Categories
1 John Sermon

Friendship is always from the heart – 1 John 2: 15-17

Good morning church! How’s everyone doing this morning? Ideally, we would’ve loved to have continued with the hybrid model but recent restrictions on public gatherings obviously means that we need to switch back to a full online service.

Even as I say that I just want to be thankful to God for the opportunity to still connect with each other on a Sunday virtually. I’m thankful to God this morning for the Gospel and I’m thankful for all of you.

As a church we have been going through an exciting series titled “Faith filled Friendships” from 1st, 2nd and 3rd John. The Apostle John has so far given us a few different test kits to help us evaluate our own friendship status with God. The first test kit was that “if we say we know God but don’t keep His commands, then we are not telling the truth – in plain words we are liars”.  Then the second test kit told us that “if we say that we are in the light but hate our brother, then we are still in darkness”. And so today we come to a third test kit as we read 1 John 2:15-17

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life[c]—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

I’ve personally always loved going to the doctor. Fortunately for me, the fear of doctors I don’t believe was ever there so I didn’t mind going to the doctor. One of the things that fascinated me about doctors was the part before the tests are taken. Where the doctor turns into an investigator and asks all different kinds of questions. All the way from asking about my medical history, what kind of symptoms I’ve been showing, if I’ve had past allergies to certain medication etc.

Through these various questions, the doctors attempt to diagnose my illness.  Similarly in today’s passage, it’s almost like the text is asking us various investigative questions to help us evaluate our friendship status with God based on our response to the worldly values & desiresIf we truly are friends with God, then it’ll be also reflected in our reaction and response to the worldly values & desires.

Are we ready for a heart diagnosis this morning? We will be reflecting on three diagnostic questions this morning. Right at the end we’ve got some application points but before that the questions:

1. Do we notice heart idols? (v15)

2. Do we see the deep roots of our heart idols? (v16)

3. Are we trusting in the Gospel today? (v17)

1. Do we notice heart idols? (v15)

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Before we arrive at the definition of heart idols, let’s try to understand what does John mean when he says “Don’t love the world or the things in this world”? Is it meaning that I shouldn’t love my family? Is it meaning that I can’t enjoy eating a plate of biryani? Is it meaning that I can’t enjoy watching sports? Is it saying that “everything is evil in the world, so I need to leave everything and live like a monk”?

No, that’s an extreme unbiblical understanding of the created world. When God created the world and everything in it, He declared it to be “good” in Genesis chapter 1.

But something happened when Adam and Eve sinned against God. Something changed in the dynamics. These very same good things that God had given us to enjoy & be reasons to praise Him now became ultimate things for us! That’s heart idolatry.

Here’s what Pastor Tim Keller says about Idolatry: “Idolatry means turning a good thing into an ultimate thing. We say “unless I have that, I am nothing”.

Some of us would think “I don’t bow down before a carved image made of wood or stone”, but that’s just half of the story. If we’re honest, we’ll admit that we regularly and consistently bow down before the heart idols of people, pleasure, position and possessions. These things in itself were good things as God created them, but in our sin we have made them out to be ultimate things.

In culture, we’ve made the word “idol” to be an aspirational thing: “Indian Idol” “American Idol” but in reality heart idolatry for a person, for pleasures, for position and for possessions is dangerous and harmful.  Why? Because it controls (enslaves) our heart.

It consumes our thought life. It controls the choices and decisions we make to the extent where we will do anything to get it even if it means going beyond God’s wise and protective boundaries.

That’s what loving the world means – it’s heart idolatry (making good things out to be ultimate things) & we must know that’s in the polar opposite direction of being friends with God. James 4:4 speaks about this in a much more direct, confrontational way when it says:

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

Now one of the questions that might come to our minds is that – if I have heart idols right now, does that make me an unbeliever? Is my faith not genuine? Is that what this verse means: If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (v15)

No, it means that a true, genuine believer when he/she is confronted with their heart idols will want to repent and get right with the Father. True believers can’t remain in unconfessed sin.

True can’t remain in unrepentance? Why? Because if God is truly our Father, He will not leave us in a pit of sin. He may discipline us out of His love but He won’t let us be as we are. Secondly, if we are truly his children we can’t go on resisting God’s loving pursuit & call to turn back to Him.

The Spirit in us will convict us & bring us back into the loving arms of our Father. The Spirit constantly tells us “Go back to your Father, enjoy the safety and security in His arms”. Eg: Prodigal Son

At this point – can we just pause and ask ourselves what are our heart idols right now? What’s something or someone that has consumed our thought life over the last week? What’s is something or someone we have made out to be ultimate things – saying that we can’t live without this.   

2. Do we see the deep roots of our heart idols? (v16)

16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life[c]—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Many times when we evaluate our idols, we end up only looking at the surface. So we say things like: “social media is my heart idol, food is an idol” etc. These are true but what we need to understand is that all these idols are extremely deep rooted. In v16 – I think the apostle John is exposing the roots of all of our idols. It can be categorized in 3 ways:

  • Self-gratification (Desire for flesh): Being controlled and shaped by our appetites & cravings of the body. In essence what we are communicating is “my life & purpose is all about satisfying the pleasures of my heart. I won’t stop until all those pleasures are satisfied”.   
  • Self-accumulation (Desire for eyes): Being controlled and shaped by our hunger for money & possessions that attract our greed. In this case, we communicate “my life is all about making loads of money, becoming rich and buying whatever I want to buy. I won’t stop until I get what I want”.  
  • Self-sufficiency (Pride of life): Being controlled and shaped by the security and stability of our earthly resources, skills and knowledge. In this case, we communicate “I’m a self-made individual. I will do whatever it takes to secure my life on the basis of resources, skills and knowledge so that I’ll never need to be dependent on anyone else.”

And this is not new deep roots that just popped up in our life suddenly. I must tell you that these are age-old sinful deep roots that was there in the Garden of Eden. Here’s what it says in Genesis 3:6:

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

  • Good for food – Self-gratification
  • Delight to the eyes – Self-accumulation
  • Desired to make one wise – Self-sufficiency

I would argue that every sin that we commit is a product of one of these or all of these deep-rooted idols. And that’s the heart of rebellion – it’s saying “God, You should not be in the center of my life. You should not dictate what I should or should not do. It’s my life and I chose to live it my way for my pleasures and goals. I can figure this out apart from You”.

Why am I saying all this? To help us realize that merely dealing with the surface level idols isn’t solving the problem. For example, if I say I have a “food idol” – merely taking steps to discipline my eating habits will not remove the root of “self-gratification”. One of the symptoms of COVID-19 that we all know is fever. Now what would happen if we just took a Crocin to treat it? The fever will subside temporarily but that doesn’t do anything to the infection that’s there on the inside. That needs to be treated differently and we need the help of doctors and physicians to help us with that. We can’t self-medicate. Similarly these heart idols are too deep for you and I to do anything about them by ourselves. We really need God’s rescuing grace for this. “Grace” precisely means God doing something for us that we can’t do ourselves. We need grace.

