore God to the extent that I desired. 00:30:18.000 |
But by God's sovereign guidance, I was introduced to a handful of brothers and sisters in Christ later in my life, 00:30:27.000 |
who helped foster the character I exhibit today. 00:30:31.000 |
As a response to their financial struggle, my parents pulled me out of Red Hill Lutheran, 00:30:35.000 |
and I later found myself attending my local public school. 00:30:38.000 |
At this time, my character began to shift from a diligent and humble student to a boastful and attention-seeking delinquent. 00:30:45.000 |
During my rebellion stage, I would partake in illegal drugs and alcohol, even during school hours, 00:30:51.000 |
and the lack of respect I had for my teachers and parents increased. 00:30:55.000 |
On top of that, I chose to spend time around the wrong crowds, shoplifted when I had the chance, and dismissed the idea of purity. 00:31:02.000 |
However, there was a huge lack of remorse during this time, and I found my life continuing to spiral downward in this path. 00:31:10.000 |
There was a thrill in engaging in these activities, and I never considered the consequences or recognized that I was sitting against a holy God. 00:31:17.000 |
Looking back, the most absurd part is that it was all exhilarating to me, and I never once felt an ounce of guilt. 00:31:24.000 |
Shortly after, I fell into a state of severe depression that took control of my life. 00:31:30.000 |
I felt an overwhelming weight of darkness that resulted from a lack of identity. 00:31:35.000 |
I didn't know who I was anymore, and I didn't know how to respond. 00:31:38.000 |
I sought professional counsel, only to end up with a literal pill of a band-aid solution. 00:31:43.000 |
Over time, I felt like I was drowning, and often found myself contemplating life and whether or not it was worth living. 00:31:51.000 |
My appetite for apathy continued to grow, and this led to multiple attempts of suicide, as I had absolutely no desire to live. 00:31:59.000 |
During my freshman year in college, I continued to be negligent in the way I studied and the way I conducted myself. 00:32:05.000 |
Several events transpired not too long after that caused me to disregard pretty much everything. 00:32:10.000 |
Every day became a mindless passing that had no meaning, and I no longer wanted to be a part of what life had to offer. 00:32:16.000 |
I was burdened by the guilt and shame that I felt during this time from being suspended from a prestigious university to feeling like a disappointment of a child, and I filled this void with substances. 00:32:27.000 |
Amidst the darkest seasons of my life, I was invited by a friend to a church she had been attending. 00:32:33.000 |
Attending that service felt like a breath of fresh air after drowning in sin for the better part of my life. 00:32:38.000 |
I remember bursting into tears after experiencing what it meant to find peace, have hope, and be joyful. 00:32:44.000 |
Though I was introduced to this newfound hope, I felt myself clinging to the world and everything in it. 00:32:49.000 |
I felt almost comfortable in the darkness I was in, even though a small part of me knew that Jesus was ultimately my savior. 00:32:56.000 |
Unfortunately, this wasn't a truth I had yet accepted, and the way I lived outside of church was evident of that. 00:33:03.000 |
In May of 2019, I became a part of a church where I would find myself playing Christian. 00:33:08.000 |
I got involved in things like baptism and several church events, only to find myself with temporary solutions to an otherwise eternal suffering. 00:33:17.000 |
While I was more disciplined to control my behaviors and act like a Christian, everything I did was for my own self-righteousness, and inside was still a heart that thrived on sin. 00:33:27.000 |
I had terrible issues of personal integrity, and I concealed deep anger and resentment within me. 00:33:32.000 |
I identified as a Christian, but I was an unrepentant sinner. 00:33:36.000 |
The pandemic was life-changing for me in more ways than one. 00:33:39.000 |
I felt this desire to dive deeper in the word of God, and it was a time where I was reintroduced to the entirety of the gospel, 00:33:47.000 |
as opposed to the small, out-of-context verses I would see in the churches I had been attending. 00:33:52.000 |
I was introspective in the way that I was living as a Christian and questioned my salvation. 00:33:56.000 |
I was reluctant during this time in believing in the God I had just rediscovered, but I was patient and prayful nonetheless. 00:34:04.000 |
Several YouTube sermons and one American gospel stream later, God opened my eyes and allowed me to recognize that my transformation was not something I had any part in. 00:34:14.000 |
It was foolish and prideful of me to believe that I, a wretched and broken sinner, chose Jesus, when in reality it was entirely the work of the Spirit 00:34:22.000 |
and His loving kindness and amazing grace that gave me the gift of repentance, and I am thankful that it wasn't up to me. 00:34:29.000 |
My life would have been completely different, and I wouldn't be here before all of you if it was. 00:34:34.000 |
I am grateful that in Ezekiel 36, 26, God gives us a new heart of flesh where we can say no to sin and yes to His grace and mercies. 00:34:42.000 |
Not only did He choose me, it was also Him who regenerated me, blessed me with faith, justified me, sanctifies me, and on top of that, adopted me as His own and promised to keep me forever. 00:34:53.000 |
I know that sanctification is a lifelong process, and words will never express how grateful I am for the work the Lord's done in me. 00:35:02.000 |
By God's grace, He radically transformed the desires of my heart and brought me from death to life, from sin to righteousness, from broken to made new. 00:35:10.000 |
I have hope that there is an eternal peace far greater than the fleeting pleasures that life offers, 00:35:16.000 |
freedom from sin that I was bound by during the years leading up to this moment, and gratefulness for our Heavenly Father, so beyond gracious that He would choose me as His own, 00:35:25.000 |
when I could not find a single redeemable quality within myself. 00:35:29.000 |
In Galatians 2, 20, I am reminded that I am crucified with Christ. 00:35:33.000 |
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, 00:35:40.000 |
the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 00:35:44.000 |
My identity is in Christ alone, and my soul rests and greatly rejoices in that truth. 00:35:51.000 |
His truth is the cornerstone of my life, and despite the trials and tribulations in my life, my hope is secured in Christ, who is the author and finisher of my faith. 00:36:46.000 |
All right. Thank you, Tiffany, for that testimony. 00:36:49.000 |
