Month: February 2020

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1 Thessalonians Sermon

Faith Unpacked: 1 Thessalonians 1:1

Good morning church! I’m humbled & it’s a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity to preach the Word this morning. We just completed a topical series last week titled “The church”. And we get back to our book study as we begin 1 Thessalonians.

I think this is a continuation on the topic of “the church” because it talks about the “abiding” or the “continuing faith” of the church.  

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace. (v1)

“Christianity is at risk”! This was the title of a news report in a UK newspaper Daily Express in 2019. They saw a dramatic decline in the number of people that call themselves as Christians in Great Britain. From 66% in 1983 to 38% in 2019. And this is a similar declining trend that is seen all over Europe where thousands of churches have been closing due to lack of attendees (Wikipedia).

Even in a country like the US that has been the source of a lot of good resources and writings, they’ve seen 10-15% churches shut down. People are turning to atheism or modern spiritualism where they take what they like from each religion to create their own version of a religion that suits them. And in the face of these real facts, I’m sure the question that the church asks is: Is faith in Jesus temporary like a trend or can there be genuine, abiding faith? Will my faith last till the end? Not just me – but will the faith of my brothers and sisters in Christ abide and survive till the end?  The theme of the letter to the Thessalonians is like an answer given to us to help us navigate and find help to these critical questions.

3 points of observations:

1) Christian faith is validated by perseverance

When Paul starts out mentioning “the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” & as he continues throughout the letter – he actually remembers the context in which the church was formed.

In Acts 17, Paul arrives in the cosmopolitan, business capital city of Thessalonica (similar to a city like Mumbai). And he arrives to Thessalonica after being beaten & imprisoned in Philippi. One would think that Paul, Silas and Timothy would’ve been intimidated by that previous experience but they were instead fearless because they immediately go to a Jewish synagogue (sort of like a gospel community or a small group) over 3 Sabbath days & they have open discussions with the people gathered out there on what the Scriptures tell about the necessity for the Messiah to suffer & rise from the dead.

Paul tells them that Jesus whom He proclaims is the Christ! Some Jews believed, a lot of Greek worshippers believed & many prominent women also believed!

Isn’t this is awesome? To have new believers in this amazing, fast paced, influential city. They were at the tipping point of a vibrant church expansion movement. But unexpectedly even before Paul could make the most of this new discipling opportunity, some of the unbelieving Jews who were jealous got together some people who were experienced in stirring up riots and a crowd and started attacking the house of Jason (probably the church met at his house).

They couldn’t find Paul and his companions so they dragged Jason and some of the new believers in front of the city authorities & accused them of being international troublemakers & more severely saying there is another King called Jesus apart from Caesar!

The only way in which they released Jason and the others was with a money security – to guarantee that Paul wouldn’t cause any more disruptions by continuing to preach in that city. That same night Paul and his companions were sent away from the city. All of this all tells us that the Thessalonian church wasn’t born out of a marketing strategy or a pastor’s big vision. This church was born in the midst of humiliation, pain and suffering!

The fact that they were standing in the midst of severe suffering showed that their faith was genuine! I find that a stark contrast to how we evaluate the genuineness of our faith. We say our faith is genuine because we know all the worship songs at church, we are fairly regular at church, and also we have a good relationship with the pastor and other church members – so we assume that’s what certifies our faith.

Instead the bible tells us that “Count it all joy, my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness”. (James 1:1)

Losing our job, sudden loss of a family member or a loved one, a broken relationship, an unexpected illness, long wait on God to answer a prayer for a good thing like a spouse for marriage or a job, taunts and insults being hurled at you because you’ve chosen to follow Jesus – these are all very real and painful.

But at the same time suffering exposes our heart idols. Those idols of inconvenience, comfort, self-love, self-reliance, pride, anger, impatience suddenly come to the fore when we are met with unexpected suffering. And it’s not as though someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus will not undergo suffering. But here’s the difference – Genuine Christian faith will be displayed through repentance & faith in God.

Even though there might be seasons when believers doubt, are confused and might even look to sin for comfort but true believers will eventually come back to God in repentance and faith. Why? Because they can’t abandon the Lord who gave them a new heart to love Him. They can’t abandon the Lord who has placed His Spirit within them. They will indeed return back to him.

Maybe some of us have been frustrated or discouraged by the season of suffering that you’re going through. If you’re in that place today, could you ask God to reveal those areas in your heart that need repentance & faith in God? Could you ask God to use your current situation to display His mercy? Genuine Christian faith is validated by perseverance.

2) Christian faith is personal & yet inter-connected

Our Christian faith is personal in the sense where God has a unique and direct relationship with every person who believes in Jesus. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12)

But at the same time Christian discipleship happens in community – with other brothers and sisters. Throughout the whole letter it’s filled with language that mentions the presence & necessity for deep relationships within the church.