3. Are we trusting in the Gospel today? (v17)

17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

 “Whoever does the will of God” abides forever. What is this will of God that John is telling us to do? John 6:28-29 – 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”  

The disciples were like us – practical people. “Tell us what works should we be doing.” Jesus tells them what you need to do “is believe in me”. But this believing in Jesus is not a passive activity. It’s not something we do intellectually, no believing involves commitment & surrender. Eg: believing that the chair I’m sitting on can hold my weight. So what do we believing Jesus for. 3 final applications:

  • Believe in Jesus’ finished work:

But he was pierced for our transgressions;

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

    and with his wounds we are healed. (Isa 53:5)

First thing we need to realize regarding our heart idols is that on the cross, Jesus Christ paid the entire penalty meant for all the deep-rooted idols in our lives. There’s not a single idol which hasn’t been covered by the blood of our Savior. He paid it in full! So when we are made aware of our heart idols, it’s not something to become fearful or anxious about but rather realize that the payment for these idols have been made by Jesus in full. We can repent immediately as a result of that. We don’t need to delay because the payment is made.

  • Believe in Jesus’ intercession

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:15,16)

Many times in our lives we will be overwhelmed by the extent of our heart idols. Especially when we see repeated patterns of it. But here’s what You are I need to know. We aren’t left alone to deal with our idols. Help is available right now. There is someone (Jesus) understands the temptations of these heart idols. It’s a big statement to know that in every respect Jesus was tempted as we are but without sin.

Yes, Jesus as our perfect Savior didn’t yield to sin but he understands the full force of temptations. So that’s why He is the perfect person to pray for us and ask the Father for the right and appropriate help that is needed. All those times when you’re weary and disappointed, remind yourself and each other – “Help is available because my Jesus is praying for me right now”.

  • Believe in Jesus’ second coming

28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him (Heb 9:28)

The first two applications dealt with reactively responding to our idols. This one is proactively responding to it. What I meant by that is if we know that our bridegroom is definitely coming soon, then in eager expectation we should take radical steps to not put ourselves in positions of compromise. 

Would anyone of us ever approach a bride-to-be (someone who is about to get married) just a day before she’s about to get married and ask her to put on her bridal gown and come and play in the mud? No matter how brave you may be, no one would dare to put forward that suggestion because you’ll get a solid beating.

Her wedding dress is prepared for her to wear on the day when she gets married to her husband and she’ll do everything she can to ensure that it remains clean. The Bible calls us the bride of Christ. Brothers and sisters, our wedding bells are going to ring soon. On that wonderful day when Jesus will rid us completely of every single heart idol. So today we will take steps to keep our wedding clothes ready and clean for that upcoming day.

Categories
1 John Sermon

Friendship with our Heavenly Father: 1 John 2:28-3:3

Good morning church! Hope everyone’s doing good this morning. Just wanted to welcome our friends who have joined us online via Zoom & Facebook Live & our friends who are at the church hall this morning. We pray that the service this morning encourages your heart to move toward God.

As a church we’ve been going through a series titled “Faith-filled Friendship” from the letters of 1st, 2nd and 3rd John. So far we’ve explored quite a bit on what does Friendship with God actually look like. This morning we find ourselves in 1 John 2:28-3:3 where we will try to unpack what does it mean for us to not only be friends with God but also relate with Him as our Father. Brother Saju covered a very similar topic a few weeks back so I’ll be building upon what brother Saju shared with us. Let’s look to God in prayer.

To start with I’ll piggyback on one of the themes that brother Saju asked us a few weeks back. When you and I think of God as Father, what are some thoughts that come to your mind? Do you think about God being distant and absent most of the time? Do you think God have an angry & condescending face toward you? Or do you see think about God as someone who spoils you? Many times these ideas about God come from our broken experiences with our own parents or in our own parenting.

And yet having a right perspective of God being our Father is so essential.

What if I told you that your response to temptations, fears, anxieties & pressures of life today are closely connected to what you think about God & what you think about yourself?

And I’m not referring to our Sunday declarations where we’ll sing that “God is our good Father & we are children of God”. I’m referring to our street level daily lives where we are either living as orphans or as children of God & that has a massive impact on our lives. Therefore, it’s not a small matter. We need to know what it means for us to be children of God. 3 main points from the passage:

1. We’ve been given a new NAME

By new NAME I’m not suggesting that we need to change our names, but rather to remind us that we’ve been given a new identity, a new position in the family of God. We are no longer orphans.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
1 John 3:1

3 things about our new Name:

  • Undeserved Name – “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God”

As believers one of the things that we need to frequently remember is that becoming a child of God is an undeserving gift – it’s not something we could have earned or achieved. It’s not due to our popularity or talent or family background or potential or good looks which made God adopt us. In fact, we have more reason as to why “we don’t qualify & are absolutely unfit to be His children”.  

Ephesians 2:1-3 plainly states: And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Imagine going to the most dangerous jail cell in the world where it holds criminals who have committed the most heinous of crimes and then deciding to adopt them as your family members. Most people will say that is not a good idea & yet isn’t it amazing that God in His love chose to adopt those who were once “children of wrath”. It’s an absolutely undeserving gift.  

  • Costly Name –“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God”

I love the expression of great love being “given” to us so that we can become children of God. When these bible passages are talking about love, it’s not talking about worldly love which is self-centered; where we love someone because they love us back. Biblical love is sacrificial – it’s loving someone even when the other person is not in a position to love back – it’s unconditional. And this kind unconditional love gift came at the expense of Jesus’ own life.

For God so loved the world,[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Jesus was the only man who lived a perfect life in the sight of God and then He took the punishment was meant for the “children of wrath”. He bore our sin & shame and died in our place. Three days later he rose from the dead so that whoever turns away from their life of sin & trusts in Jesus and what He did for us, they will become children of God.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

John 1:12

It’s a costly Name! The price penalty to buy this new Name came at the highest cost of Jesus’ blood.

  • Intimate Name – The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1b)

In this verse, John is telling us that the hostile, opposing response that an unbelieving world has toward God will now be directed toward us as His children.

Although this is a sad reality, but I also want to say that it tells us that our identity is so intimately tied to God’s identity in Christ, that the world responds to us in the same way as it does to the Father. In Acts 9, when Saul as an unbeliever was on an aggressive violent mission to drag Christian believers from Damascus and bring them back captive to Jerusalem, his life had a 180 degree turn when He encountered Jesus.

I find it so interesting that Jesus asks him “Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Jesus didn’t say why are you persecuting the believers or why are you going after the church? No, it was a direct attack on Jesus himself & He needed to intervene. Isn’t it amazing that we as believers have the same privilege? Our name is intimately tied to God’s name.

When I was in college, I volunteered at the VISA Home for 3-4 months. Some of you know that VISA is an orphanage started by a believer called John Abraham (not the actor). During those months, I received insight into their ministry up and close.  

Once I remember, one of the kids received a note from the school. I glanced over and saw that it was addressed to the child and I was amazed that the surname of the child stated “John Abraham”. At that point I realized what a big deal that was. These were children whom he met at Railway Stations in Mumbai. When he met them, they didn’t have a home, they didn’t have a loving family, no safety, no food and no education. He brought them home & then adopted them as his own giving them his own name. Whatever the child did from that point on – good or bad, he was taking the responsibility on himself by becoming their father.

