Tag: Word

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James Sermon

Wisdom from above – James 3:13-18

Good morning church! Hope everyone is doing okay.

As a Church we’ve been going through a preaching series called “Faith in Action” from the letter of James.

It’s personally been such an enriching and challenging series for my heart personally. It feels like each week that I’ve been shaken up from the comforts of my Christian walk & challenged to evaluate the current status of my faith.

I’m sure similarly this series has been a blessing to you all as well. Right now we find ourselves in the middle of James chapter 3 & “spoiler alert” – this is another challenging passage for us this morning – but as believers, that’s a wonderful thing because we know that these challenging passages turn our hearts back to the gospel.

Let’s dive into it and read the passage once more:

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

“I thought there was nothing worse that could happen in 2020 and then came the power outage!”

Those were the words of a Mumbaikar that was put out on social media referring to the power grid failure on Monday morning.

And those words I’m sure resonated with many people because it has been a roller coaster of a year for all of us.

Everyone is searching for wisdom on how to make sense of this COVID world.  So you’ll find many people from young to old who have turned into philosophers giving their two cents on what they think life is.

In other words, people are using the filter of their own experience to make sense of our world. But how reliable and helpful is this worldly wisdom?

Can I really bank my life’s decisions on quotes that I read on social media or pep talk from my close relatives and friends? 

Or

Is there a True Real wisdom available from God to help me deal with the twists and turns of life?

Today’s passage from James 3 will help us recognize True Wisdom. Three things about True Wisdom.

1. True Wisdom is not just about knowledge

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. (v13)

Some of us might be surprised by this verse. What does good conduct and meekness have to do with wisdom?

And that’s because the world defines wisdom as just having a good amount of knowledge in a certain subject or field.

So if someone has done his Phd. in Physics & authored many books, by the standards of the world he is considered a wise man.

Similarly in churches, who is typically considered as a wise person?

Someone who has a lot of biblical knowledge. The way the world views wisdom is amoral (unrelated to morality) & in contrast, this passage tells us that a wise person is not someone who just has biblical knowledge but is also living it out in humility!

And when we read through the letter of James, it does seem like the churches he was writing to was going through some kind of tension where there were people who wanted prominence, viewed themselves as superior compared to others and saw the opportunity of being a leader and teacher in a church as a means to get these things.

And through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, James is telling the whole church….Do you want to know and identify someone who is wise?

It’s not just by their words but by their lifestyle. Humility will be the hallmark of someone who is wise and understanding among you.

I still remember meeting a 77-year old uncle called MC John in Kerala. It was a time in my journey when I was seeking God’s will in ministry and life. It wasn’t a planned meeting.

We probably spent maybe 30 minutes but those 30 minutes changed my life. In those 30 minutes, I realized that this was a man who spent many good years of his life knowing and living for Jesus and even at 77 he was passionately talking about Jesus.

He was like a Bible dictionary quoting verses from all through the Bible but the most remarkable thing that struck me was his humility. His biblical wisdom actually led him to worship.

And that shouldn’t surprise us – right throughout the Bible whenever we see men and women come to terms with the knowledge of God, it leaves them with an acute understanding of their own sin.

True wisdom of God produces humility.

Let’s take a minute to just pause and reflect – some of us either spent few or some of other many years in church circles listening to many sermons, being part of many bible studies,

what do you think all that knowledge is producing in your heart?

Is it producing greater humility in your marriages?

Is it producing greater humility in your relationships at work or with your parents?

Is it producing greater humility in relationships with other believers?

Let’s allow those questions to sink in because it’s important to identify the problem before we look to the solution.

But not only is True Wisdom is not about knowledge

2. True Wisdom is not worldly wisdom

By worldly wisdom I mean wisdom that is shaped by our experiences of the natural world.

14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

I find it interesting that James directly addresses the Root, Source and Fruit of worldly wisdom in these 3 verses.

First, let’s look at the root – it’s selfishness and bitter jealousy.

When we look at the absolute heart of worldly wisdom, it’s rooted in selfishness. It’s putting yourself forward at the expense of someone else.