You became imitators of us and the Lord (1 Thes 1:6)

But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. (1 Thes 2:7-8)

I remember a time during my first-year in college when this truth hit home for me. Now I had been a believer for about 2 years or so but Christian life for me was just Sunday. I was the most spiritual and most committed on a Sunday but the rest of the week I lived a double life – isolated from the rest of the church & world and joyless.

I assumed that was what Christian life was for most people. About that time, I was introduced to a brother who came to India on a two-week trip during his college break to share the good news about Jesus. I accompanied him throughout those two weeks, watching his life closely, paying attention to his words and I was amazed to see the joy & purpose with which he lived his life.

In every conversation I saw him have, he would somehow bring every conversation back to Jesus because it looked like he truly loved Jesus. For him time with the Word wasn’t a duty or a Sunday activity, he enjoyed reading the Bible and telling people about what he learnt. Plus, I was amazed to see a young college student come to India on a trip to tell people about Jesus during his summer break when he could’ve spent it with his friends.

Just imagine what this did to a young believer like me. This brother didn’t sit down and preach “discipleship” to me – but I saw him live it out during those 2 weeks. God used that brother to rejuvenate my relationship with God.

And I really want to challenge you brothers and sisters today. Maybe just like my experience, you see yourself as a Sunday Christian and desire to change. Let me encourage you to find a brother or sister in the Lord whom you know is living for Jesus & just go and spend time with them.

Observe how they are loving Jesus and allow them to speak into the insecurities & fears & doubts of your heart. That is God’s design for us to experience full joy. Christian faith is personal & yet inter-connected.

3)  Christian faith is based on God’s faithfulness

As we are reading through chapter 4 & 5 in 1 Thessalonians, if we read it without any context, we might be mistaken to think that it is simply a bunch of rules: abstain from sexual immorality, help the weak, admonish the idle, pray without ceasing.

We may assume that Paul is telling us that “Jesus has done half the work of saving you, now it’s up to you to perform and make sure that Christ receives you as perfect in the end”. Although we may say that we theologically don’t agree with that but practically we might believe it’s true.

What I mean is this – there is a reason why we feel super happy and assured on days when we read our bibles early in the morning, are able to have a productive day at work, manage to minimize our sinful behaviors & even share the gospel with one person.

At the same time, we struggle with immense guilt and condemnation on days when we aren’t able to do any of the above. On those days we don’t “feel” like God’s child. We instead “feel” like we are orphans.

If we are absolutely honest, all of us will confess that even on our best days – even our best efforts aren’t good enough before a Holy and Perfect God. There’s nothing we can do to make ourselves a loved child or an accepted child of God. So then what does that mean? Can our faith survive with this kind of failed record?

1 Thessalonians is a reminder for our hearts that when we fail – and fail we will, God still remains faithful. Even when we feel like we’ve let go, God continues to hold on those whom He has chosen. Think about it – Paul and his companions thought they lost these new believers.

They were anxious and thought that these believers may have gone astray in the midst of severe suffering and persecution. Instead when Timothy meets them, he is overjoyed to find them loving Jesus no matter what it may cost them. How come? The Lord Jesus remains faithful. He doesn’t let go.

No one can snatch them out of my hand – says Jesus in John 10:28

At the end of the letter in chapter 5 – Paul says some remarkable things – read with me in v23, 24:  Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Who sanctifies or makes us Holy? God does. Who will keep us – people who fail and sin blameless? He will. Because He who calls me is “FAITHFUL”. He will surely do it. Does this cause us to be lazy in our faith? No, in fact it makes us zealous to serve him because of His faithfulness.

For some of us who are feeling like they’re orphans this morning in spite of believing in Jesus, I believe we should be reminded that our faith, our identity, us being the child of God is not based on our performance.

It is based on God’s faithfulness – His faithful Son who lived a perfect life and died the death that we deserved so that through His resurrection our faith is firmly anchored in His faithfulness. For some others, it’s probably the first time where God has opened your eyes to His faithfulness.

Till now you’ve been living a life against God, apart from Him but today God’s moving your heart to trust Him. And God is true to His Word – if you believe in what Jesus has done for you, you will be saved. He will surely do it according to His promise.

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Matthew Sermon The Church

Ministry of the Church : Matthew 28:18-20

We are on the last & final topic of the series called ‘The Church’.

The title of today’s sermon is ‘The Ministry of the Church’ and the passage we are looking at is Matthew 28:18-20

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus, after spending 33 years on earth as a human being, walking through this broken world with us, through all the vulnerabilities we humans go through so He can identify with our struggles, tempted in every possible way just as we are tempted but still lived a perfect and holy life pleasing to God the Father.