For me that was such a beautiful picture of the gospel right there. When we were lost as orphans with no spiritual protection, impoverished & dying, dirty in our spiritual mess, God reached out to us through Jesus Christ, picked us up and made us his children by giving us a NEW NAME. The day we put our faith in Jesus, he declared “You’re no longer an orphan; You’re mine”.

And one of the struggles that many of us go through in some form or the other is the craving for the approval & validation of others. It could be our parent’s approval, or it could be the approval of our spouse, it could be the approval of our boss or teachers, or the approval of our pastors, or it could be the approval of friends.

We know it’s a problem when our security and joy is dependent on the appreciation or criticism of others. And the gospel frees us by telling us that we’ve received a NEW NAME.

The gospel gives us the security telling us that we are fully and completely accepted and approved in Jesus. The one whose opinion truly matters (God) has given His approval.

2. We’ve been given a new LIFESTYLE

29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. (1 John 2:29)

What John is telling us is that if we truly have become children of Holy God, then holiness would become part of our DNA. Why? Because God’s Spirit in us produces a heart that desires holy living.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Pet 1:14-16)

And as I was reading through this and evaluated my heart, I realized that when I think about “holiness” or “set apart”, I can be selective about the areas of holiness in my life. But that’s not how God sees it. The passage from 1 Peter says “be holy in all your conduct”. Therefore, setting apart of our lives is all-encompassing.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers,[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1)

But does practicing righteousness and holiness mean sinless perfection? No, it means that if we are children of God, we can’t be okay if our relationship is not right with God.  Life is not okay for us if we are not experiencing joyful fellowship with the Father. Remaining in unconfessed sin isn’t a trivial thing for us that can be overlooked.

Just take a look at how the Psalmist describes his life when he was in sin:

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away

    through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;

    my strength was dried up[b] as by the heat of summer.

5 I acknowledged my sin to you,

    and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”

    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (Psalm 32:3-5)

It’s miserable to be in sin but the true believer longs to confess and be right with God. If the relationship with God is real and genuine, then someway or the other repentance will be sought because the relationship matters.

Let’s take a moment to pause for a minute – If you had to think through what are some places where you see selective holiness in your life right now? Or selective unholiness? What would true repentance look like for you?

3. We’ve been given a new HOPE

2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

As children of God, we are in a WIP mode (Work In Progress) – the end goal is to become fully like Jesus. But let me clarify that being like Jesus does not mean being identical to Jesus. Jesus is 100% God and 100% man so we can never be Jesus identically. But being like Jesus means that when He returns our perfected humanity will match his.

Brothers and sisters, being made like Jesus is a wonderful thing – because that will fully be reversing the effects of the Fall. When Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, their physical and spiritual lives got corrupted with sin.

Aging bodies, sicknesses & diseases, physical death & spiritual brokenness are all the disastrous results of the Fall. But here’s the amazing thing – through Jesus all the broken effects of the Fall are being reversed. Which means that our perfected body which we will receive when Christ returns won’t age, won’t experience sickness, won’t experience death & decay and moreover will be fully cleansed from the presence of sin!

And that’s the hope for us brothers and sisters – maybe right now is a season when you’re experiencing the frailty and weakness of the physical body, you need to know that the finished product when Christ comes again will be totally free of that.

Maybe right now you’re in a season where you’re despondent over your patterns of sin, you need to know that the finished product when Christ comes again will be pure and perfect without an iota of sin. Without knowing and believing this truth, our lives will be hopeless and purposeless especially when we see the brokenness of our current lives.

This past week I heard a story of a woman went to the silversmith. Not sure if it’s a true story but I thought the illustration made a lot of sense. The silversmith held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, ‘How do you know when the silver is fully refined?’ He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.’    

Similarly, God is so serious about His commitment in this relationship as a Father that He won’t stop until Jesus Christ is fully seen & made in us. He gives us a New Name, He gives us a Brand New Lifestyle and He gives us a New Hope.

Categories
Philippians Sermon

Joy-filled Identity – Philippians 3:1-11

As we continue our series on “Joy filled life” from the letter to the Philippians, we’ll explore today what a “Joy-filled Identity” is from chapter 3 v1-11. What does that look like? Let’s turn to our passage for today:

[Read Philippians 3:1-11]

1. We all have a flawed Religious Identity (v4-7)

4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law,[c] blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

The context of today’s passage was that Paul being their spiritual father was trying to warn the church to be careful of false teachers who were telling the church that they needed to be circumcised in order to be saved and considered as believers.

Circumcision in the OT was a defining mark of being part of God’s covenant people. It started from Abraham and then got passed on through the generations of the Israelites.

Now circumcision was a preparatory sign used by God but its fulfilment was found in Jesus. Through Jesus, we are not only considered as members of God’s covenant but even more intimately as members of His family (v3).

Now the Philippians were Gentile believers & they came to faith by believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Suddenly these false teachers came in and were trying to tell them that just faith in Jesus wasn’t enough.

They needed to also get circumcised. And that was a dangerous thing to get into. I’ll tell you why.

Imagine someone telling to a person who says they’ve understood the gospel, repented of their sin and trusted in Jesus Christ finishing work on the cross – “Faith in Jesus Christ is okay.

But along with this if you want to be a pakka believer then you must : Change your name, start eating non-veg, stop talking to unbelievers in your home or friend circle, you must live the way a certain spiritual person lives, you must dress like a way a certain person does – only if you do these things you’ll be saved”.

I hope we all can see the danger of the teaching that Christ’s sacrifice is not enough but needs to be supplemented. And this is absolutely wrong which is why Paul uses such strong words for these false teachers.   

And Paul then uses his own example to explain how meaningless it was to trust in his religious identity. In fact he tells them in a sense – if you guys think that it’s important to trust and have confidence in our religious identity before God, then I had more reasons when I was an unbeliever. And he goes on to list it down:

  • Circumcised on the eighth day – as per the law
  • Of the people of Israel – Both his parents were Jews – so Paul was a pure pakka Israelite
  • Of the tribe of Benjamin – It was the only tribe along with Judah that remained faithful to David’s descendants. Also Saul – the first king of Israel came from the same tribe.
  • A Hebrew of Hebrews: He was fully loyal to all the ancestral traditions
  • As to the law, a Pharisee – They were very strict in their interpretation and practice of the law.
  • As to zeal, a persecutor of the church – so zealous was he for the traditions that he went ahead and persecuted the church – arresting them, dragging them violently and also ordering their killing.
  • Righteousness under the law, blameless – in terms of external obedience no one could point a finger at him. He followed everything to the tee.

But after doing all of this, he arrives at the conclusion that “all of this was a loss” – useless -empty! He did all of this and it amounted to ZERO! Now I know as I’m talking about this – many of us probably think – “Hey, I know the gospel message.

I believed it many years back. And I don’t trust in my religious identity anymore – I only trust in Jesus Christ”.  But let’s examine our foundations. How do you know if a building has strong foundations? Not when the weather is pleasant and calm but when it goes through storms and earthquakes and still manages to stand.

Let’s ask ourselves: “How do I respond to God when I fall into sin?