I actually met Tiffany at our all-church retreat. I think it was last year. 00:36:54.000 |
And I asked her, "How did you come to church?" 00:36:57.000 |
And she told me that she basically ran into our sister, Jennifer Lee, and they were at a bookstore. 00:37:03.000 |
She said that Jennifer saw that cross on her that she was wearing, and she said, "Oh, you're a Christian." 00:37:08.000 |
And then she just ran to him and said, "Why don't you just come to our church?" 00:37:12.000 |
And then so she decided to come, and that's how she ended up coming to our church. 00:37:16.000 |
And so again, it's really encouraging to hear that testimony. 00:37:20.000 |
If you can turn your Bible to Hebrews chapter 13, 17, 18, and 19. 00:37:27.000 |
And we're going to be in part two on this text, 17, 18, and 19. 00:37:36.000 |
So last week, our leaders got a shellacking, so this week is your turn. 00:37:45.000 |
All right, so Hebrews chapter 13, 17, 18, and 19. 00:37:50.000 |
"Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they can watch over your souls as those who will give an account. 00:37:56.000 |
Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. 00:38:01.000 |
Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things. 00:38:07.000 |
And I urge you all the more to do this, so that I may be restored to you sooner." 00:38:17.000 |
We pray, Father God, that as we tackle this difficult text to apply, we truly ask for your wisdom. 00:38:25.000 |
And a softened heart, Lord God, to hear your thoughts, your voice, and practically how to apply this, Lord God. 00:38:33.000 |
Just asking for your guidance and your spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 00:38:38.000 |
Well, let me read a song, the lyric of the song, that I think captures the spirit of not just our generation, 00:38:49.000 |
but just kind of how we're taught ever since we're young. 00:38:53.000 |
And so this is a song from Frank Sinatra, "I Did It My Way." 00:39:00.000 |
"And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain. 00:39:05.000 |
My friend, I'll make it clear, I'll state my case, of which I am certain. 00:39:10.000 |
I've lived a life that's full, I traveled each and every highway, and more, much more. 00:39:18.000 |
Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention. 00:39:22.000 |
I did what I had to do, and saw it through without exemption. 00:39:25.000 |
I planned each charted course, each careful step along byway, and more, much, much more. 00:39:33.000 |
For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has not. 00:39:38.000 |
Not to say the things that he truly feels, and not the words of someone who kneels. 00:39:44.000 |
The record shows I took all the blows, and I did it, I did it my way." 00:39:49.000 |
Now this was a very, very popular song, and so the fact that some of you guys who are younger may even know this song, 00:39:57.000 |
again, it speaks to the popularity of what he is saying. 00:40:03.000 |
In the end, the lyrics of what he says is the spirit of the rebellion of mankind, right? 00:40:12.000 |
As catchy as the song is, and as popular as the song is, he says, "I did it. 00:40:16.000 |
Everything I did, I charted my way. I visited, and I did all of this, and in the end, sometimes I regretted it, 00:40:22.000 |
but one thing I can say, I did it, and I did it my way." 00:40:27.000 |
Again, this is not just Frank Sinatra. This is the spirit of mankind. 00:40:31.000 |
The Bible says that the reason why man has sinned and fall short of the glory of God is because he chose to do it his way. 00:40:41.000 |
He went against what God says. Instead of doing God's way, he says, "I'm going to do it my way." 00:40:47.000 |
How do we talk about this subject of submission and obedience when everything in our culture tells us to do it your way? 00:40:59.000 |
If, you know, you hear athletes, you hear teachers, anybody who's made it in this world, 00:41:07.000 |
and when they speak, one of the key things that they say, "You have to believe," who? "In yourself." 00:41:15.000 |
You have to believe in yourself, and yet everything that the Scripture tells us is about submission. 00:41:23.000 |
I know that some of you have come from situations where you may have experienced trauma because of leadership. 00:41:34.000 |
Whenever you hear the term "submission," even if you didn't, the idea of submission and obedience is not well received in our culture, 00:41:43.000 |
but especially if you have negative experience, which a lot of you do. 00:41:49.000 |
In fact, somebody told me that our church is known for people who've been burned out or been hurt, 00:41:55.000 |
and so we have a lot of people who come to our church who've had issues. 00:41:59.000 |
And so I don't know how they heard about it, but that was just our reputation. 00:42:04.000 |
In fact, somebody wrote this in one of their books and said that our church has that reputation. 00:42:10.000 |
So a lot of you come from situations where you feel that you have been abused. 00:42:18.000 |
This is one of those things that you just kind of want to black out. 00:42:23.000 |
"Just teach me about Jesus and how to love Christ and the gospel, but submission to leaders and elders, it just doesn't sit right." 00:42:34.000 |
Well, it's in the Scripture, and it's here for a reason, and I can tell you there are not many things that I can tell you. 00:42:43.000 |
It's one of the most practical things to practice and apply. 00:42:46.000 |
In fact, you cannot have a church without the practice of what he says here. 00:42:50.000 |
And so I'm going to use this morning to go over this, and I didn't get to finish in the first service, 00:42:56.000 |
so I'm going to have to finish the second service. I didn't want to go too long, right? 00:42:59.000 |
And so I'm just giving you a heads up. There is a part three to this, right? 00:43:04.000 |
Early on in church, we named our church Berean Community Church because we wanted to be like Bereans. 00:43:11.000 |
Bereans were people who tested, right, tested everything that the apostles were saying, "Is it really from the Word of God?" 00:43:17.000 |
And so from the get-go, we said, "We're going to study the Bible, and if things pop up that we're doing, 00:43:23.000 |
even if we've been doing it for 15, 20 years, if the Word of God convicts us otherwise, we're going to change. 00:43:29.000 |
We're not going to just say, 'Well, this is what we've been doing, so it's too hard to change.' 00:43:33.000 |
We're going to let the Word of God dictate what we do." 00:43:36.000 |
So if you look at most churches, they are divided into two ways of governing the church. 00:43:41.000 |
You have a congregational church, and you have an elder-run church. 00:43:44.000 |