And after spending the last 3 years in ministry, preaching the Kingdom of God, making disciples out of uneducated, sinful men, teaching and enlightening them about the Kingdom of God, offering Himself to die on the cross as a perfect sacrifice for the atonement of our sin and rebellion, he exchanged His righteousness with us & finally rose up from the dead and sealed this new covenant with us of restoring us back to Father. And now Jesus is at the end of His ministry and He is giving out his last commandment to his disciples.

These disciples after hearing these commands from Jesus, on His instruction they wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, just like Jesus waited when he started His ministry, and then scattered all around the world preaching the good news of the Gospel, making disciples and teaching them to obey.

Today we are the recipients of God grace because of these men who took Jesus’s command seriously against all the odds, challenges, threats, pain, suffering, even death and made Jesus and truth of the Gospel famous all around the world. A special thanks to Thomas who when led by the Holy Spirit travelled to our nation India in the year AD 52 and faithfully preached the Gospel, later was killed in AD 72 in Chennai for spreading the Gospel.

Brothers & sisters, we all are called & commanded to do the same. This is the ultimate purpose of our lives and the ultimate purpose of the Church as we saw a couple of Sundays back. It is to lift up Jesus to this dying world and communicate this message of hope.

And the funny thing is that this almighty, all-powerful God doesn’t need us to accomplish this task, he can do it on His own, but he invites us to have this amazing privilege to participate in His work as partners – For which He rewards us, on earth and in heaven.

Therefore, lets pay careful attention and understand this Great commission in depth and how it applies in our current context of life.

I want to share four things from this passage that are important for us to know and learn.

1. It’s a command and not an instruction, from the highest authority.

We all work in corporate companies, imagine the Founder & Managing Director of your company invites you to his cabin and personally assigns you a task to do and also promises to reward you for doing it. How would you respond?

Will you say ‘I’ll do it whenever I get free time?”, or “I’ll see whether I want to do it”.

No, we will never say that, instead we will be so excited that we will keep aside every other work to complete the task, in fact some of us will even work extra hours to get the job done, just to please your boss and get his compliments.

Brothers & sisters, the one who is speaking to us is Jesus, to whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given. If an assignment from an earthly boss can move us and shake us from our comfort zone. Consider, the one who is speaking to us is almighty God.

And when the most powerful person on heaven and earth speaks to us, it’s not just an instruction that we can chose whether we want to do it or not.

There is no other option then to take Him seriously and get on with the task.

2. Go & tell, not come and see

The instruction is quite clear. It is to ‘go & tell’ and not ‘come and see’. – “Go therefore …”

In the Old Testament, or in the old covenant the presence of God resided in the “Tabernacle of God”, in the temple, where people would come with their sacrifices to receive pardon from their sins. But if we study the structure and ordinances of the temple we will learn that they were mere symbols pointing us to Jesus and the ultimate display of His work on the cross.

Instead of we bringing the sacrifice for the atonement of our sins, he came and gave himself as a sacrifice once for all. The Bible tells us that now we are the temple where God resides.

Today the church is not a building or a structure, church is the people of God – temple of God where God resides (1 Cor 6:19).

When Jesus is asking us to ‘go therefore’, he is telling us to take His presence with us into this dying world. Which means, when we invite and have a coffee conversation with a friend or a college we are allowing them to have close proximity with the presence of God residing in us. When we are talking to them and expressing our hearts, inviting them into our lives we are expressing God’s heart to them and inviting them to God’s Kingdom.

Here’s some practical ways in which we invite them to give us a listening ear. Remember, these are only effective when we are thoroughly soaked in the Gospel and are experiencing the transforming work of Christ in us.

  • Through Our vocabulary – Speaking the Kingdom language:
    • When we speak Words of Hope that help people see life beyond their present pain and suffering
    • When we speak Words of Life that put King Jesus on the pedestal for others to see and admire
    • When we speak Words of acknowledgment & gratefulness to God for others to learn and follow.
  • Through Our responses – Our faithful responses to the brokeness of this world:
    • Our response when we go through financial crises in trusting His provision.
    • Our responses when we fall sick in relying on His Sovereignty.
    • Our response when we are tempted to sin in saying ‘No’ at all costs.
    • Our response when we see delay in Gods answering our prayers in knowing that He makes everything beautiful in His time.
    • Our response when our bosses sit on out head in trusting in the ultimate authority.

Our responses to such situations testify the fact that nothing in this world bothers us because we rest in Jesus and his finished work on the cross.

  • Through Our values – Walking the talk:
    • Doing the right thing at all times regardless of what the consequences are.
    • Walking according to principles and commandment prescribed in the scripture. – Not out of compulsion but with joy.
  • Through Our service – Having a Servantheart:
    • Going the extra mile to bring the hope of Christ to a person in need, physical or emotional.
    • Serving the poor, caring for the orphans, providing for the widows.
    • Sacrificing our time, energy and resources to comfort others in need.