Now let’s take a look at the source to see how this worldly wisdom actually plays out from v15:

  • Earthly – How our main concern tends to be mostly about our life in this materialistic world – we are only thinking about “my school, my college, my job, my promotion, my marriage, my kids, my retirement” – that’s all that our lives are consumed by.
  • Unspiritual – Some other versions actually use the word sensual. Which means that this wisdom is controlled by impulses and the sinful desires of my heart. It’s also telling us that our decision making is heavily influenced by how we feel at that moment. I think it can also include the baggage that we carry from our past experiences in this world. Our past baggage – feelings about people and circumstances shapes our worldview.
  • Demonic – I think that’s where some of us might think “Time Out bro James. I know you’re telling me all this is worldly wisdom, but to call it demonic?? That’s taking it a little too far” When James is saying demonic he is not trying to say that we are performing some kind of voodoo or strange ritual, but rather I think whenever NT writers talk about demonic influence in the church, it’s a reference to deception which results in abandoning the faith (1 Tim 4:1). In other words, in my selfishness, I can be so blind that I won’t even know that I’m being deceived by this worldly wisdom. I won’t even know that my heart is being hardened. And so the reason I think James is telling in such real graphic details is to warn us from falling into deception thinking that “okay I have some form of godly wisdom so nothing else matters” – no your heart matters, your lifestyle matters & so all these things are mentioned to warn us and also to call us to repentance.

In v16 – he talks about the FRUIT of selfishness and jealousy. Chaos and every kind of wicked deed is fruit!

When we put ourselves in the throne seat of our hearts and think that the world revolves around us, it can cause serious damage. Sometimes in the form of boasting but also sometimes when we play the victim.

A few weeks back I was having a rough week at work. Long hours, demanding work pressure and plus errors were being pointed out in my work by my managers.

As a result of my insecurity and selfishness in my heart, my interpretation of my team members and managers were as “they don’t understand me, they don’t care about me and how I’m doing & they are just out to get me”.

I remember feeling miserable through that week as I was playing the victim. And God had to remind me once again that the problem is more deep-rooted from within – it’s my own selfishness that is causing me to not believe the best about others.

For me that was another clear example to show how my life cannot be shaped by my experiences or worldly wisdom. Because my experiences are flawed and tainted with selfishness.

Let’s take a minute now to reflect on what kind of wisdom is shaping our hearts and lives?

What’s in the root of the wisdom that you have?

Do you see selfishness and bitter jealousy?

In fact on the basis of this passage, we can conclude that I might be even saying some right things from Scripture but if it’s motivated by selfishness, then that wisdom comes from the world and not from God!

I know this is a weighty subject because it’s dealing with our hearts, but it’s also pointing us to Jesus.

Not only is True Wisdom not about knowledge, and not only is True Wisdom not worldly wisdom but

3. True wisdom is God’s grace

17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

When we look at v17, what stands out to us is the phrase – wisdom from above is “First pure”.

In other words, purity of heart is what produces peace, gentleness etc.

Now, who among us can say they are pure by themselves? No one.

In fact, the previous verses spoke about how our hearts and lifestyles are motivated by selfishness and jealousy. So obviously purity cannot be produced from within.

And that’s why the phrase “wisdom from above” is a phrase that screams of God’s grace. Because it tells us about God giving us something precious that we cannot produce ourselves.

Guess what the Bible calls Jesus Christ as the “wisdom of God” – God revealed His wisdom to us not just by telling us about His Son but more than that sending His Son Jesus (pure Lamb of God) to live the pure life we could never live, and then He willingly gave up His life on the cross to pay the punishment meant for our impure lives. He rose again on the Third Day so that our hearts and lives can be purified for Him which He has promised to fully complete when He returns back a second time.

So what does this mean for us today?

Firstly it humbles our hearts that feels superior in comparison to others as a result of our “wisdom” & it melts our selfish hearts craving for prominence among others. How does it do that?

By telling us that our condition was so bad that it required the payment of God’s own Son through His death. Imagine going to court and having your sins listed down one by one.

How do we know the seriousness of the crime? By the punishment that is given – how worse is your condition that it could only be paid through the death and sacrifice of Jesus. Like Paul we should humbly acknowledge “I am the chief of sinners”.

But also Grace tells you that God loves you so much that He sent His Only Son to die for you and me.

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Rom 8:32)

That’s amazing, great love! You are loved by God and He sent His Son to show that. So that creates in us this humble purity which now bears fruit in our relationships at home, in church and also where we work or go to school to. (Share examples)

That’s why we need these reminders daily – that True Wisdom is not knowledge, True Wisdom is not worldly wisdom but True Wisdom is God’s grace – revealed through the Person and relationship with Jesus Christ. Only His Work and His promise can produce genuine purity which produces fruits of righteousness!