Do we think “God’s mad at me right now. He’s probably really angry with me. Let me avoid God for a few days and hope that the anger goes away”? After a few days do we think “if I spend more time reading the Bible, if I spend more time praying, if I get more involved with the church and immerse myself in church activities, then God might be happy…He might be appeased.

He won’t be angry anymore” Are these the thoughts and responses toward God when we fall into sin? If yes, then we are still in manner or form trusting in our religious identity. At a deep heart level we say and believe that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross isn’t sufficient and needs to be supplemented with our bible reading, praying and service in the church.

Don’t get me wrong – reading the bible, praying and serving in the church are good things and God wants that from all of us but that’s not the reason God approves and accepts us. Those are not the reasons why God calls us His children. 

Many times we forget the sheer impossibility of reaching God by our religious identity. 

This is what Jesus says in Matt 5:20 – For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

What? Is Jesus really saying that my righteousness (works done to be pronounced as upright before God) needs to exceed Paul’s righteousness when he used to be a Pharisee? I mean we just saw the list – in that case it’s virtually impossible for us to enter the kingdom of heaven and fellowship with God if this is the standard. 

Praise God that He didn’t leave us there with our flawed religious identity but in fact 

2. Christ Gifted us a new Identity (v9)

9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith

Many of us might be aware of the story of Derek Redmond. He was a British athlete who holds the record for the 400m sprint in Britain and has won gold medals for his country in the World Championships. 

By the time of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, he was in very good form. He clocked the fastest time of the first round, and went on to win his quarter-final. In the semi-final, Redmond started well, but in the back straight about 250 metres from the finish, his hamstring tore. He hobbled to a halt, and then fell to the ground in pain.

Stretcher-bearers made their way over to him, but Redmond decided he wanted to finish the race. He began to hobble along the track. He was soon joined on the track by his father, Jim Redmond, who barged past security and on to the track to get to his son.

Jim and Derek completed the lap of the track together, with Derek leaning on his father’s shoulder for support. And in a sense that’s the picture of us who need to trust in the faithfulness of Christ. Our own religious identity that we build for ourselves can’t get us to the finish line. We are disabled and injured and we desperately need the help of Jesus to carry us to the end.

Right throughout the Bible – that’s been the message of grace. God never tells us – fix yourselves. Straighten up. In fact the message us – You can’t do it yourself. You need a Savior. And He will give you an identity you cant earn or purchase by ourselves. The Greek word used for “faith” also means “faithfulness” in this text.

This righteousness has been gifted to us through the “faithfulness of my Savior Jesus Christ”. He came for you and me. He is the only one who has ever lived and will ever live a perfectly righteous life. And then willingly laid down His life to show His commitment and faithfulness toward us.

He rose again on third Day declaring His victory over everything that enslaved us. And for everyone who comes to Him in humility – losing their flawed religious identity – not my Bible reading, not my Bible knowledge, not my spiritual activities, not my good efforts at living a life – all the crutches that they are holding onto and desperately call on Him to save – He will save and will gift them a New Identity – His own identity. That’s the beauty of the gospel message – Christ’s righteousness not attained but gifted! 

But what’s the purpose of this gifted identity? 

3. The purpose of the Gifted Identity is for Intimacy (v8,10-11)

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

At one time our religious identity was used to earn favor and approval from God which we couldn’t because it was flawed. But if God has now approved and accepted us fully in Christ Jesus, what is the point of the identity? It is for INTIMACY! To know Him better. And that makes total sense! 

Imagine you were drowning in the sea calling out for help. You called out loudly but no one heard you and no one came to help. But then one man saw you from a distance at the shore, had compassion on you and jumped into the sea – risking his life to save you.

He pulls you out and saves your life. What’s your response going to be toward him? Extreme gratitude and indebtedness. Yes, absolutely but also you want to know him. I want to know this person better who risked his life to save me.

Not only would I now want to know him but now I’ll want to testify about him. When I speak to my family, friends and colleagues and tell them about my incident, I’ll always tell them about the man who saved my life. 

Now Christ has not just saved us for our earthly lives but He has saves us for eternity! Why is this important for us? It’s important because it reminds our heart that everything that we do is to enable us to know Christ.

If I’m reading the Bible or studying theology – the goal is to know Christ and testify about Him. If I’m serving the church in some way – the goal is to know Christ and testify about Him.

If I’m sharing the gospel with someone – the goal is to know Christ and testify through that experience. If I’m obeying Scripture – the goal is to know Christ and testify about Him. Intimacy is the goal!

Categories
Mark Sermon

I Am – Mark 14:53-65

Good morning Gathering. It’s great to be with you this morning and privilege to open the Word of God together. I hated to be out the last couple of weeks, but I had the opportunity to preach at two other churches in the city. And that’s something that we definitely value, because we’re for the gospel in our city! We want to see a whole host of Bible-believing, gospel-centered, God-glorifying churches throughout Mumbai. So, while I certainly don’t like to miss out on our time here at the Gathering, it was great to serve a couple of other churches in our area.

But, it’s good to be back and I’m excited to jump back into The Gospel of Mark with you. If you have a Bible with you this morning, I’d invite you to turn there with me to Mark chapter 14. It’s hard to believe that, after so many months in Mark, we have nearly arrived at the crucifixion.

Jesus and His disciples have just observed the Passover meal. It’s this beautiful time where Jesus reorients the Passover around Himself. He essentially put Himself as the object of the Passover and, in doing so, He instituted the Lord’s Supper (which we’ll observe at the end of our time together this morning).

And the instruction that Jesus gives during that meal (and as He washes the disciples feet) is incredible. You need to look at the other gospels to get the fuller context of what Jesus taught during that time (John’s gospel is particularly helpful on this)…

It’s really during the last supper that we see this shift toward the abandonment of Jesus by His followers. He reveals that one of the disciples will betray Him and that’s exactly what happens. Judas goes and gets the soldiers and brings them to Jesus. He reveals that Peter will deny Him. And, as you know, that’s exactly what happens. === === We’ll see next weekend Peter deny Jesus 3 times when he’s faced with questions about their relationship. And all of the other disciples fled & abandoned Jesus after His arrest in the Garden. You could say that the theme of chapter 14 in Mark, particularly the last 1/2 of the chapter, is abandonment. And this is where we come to our text for this morning; verses 53-65. This is after Jesus is arrested in the middle of the night. Mark gives us a picture of Jesus standing before the Jewish ruling council. I’ll read this for us and then we’ll go to the Lord in prayer and ask for His help in understanding what we’ve read.

“And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.'” Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows.” (Mark 14:53-65)

Here’s how I’d like to handle this. I’m going to take some time and break down what’s actually happening here. We’ll talk about some of the details of the trial and what’s underlying those details with the goal of arriving at God’s purpose for all of this. But, before we get to those details, I want to frame the conversation for us in light of how Mark has been leading us through the entire book. You might remember, back in chapter 8, we identified the turning point in the Gospel of Mark.

Do you remember when all of the people were trying to figure out who Jesus is. Some of them are thinking He’s John the Baptist. Some think that He’s Elijah or one of the other prophets. And then Jesus looks at His disciples and asks a question. And, it’s not just “a question,” it’s really “THE QUESTION” because it’s the question that is posed to every one of us as well. In fact, you might write this question down because we’re going to come back to it at the end of our time. Anyone remember the question? “WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?”