Remember, these are means through which we can invite others to hear us out, but the ultimate goal is Gospel proclamation. Sharing the True Gospel in a clear, meaningful, & effective manner is most important, not the Gospel that promises health, wealth & prosperity but the Gospel that promises eternal life in heaven whether in riches or poverty; pain, suffering or good health, not a work-based Gospel that says to get this you have do this, but a Gospel of grace, that says its a free gift we receive without doing anything in return – All we do is believe in the Son of God & trust Him.

3. We are called to make disciples, not mere friends and colleagues

Don’t settle and be satisfied that you have made some unbelieving friends and that you hang out with them often. Our job is not complete unless we make a disciple out of them.

And it just doesn’t happen like that, there is an investment of time, money and resources we need to consider if we have to walk and disciple people. If time, money, comfort matters to us more than saving our loved ones from pain, sorrow & misery then we have to consider offering them as a sacrifice for the sake of the Kingdom.

Jesus left His glory and came for us, sacrificing everything, the disciples of Jesus left the comfort of their homes and sacrificed their lives so that we could find hope.

What is it that the Holy Spirit asking us to do? Are we making disciples or just friends with whom we like to hangout and chill, mostly so that we can feel good and relieved from the daily stress.

We ought to be making disciples, not just hang out with them as friends.

4. Teach them to obey, not just attend church and sing Christian songs

Let us not be like those parents who are happy that their children go to church, by-heart bible verses and sing Christian songs. Unless we’ve understood and experienced Gospel transformation and are walking in obedience to God word, no Christian activity will save our lives.

We are not inviting our friends to do Christian activities with us but we are inviting them to walk in obedience and to fulfil the God given purposes in their lives.

It is not the good feeling of being part of a church, or a good feeling of being part of an exuberant worship that brings life transformation. What brings life transformation is the truth of God revealed in our heart that leads us to walking in total surrender to Him.

Therefore, we need to consistently and faithfully encourage one other to walk in obedience to God’s word. Jesus said “If you love me you will obey me”. There is no loving without obedience. If you come to me and say you love Jesus, I will only be able to validate your love for Jesus if I also see unconditional obedience. – That’s how even Jesus will measure our love when we meet Him.

Teach them to obey, not just attend church and sing Christian songs.

In all of this, brothers & sisters, be encouraged – Jesus is with us and walking alongside us. He promised never to leave, never to forsake, his hand of protection, his comfort, his strength, his wisdom, his power is always with us.

This is the ministry of the church, the ministry of every single person sitting in this room. I hope I’ve given you compelling reasons to find your joy in serving in the Kingdom of God and tools to start acting on it. I believe you will be like the faithful servants who used their talents for God’s glory and when you meet your saviour and master in heaven you will hear him say “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master”.

Let’s pray

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Articles

Bringing up Kids God’s way

The passage we are looking at is Deuteronomy 6:4-9

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The bible passage we just read is a piece of instruction given to the people of God, but before we get there let’s understand the context so we can make sense of these passages.

Background:

  • Israelites escape slavery from Egypt
  • They meet at Mount of Sinai and make a covenant with God to obey all his commandments
  • After which they walk and wander in the desert for 40 years towards the promised land
  • They are now standing right next to the Jordan river preparing to enter the promised land
  • And Moses gets up and gives them a speech – which is the book of Deuteronomy.

Even though Moses is the one giving the speech, these are not His words. In chapter 6:1 he says “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you”

Today since its Elnathan dedication day, we are looking at a certain portion of the speech that is specifically addressed to parents, the way God wants us to bring up our children. 

Elnathan is born to Abiah & Elijah, and they hold the primary responsibility to bring him up. But he is also born into the larger family of God, the church. And therefore, just as these instructions are important to the parents, it is also given to the larger family of God. As Abiah & Elijah is dedicating Elnathan and committing to follow these instructions in the presence of all the witnesses, in some way we are also committing to help, support and participate in it as brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, grandfathers and grandmothers. Therefore, these instructions are important to us as well.

As we saw earlier, this instruction is from God and not from man.

And here’s why this instruction is important. We need to heed to them so that everything goes well with us and that we enjoy God choicest blessing for our life as written in v3. “Hear, therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.”

The instruction is to diligently teach our children something. The word diligently means to do it with care and with a sense of duty.

And what is he asking us to teach our children?

V4-5. 4 “The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

The instruction is to teach them to love God more than anything else. 

We love God in response to His Love for us – In the Old Testament, the people of God experienced Gods love through his care and hand of protection over their lives. 

But for us, the privileged ones in the new covenant, we experience God’s love through His son Jesus who came to this world to die for our sins and repair our broken relationship through his sacrifice on the cross, so that we don’t suffer in our Sin but rather live victorious lives knowing that Christ is our permanent Shepherd & Caretaker.

