Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Yep, something just escaped here.
[00:00:08] So Lisa and I get the wonderful opportunity of having our two oldest grandsons, four and two for the entire weekend. At least we try to do it maybe, you know, once every couple months or so.
[00:00:29] And I have to say that by the time it's all said and done, I am absolutely exhausted.
[00:00:38] And then I found out this morning that I just talked to Sam this morning about how I didn't copy my notes here. And there's always that fear that something will go wrong there it is.
[00:01:02] Because you know, Sam told me that he's ready in season and out of season and he can actually do sermon without notes. So I said if I ever get in behind Sam, come on up baby.
[00:01:13] But what I want to say about my grandsons is that. So I just found out Stephen and Maddie were here with the two twin baby girls just a little while ago and he had a call from my wife saying that Theodore just threw up all over the car as she was trying to bring him to church. So pray for him, pray for their family and pray for my wife and I that we don't end up with a flu over the next week.
[00:01:33] But all a lot of young families know all about that. I heard Jesse was sick all week with the flu, so his wife just quarantined that area spread.
[00:01:47] Today we're starting a new four week series in Matthew 18 titled how to Church. Matthew 18 is full of practical teaching and instruction on the life of the local church. And it's through this lens that we will look sort of how to be the church with an assumption that Jesus has instruction for Immanuel fellowship Church instructions that he wants you and I to apply to our lives as we live in community and are on mission together for Christ in his world. For the next four Sundays we'll take a closer look at four specific characteristics that Jesus outlines in Matthew 18. This week, how the church trusts like children.
[00:02:23] The following week, how the church chases lost sheep.
[00:02:27] Week three, how the church disciplines sin. And week four, how the church forgives with whole hearts. Over the next four weeks you will have the opportunity to allow God's word to be put into practice as it kind of puts you to the test.
[00:02:41] Hebrews 4:12 says, for the word of God is living inactive, sharper than any two edged sword. It penetrates to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
[00:02:53] And so the Word itself, the Bible itself testifies that it has the power that the Witten Word and the spoken word, when applied, has the power through the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer to transform, to set free, to change us from the inside out.
[00:03:11] Let's ask God right now that he would help us to surrender our hearts and minds to the work he desires to do in each of us, not just this morning, but over the next four weeks. So let's go ahead and pray.
[00:03:22] Heavenly Father, we just want to continue to worship you this morning. We want to come to you with a posture of thanks and the many blessings that you have bestowed upon each of the families and people that are represented here. We want to thank you for your presence with us each and every Sunday morning as we gather together to worship you and to hear from your word. Father, right now I pray that we, each of us, would open our minds and hearts to the Word as it's spoken, to allow it to penetrate our hearts and bring life transformation and may it be life, a giving to each of us in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
[00:04:00] Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 18, and we're going to take a look at verses one through five.
[00:04:12] And it says there, at that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, so who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? He called a child and had him stand among them. Truly, I tell you, he said, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child, this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one child like this in my name welcomes me.
[00:04:37] So let's kind of set the scene here. Matthew 18 starts with the words at this time. This is following the scene that closed out In Matthew chapter 17, when Jesus spoke to Peter about paying the temple tax. And Jesus and Peter were alone in that encounter. They'd entered Peter's house and they were now joined by the rest of the disciples. And they asked Jesus a question.
[00:04:58] Jesus, who would you consider to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And so in response, Jesus pulls a child near. And some of the scholars thought that possibly that even was Peter's child.
[00:05:10] He says, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And so what is the kingdom of heaven that's being spoken of here? The Gospel writers use different names for God's rule on earth as inaugurated by the Christ. All four gospels include the designation kingdom of God. But in addition, Matthew in his Gospel includes a second designation, which is the kingdom of heaven.
[00:05:33] Another reason for Matthew's designation is unknown. Students of the scriptures propose that Matthew used it to avoid writing or saying speaking the holy name of God, as was a common belief and practice for the Jews of that day.
[00:05:47] Both designations that we're talking about here refer to the eternal kingdom established by God, where he rules for believers today. His kingdom includes the rule and reign of him over our hearts.