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1 Thessalonians Sermon

Grace driven purity – 1 Thessalonians 5:22-28

Good morning church! I just want to thank God for the opportunity to share God’s Word with you this morning.

If you’ve been tracking with us, over the last few months we’ve been trying to understand this theme “Abiding Faith” from 1 Thessalonians. What we’ve learnt through all those weeks is that it’s ultimately God who sustains our faith. Today we arrive at the last passage of this letter that talks about “Sanctification” which means “being purified & set apart for God”.

Would you join me as we pray and ask God to help us understand and respond to today’s passage?

During my schooling days, there was this condition called “Out of syllabusitis”!

I’m sure many of us might be familiar with this term. We would spend quite a few of the last few nights cramming and preparing for an exam & when we receive the question paper, we are shocked to see questions that we’ve never seen before. Out of syllabus!!

It’s also true that these could have been questions that were in our portion which we didn’t prepare for but we would still refer to them as “out of syllabus” because these questions leave us stumped.

I think similarly when it comes to our Christian faith, there’s a lot of emphasis and encouragement on how to become a believer in Christ through repentance & faith but the common Christian experience after that is often “out of syllabus” for many.

We are left stumped and clueless. Often, we are handed over many commands to follow but as we go through our days as believers be it in our private moments when we are alone or when we are in public interacting with other people, we soon we realize that we simply don’t have the power or the ability to “purify ourselves daily and set apart ourselves for God”.

So brother or sister, if you’re at that place today where you’re confused on how to live the Christian life in purity or if you’re tired of your failing moral performance, just know you’re not alone. What help is available?

1. God’s gracious promise (v22-24)

God’s promise is the only thing that we can rely on to sanctify our lives. What I find interesting is that v22 “Abstain from every form of evil” is a command & imperative for God’s people.

But in the very next verse we are given a promise which will help us obey this command. It’s God’s gracious promise that empowers our ability to obey. But how do I know if God will honour and keep this promise? Let’s look at 3 aspects of God’s gracious promise:

  • God’s promise is based on the Work of God – Now may the God of peace (v23) – That term God of peace refers to God reconciling us back to Himself through the work of Jesus. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, God has signed & sealed a peace treaty with us who have trusted in Jesus. As part of God’s peace treaty, He has promised no more wrath, no more condemnation on us who used to be enemies of God because the payment was paid in full by Jesus Christ.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1)

And I think this is a powerful truth for us because it tells us of how God views us if we’ve placed our full trust in Jesus. God’s not waiting for an opportunity for us to mess up so that we can be relegated back to being enemies.

Neither is God requiring our performance (achievements, self-will, our efforts) to maintain this peace treaty. It’s based on the permanent work of God.

But you may say it’s one thing to have a peace treaty through the work of God, but it’s another thing to sanctify a sinner like me. That requires enormous ability. That’s why the second aspect of the promise is important:

  • God’s promise is fulfilled by the Power of God – 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 (v24) – I hope we are able to see the astonishing promise made here in terms of our holiness. Complete sanctification – meaning complete pure and set apart for God! When the Lord Jesus comes again, believers in Jesus would be made “blameless” in their spirit, soul and body. In other words, there won’t be an iota or a remnant of sin left in us!!

What?

And this promise is made to sinners!!! Can God do this? Scripture is filled with testimonies of God doing things that are absolutely impossible for humans. I think this culminated in the Resurrection of Jesus. I mean we think about all that humans boast about and all the medical advances that have been made over the centuries, but yet no human has been able to provide an answer to the reality of Death.

With the sad news of hundreds of thousands that have passed away due to the current pandemic despite all types of efforts to contain the virus, we realize how helpless we are and yet Jesus Christ rendered death powerless!  It’s astonishing.

I love the way Ps. David Jeremiah puts it:

“God, by His exerted power, reversed the process of death, overturned the process of decay, caused a silent heart to beat again. He was resurrected with an eternal body which according to Philippians 3 serves as a prototype for our own resurrected bodies”.  

Ps. David Jeremiah

If God’s able to overturn and destroy something as fatal and deadly as death, then God can do anything. He can certainly sanctify us completely and make us blameless when Christ comes again.

I think this is an important truth for us especially when we respond to habitual patterns of sin which often leaves us despondent and in despair. God is able to purify you!

  • God’s promise is sustained by the Character of God – Now you might say I understand the work of God & the power of God – God is able to sanctify and purify us, but 2000 years have passed, what if God changed His mind?