What we are asked to teach our children is to point their hearts to Christ, and as their hearts are transformed by the Gospel they inevitably reciprocate in loving God. This is the primary and most important command that God has given us to bring up our children. 

To accomplish this goal, I want to put across two words for us to take home and meditate on.

The first word is TALK … communicate … have conversations.

Research says one of the primary reason children grow up having behavioural issues & other disorders are because of the lack of communication between parents and children.

Parents should be the primary voice talking to the child – obviously, to talk more you need to spend more time – and more than talking about studies, career & marriage, what we need to talk most is about God’s love, about His son Jesus, the Gospel, and the Gospel stories that change and transforms us.

We do that by daily evaluating our day with our child and pondering on the conversations we have. Worldly vs Gospel-centered.

The natural tendencies are to talk about the problems and grievances of this broken world, family problems, school problems, college problems, social problems and sadly even church problems. 

What our children need to often hear are not problems of this broken world but the hope we are offered through the Gospel, stories of redemption experienced amid this broken world. Not the story and events that make them frustrated and angry towards each other, but stories that make them fall in love with Jesus and His redeeming qualities.

And I say that because unfortunately, that is not what is spoken and communicated in our Christian homes today. It is the outside world talking to them through TV or other mediums, the negative & hurting hearts of parents & people influencing them negatively.

Abiah & Elijah, you are called to be the primary communicator in Nathan’s life, communicating the Gospel, leading his heart to love God with all his heart, mind and soul.

verse 7-9 says “talk of them when you sit in your house (eating food, playing games, doing house chores), and when you walk by the way (going to school, going to the market, taking a jog, driving the car), and when you lie down, and when you rise. (telling bedtime stories, the day that went by, the day that will start tomorrow) 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. (sticking bible verses around the house, on the fridge, in their bedroom) 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (every place visible to the child where he is reminded of God’s love)

Talk. Talk. …….

The second word is ‘Walk’… to model

Our talking will only be effective and deliver desired results when you also Model it for them as we communicate. Let’s get this right, We can’t be parents, friends, brothers & sisters that say “Do what I say but don’t do as I do”… that won’t work, that doesn’t yield results. That is called Hypocrisy, as the child grows he will imitate the same attitude.

If we want our children to love God with all their heart, mind and soul.. we have to first love God with all our heart, mind and soul. 

I know of Christian parents who encourage their children to attend Sunday schools so that their hearts are moulded in godly ways but they won’t attend church meeting and community gathering. That doesn’t work my brothers & sisters. We have be an example first.

Yes, our children will hear what we say, but you know what? They will do what we do. Just talking is not enough.

To model godliness to one another is a spiritual principle as Paul says in 1 Cor 11:1 “Follow me as I follow the example of Christ”

But what do we model? 

We don’t model a superficial perfection to our children when we are imperfect in nature because of the indwelling sin in our flesh. Rather, out of all the aspects of life, we model to our children the one that should stand out is our lifestyle of continual repentance and faith in God. 

It’s ok to expose our imperfect nature to them, that’s the truth. But let them also see our repentant heart in prayer and our trust in Him to help change us through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. Let them see and experience the long term transforming power of the Gospel in our life. Let them learn that we all need His grace to sustain and be fruitful in this sinful and broken world. Let them grow learning that Jesus should be the ultimate goal of all our lives.

As I conclude, don’t forget the two words. TALK & WALK. That’s the only way to do this right.

Categories
Sermon The Church

People of Church: Devoted & Faithful

Introduction:

Good morning Church! I am delighted to stand before you to share the word of God, I am thankful to God and our two elders for giving me this opportunity to preach the word.

Let us pray before we enter to our sermon.

Purpose of this sermon:

  1. You will live a devoted life to Christ and serve the church.
  2. You will be faithful to God in every area of your life.
  3. You will know your role and responsibility in the Church.
  4. You will know your life priority and fully commit to that.

Let us come to the first point.

  1. Fully Devoted to the Lordship of Christ.

“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2: 42.

Apostle teaching: Scripture

Illustration: Little plant in my window.

Important of Devoting our life to Scripture:

1.Psalm 1. fruitful life,

2. You will be successful and prosperous Joshua 1: 9.

3. Bulletproof to fight against sin.

Psalm 119: 11.Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.

4. Your word is a Lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105.

5. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17. so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17.

Devoted to Fellowship : Church Worship Service.

(koinonia) it means to be as committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ.

Illustration: Why believers are always happy.

Benefit of Church family.

  1. We fellowship better together. (1 Cor 1:10)
  2. We grow better together. (Col. 3:16)
  3. We Serve better together. (Phil.2:2)
  4. We worship better together. (Matthew 18:20)
  5. We reach out better together. ( Phil 1:27)

Application: “Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrew 10:25.

Devoted to Breaking of Bread : Reminding ourselves of the Dead of Christ for our sins.