[00:06:00] Believers in Christ are to fully surrender their lives to Jesus as savior, Lord and King. He is to sit on the throne of our hearts in all things, in all aspects of life.
[00:06:11] At this time, Jesus disciples had witnessed his divine power through his acts of healing, through exorcism, miraculous provision, and his authority over creation.
[00:06:19] And if you remember, upon when Jesus actually killed this pretty terrible storm that was going on that was causing fear of the disciples who were out on the boat. He calms the storm and they said even the winds and the waves obey him.
[00:06:33] The apostles Peter, James and John witnessed Jesus power and majesty personally as they observed his transfiguration before them.
[00:06:41] When Jesus showed them his divine honor and glory. In that event, God's power was revealed in and through Jesus Christ.
[00:06:50] Peter acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, the son of the living God.
[00:06:54] And the title the Christ is the Greek equivalent to the word Messiah. Both designations refer to the anointed one of God, a phrase describing God's chosen king.
[00:07:05] When acknowledged in Jesus as the Christ, Peter had certain expectations regarding Christ's work.
[00:07:10] The Hebrew scriptures trace the encounters of God's anointed one, liberating his people, sitting on God's throne, and ruling in righteousness.
[00:07:18] The Jews assumed that the Messiah would come with power and strength as the anointed servant of God, as was prophesied in the book of Isaiah.
[00:07:25] However, they did not desire or expect a suffering servant humbled king. These disciples were expecting Jesus to overthrow Rome and usher in his kingdom right around the corner. And they expected prominent positions in his kingdom.
[00:07:40] I mean, for three years, they were his closest friends, confidants, ministry partners. And I think it's kind of natural for them to assume these things. There were no people on earth that were closer to Jesus than these guys.
[00:07:53] Naturally, they thought they would be benefactors in this future kingdom.
[00:07:58] So they asked him, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
[00:08:03] Had disciples comprehended Jesus previous teachings, they would have understood how inappropriate that question actually was.
[00:08:11] Jesus had already defined the character of a person considered great in the kingdom of heaven through his very first teaching on the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, when he said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
[00:08:24] Blessed are the humble, the contrite of heart, those who trust in the one who can save.
[00:08:31] Simply stated, the disciples were unaware that the kingdom was already in their midst.
[00:08:36] So as Jesus prepared to journey to Jerusalem to die, a serious issue threatened to disrupt the fellowship that was enjoyed by these men.
[00:08:46] They got into a squabble about which one of them was the greatest disciple and who of them deserved the privileged positions of power in the kingdom of Jesus.
[00:08:55] I want to turn to a couple of other Gospel accounts that further reveal the dispute between them over who is considered greatness. And hold your place in Matthew there. I want to take a look at Mark, chapter 9, verses 33, 35.
[00:09:13] And it says there they went to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, what were you arguing about on the way? But they were silent because on the way they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest.
[00:09:25] And you know, that argument goes on today in all realms of life. Who's the goat? Who is the greatest of all time?
[00:09:34] Who's the greatest NFL quarterback of all time? Joe Montana and John Elway? Tom Brady, maybe one day Patrick Mahomes.
[00:09:43] Who's the greatest boxer? Joe Lewis? Muhammad Ali? Mike Tyson?
[00:09:48] Who's the greatest basketball player of all time? Michael Jordan or LeBron James?
[00:09:53] Who's the greatest president, the greatest, most successful female entrepreneur, the greatest inventor, the greatest chess player? Who's the greatest guitar player or rock band? Who's the greatest actor or actress of all time? What's the greatest movie or sitcom of all time?
[00:10:09] And you know, Christianity is just as susceptible to this.
[00:10:14] Who's considered the greatest evangelists? Maybe Billy Graham.
[00:10:18] Who's the greatest preacher of all time? Is it Charles Spurgeon?
[00:10:22] Who's the greatest church leader, theologian, author? The greatest pastors list today would probably be formed by the ones who had the largest churches.
[00:10:31] All of it's argued and determined by who was the most successful, who has the best stats, the greatest achievements by the world's standards and values, and much of it is based on personal pride and glory.