And most churches fall into one of those categories. 00:43:47.000 |
A congregational church, basically all the say is given to the congregation. 00:43:52.000 |
And the passage that they use to say that is, "We have priesthood of believers. We are a royal priesthood, a holy nation." 00:44:01.000 |
And so therefore, all the people in the church have equal say as to how the church is run. 00:44:07.000 |
So things are always taken to a vote—the budget, the direction, the staff, the leadership. 00:44:14.000 |
And so that's how a congregational church typically runs. 00:44:18.000 |
A congregation has certain committees, and those committees have the final say. 00:44:23.000 |
And so the elders and the leaders have to submit to those committees. 00:44:29.000 |
Early on in our church, because we're a Baptist church, and most Baptist churches are congregational, 00:44:35.000 |
and that's how we ran the church for the first few years of the church, 00:44:38.000 |
simply because that's what I was taught, and that's the model that I saw. 00:44:42.000 |
But as we were doing church and studying the scripture, we realized that the scripture does not teach that. 00:44:50.000 |
In fact, that text, when it says that the priesthood of believers is not talking about church polity. 00:44:58.000 |
It's just saying that this is who we are as an identity. 00:45:02.000 |
But that passage is not saying that this is how the church should be run. 00:45:08.000 |
The reason why the elders are established is so that the elders can rule the church well. 00:45:14.000 |
So I believe, and I know there are good brothers that I fellowship with that may disagree with me, 00:45:28.000 |
And so as an elder-run church, just like if you're in a congregational church, 00:45:33.000 |
and the congregation is making the decisions for what the church does and does not do, 00:45:37.000 |
you'd have to have a very proficient congregation who knows the Word of God, is committed, and has lordship, 00:45:43.000 |
because they are dictating the direction of the church. 00:45:48.000 |
So you cannot practice congregational church unless you have a high level of commitment 00:45:53.000 |
and high level of surrender to the Word of God. 00:45:56.000 |
On the flip side, if you are an elder-run church, the elders must be above reproach, just like the Bible says. 00:46:05.000 |
And if you have elders that you cannot respect, if you have leaders that are not above reproach, 00:46:12.000 |
he talks well, he may be a gifted speaker, he has a lot of knowledge, 00:46:18.000 |
but there's a question over the character of the man, then you cannot practice an elder-run church. 00:46:24.000 |
And that's why we have such high view of eldership and leadership in our church. 00:46:28.000 |
One of the common complaints that we get in the church through the years is, 00:46:35.000 |
It is better to not have elders than to have wrong elders or not qualified elders in the church. 00:46:42.000 |
The Bible says not to lay hands hastily, because some men's sins are obvious, some men's sins trail behind them. 00:46:50.000 |
And it takes time to see. It is the character of the man. Is he consistent in the home and outside the home? 00:46:59.000 |
Is he a Christian man at church, but he doesn't act like one at work? 00:47:05.000 |
He's very charismatic and has strong leadership when he's at church, but when he's at home, that's not how he behaves. 00:47:14.000 |
He's great when everybody's in agreement, but as soon as there's a disagreement, there's a different side of him. 00:47:19.000 |
He has to be tested in every way so that we make sure that when an elder or leader is established, 00:47:26.000 |
that we can have confidence to establish that person as leaders in the church. 00:47:35.000 |
And so last week we talked about five things that a leader is called to. 00:47:46.000 |
No matter how strong we feel about something, it cannot be our opinion, because we are under-shepherds. 00:47:52.000 |
I don't have the right to come up here and say, because I have so many experience in ministry, 00:47:56.000 |
because I've experienced this, because this is how I was taught, you need to do this, because I know better than you. 00:48:03.000 |
And I'm telling you, that comes with no authority. 00:48:08.000 |
All I'm telling you, if that's the reason why I tell you what I tell you, all I'm telling you is, I'm smarter than you. 00:48:17.000 |
No one should submit to that, because all we are are under-shepherds. 00:48:22.000 |
Under-shepherds mean that we are to represent Christ. 00:48:36.000 |
Number two, we have to teach the Word of God in season and out of season. 00:48:42.000 |
Whether people listen or don't listen, whether it scatters people or gathers people, 00:48:46.000 |
we have to accurately teach the whole counsel of God. 00:48:53.000 |
We cannot say, do what I tell you, but don't do what I do. 00:48:57.000 |
The moment somebody, one of the leaders say that, that person is disqualified. 00:49:01.000 |
Because part of leader leading means that you have to be in the front and lead people to come the direction I'm going, 00:49:10.000 |
So in the way he deals with finance, in the way he deals with his home, 00:49:15.000 |
in the way he deals with in public, in private, at work, 00:49:18.000 |
all of these, the elders and the leaders have to be an example, not just teachers, 00:49:25.000 |
Fourthly, he has to keep watch over the people of God. 00:49:30.000 |
Remember that the word watch means to not sleep. 00:49:34.000 |
So if a leader in the church is overly consumed with things that have nothing to do with God, 00:49:45.000 |
So if you've ever taken a child to the swimming pool, 00:49:51.000 |
you know that if you take your eyes off of them for a second, 00:49:57.000 |
So if you don't have children, I want you to pay attention very carefully. 00:50:03.000 |
Do not ever let somebody that is not used to watching children, 00:50:09.000 |
especially around the water, because when children drown, 00:50:13.000 |
they drown in seconds, and they don't make any noise. 00:50:16.000 |
It's like fall off a cliff or they touch animals. 00:50:19.000 |
You'll hear something, but at the pool or in the water, you don't hear anything, 00:50:23.000 |
and all you have to do is to be distracted for a minute. 00:50:27.000 |
You're there and have a conversation with your friend, husband, and wife. 00:50:30.000 |
Next thing you know, your child is floating, and it doesn't take long for a child to drown. 00:50:35.000 |
So if they are not used to watching children around water, it's not safe. 00:50:41.000 |
And so the Bible describes the leaders in the church who have to not sleep, 00:50:45.000 |
and of course not physically. Of course, we need to sleep. 00:50:48.000 |