Reminding every week that we are forgiven and Redeem by the blood of the Lamb.

Devoted to Prayer : Living a prayerful life.

# Elijah was a person just like us, and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and rain never came to the land for three years and six months. James 5:17.

# So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. (Acts 12:5).

Amazing things happen Angel came and released Peter from the prison.

Application:

All of us have to live a prayerful life, the church need a devoted man and women who live a prayerful life, we should be a believers who live a prayerful life.

We need to pray more, the church need to pray more.

Prayer will help us to achieve the impossible things.

Prayer will lead us to victory,

Prayer will heal the broken family, broken relationship, broken world.

What we need most at this time is a man and women of prayer.

What we need most is a praying Church.

let this Gathering church be a praying Church.

We need a person like Elijah, you can be Elijah in this generation.

2. Be Faithful till the End.

Ephesian 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

1 Cor 4:2. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

Rev. 2:10. Be faithful until dead and i will give you the crown of life” (Smyrna Church)

In a body of Christ we have different roles to play, example like hand have different role, leg has different role, eye has different role, Nose has different role but all these role are for one purpose to  the head which is Christ Jesus. Remember all different roles are equally important in the Lord.

God want us to use the spiritual gift to glorify His name, to achieve His purpose in our life.

Spiritual gift text. Roman 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesian 4, 1 Peter 4, we see God gives spiritual gift to every believers.

Illustration (The parables of the talents) Matthew 25.14-30.

1. This parable teach us that God gave everyone a Talent or gift or skill to serve Him.

2. The parables remind us that this life is not at all about us but our life belong to our Creator.

2.The Parables teaches that we are not all created equal.

3.The Parables teaches that we work for the master, not our own self purpose.

4.The parables of talents shows that we will be held accountable of the talents He has given us.

Application:

1. Have you recognise what your talents is? Did you know your spiritual gifts or talents?

2. If yes are you serving God with the talents or Are you Building up your own empire?

3. If you haven’t find your talent we all can help you find your talents.

4. Remember God will ask you, What did you do with the talent (Life) I gave you?

(you are accountable of your life).

5. Are you giving your best service to God with your Talent or Are you Squandering your life.

6. Great lesson from Rich man life  Luke 15.

(Wasted his time, money, life, He regrets how he has lived)

1 Cor. 15: 58.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Ephesian 5.

15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

John 9:4. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

Conclusion:

Beloved I pray that we all as a church will fully surrendered our heart to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and be fully devoted to Him all the day of our life.

Let us be faithful and walk worthy with our calling, we know our life is short on this earth, let us not waste our time anymore, we have wasted enough time, let us awake and arise and give our best to our master Jesus, the night is coming where we cannot work.

This is the best time to serve our living God.

May God bless you and keep you and May His face shine on you and give you peace.

Amen.

Categories
Romans Sermon The Church

People of the Church : Romans 12

Allow me to start this morning by sharing with you the story of this young violinist from London.

He was a young musician who had a very tough life but caught a break and went on to become wealthy and successful. One day he realized that it was his time to give something back to society and decided to use his talents to do something charitable.

As he entertained this thought he chanced to see a newspaper report of a homeless man who died in the street. He followed the story and found out that the burial of this man was to be done in an unmarked grave outside the city.

This was his opportunity to do something good for someone less fortunate, so the young musician decided to give go to the funeral and honour the life of this homeless man by playing at his funeral for free.

So on the day of the funeral he left the city and drove towards the church by outskirts where the funeral was to take place but along the drive, he lost his way.

He drove around for several hours trying to locate this funeral site. He finally arrived an hour late and saw that funeral guys had evidently gone and the ambulance was nowhere in sight. There were only a few the diggers left and they were eating lunch.

He felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. He went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. He didn’t know what else to do, so he started to play.

As he played a few old beautiful Christian hymns the workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. He played out his heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. He played like he’s never played before for this poor deceased homeless man.

And as he played ‘Amazing Grace,’ it was so I powerful and moving that the workers began to weep. They wept, he wept, they all wept together. When he finished he packed up his violin and started for his car. 

As he opened the door to his car, he overheard one of the workers say, “Man 27 years I have been laying septic tanks outside of the city, not once did anyone play music for us like this before”

I understand from your leaders that a few weeks ago you guys started a sermon series on ‘The Church’ . The goal of this sermon series is for you as a community to better grasp the Biblical design of the church so that you may live meaningful lives as the church in the city of Mumbai. Today I want to pick it up where Jinson left and continue on this topic as we look at what it means to be the people of the Church.

This morning I started with the story of the violinist because when it comes to the topic of church many are like the diggers in the story who enjoyed this melodious music but was totally oblivious and confused as to what its purpose was. 

You see even in the christian community today there are those who regularly attend church and maybe even weekly groups but are still left confused and disillusioned on what it really means to be the people of the church.