What we said when we preached that text is that this is where things begin to change in Mark’s gospel. Things begin to pick up speed. They begin moving toward one climactic point, sort of like you’ve just begun accelerating toward the peak of a mountain.

This interaction with the High Priest and the Jewish Council is that climactic point. Where Ciaphas asks Jesus directly, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” We need to remember that, up until this point Jesus has been silent. He’s concealed who He really is because His time had not yet come (we hear that phrase repeated throughout the 4 gospels: “My time has not yet come.”).

And so, Jesus mostly kept His identity veiled. It was only to His disciples that He revealed who He truly was, and they didn’t really even understand what He was talking about. Yes, Peter gave the right answer when Jesus asked, “Who do you say I am?” Peter said, “You are the Christ!” But, even then, Jesus said, “That answer didn’t come from you Peter, but from the Father in Heaven.” And we know that Peter didn’t get it because, immediately after that, Peter tried to rebuke Jesus and Jesus called Him Satan (which is less than awesome if you’re Peter). And then, of course, we have Peter’s denial of Jesus which (as I said) we’ll look at next weekend.

All of that to say that the disciples didn’t really even understand it. Jesus was hidden. He was concealed. His glory was veiled up to this point. Even in the way He taught people, with parables, Jesus said that was so the people didn’t really understand what He was talking about. And so, Jesus has remained silent.

Even through His betrayal, through His arrest, through all of these false accusations, Jesus has said nothing up until this point. That shouldn’t surprise us because of Isaiah 53:7: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”

He was arrested & oppressed; He spoke not. He was afflicted & accused; He gave no defense. But all of that changes in verse 62. Jesus is asked if He is the Christ (meaning the Messiah) & the Son of the Blessed (which is how they would have referred to God, out of respect).

So, “Are you the Messiah? Are you the Son of God?” And here we have it! This is it! This is the moment that God pre-determined before the foundation of the world where He would reveal who Jesus really is. And, Jesus doesn’t just give AN answer to the High Priest’s question, He gives THE ANSWER. Just like, “Who do you say that I am” isn’t A question, it’s THE question. Jesus gives THE ANSWER in this text. He says, “I AM!”

Now, I wanted to highlight that before we even start breaking down what’s happening in the text because we have such a strong tendency to miss the main thing. Just like the religious leaders missed it. Just like the disciples didn’t see it clearly. We have a tendency to miss things, especially in a text that we’re so familiar with like this one. But, this is too important for us to miss. This isn’t just the key moment in the Gospel of Mark. This represents the key moment in each one of our lives as well. Here it is:  “WHO DO YOU SAY JESUS IS?” That’s our main idea this morning:  “WHO DO YOU SAY JESUS IS?”

Everything in your life is driving you toward that question, and nothing even comes close to how important that question is for you. Not your family. Not your job. Not a relationship. Not money. Not circumstantial happiness. Not all of those things combined. Everything else pales in comparison! When you consider the scope of eternity and the reality of eternal union with God in heaven, or eternal separation from God in hell.

And, when you consider the fact that your eternal destination is determined by this question in your heart:  “WHO DO YOU SAY JESUS IS?” Everything else pales in comparison to the importance of that question. So, as we go through this text, I want for that question to be right on the forefront of your heart. As we look at Jesus here, as we think about what’s happening, I want you to be asking yourself, “Who Do I Say Jesus Is?”

Now, let’s back up and work our way through this with hearts that are expectant to see Jesus for who He reveals Himself to be. And, maybe we could just start by breaking down the details of what’s actually happening. First, there are some things that we need to understand about this trial itself; starting with the fact that this wasn’t even a trial. It was illegal, based on Jewish law in a whole bunch of ways.

— It took place at the High Priest’s home, not in a public space.
— Judas was bribed in his betrayal of Jesus.
— Witnesses were paid to give their testimony.
— Those witness lied.
— It was illegal to have a trial at night.
— It was illegal to pass a verdict at night.
— It was illegal to hold a trial on a holiday (including the day before and day after).
— It was illegal to pursue a death sentence before a crime was established.

Let’s be clear, This wasn’t a trial! In fact, we know exactly what this was because Mark tells us exactly what this in chapter 14, verse 2. “The Chief Priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him…” The purpose of the Jewish council wasn’t to determine guilt or innocence here.

The purpose was to get rid of Him by having the Romans put Him to death. That’s what they wanted. They wanted to kill Him, And, because they had already determined the end, they justified whatever means they thought were necessary to arrive at that end. Bribery, lying, illegal procedure, breaking all kinds of other laws. None of it mattered to them because they had determined that they were right, and so they justified their actions. That’s what’s actually happening here.

Now, let me pause for just a moment and make a couple of observations (points of application) that I think we have to consider for our own lives. I want to be clear; these aren’t the main point that I’m driving at. The main point is Jesus looking at you and asking, “Who do you say I am?” But, there are definitely some things that we can learn here that are really important for our lives. Let me give you 3 things that I think we need to understand.

1st — The end never justifies the means, if the means violate God’s written or moral law. Let’s be honest, we are sinful & full of pride. We have a lot of blind spots, especially when it comes to our idolatry. And, if you think you don’t have blind spots, then you probably have more than the person sitting next to you. We are blind to our blindness.

And, because of that, it is not uncommon for us to believe that we’re right and begin justifying decisions & behaviors that are clearly outside of what God has communicated in Scripture. That’s what these religious leaders did. They were convinced they were right about Jesus and so they justified all kinds of things that were clearly wrong.

But, here’s the problem:  THEY WERE WRONG ABOUT JESUS. And, the fact that they were doing all kinds of wrongs things in order to condemn Him should have been a clue that they were wrong.

We need to be very careful with this same kind of pride in our lives. Where we’ve convinced ourselves that we’re right about something, and so we’re doing things that are compromising what God has called us to in Scripture. And it’s all just an effort to accomplish the end that we’ve determined needs to be accomplished. We have to be very careful with that because: A) You could be wrong. And B) If you’re doing things outside of what God has clearly communicated in Scripture, you’re definitely wrong. That’s the first thing.

The 2nd — Righteousness always operates in the light. Wickedness always operates in the darkness. The reason the the Council was doing all of this shrouded in darkness; in the middle of the night; when everyone was asleep; trying to get this thing wrapped up before daybreak, is because it was wicked. If this was the right thing, why not have a public trial? Why not bring charges and allow for other witnesses to be brought? Why do everything so quickly and under the cover of darkness? Because it was evil!

We must understand that this is how the enemy operates. And, by the enemy, I primarily mean our flesh. The enemy always wants to operate in darkness & isolation. When we think about our lives (our attitudes; our actions; our words; our interactions with other people), we should always be aware of whether we’re operating in the light or in the dark.

Are we open with people or are we trying to conceal things? Are we subjecting that issue or pattern of behavior to a biblical community, or are we isolating from community? Those are great evaluative questions that will help you diagnose if you’re operating in a way that honors God and most glorifies Him.

3rd — (and this is probably the most important) — God is sovereign over everything, including our sin, and will accomplish His purposes. I want to be abundantly clear on this: God purposed all of this before the foundation of the world.