Not sleep means to stay sober, and that the things of God have to consume us 00:50:57.000 |
So if we're not aware of what's going on inside the church, and you have wolves that are coming in, 00:51:01.000 |
we're not aware of what's going on in our own hearts, 00:51:04.000 |
then we can't be watching the way that God called the leaders to watch. 00:51:08.000 |
And then fifthly, it says we need to give an account before God 00:51:12.000 |
that these men have to function in life knowing that there is a stricter judgment. 00:51:19.000 |
We cannot live our lives like everybody else. 00:51:24.000 |
We are mere men. We have every struggle that you have, we have struggled. 00:51:29.000 |
But the leaders have to stay sober knowing that there will be stricter judgment. 00:51:35.000 |
And so we need to take our situation very seriously. 00:51:39.000 |
So this is just all a review of what we talked about last week. 00:51:43.000 |
I think many of you felt sorry for us, because I got a bunch of emails saying, 00:51:58.000 |
But today, the second part of it is, what is the responsibility of the church? 00:52:03.000 |
Now all this with the premise, understanding that we have to have a high view of the leadership. 00:52:08.000 |
But he says, first of all, he says, "Obey and submit to them." 00:52:16.000 |
Let me read you another song from Whitney Houston. 00:52:18.000 |
A little bit more recent. Recent meaning the last 40 years. 00:52:24.000 |
Whitney Houston. And I couldn't find anything from BTS. 00:52:34.000 |
It starts out by, "I believe the children are our future." 00:52:42.000 |
Show them all the beauty they possess inside. 00:52:44.000 |
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier. 00:52:46.000 |
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be." 00:52:54.000 |
You're reluctant. I really want to know how many of you know this song? 00:52:57.000 |
Not know meaning like you memorized it, but you know about this song. 00:53:01.000 |
Okay, so you know this song. Majority of you know this song. 00:53:04.000 |
And you probably sang it when you go to karaoke bars. 00:53:10.000 |
Maybe not really understanding the content of what she says. 00:53:13.000 |
"Everybody's searching for a hero. People need someone to look up to. 00:53:20.000 |
A lonely place to be, and so I learned to depend on me. 00:53:24.000 |
I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadows. 00:53:28.000 |
If I fail, if I succeed, at least I'll live as I believe. 00:53:32.000 |
No matter what they take from me, they can't take away my dignity. 00:53:37.000 |
Because the greatest love of all is happening to me." 00:53:41.000 |
So up to there you would think like, "Oh, she converted." 00:53:45.000 |
"I found the greatest love of all. It's easy to achieve. 00:53:50.000 |
Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all." 00:54:04.000 |
And sometimes not really knowing what we're singing. 00:54:11.000 |
So within that spirit is that at least, even if I fail, 00:54:20.000 |
Like, "Oh, I didn't give in. I followed my path. I did it my way." 00:54:26.000 |
Because the greatest love of all that we need to teach everybody 00:54:36.000 |
So within that context, when you hear, "Obey your leaders and submit to them," 00:54:44.000 |
How do you convince people that this is necessary and this is important? 00:54:50.000 |
especially knowing that many of you have been hurt 00:54:55.000 |
How do we apply this and why is this here and why is this important? 00:55:03.000 |
It doesn't sound as harsh when you see what it means in the Greek 00:55:07.000 |
because the word "obey" basically means to be persuaded. 00:55:13.000 |
So if I am to ask you to obey, I'm basically trying to persuade you. 00:55:17.000 |
So every Sunday when I open up the Word of God, 00:55:20.000 |
I'm trying to get you to be persuaded, to obey. 00:55:24.000 |
If you're the receiving person, it means to be easily persuaded, 00:55:30.000 |
As the Bible says that we are the clay and he is the potter, 00:55:36.000 |
meaning that we come before the Lord asking for him to mold us and change us. 00:55:43.000 |
The word for "submit" basically means to put yourself under, 00:55:49.000 |
And so the idea of obeying and submitting is to place yourself in a position 00:55:54.000 |
where you can easily take the commands that are coming from God 00:56:01.000 |
You know, this idea that we--I just--you know, those two songs that we-- 00:56:09.000 |
And at the end of the day, the Bible says when Adam and Eve rebelled against God, 00:56:13.000 |
one of the chief things that God says is part of the curse 00:56:16.000 |
is that the wife who was created to be a suitable helper, 00:56:20.000 |
he said she's going to have contention with her husband. 00:56:24.000 |
He said her desire is going to be for her husband, 00:56:33.000 |
And so within that context, this idea of submission 00:56:40.000 |
In fact, whenever we think about submission in the context of the church, 00:56:45.000 |
the conservative church, we normally think about-- 00:56:48.000 |
we normally think about wives submitting to husbands, 00:56:51.000 |
or at least that's kind of the context we hear all the time. 00:56:54.000 |
It says in Ephesians 5:24, "Wives, submit to your husbands." 00:56:59.000 |
Now, I hear people saying that sometimes out of context 00:57:04.000 |
and not really understanding what is being said. 00:57:08.000 |
You know, a lot of times the husband's frustrated with their wives, 00:57:10.000 |
and they'll open up Ephesians 5:24, and it says right here, "Submit." 00:57:21.000 |
And I hear husbands using that text because he's frustrated. 00:57:25.000 |
Maybe the wife is nagging her, not doing what he says. 00:57:28.000 |
Maybe they have a contention, and they don't agree on something, 00:57:32.000 |
and so he's using his muscles from the Scripture. 00:57:38.000 |
I want you to understand the context of this. 00:57:41.000 |
First of all, if you ever have to open up the Scripture to your wife 00:57:51.000 |
And the only reason why you're bringing that up is because 00:57:56.000 |
So the first thing that you should look at is, 00:57:59.000 |
what are you doing that is making it hard for her to follow you 00:58:10.000 |
Prior to Apostle Paul going into "Wives, submit to your husbands," 00:58:17.000 |
"And be subject to one another in fear of Christ." 00:58:22.000 |
So this idea of submitting is to the husband and the wife, 00:58:27.000 |
that our general attitude should be to be agreeable, 00:58:37.000 |
"You need to submit to your husband as the church does to Christ." 00:58:41.000 |
And the reason why they need to do that is because of the calling of the husband 00:58:45.000 |
to sacrifice his life for his wife as Christ did for the church. 00:58:51.000 |