Most people have some view of what the church is, based on either their experience or someone else’s experience of Church. 

1. Some view church as just a part of their family tradition: This view is popular particularly in professing Christian communities. It’s simply done as what has always been done without thinking or feeling very deeply about the church. 

–church becomes a place we go to or something we do on Sundays

2. Then there are those who look from the outside and view church as a gathering of good people

This view is popular especially if you did not grow up in a Christian home, somehow we have brought into the idea that church folks are people that are morally superior and follow strict rules and regulations to reach or be closer to God.

Well firstly, if you have been around church folks for more that 5 minutes you will soon get over this idea, you realize that they are also folks that need God’s grace just like you. Secondly the Bible is very clear that Christianity is not primarily about rule-following but being captured and changed by the love of Christ.

3. There are also those who have completely rejected the idea of church

This could be based on painful personal experience to them or to someone they know.

-at times simply not understanding that the communion of saints (church) is also a communion of sinners leads to unrealistic expectations and disappointments. Think of it, if there was a perfect church somewhere when you and I join it and bring our imperfections to it, it will stop being perfect right?

4. Finally, there are those that have taken on the individualism and consumerism in our culture and transported it directly into their expectations and understanding of church approaching it as consumers. Church to them is a supply of religious goods and service that they are to be consumed

-this often leads to treating the church like a buffet line, we like worship in this one place, the preaching in this other place and we love community in this other place that we keep hopping from one place to the next without being known deeply or rooted in one community.

To some degree every single one of us in this room including me have a mixed view of what it means to be the people of the church. 

The good news this morning is that Jesus has not left church to our imagination but has given us much clarity on what it means to be the people of His Church, a people rooted and grounded in Him. So if you have your Bibles would you turn with me to the book of Romans chapter 12 as we read it together.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

The book of Romans is an amazing book that the Apostle Paul writes to the growing Church in Rome. There are some beautiful gospel truth that Paul gives us through this book, From chapters 1-11 Paul covers a variety of deep truth ranging from the the judgement of God against sinners, the righteousness of God offered in Christ, to what it means to be justified by faith in Christ. Now, by the time we come to chapter 12.

He takes this deep and high theological realities and brings it to street level. In the chapter that we just read together Paul shows us how this truth informs the way we live our lives, how we see ourselves and each other as the people of the church. He shows us at least three things to consider this morning from this chapter.

We see that the people the church are

  1. A Worshipping People
  2. A Diverse yet United People
  3. An interdependent People

What do I mean by this? Let’s take our brief time together to unpack what this means.

1.A Worshipping People

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 

In the very start of this chapter Paul’s appeal to us is to remember that we are a people created to worship God. He does not call us to this by giving us a list of do’s and dont’s. He simply calls us to remember the mercies of God offered to us in Christ In fact this is what creates true worship in our hearts.

Now this kind of worship in response to the mercy of God is not limited to singing songs for twenty minutes on Sundays but includes everything in our lives, it affects the way we live our lives on Monday, the way we respond to the person who cuts you off in traffic, the way you react when your colleague or your boss treats you unfairly?

The way we respond to the brokenness and need of our city. This kind of worship informs the way we live out our singleness and extends to the way we treat our spouse or children or spend our finances.

Paul reminds us that at our core, we are people who have been changed by the mercies of God given to us in Christ. Growing in an awareness of this truth starts to transform us from the inside out! 

Now, although we all know this basic truth, here is a reality. There are a million things in our own hearts and in the broken world around us that is distracting us from walking in this truth daily. Let’s face it, you and I struggle to remember this truth daily. 

If you are honest and take an inventory of your week, most of our lives are lived in response to two competing voice in our head and hearts. When we are doing well, when we are hitting our goals. When our day is going well we hear the voice of pride telling us “ Look at you, you are killing it, ‘way to go’, you are doing better than your neighbor.

On days and moments that you are not doing so well we hear the voice of condemnation and shame reminding us how miserable we are, that everyone else is doing well and that our life is spiraling down. Now living our days reacting to these voices will not create joyful worship in our lives. 

As a worshipping people, Paul is calling the church to take the focus of off ourselves and our achievements and failures and look to Jesus, remembering his mercy and grace freely given to us. Friends on our best day and our worst days the best thing about us is that we are the recipients of God’s abundant mercy through Christ.

Now the way that we walk in this truth is by remembering this truth often and we help each other to walk this gospel truth out everyday. This is why we gather on Sunday’s and through the week to sing together of the mercies of God, this is why we sit under the preaching of god’s word that reminds us of the mercies of god. We remind our forgetful hearts about the mercies of God in Christ as we come to the Lord’s table on Sundays. 

The people of the church are a worshipping people called to grow in our experience of God’s mercies.