We have had a consistent history of messing up a zillion times and not being faithful to God, what if God alters His promise?

And that’s why v24 is important:  He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

God’s character (His faithfulness) is being highlighted here. Brothers and sisters, I realize that this aspect of the character of God is especially important because we trust a person on the basis of his/her character.

Is the person faithful or not? That determines our level of trust. God’s not like us “sinful humans” to make and break promises as it seems convenient. He puts His character on the line to back up this promise and assure us that He will do what He promised to do.

This committed promise of God is what empowers pure and holy living.

Just to illustrate:

In marriage, it consists of a promise and loving responsibilities. Which among both is important? Both. The promise are the vows made by the couple to each other on the wedding day & the loving responsibilities are the outworking of the promise.

Without the promise, there’s no security for the couple when they mess up in their responsibilities. Without the loving responsibility, there won’t be an opportunity for the couple to care and serve each other.

But remember the promise precedes the loving responsibility. The promise binds and holds the loving responsibility. Similarly, it’s God’s promise to sanctify us is a security that empowers us to live in purity.

But not only do we have God’s gracious promise, but we also have

2. God’s Gracious Provision (v25-27)

God’s gracious Provision is through spiritual disciplines! That might be a strange idea for some of us because we’ve never thought about it in that way. Many times we view spiritual disciplines like a labourer instead of a son or a daughter.

What I mean by this is that a labourer works to get a salary from His master (spiritual disciplines are a means to grace). On the other hand, a son or a daughter don’t have a transactional relationship with their Father because they are loved and accepted.

All the gifts they enjoy are not a salary payment made to them but means by which they can enjoy and grow in their relationship with the Father (spiritual disciplines as means of grace) V25-27 mentions 3 spiritual disciplines as a provision for us to help us in our sanctification:

  • Prayers of believers:  Brothers, pray for us. (v25) I find it interesting that after sharing so much of biblical truth in this whole letter, Paul closes the letter by asking them to pray for him and his companions.

Despite the fact that Paul was an amazing church planter & preacher, Paul recognizes how much of divine help (grace) is required to help him grow in purity, continue to trust Jesus with his entire life & pursue the mission that God called him to.

And that’s a humbling thought to realize that despite all our so-called accomplishments, despite how many years we may have been as believers, despite how active we may have been in ministry, we are still little children dependent on the grace of God for everything including purity.

Praying is an acknowledgement that we are desperate and helpless & only God is the only one who is able to help us.

Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
(John 15:5)

It is a humbling thing when we ask our brother or sister to pray for our purity and holiness.

At the same time, it reaches out to God’s enormous power source to come to our aid whenever we are in need. 

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.
(Hebrews 4:16)

  • Fellowship: Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. (v26) In biblical times, this kind of “kiss of peace” was a greeting that people would use when they would meet people. However, the NT church, the symbol was much more than just a greeting.

    It was to symbolize unity among the members in the church. It didn’t matter what a person’s background is, now that He is in Jesus Christ – He is united to me and I am united to Him as a spiritual sibling.

    And especially with this topic on “purity”, it’s significant because it means that we no longer look at our brother or sister as spiritually superior or spiritually inferior but it levels the playing field so that we can be open, honest and repentant to our spiritual siblings about our lives and struggles. 

    6 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
    (James 5:16)

    God has graciously given us “fellowship” to help us in our spiritual growth.
  • Word: I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. (v27) You know as we read this letter in 1 Thessalonians, it is certainly a heartfelt letter to Paul’s spiritual children expressing his deep concern.

    However, it was much more than just a heartfelt letter – it is the very words of God to not just provide them with instruction on how to lead a life of purity but these words were in itself the means by which people would be made pure.

    In John 17, Jesus prays this for his disciples – 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17)God’s Word is truth that purifies our hearts.

    Another favourite verse of mine is from Romans 10:17 – 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. God’s Word has the power to produce faith in our unbelieving hearts! The Spirit uses God’s Word to perform a spiritual surgery fixing and purifying our broken hearts.

    And that’s really important for us to know because it tells us that even if we are going through seasons when we are struggling spiritually, what we need to hear the most is actually the “word of God” which the Spirit will use to produce faith and call us to repentance.

If we are absolutely honest, we would probably confess that our tendency is to view sanctification as our own performance rather than trusting on God’s promise and God’s provision.