So the reason why the wife is called to submit 00:58:59.000 |
So the general calling is for everyone to submit, 00:59:02.000 |
but specifically for the purpose of building a family that honors God, 00:59:09.000 |
the woman needs to make it easier for him to do his job. 00:59:13.000 |
So whenever somebody whips out the Bible and says, "Look it here," 00:59:16.000 |
and he's using it for selfish reasons, you've already shot yourself in the foot. 00:59:20.000 |
If the only way that you can get your wife to submit to you 00:59:24.000 |
is to open up the Scripture and say, "You must do this," 00:59:31.000 |
In Ephesians 6:1 it says, "Children, obey your parents." 00:59:35.000 |
1 Peter 5:5 it says, "Younger men, submit to the older men." 00:59:39.000 |
Romans 13:1, "Every person be subject to the governors." 00:59:42.000 |
Colossians 3:22, "Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth." 00:59:49.000 |
So the general disposition of everyone is called to be agreeable, 00:59:58.000 |
because the elders and the leaders are called to teach the Word of God as undershepherds, 01:00:03.000 |
that if you choose to challenge everything that is being taught, 01:00:10.000 |
Everybody goes through different stages of maturity. 01:00:14.000 |
When you're first born, not just first born, but like born first, 01:00:19.000 |
when you're born, every human being goes through dependency. 01:00:27.000 |
Your parents have to teach you how to walk, to eat, to go to the bathroom, 01:00:35.000 |
So spiritually, when you first become a Christian, 01:00:38.000 |
you need other Christians to tell you, "This is the Bible. These are the doctrines. 01:00:42.000 |
This is what God calls us. This is the church." 01:00:50.000 |
because it requires a lot of attention, right? 01:00:53.000 |
And you need to basically watch them constantly. 01:00:55.000 |
You're at the water, you've got to watch them. 01:00:57.000 |
You've got to watch what they eat. You've got to tell them when to sleep, when to wake up. 01:01:00.000 |
But they're also the cutest period, during that period, 01:01:11.000 |
where you learn to wipe your butt and eat your food, 01:01:14.000 |
take your own shower, and all of a sudden, you've learned everything. 01:01:18.000 |
That's the stage where your parents become the source of your information, 01:01:22.000 |
and then all of a sudden, they don't know Jack. 01:01:26.000 |
It's interesting, because during that period, 01:01:30.000 |
you see children kind of going through that period, 01:01:33.000 |
and if you see your kids fighting with one another, 01:01:39.000 |
and let's say, you know, Jeremy and Zachary is fighting, 01:01:42.000 |
and then Zachary, when he's a little kid, he would say, 01:01:45.000 |
"Daddy, Jeremy is saying this. Is that true?" 01:01:54.000 |
They don't look up encyclopedia, they don't go to Google. 01:01:58.000 |
If I say it's not true, it's like, "Daddy said it, so that settles it." 01:02:01.000 |
And then they get into adolescence, and all of a sudden, 01:02:04.000 |
they say, "Hey, hey, you shouldn't be doing that, 01:02:08.000 |
And then Zachary would turn to his older brother, Jeremy, 01:02:18.000 |
So truth is determined during that adolescent period. 01:02:20.000 |
All of a sudden, you have to challenge your parents to see, 01:02:24.000 |
because they're starting to try to figure out how the rest of the world works, 01:02:32.000 |
People go through periods where they become independent. 01:02:35.000 |
Where they were dependent, they know enough about Scripture, 01:02:37.000 |
they've kind of lived their Christian life, and they've seen the good, 01:02:39.000 |
they've experienced this and that, and so it's like, 01:02:52.000 |
Can you imagine what the world would be like with just teenagers? 01:02:57.000 |
Can you imagine what Disneyland would be like with just teenagers? 01:03:03.000 |
I know some of you guys are teenagers here, right? 01:03:18.000 |
And that's why you're at this church, because you've matured, 01:03:23.000 |
and you are coming out of your dependent stage to the final stage of maturity, 01:03:28.000 |
and the final stage of maturity was interdependence. 01:03:32.000 |
Interdependence are people who are independent 01:03:41.000 |
where you have a relationship with your children as adults. 01:03:46.000 |
They have their own--they're mature enough to take care of themselves, 01:03:51.000 |
where we can talk to them, "Hey, you have some things, and I have some things," 01:03:57.000 |
because the only way that you can function in a society is if that happens. 01:04:02.000 |
So when you grow, you choose to submit, right, to your boss. 01:04:15.000 |
And so even though I am able to be independent, 01:04:18.000 |
I choose to be dependent because that's the final stage of maturity, interdependence. 01:04:25.000 |
So this idea of obeying and submitting is not because the top, most holiest men are the leaders. 01:04:34.000 |
It's because of the job that we are called to do. 01:04:41.000 |
but in order for the leaders to do their job and to do it well, 01:04:48.000 |
And again, like I said, it's one of the most tangible things 01:04:53.000 |
that the church can do in order to build a healthy church. 01:04:59.000 |
Verse 18, it said, "Let them do this with joy and not with grief, 01:05:08.000 |
If you are a nurse or you're in the health care, right, 01:05:11.000 |
and this would be true of anybody who's taking care of other people, right, 01:05:17.000 |
If you're a nurse and you go into the room and you need to give them medicine, 01:05:21.000 |
you need to turn them around, wipe them, clean them up, 01:05:23.000 |
and you need to make sure that they're taking the pills and do that, 01:05:26.000 |
and then the patient's just cranky, "No, I'm not going to take that. 01:05:44.000 |
And so, in order--because of the job that the nurse is called to do, 01:05:49.000 |
if the patient is not compliant, the first person that gets hurt by that is the patient. 01:05:55.000 |
It makes the job very difficult for the nurse, 01:05:58.000 |
but it makes it impossible to treat that patient if he refuses. 01:06:05.000 |
He said, "Let them do this with joy," because they've been called to sacrifice. 01:06:13.000 |
So if the leaders are here for the purpose of the well-being of the church 01:06:18.000 |
and you refuse and you challenge everything that happens, 01:06:23.000 |
and they said, "It's not profitable for you," in the end. 01:06:28.000 |
Remember how whenever the Israelites would rebel, 01:06:31.000 |
remember how God would describe the Israelites? 01:06:39.000 |
You know, whenever I hear that term stiff-necked, obviously it's pride. 01:07:01.000 |
A stiff-necked person is never willing to yield because I have my idea. 01:07:08.000 |