This is happening completely under the umbrella of providence & His sovereign control. There are no accidents in God’s economy because He is all sovereign, all knowing and all powerful. That’s the pattern that see over & over again throughout Scripture. Where God is sovereignly orchestrating circumstances in a way that accomplishes His purposes, brings Him glory and also in a way that work for our ultimate good.

So, here we are. At a trial, that really isn’t a trial. In the dark. Jesus has been abandoned by those closest to Him. This council has already pronounced judgement on Him. They’re just waiting for that one “gotcha” moment that will seal the deal and allow them to hand Him over to the Romans. And, because He purposed to do it from before the beginning of the Universe, Jesus gives them that “gotcha” moment.

“You’re saying that you’re the Christ? You’re saying you’re the Messiah, the Son of God? Is that who you are?” Jesus looks at them and says, “I AM! And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

And there it was. That’s what they were looking for. It’s funny because all of this other stuff about tearing down the Temple, and building it back up, and all of the false witnesses that couldn’t agree with each other. They should have just led with this question because Jesus’ time had come.

Let’s break down this answer quickly, and then we’ll get back around to our main idea. First, there’s so much in that phrase, “I AM.” Jesus says, “I am:

— the one your fathers have been waiting for
— the one to bring about God’s Kingdom
— the one that God promised to Abraham
— the one He promised to Moses
— the son of David promised to your ancestors
— the one who was promised to Malachi and the rest of the prophets
— the one who was promised in the garden to crush the serpent
— the fulfillment of all the law & the prophets
— the one who has come to take the sins of the whole world upon my body— the way, the truth & the life… and the only way to be reconciled to God
— YES!!! I AM!”

We could actually spend another couple of hours talking about everything that is wrapped up in that phrase “I AM.” Needless to say, Jesus’ answer carries a lot of weight. But notice that that’s not all He says. He says, “And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” He’s referring to a couple of messianic prophecies in the Old Testament; one in Psalm 110 and one in Daniel 7.

Psalm 110:1 — “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Psalm 110:5 — “The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.”

Jesus isn’t just saying, “this is who I am”, He’s pointing specifically to Himself as the fulfillment of prophecies about the coming Messiah.

Daniel 7:13-14 — “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

Jesus is cementing His answer of “I AM” by linking it to the Old Testament prophesies about the Messiah. He is declaring that He will be vindicated in His resurrection and ascension, as the Son of Man. And that’s why, in verse 64, they charge Jesus with blasphemy. It’s because He’s claiming to be God. These religious leaders knew exactly what it meant when Jesus said, “I AM” and then quoted those two texts.

And so, they condemn Him because they didn’t see Him for who He truly is. And, this is where we come back full circle. This is the question for us this morning:  Do you see Jesus for who He is, and have you submitted your whole life to Him?

This is not a matter of intellectualism. I’m not asking you to agree with who Jesus says He is. Satan and the demons are far better theologians than we will ever be. They know exactly who Jesus is. I am talking about whole life submission to Jesus as your Lord.

If you are here this morning and you are not a Christian, please understand this. We will all see the Son of Man, seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of Heaven. The manner in which we see this will be determined by the question, “Who do you say I am?” This determines whether we see Him under the wrath of God, or under the righteousness of Christ.

If you are here this morning and you are a Christian, please consider this. Are there areas of your life that you’re holding back and not submitting them to His rule & reign? Are there areas where you’ve determined you’re right about and so, you’re blind to the fact that you’ve put that thing above God in your heart?

Categories
1 Peter Sermon

Vision 2019

Good morning church! Earlier this week I received some really sad news about one of my clients. He passed away due to lung cancer at the age of 36. Professionally he was doing great – had a Senior Management role in a Top MNC, had a great pay package and many years of work experience. He was also a very knowledgeable client – way ahead of his contemporaries in terms of knowing what’s the latest in technology.

He had a nice sweet family – wife and a little daughter. People would’ve envied his life. No one would’ve imagined that he would be diagnosed with an advanced stage of lung cancer in May last year. On December 31st when everyone around the world prepared to party into the new year, he breathed his last and passed away. I was obviously shocked by this news but what saddened me even more was to think that he died without knowing Jesus & failed to live out his life with eternity in mind. All of his accomplishments didn’t matter in the end.

All the money didn’t matter in the end. The picture – perfect life didn’t matter in the end. This made me once again think about what should our purpose in life be. If today is our last day on this earth, can we look back and say that we lived life with an eternal purpose? Or was it lived only to make money or a name for ourselves? As a church what should our purpose be – is it just meeting on Sundays or are we called as a church for something more? As I thought about this question about purpose, my mind moved toward a passage from 1 Peter 2:9-10

I believe this passage reminds us about two things: Identity and Activity!

1. Identity
What we mean by identity is trying to answer the question “Who am I?”. “At the core of my being, who am I really?” In the world people try to answer this question by doing more stuff assuming that more stuff and more accomplishments will create a better identity. However, if you are a believer in Christ you are given an identity – not earned but gifted to you – and it’s the best identity ever! So let’s see what are the different aspects of our identity in Christ:


a. Chosen race (v9)

We have been chosen by God – it literally means handpicked and selected. Wow! The thought of God personally selecting us to be his people. And this takes it to another level when we realize that God chose us in Christ even before the foundations of the world. (Eph 1:3) Now just before we pat our backs and think that we had to do something with it, let’s remember that God’s choice was not based on our talents or works.

And that’s radically different from the way the world works. I remember giving my name for the cricket tournament that was being organized in my building. If it were left up to my skill level, I would for sure not get selected. Fortunately, they had some kind of auction and I was added to one of the teams. We know how it works in the world. We only get selected for something if we have the ability or skill for it. But in God’s kingdom, it’s the opposite.

He comes not for the righteous but for the sinners. (Mk 2:17) God doesn’t choose the qualified, rather He qualifies those whom He chooses. You’ll actually find God’s chosen race look very different than what the world would expect. It will contain the worst, the least, the unlikely and the unexpected. Why? So that the world will see and know how good and great is our God!

b. Royal Priesthood (v9)

The word priest actually means a minister appointed to serve God. The priests also represented the people when they came before God. They would offer sacrifices on behalf of the people before God. Their role was a very important part of God relating with His people. This was all foreshadowing the true High Priest – Jesus Christ. As a result of believing in Christ, we have now been given a role of royal priests.

If someone came up to you and asked you to show them to a priest, what comes to your mind? You’ll automatically think about the pastors of your church or the church leaders or the priest from the Catholic church. But it’s an astonishing statement that all of us who believe in Jesus are “royal priests” called to serve the Most High God. But what’s our job description? It’s obviously not sacrificing bulls and goats but rather giving thanks to God and producing works of love and generosity. (Heb 13:15-16)

c. Holy Nation (v9)

This is something that I find it difficult to grapple with. How is it possible that unholy people are called to form a Holy Nation? I understand that because He is Holy, His nation would also need to be Holy. I know that God is an impartial Father who will judge every deed that has been done on the earth. (1 Pet 1:15-17) but I don’t understand why would He chose unholy people like us to be a part of it.