In addition to this Paul shows us in this chapter that the people of the church are also a diverse yet united people

2.A Diverse yet united People

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

In the next few verses Paul shows us that this worshipping community is also a diverse community. Paul reminds us that the church comprises of people from diverse backgrounds, with diverse stories and a diversity of gifting and talents brought together by Jesus. He uses the analogy of our body and just as the different members of our body has to come together and work together for the body to function in health. 

Now if we were honest about our lives today, the bent of most of our hearts would be to gravitate toward people who look like us and have a similar experience, people who enjoy and like the same things as us and who are maybe even gifted in the same way as we are.

 Paul here exhorts the church against this very bent of our heart. Paul reminds us that God’s grace given to us in Christ should make us people of sober judgement. Here is what I mean by that, an experience of God’s grace frees us from our sinful tendency to define ourselves by our gifting, our experiences, our families of origins or our talents and resources.

The gospel of Jesus gives you and I the primary identity of being sons and daughters to God, a people loved and received by the Father through the finished work of Jesus on the cross. This means frees us to learn, to appreciate and encourage others in the body of Christ that may have a different experience or background than us. This will help us to approach each other with sober mindedness 

Here is what this practically means, as the diverse people of God in the church between each one of us stands Jesus. We now get to relate to each other only through Christ, I get to relate to Saju and Jinson and others in this body through Jesus. I don’t get to go around Jesus, I don’t get to go over Jesus, or under Jesus.

This is not just when everything is going well, even when I feel offended or misunderstood, even when I feel insecure about someone else’s gifting. I don’t get to lash out in anger or be passive-aggressive or refuse to participate and engage.

The Holy Spirit is reminding us that as recipients of God’s grace we are called to see the same grace at work in our brother and sister, we learn to submit to each other, encourage each other and approach each other and work with each in this diverse body.

We are called to move towards each other and fight for unity even when offended or in disagreements. In fact, a gospel formed diversity is necessary for us to grow in a deeper experiential understanding of God’s grace as we learn to give grace and receive grace in community.

Not only is the church a worshipping and diverse yet united people. Paul also reminds us that we are called to live our lives as 

3.An interdependent People

Look at the second half of this chapter, Paul here lists out the things that make you and I a  counter cultural witness of Christ to a watching world.

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Friends, God’s church is a sign and symbol of the rule and reign of Christ. Here is what I mean by that, all through Scripture we see that God’s plan is to put himself to display through the counter-cultural life and witness of His people.

His mercy and care for the world is  to be reflected in the way that His people live here on this earth. Paul gives us a list of things that sets us apart from a Christ followers,| The interesting thing though is that this is not a list that is lived out in isolation. We need each other to live out this list.

Over 59 times the NT mentions the one another’s. Serve one another, love one another, pray for one another, outdo one another in showing honor. Friends, we need each other to live out this list that Paul mentions here. It points us to consider the kind of interdependence that Jesus is calling his church to. Plainly put, we need each other, we need each other way more than we realize, and God has designed it that way. 

As the years pass I realize more and more how dependent I am on God’s grace flowing through the community of His people to faithfully finish the race well. The church does not merely comprise of a few Lone Ranger super Christians. We are a grace formed community of imperfect people whose life together puts to display the patience and mercy of a perfect God. 

Living individualistic lives of isolation is not an option for God’s people.

You and I need an arsenal of varied stories of grace from each other’s lives. We need them to inspire and encourage us to keep running our own race with diligence. We need the encouraging presence and prayers of a brother or sister as we fight sin and face temptations.  We need each other!

Friends, there is going to be seasons in our lives when we find ourselves taking turns to lay on that bed of trials and suffering, simply because that’s what it means to live in a broken world. God has given us the gift of each other to fight for us and to carry us and take us to the presence of Jesus in those seasons. Do we really treasure this gift? We need each other!

There will be a day when God will make his dwelling among his people and we will be rescued from the very presence of sin but even as we wait for that day, Jesus calls us today to rehearse this future reality by living together as worshipping people, a diverse but united people with  interdependent lives that serves as a prophetic witness to a watching world of the coming Kingdom of Christ.

So this morning, as we bring this to a close, maybe you have been attending the gathering church for a while now and maybe you would even call this your home church but you have still not completely given yourself to this community. Maybe you have had reservations about the idea of fully committing to be known by others in this body.

What if the real you would be rejected by others? Is it wise to risk that kind of vulnerability in the church?  If that’s you I want to say Jesus loves you, He does not love the future better version of you but knows the worst moments of your lives and has set His love on you. He invites you to walk in the freedom of being loved by Him and to be known in the community of his people. 

If you are here this morning and you’d say that you’re not a Christian, In the preaching of this word God is actually moving towards you. For you I’d invite you to come to Jesus. The church did not die for you but Christ did. He saves and he’ll add you to this imperfect community of people fitted and held together by Him.