That's how the Bible describes an unyielding nation, stiff-necked. 01:07:13.000 |
And if you own dogs, you know, every once in a while you'll see the owners, you know, 01:07:18.000 |
taking the dogs out to a walk, and the dogs are up in the front, 01:07:24.000 |
But every once in a while you'll see a dog who doesn't want to go, 01:07:31.000 |
The dog's not happy because he's being dragged. 01:07:34.000 |
Owner's not happy because the owner has to drag the dog. 01:07:37.000 |
But this has to be done because you're going to poop in the house if you don't. 01:07:41.000 |
That's how the Bible describes a nation that is stiff-necked, unyielding. 01:07:50.000 |
You know, working with unyielding people is like working with cement. 01:07:55.000 |
I just--you know, somebody told me years ago, you know, we had a pastor that came to our church, 01:08:00.000 |
and he spent a lot of time just venting about his church. 01:08:04.000 |
You know, it's like, "Yeah, I can't believe they did this," and he just went off. 01:08:09.000 |
Then after that retreat, you know, somebody came up to me and said, 01:08:13.000 |
"Hey, Pastor Peter, how come you don't tell us about the church? 01:08:20.000 |
I said, "Because if I vent, it would be about you." 01:08:24.000 |
You know what I mean? That pastor's at our church. 01:08:33.000 |
If you want to hear me vent, come with me to the retreat. 01:08:47.000 |
But the job that we have been called to do is impossible to do 01:08:56.000 |
Let me give you three practical things that the church has to submit to and obey 01:09:06.000 |
First of all, and this is the easiest of them all, 01:09:10.000 |
is that you need to obey the teaching of the Word of God. 01:09:15.000 |
We said we put a high premium on the teaching and preaching of God's Word. 01:09:20.000 |
You can never stand here and say, "You need to do this because this is my experience, 01:09:25.000 |
I went to seminary. I was a Bible major undergrad, 01:09:28.000 |
so you just need to trust me, and you just need to do this." 01:09:32.000 |
There's not much authority there because somebody else can say that and say, 01:09:36.000 |
"Well, I'm older than you. You got a master's. I got a doctorate." 01:09:41.000 |
And anybody can use whatever position that they have to supersede. 01:09:44.000 |
"Oh, I got an MBA, so I know how to do this more than you." 01:09:48.000 |
Our authority does not come from ourselves or our experience with the Word of God. 01:09:53.000 |
And so when the Word of God is clearly taught, 01:09:56.000 |
if you have a problem with what is being said, challenge us by the Word of God. 01:10:01.000 |
Don't come and say, "I just don't agree with you because I just know better." 01:10:06.000 |
There's not much authority. There's not much authority of that when I say it, 01:10:09.000 |
and there's not much authority when you say it. 01:10:11.000 |
Because in the end, all it sounds like is, "I'm smarter, smarter than you, 01:10:16.000 |
better than you, more talented than you, so you should listen to me." 01:10:23.000 |
So there's no authority in that. I would not preach that way, 01:10:30.000 |
But if the Word of God is open and it is clear, and you're convinced that's what the Word of God says, 01:10:39.000 |
Because obeying that isn't about obeying us. It's about obeying the Word of God. 01:10:44.000 |
I've had people, years ago, I've had this young lady come to me and say, 01:10:51.000 |
"You know what? I don't think God wants me to evangelize." 01:10:56.000 |
She said, "I mean, Scripture says here, here, here, here." 01:11:02.000 |
And you're being legalistic, but God understands me. 01:11:05.000 |
He knows my heart. He knows how difficult it is for me. 01:11:12.000 |
And so God understands, even though the Word of God says it. 01:11:16.000 |
Well, I mean, you choose to make the Word of God subjective, 01:11:20.000 |
and you kind of pick and choose what you want to obey. 01:11:22.000 |
So that's the first thing, and that's the easiest. 01:11:24.000 |
Because that's where the Word of God clearly spells it out. Right? 01:11:29.000 |
Secondly, and this is the part where the rubber meets the road. 01:11:34.000 |
There are things that we are doing in the church, 01:11:38.000 |
that if the church doesn't cooperate, we just cannot run the church. 01:11:44.000 |
As an example, we decide to buy the building. 01:11:49.000 |
And you say, "You know what? I don't know if buying the building is a good idea." 01:11:53.000 |
And I know some people, just the fact that we spent money, a lot of money, 01:11:56.000 |
that's just ungodly. Just the fact that church is about doing God's work, 01:12:00.000 |
so you can give it to missionaries and feed the poor, 01:12:08.000 |
Even though the Bible doesn't say you need to have a building, 01:12:10.000 |
there's a lot of logistical business decisions that we need to make 01:12:16.000 |
We're not saying that every decision that we make is perfect. 01:12:20.000 |
We're not even saying that every decision that is being made is the best decision. 01:12:26.000 |
But we have been given the task to make these decisions. 01:12:29.000 |
And so we have to do our best to make these decisions 01:12:36.000 |
But we cannot run the church if the people in the church are constantly saying, 01:12:40.000 |
"Well, that's not what I believe in. I'm just going to protest this." 01:12:47.000 |
How many of you have ever run games at a picnic? 01:12:52.000 |
You guys are traumatized, so you're unwilling to admit it. 01:12:56.000 |
If you've ever run games, even once, I can almost guarantee 01:13:01.000 |
that you came out of that saying, "I'm never doing this again." 01:13:05.000 |
Because what typically happens is you run games, 01:13:12.000 |
there's always somebody who's going to say, "What is this? 01:13:28.000 |
And there's always somebody who's going to protest. 01:13:31.000 |
But the person who's running the games has poured his heart out, 01:13:38.000 |
But there's always somebody there who's doing that. 01:13:40.000 |
And not to say that don't ever say anything bad, 01:13:46.000 |
but you have to either lead or follow or get out of the way. 01:13:53.000 |
And if you're not doing one of those things, you're a troublemaker 01:14:02.000 |
Oh, I'll come with a drink. You want to lead? 01:14:07.000 |
Then follow. So I can't follow. You want me to follow that? 01:14:12.000 |
So if you're not going to lead, if you're not going to follow, 01:14:24.000 |
But when you don't lead and when you're not following 01:14:33.000 |
but I'm going to make sure everybody knows how this stinks. 01:14:42.000 |
And yeah, these are not maybe biblical things, 01:14:46.000 |
but these are things that needs to happen in order for the church to run. 01:14:49.000 |