I mean even our good works and our best works are like filthy rags!!! (Isa 64:6) I know my thoughts and my words and my action – I can’t possibly be asked to be a part of a Holy Nation. If I enter a Holy Nation, I would make it unholy!!! And that’s where the amazing truth of Jesus Christ comes in. He who knew no sin became sin so that in Him we could be the righteousness of God! (2 Cor 5:21) We are unholy but because of Christ, His pure and Holy life has been placed upon us. It’s like Jesus exchanged His pure robe with us for our dirty laundry. That’s how we become a Holy Nation. – because of Him.

d. People for His own Possession (v9)

We are God’s treasured possession! We belong to Him only! We are His. I think this idea of belonging to each other has made more sense through marriage. In my marriage with Angie, by God’s grace there is this amazing joy and security in the fact that we belong to each other. We treasure each others lives. And that also causes us to be protective of each other. If someone tries to attack either spouse, we are going to stand up and protect each other because we belong to each other. Attacking my wife means attacking me personally.

And in our relationship with God, because we are God’s treasured possession He also stands up for us when we are attacked by accusations and condemning words. Romans 8 says “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that who was raised – who is at the right hand of God who indeed is interceding for us”. Every thing that needed to be done to protect Jesus’ bride – the church from condemnation and accusation was done on the cross. And now we can rest knowing that we are His and His only.

Isn’t this amazing?? What a wonderful identity! But this identity of being a chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation is not an end in itself. It leads us to activity!

2. Activity
We’ve been given this wonderful identity so that we can declare and celebrate the character and works of a gracious God! For people who have been saved – our hearts, our focus & our conversations change. Christ changes our desires, He changes our goals and He changes our language. Now you might say…Jinson you’ve said the big broad statement, but what does this actually mean? How can I proclaim the excellencies of God? How can I declare and celebrate the character and works of a gracious God in my daily life? Peter uses 3 ways to express this:-

a. Darkness to light

Just imagine being in a dark room. No window and so there’s no reflection of light. You are literally blinded. And that’s what being in sin looks like. We live a life ignorant of God, showing Him no respect and also not paying attention to how it affects us and others. All of this is accompanied with ungodliness and immorality results in us taking the highway to hell.

Now think about someone switching on a really bright light in that room. So bright that now you are blinded by this radiant light.  And that’s what being saved by Christ and brought into God’s presence is like – pure, extraordinary, brilliance way beyond our mind and comprehension.

What a privilege to now be in the presence of God! All of this begins to change the way we live every day. So we get plenty of opportunities to testify to our neighbors, colleagues at work, friends and family – telling them about the great change that God has brought about in our lives. As a church this year we want to focus on having Gospel Communities based out of neighbourhoods.

We encourage each of you to think about your society, your building, your home and pray for opportunities to tell them about this wonderful God who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. It’ll be so exciting to see a few GC’s start in new areas where there was no gospel before.

b. Not a people but now God’s people

At one time we were separated from God and each other but now in Christ we have been accepted by God and joined to each other. At one time we were lost and abandoned but now we are found and added to God’s family.  The language throughout this passage is clear. When God saves you, He joins you to His family – the church. We live in culture that is highly non-committal – it’s always telling you to run away from commitment.

Culture says don’t marry – just live in together. Culture says you don’t need to marry one person your whole life – just have a string of relationships. And we know how this can be really destructive to lives and families but I want to tell you how this mentality can also hurt the church.

When believers don’t commit to each other but only meet and hang around as long as it’s convenient and comfortable, they end up hurting the other each other than caring for them. The moment things get difficult and complicated, they hop to another church and this hurts their own spiritual lives the most. Knowing this, we as a church we will be moving towards covenant membership and we’ll invite you to formally covenant with this church. We see this as God’s design to care and grow the church keeping your best interests in mind.

c. Had not received mercy to receiving mercy

Have you ever thought what it means for God to show mercy? Remember God is not stingy when He shows mercy…He pays the highest cost to show mercy! We see the depth of His mercy when He sends His precious Son to die on the cross so that we could be protected from the wrath that comes upon sinners & receive all the spiritual blessings graciously. God delights in showing us mercy!!! God does that so that we would know Him and love Him even more as we witness His mercy.

Some of us till now have  only experienced an intellectual understanding of mercy. We know what the gospel is intellectually but it’s not causing us to love Jesus more. It’s not causing us to know Him more. You still view God’s mercy as though someone was showing compassion on a stranger. No, God shows you mercy so that you would grow in an intimate relationship with Him. He is your Father and He desires for you to know Him that way. And experiencing God’s mercy causes us to bend that mercy outwards.

You cannot say that you are experiencing the grace of God and yet be greedy! If you are truly experiencing God’s grace in your life, how can you be satisfied without investing into someone else? If you are truly experiencing God’s grace in your life, how can you not help someone else know and obey Christ? We know how God has called us to be disciple-makers & we want to focus on 1 on 1 discipleship this year. I’d encourage you to find someone in church or in your life whom you can chose to walk with closely with, study Scripture with and model how to obey Christ.

As elders we really desire that you love and obey Christ as you’ve never done before in this coming year. We want you to live out the amazing identity that leads to spiritual activity! And whenever it is our last day on this earth, we want all of us to be confident that our lives were lived with eternity in mind.

Categories
Mark Sermon

How should Christians view Divorce – Mark 10:1-12

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I’m excited to return back to the Gospel of Mark, but what we covered in our short series “Living out our Identity in Christ” was indeed refreshing and a beautiful reminder.

The passage we will be looking at today is from Mark 10:1-12 and the subject we will be dealing with is “How should Christians view Divorce“?

I want you to know that as I am preaching on the topic of Divorce this morning, both Jane and I have been dealing with a divorce situation with a very close Christian family.

The husband, who is also a father of two children, came home one day and told his wife that he is no more in love with her, he doesn’t find her attractive and that he has no feelings for her. And therefore, he wants a divorce from her.

As we walk with the family, we’re experiencing how devastating and painful it is for the wife and for the children. And while preparing for this sermon, I couldn’t stop thinking of how immature and foolish we can behave without having the right understanding of the Gospel truth concerning marriage.

We think we know these truths but when hardships, trails & temptations come our way they reveal the true state of our heart.

Today as we walk through Mark 10:1-12 and talk about Divorce I am happy for the opportunity God has given me to give you a godly perspective on this topic. As most of you sitting here are young men and women who are yet to get married, I want you to listen carefully and allow the Holy Spirit to convict your heart of sin patterns that if not dealt with can destroy your future relationships.

And as God reveals those sin patterns repent and believe in the Gospel and let these gospel truths transform your life.

I also believe this sermon will present to you the Church’s position on the subject of divorce so that you know what to expect from the leaders when such a situation arises.

If you have your bibles, let’s turn to Mark 10:1-12

To give you the context of this passage, as Jesus continues his ministry, the Pharisees envied him for his fan following and would look for opportunities to trap him. Their main intention was to turn the people against him.

Today’s passage is one such incident where the Pharisees pose a controversial question to Jesus. And the question was “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?“.

There may have been a couple of reasons why the Pharisees asked that question, and I don’t think I want to spend time exploring that aspect. But whatever the motives of the Pharisees were I’m glad that it opened an opportunity for us to get a godly perspective on the matter of divorce, and that too from the author of life himself.