And that’s one of the root sin issues that we need to repent of. And this isn’t a modern sin issue. It finds its origin in the Garden of Eden with our ancestors Adam and Eve. God created them for purity to reflect His purity through their lives.

But they needed to trust His promise and His provision. They trusted in their own performance & broke their relationship with God. From that moment onwards all of humanity has been held captive by that lifestyle of performance.

Even our solution to the sin in our lives is:

“I’ll do better, I’ll fix what I’ve broken, I will cancel my wrongs with the good that I do, I will pray more, I will read God’s Word more, I will spend more time in the church”.

But God in His grace sent His Son Jesus to the earth, born of a Virgin & the only one in the history of humankind to live a life of perfect performance.

And then died on the cross for our sins & failed performance to fix ourselves. He rose on the third Day to freely handover his own perfect performance to those who would come and surrender their lives to Him!

And this handover of Christ performance is what purifies/sanctifies our lives. And one day this handover of Christ’s perfect performance will be complete when He returns.

This great goal is sealed by God’s gracious promise and God’s gracious provision.

So today I invite us to not just repent for the behavioural patterns of sin that we struggle with. But I would ask us to repent of our attitude of performance toward God.

Repent of the times when repentance was just our own performance resolution. Shed aside our weak and failing performance and come to the foot of the cross where our performance ends and trust in Christ’s promise and Christ’s provision today.

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

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1 Thessalonians Sermon

Mark of a Healthy Church – 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16

We are currently doing a sermon series called ‘Abiding Faith’ as we are going through Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. The passage we will be looking at today is 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16, and if you have your bible or an app you can open and read with me.

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved-so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!

Being part of a Sunday worship is not enough
Being part of a community group is not enough
Having being born in a Christian family is not enough
Having being called Christian, a follower of Jesus by others is not enough

It takes a lot more than these to be called a true & faithful follower of Jesus. 

The mark of a strong and healthy church is not in the strength of its numbers, not in its well-organised services and bible studies and community groups, it is not in its electrifying singing time, and it is not even in its online presence.

The mark of a strong and healthy church is in the quality of its people.

In our passage today Paul is calling out and thanking God for the church, the people of God. He is highlighting some of the great qualities these men possessed that made them different. So, let’s listen carefully to what he has to say about the Church in Thessalonica.

And as we hear and learn from these verses let us come with an open heart, examine ourselves before God and allow the Holy Spirit to bring conviction and lead us into repentance and faith making us a strong and healthy Christian and a healthy church.

There are three qualities of the church that Paul is thanking God for, the first one is that …

•  They received the word not as the word of man but as word from God

In verse 13 he writes “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”

When Paul and his associates went preaching the gospel in Thessalonica and teaching from the scriptures, the people didn’t just hear the word as its coming from the mouth of Paul or other men, they heard and accepted it as if it were the words of God himself. And Paul says that which you believed to be the words from God is at work in you. What an encouraging thing to say.

Their attentive ears and their attitude towards the word of God brought the Gospel alive in their hearts and is now at work in them.

In hard times like these, when we are going through a threat like Coronavirus – where people, news channels, neighbours, office colleagues are constantly talking to us – where everyone’s giving their views and opinions about the current situation and how to react to it, what is our source of truth? Where do we draw our strength from? What is at work in our heart?

Brothers & sisters, it is only the word of God that can be our source of truth, the only hope for our heart in such difficult times.

The scriptures, preaching of the word and others devotionals are how God communicates to us, giving words of instruction, rebuking us of our sin patterns, encouraging our hearts in difficult times, provoking us to live a Holy life, worthy of His calling. As Pastors and leaders when we prepare our sermons we pay very careful attention not to speak or present to you anything that is not in the purview of the scripture and we even hold each other accountable to it.

The transforming word of God was at work in the life of the believers in Thessalonians, but for the word to produce transformational results in their hearts, they needed to trust God’s word with the right attitude and a desire to walk in unconditional obedience.

Imagine you’ve been given a new responsibility at work, a new project to handle. And while your manager was training you for the job, explaining the process and instructions as per the guidelines given by the company CEO – instead of paying attention you were distracted on your phone or some other things, you said: “chod na, yeh manager bak bak karat rehta hai”. What do you think the result will be? We will make a wreck of the job and even ruin the company and the CEO’s reputation. 

Now, when we ignore reading the Bible, not giving heed to the preaching of God’s word. If that’s the attitude we carry, then aren’t we risking our lives? God who made the world, God who knows the end from the beginning expects us to give Him a listening year and trust His word and not what the world has to say.