But basically you've committed to make it difficult for other people to lead. 01:15:03.000 |
You ever have a group of friends that you get together and you decide where to eat? 01:15:08.000 |
And you have this one friend who just, I can't eat pho, 01:15:17.000 |
I'm lactose intolerant, I'm gluten, I got to be gluten free, 01:15:21.000 |
I don't like pepper, it's too spicy, it's not spicy enough. 01:15:25.000 |
And so at the end of the day, so what do you want? 01:15:29.000 |
So every time you gather together, you can only eat what that person wants to eat. 01:15:44.000 |
It's just too hard to do anything with that guy around. 01:15:56.000 |
because they don't know how to give in to other people. 01:16:07.000 |
I cannot, and the other person is like, I don't want, I have to eat pho, I can't eat pho. 01:16:15.000 |
So what ends up happening is the group gets divided. 01:16:40.000 |
If we give in to selfishness in the congress, 01:16:46.000 |
yeah, because if we give in to you, that means everybody has to give in to you. 01:16:54.000 |
So sometimes we need to deal with hard-headed people 01:17:04.000 |
you have two hard-headed people who are so strong-headed, 01:17:15.000 |
the submission is not just for the congregation to submit to the elders, 01:17:24.000 |
if the majority of the leaders decide one thing, 01:17:27.000 |
every leader has to submit to that, including myself. 01:17:33.000 |
but I cannot unilaterally make decisions in this church, 01:17:36.000 |
because I need to be submitted to the rest of the leaders in the church. 01:17:43.000 |
the church needs to submit to the decisions that are being made in the church, 01:17:46.000 |
because we're making decisions for what's beneficial for the church. 01:17:50.000 |
So like I said, you may have never led the church, 01:17:53.000 |
so you may not fully understand what I'm saying, 01:18:00.000 |
if you've ever tried to serve somebody for their own benefit, 01:18:05.000 |
you know exactly why this is such a practical command. 01:18:10.000 |
Now, if you have a leadership who is selfish, self-willed, 01:18:14.000 |
and they're not walking right with God, they're distracted constantly, 01:18:18.000 |
it says, "Do not entertain an agitation against an elder." 01:18:22.000 |
If you hear slander and things that are being said 01:18:28.000 |
and then it's hurtful to the church, challenge them. 01:18:36.000 |
because accusation against a leader will hurt the church if it's not true. 01:18:47.000 |
and the church does nothing about it, it will hurt the church. 01:18:51.000 |
And so for practical reasons, right, to bring submission. 01:18:58.000 |
And then third and final thing is church discipline. 01:19:05.000 |
we've had situations where people were unrepentant, 01:19:12.000 |
and we'd have to threaten with church discipline to bring them into submission. 01:19:17.000 |
Most of the time, it's enough where we didn't have to bring it to the church. 01:19:21.000 |
We've had one instance where we actually had to bring it to the church years ago. 01:19:25.000 |
So in 25 years, we had one church discipline. 01:19:29.000 |
So we take this very seriously because we know not only is it embarrassing, 01:19:38.000 |
Because, "Oh, how can a church do that? It's so unloving." 01:19:43.000 |
Because you have a concept of church where you do whatever you want, 01:19:46.000 |
and there's no consequence. No, church is the temple of God. 01:19:52.000 |
And the Bible says, "He who destroys the temple will be judged by God." 01:20:00.000 |
to make sure that this church and the community and the life of the church 01:20:06.000 |
So there are times we need to fight individual sins in the church 01:20:11.000 |
so that we keep this at bay, that this church is the church of Christ, 01:20:18.000 |
Now, having said that, I don't know anybody who has been confronted with their sins 01:20:26.000 |
The most ideal situation is they repent and say, 01:20:32.000 |
But a lot of times what happens is when we try to bring attention of sin, 01:20:35.000 |
they'll turn it around and say, "You're judging me." 01:20:39.000 |
And then they'll begin to start to spread things and say things to other people. 01:20:43.000 |
If we feel that this is important enough that we raise it to church discipline, 01:20:50.000 |
the church needs to obey and submit to the leadership. 01:20:59.000 |
Because we cannot carry out church discipline. 01:21:04.000 |
I'd rather be where you are, where I don't have to deal with this. 01:21:08.000 |
I'll let the other people make this decision. 01:21:11.000 |
Let them carry it out because it gets murky and it's dirty. 01:21:15.000 |
And then accusations come against us whenever we make even an attempt to do this 01:21:19.000 |
because if we love you and are gracious and we just sweep everything under the rug, 01:21:23.000 |
then every time we do that, it's like, "Oh, the church is so gracious. 01:21:28.000 |
But any time we try to bring attention to any kind of sin, 01:21:31.000 |
we know that that's going to be reversed and accusations are going to come our way. 01:21:38.000 |
But it must be done because, one, it's taught by Scripture, 01:21:45.000 |
As much as it needs to be gracious and loving, it also needs to be holy. 01:21:49.000 |
So if the church chooses to carry out discipline 01:21:52.000 |
and the congregation in the church is saying, "Oh, those bad people are doing that to you," 01:21:58.000 |
it's no different than a father disciplining a child 01:22:01.000 |
and the mother embraces the child and saying, "Oh, your dad. 01:22:05.000 |
Your dad's doing that. Let me go buy you some ice cream." 01:22:09.000 |
Is that a loving, gracious thing to do for the mother to go against the discipline of the father? 01:22:14.000 |
No. It's one of the most selfish things to do because you're not helping that child. 01:22:21.000 |
You're not helping that child to understand what he needs to turn his sins from 01:22:25.000 |
because, "Oh, those are bad people. Those are bad people, but I'm gracious. 01:22:33.000 |
If we have a church that resists when church discipline needs to take place, 01:22:43.000 |
So that's why we say if we're in a habit of bringing discipline to the church 01:22:47.000 |
for any little thing that happens in the church, 01:22:50.000 |
yeah, then we would probably lose authority to carry this out. 01:22:55.000 |
But when in rare situation where someone is unrepentant to the point 01:22:59.000 |
where we need to bring this to the church, we need to have the cooperation of the church. 01:23:05.000 |
One, because the Scripture says so, and two, the church cannot be healthy 01:23:11.000 |
if the congregation chooses, "Oh, the dirty work. We'll let the leaders do the dirty work. 01:23:17.000 |