When the Pharisees posed the question on divorce, Jesus replies with another question saying “What did Moses command you?” and they answered saying “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.”

In other words, what Jesus was saying to them was that “it was not meant to be that way, but because of your hardness of heart & unwillingness to change Moses had to write that. If Moses hadn’t permitted divorce in that situation, you men would have done something even worse.”

And then Jesus goes on to tell them how in the beginning when God created male and female, the idea of joining them together was God’s design and that no man has the right to separate what God joined, and if a divorced man or women re-marries while the other partner is still alive or single, it is sinful in the eyes of God.

Obviously, there are a lot of practical questions in your mind relating to each one of the statements mentioned above, perhaps I will answer some of them. But what I want to do today is to turn our hearts to God because the goal of this message is not to give tips on how to protect your marriage from divorce.

The purpose of the message is to help us love Jesus and seek his Kingdom more than our spouse. It’s also to show you how in doing so, God protects and preserves our marriage, ultimately Glorifying His name on the Earth.

I want to put across three words that will help you unpack this passage for us and help us meet our goal.

Covenant

There are two basic kinds of relationships – Consumer relationship and Covenant relationship.

Consumer relationship is the kind of relationship we have with our local vegetable vendor. As long as he supplies fresh vegetables for a reasonable price, we will buy vegetables from him. But the day he stops giving us fresh, good quality vegetables, we will quit going to him and instead approach another vegetable vendor.

In a consumer relationship, our needs are more important than the relationship itself.

This is how the ungodly view Marriage, as long as they get what they want they will stick with that relationship. The day they stop getting what they want they want to get out of that relationship.

On the other hand, a Covenant relationship is a kind of relationship between a parent and the child. No matter how much mischief our children get into and the tantrums they throw, we don’t abandon them and go pick up another child.

Concerning marriage when Jesus said “At the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

From the words of Jesus we clearly understand that marriage was meant to be a Covenant relationship and not a Consumer type relationship.

The term “one flesh” comes from the Genesis account of the creation of Eve. Genesis 2:21-24 describes the process by which God created Eve from a rib taken from Adam’s side as he slept.

Adam recognized that Eve was part of him—they were in fact “one flesh.” The term “one flesh” means that just as our bodies are one whole entity and cannot be divided into pieces and still be a whole, so God intended it to be with the marriage relationship. There are no longer two entities (two individuals), but now there is one entity (a married couple).

And therefore, in a covenant relationship, the relationship between the two is more important than the interest of each individual before they were united.

An even better example of the covenant relationship is the relationship between God the Father, the creator of this universe, with his chosen children, us.

When we read the Bible, we see a plan that was established in eternity past when God, Son and the Holy Spirit covenanted together to redeem us. We understand how God keeps his covenant that even while we were sinners, he sent his son Jesus to die for our sake.

For God, relationship with us was more important.

Therefore, a marriage relationship can be protected from divorce only when we understand and Covenant relationship. And in a covenant relationship separation is not an option.

Violation

The second word I want us to remember is Violation.

Violation, in legal terms, means ‘the action of breaking a contract or an agreement.”

If marriage is a covenant, divorce is a violation of the covenant we make with our spouse. A marriage between two believers in God’s presence, witnessed by God’s people is a Sacred and Holy union – It is what God has joined together.

In verse 9 & 11, 12 Jesus said, “what God has joined together, let no one separate. Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Jesus is not just talking about outsiders who create divisions in a marriage, but the husband and wife themselves have no right to separate what God has joined  – No matter what excuse you have it doesn’t matter.

Separation through Divorce is a direct violation of Gods original design for marriage – even in case, the other partner is caught in adultery.

If you dig deep into the root of divorce, it is selfishness, pride, unwillingness to change, unwillingness to forgive, reluctance to bear with each other, unwillingness to humble one’s self; it is deeply rooted in sin.

In God’s loving kindness through his covenant relationship when He created us in his image, he gave us a free will, so that willfully we would obey him, honor him and Glorify him. But in the garden of Eden, we violated all his commands.

And because of Adam and Eve’s violation of God’s commands, we too are born sinful.

Since the time we were born all we do, day in and day out is violate God’s Holy commands and refuse to bind ourselves in God’s loving covenant relationship. We try to attain freedom and power and dominion without God, not realizing that the devil’s lies and deception.

The devil told Eve that by disobeying God “You will certainly not die”, “That when you eat from the tree (God commanded not to eat) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Instead, we had to face the consequences of our disobedience, our spirit died and became eternally condemned to death. God cast mankind out of the circle of trust, bond and fellowship they shared and more devastating was that it broke our relationship with our loving creator God who meant it all for good.

The evil we see around today in our generation is the repercussions of our broken relationship with our Creator. The tendency to violate God’s Holy command is what is also seen in a divorce situation.

Restoration

But this is the beauty of Gods covenantal relationship with us. Even though we violated all his commands, we sinned, we rebelled, we disobeyed.

In Psalm 103:10 the psalmist writes “But God did not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved us, that he gave his only Son, to die for us, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

In Romans 5:8 Paul writes “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.

Isn’t that a beautiful expression of a covenant relationship?

In Jeremiah 2:13 the prophet says by worshiping idols under every green tree we committed adultery against the Lord, like a faithless wife who leaves her husband we too were drowning in our sin.

But Jesus, who is also called as our bridegroom came back for his bride, to take all our guilt and shame, clean us from all our iniquities and  restore our souls. He died for our sake and later rose again victoriously, sitting at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for us.

And all that is required from us it to repent of our sins and fall in love with Jesus and put our trust in him.

And when we find ourselves in a relational issue, especially marriage, here’s how our response should look like.

Just, as our heart and flesh tend to violate God’s commands day in and day out. We need to change this pattern by going to God day in and day out, repenting of our sins and putting our faith in his son Jesus – Remembering the Gospel, adorning Christ, mending back our relationship with our creator God.

And as we do that, the Spirit of God deals with the root Sin, deals with our selfishness, deals with our pride, with our unwillingness to change, our unwillingness to forgive, unwillingness to bear with one another. Eventually restoring our hearts back to God.

I believe if our friend who just decided to divorce his wife had a genuine love relationship with God, he would have never even thought of separation. Christ’s love would have compelled him to love his wife as Christ loved him. Not based on feelings or outward appearance but because of the covenant relationship, he was into.

Finally, based on what we’ve learnt so far, I want to share three practical advice that you should apply to your situation.

  1. If you are unmarried and looking out for a partner, don’t marry someone who merely calls himself/herself a believer, but marry the person who’ve truly understood the Gospel, knows what a covenant relationship means and is genuinely in love with Jesus.
  2. If you are already married, my advice to you is to live a Gospel-centered life, know that your marriage is covenant relationship united by God, love Jesus more than your spouse, and whether in good times or bad times, whether your partner is believer or an unbeliever – Let your life display the fruit of the Spirit. Love, Serve and Submit to one another in all humility.
  3. If you are divorced, my advice to you is repent before God, and believe in the Gospel. If your spouse is still alive, single, believer of Jesus and willing to reunite, make every effort to restore that relationship back.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]