When we read or hear Gods word, do we see them as man-made fables written to entertain our itching ears or do we see them as from God, the Holy one. If we believe these words are from God we will pay full attention, protect it, guard it, set reminders for our heart.

While we are in Sunday gatherings, in bible study groups, in GC’s we will make every effort to align our heart and mind to make sure we get it right, that we are not missing the point. And even if for any reason we sometimes fail to make it for these gatherings, we will still make an effort to get hold of God’s word by other means.

Brother & sisters, if you are in a place where you feel fearful with the spread of this deadly disease, you don’t have hope in your heart, or you feel depressed and lonely while you are isolated in your home…. my encouragement to you is pick up your bible and hear God, I promise you will see your faith increasing, your hope growing and sense the arm of protection of our loving Father.

The second quality Paul mentions in that …

• They became imitators of the Churches of God in Christ

In verse 14 Paul writes “For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea”

They didn’t just heed to Gods word but to grow healthy they started imitating other churches and other believers. It doesn’t mean that they started imitating each other’s dressing style, worship style, talking style etc. But I believe they imitated each other’s Faith, [Pause] imitated each other’s responses to the call of God over their lives, [Pause] their response to sufferings and most importantly imitate them in preaching and spreading the good news of Jesus wherever they went.

Imitating each other is a good thing, that’s the primary way in which we learn and grow. Children imitate their parents and family members, younger ones imitate their older ones. Jairus sometimes finds it annoying when Amaze imitates whatever he does, but isn’t that how are programmed to grow. Paul writes to the Corinthian church saying “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ”

As Christians it is healthy to imitate each other, apart from all how we imitate each other as mentioned earlier, we can imitate healthy marriages, imitate servanthood, imitate prayer life, we also imitate faith-filled responses of other strong believers when we go through troubled times.

But beware, the greatest hindrance that keeps us from imitating each other’s Godly life is Pride, don’t let your pride tell you that you know it better and that you don’t need to learn from others.

As a church and as your leaders, we actively fellowship with other churches in our network to learn from them, to find encouragement from them and to imitate their godly pursuits. I can’t express the number of ways in which I have benefited from such Godly imitations, helping me grow stronger in the Lord.

Beloved, don’t sulk in your pain, sorrow and fear, but identify the areas in which you are struggling and find a godly role-model whom you can imitate so you can grow as a follower of Christ.

If you are not able to meet a brother and sister physically, pick up your phone and call them. As your pastors and leaders, we and our wives are always available to speak to you. Pls, do not hesitate to do so especially in times like this.

Don’t let these circumstances to draw us apart from each other, rather let it bring us, even more, closer to each other.

And the final quality Paul mentions is that …

• They suffered for the sake of the Gospel

For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose al mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved-so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!

Their faith in Jesus was not just a decorative badge they carried around but it invited trouble and persecution from their fellow men. Jesus said in John 16:33 “In this world, you will have tribulation”, and especially when you are a follower of Jesus.

Often we desire that our suffering would end, but please believe me when I say to you that suffering is good and you ought to be rejoicing when you suffer for the sake of Christ. You know why? Because in our sufferings on earth for Christ we get to share in the sufferings of Christ. Isn’t that a wonderful experience.

Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:13 “to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”

Paul writes in Corinthians 1: 5 “For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.”

I don’t know what kind of sufferings you are experiencing at this moment, maybe suffering because of your faith in Jesus, or maybe suffering because of the responses of this broken world in your office, in your society. When we go through such sufferings its a reminder that Christ endured the same suffering and much more for our sake, dying for sinners like us and mending our broken relationship with our Heavenly Father. Let our sufferings draw us closer to Jesus in repentance and faith in Him and his saving grace

The believers in the early church when faced with trials and testings, instead of breaking down and giving up, endured it with joy knowing that the experiences were drawing them closer to Christ. Let us also, therefore, embrace such sufferings with joy.

Brothers and sisters, my hope and prayer for us all this morning is that our hearts would be inclined to grow as quality Christians, not cold or lukewarm but hot, super hot for Christ. And that will happen as we take God’s word seriously, use our free time to dive deep into scriptures and engage with it in a meaningful way. Remember Psalm 1:2-3 “those who delight in the word of the Lord, who meditates on his law day and night, are like a tree planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

We will also grow super strong when we are together, connected in love, encouraging each other, imitating each other in the Lord and when we endure suffering with joy.

Let’s pray!