Those bad people. Oh, but I'm gracious. Come over to my house. I'll make you dinner. 01:23:29.000 |
Not only does it hurt that person, it hurts the church. 01:23:33.000 |
And I know this is a difficult thing to swallow, 01:23:37.000 |
but the church cannot be holy, and it cannot be healthy 01:23:43.000 |
unless this is carried out by the whole church. 01:23:47.000 |
The Bible says if the sin rises to the point they're unrepentant 01:23:51.000 |
and it's hurting themselves and hurting the church, 01:23:53.000 |
and the church decides that, "You know what? This discipline needs to happen 01:23:57.000 |
to bring them to repentance, and we ask of you to only to associate with them, 01:24:01.000 |
to bring them to repentance, and you blow us off," 01:24:07.000 |
You're also hurting yourself, and you're hurting the church. Right? 01:24:10.000 |
Again, I say this with clarity and with authority because my conscience is clear. 01:24:21.000 |
Our church cannot--it cannot allow what is circulating around the world 01:24:28.000 |
in our culture into the church because it is constantly biting at the door. 01:24:39.000 |
It's always knocking. There's never a time when sin and world and our enemy 01:24:45.000 |
is not trying to knock through the door to pervert our church. 01:24:50.000 |
And so the leaders have been placed in the church to guard the church, 01:24:56.000 |
but we cannot do our job if the people within the church 01:25:14.000 |
The next part is prayer, which I'm not going to get to. 01:25:20.000 |
There's nothing more practical that needs to be practiced by the church. 01:25:25.000 |
Like everything sounds great. It's like, "Oh, we're going to worship God, 01:25:28.000 |
and we're going to do this. We're going to evangelize." 01:25:30.000 |
All these things feel good, but where the rubber meets the road 01:25:34.000 |
is where this application happens because we need to move together. 01:25:37.000 |
You can't just be bystanders watching and saying, 01:25:40.000 |
"Well, I have my values, and I have my things." 01:25:44.000 |
You know, you ever hear advice from the world about marriage? 01:25:52.000 |
I forget which one is which, so I might have switched it, right? 01:25:56.000 |
And so the whole counsel that you get from the world is, 01:25:59.000 |
how do people from Venus communicate with people from Mars? 01:26:05.000 |
It's a formula for disaster. Do you know why? 01:26:22.000 |
So the whole point of it is to bring you back to Earth. 01:26:28.000 |
But if you get into marriage and say, "I'm from Venus, so this is what I like," 01:26:32.000 |
and then you have another person, "But I'm from Mars." 01:26:36.000 |
So what you end up doing is you end up going from relationship to relationship, 01:26:49.000 |
so I want to look for a church that's going to allow me to be me." 01:26:56.000 |
If you do that in marriage, you're going to have a very difficult marriage 01:27:01.000 |
because you have two selfish people demanding the other person to adjust to them. 01:27:06.000 |
But the whole purpose of our sanctification is these two people 01:27:09.000 |
who went astray and landed on Venus and Mars. 01:27:16.000 |
And so the church is God calling people who have strayed to get back to God. 01:27:24.000 |
So if we are not willing to change, if we're not willing to submit, 01:27:27.000 |
if we're not willing to obey and we are stiff-necked, 01:27:33.000 |
you're going to flip that around and say, "This is who I am, 01:27:44.000 |
And so as difficult as this teaching may be for some of you, 01:27:50.000 |
understanding it, in the world this is ridiculous. 01:27:54.000 |
It's just arrogant to submit to your husband, to masters, to government, to submit. 01:28:04.000 |
And yet this is one of the most beautiful words in Scripture 01:28:10.000 |
because he who in every way was God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 01:28:25.000 |
It is by his submission that you and I are saved. 01:28:49.000 |
Heavenly Father, we know how difficult this is, 01:28:56.000 |
that even now, Father God, that maybe we're all brothers and sisters 01:29:00.000 |
who are uncomfortable with this very teaching 01:29:04.000 |
because of the pain that they've experienced in the past. 01:29:08.000 |
I pray that you would give wisdom, restoration, 01:29:14.000 |
knowing, Father God, that it is only by your grace 01:29:18.000 |
that we can build a church that honors and glorifies you. 01:29:22.000 |
Lord, despite our weaknesses, despite our tendency to wander, 01:29:28.000 |
we know that it's because you made the promise that you will build the church 01:29:32.000 |
and the gates of Hades will not be able to prevail against it. 01:29:35.000 |
Help us, Lord God, to anchor ourselves to Christ, 01:29:38.000 |
that we would not drift by every wind of doctrine, 01:29:42.000 |
and that this church would be a church where Christ is the head, 01:29:46.000 |
and that we have a high view of the church, high view of you, 01:29:49.000 |
high view of leadership, high view of the word of God, 01:29:57.000 |
would continue to magnify and glorify Christ. 01:30:00.000 |
And as the world and its wickedness becomes more and more evident, 01:30:05.000 |
and as you warned us, Lord God, that the love of many will grow cold, 01:30:10.000 |
help us, Lord God, to be a greater and greater light 01:30:15.000 |
May your name and your name alone be praised. 01:30:19.000 |
Would you all stand up with me for the closing praise? 01:34:30.000 |
Heavenly Father, I pray that your word that you've implanted in our hearts 01:34:37.000 |
I pray, Father God, that you would guide us and lead us. 01:34:40.000 |
I pray that you would protect our leadership in the church, 01:34:47.000 |
know the gravity of what it is that you've called us, 01:34:49.000 |
that we would not be entangled by civilian affairs, 01:34:52.000 |
but to continue to pursue you with all our might. 01:34:58.000 |
And we pray, Father God, for our church, our congregation, Lord God, 01:35:02.000 |
and I thank you for the work that you are doing in our midst. 01:35:05.000 |
I pray, Father, that you would help us to become a brighter and brighter light. 01:35:09.000 |
Help us, Lord, to honor you, glorify you, that Christ would be exalted, 01:35:14.000 |
that the world would know more and more, not just through the preaching, 01:35:17.000 |
but through the life of the church, that what we teach is real, 01:35:25.000 |
and that our hope is not the figment of our imagination, 01:35:33.000 |
and all the power that resurrected him that is available to us as well. 01:35:38.000 |
So I pray that you would send us to wherever it is that you send us, 01:35:41.000 |
that we would be the aroma of Christ wherever we go. 01:35:44.000 |
May Christ and his name only be exalted this week.