[00:10:43] This is exactly what the disciples were arguing over.
[00:10:47] But you see, the greatest in Jesus kingdom will be determined by much different standards.
[00:10:53] In chapter 9, verse 35, it says sitting down, he called the 12 and said to them, if anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all. And they must have said, whoa, whoa, wait a minute here.
[00:11:06] We weren't talking about or we weren't debating over who was going to outdo each other in serving this ragtag motley Crew.
[00:11:15] Jesus, we wanted you to take a closer look at our resumes to determine who has performed the task you've asked us to do. The best.
[00:11:23] Who has demonstrated the greatest obedience.
[00:11:27] Who has best understood your teaching, you know, scored A's and all the biblical literacy tests.
[00:11:33] Who is best able to gather more followers for you? I brought out more followers to the synagogue than all the rest of these guys.
[00:11:39] Who's best at casting out demons or healing the sick? I have more numbers than Peter, James and John combined.
[00:11:46] Peter probably argued well. I was the only one to walk on water.
[00:11:51] Were the disciples probably quickly retorting, yeah, Peter, but Jesus just called you Satan. You certainly don't qualify.
[00:12:00] Even after Jesus revealed what made someone great in the kingdom, the argument didn't end here.
[00:12:05] Let's go back to Matthew and let's take a look. In chapter 20, Matthew 20, verses 20 and 21 says, Then the mother of Zebedee's sons approached Jesus with her sons, and they were James and John.
[00:12:22] She knelt down to ask him something. What do you want? He asked her. Promise me that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left, in the kingdom. And then in verse 24, it says, when the ten disciples heard this, they were indignant with the two brothers.
[00:12:37] Imagine this for a moment.
[00:12:39] This is a group of 12 grown men. And I guess it is true that girls mature more quickly than boys.
[00:12:47] Some of these guys were rugged, rough and tough. You know, they were fishermen by trade. And Peter always seemed like man, a man's man, to me. He was bold, he was impulsive, he was loose with the tongue, you know, he was the guy that could pull out the sword and cut off a servant's ear.
[00:13:02] James and John were nicknamed by Jesus the Sons of Thunder. Not only because of their evangelistic zeal, that they were bold and aggressive, but they sometimes had reactive tempers.
[00:13:13] Remember that time when they were incest, when the Samaritans refused to receive Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem?
[00:13:19] Do you remember what they asked Jesus?
[00:13:23] Lord, you want us to call down fire from heaven and destroy them?
[00:13:28] I could just hear the rest of the disciples who were in an earshot of their mother's request. No way you guys brought your mommy to try to win this argument.
[00:13:36] How pathetic.
[00:13:41] There's a point here. For us all, I think we're all a mangled mess of humility and pride.
[00:13:49] But it's pride that destroys the community. Amongst followers of Christ, pride is the one thing I know for sure that God abhors Pride was the sin that led to Lucifer's fall and being kicked out of the Kingdom of Heaven.
[00:14:02] Pride is what separates people, what leads people to live isolated, independent lives from biblical community.
[00:14:08] Pride is what leads to people living in hiding, refusing to open up about their struggles, their needs or their sin.
[00:14:15] Pride is what holds grudges and refuses to forgive those who have hurt us.
[00:14:19] Pride is what causes a person to look for slights and leads to judging others and what also causes people to insensitively ignore others.
[00:14:29] Pride is what says, I have my life agenda, my dreams, my goals and ambitions, my own family and friends. I don't really have time or room for you.
[00:14:40] James 4:6 says God opposes the proud because Grace to the Humble so how do we do church in response to Jesus words just you must come as little children?
[00:14:53] Well, first of all, Jesus is always our example because the scriptures declare that the Son of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve and give his life is a ransom for many.
[00:15:04] We do church together by turning away from our pride and living in humility with one another.
[00:15:11] By putting others first and honoring others above ourselves.
[00:15:15] By going out of our way to serve others, expecting nothing in return.
[00:15:20] By laying down our lives through sacrificing when it isn't convenient or comfortable to do so.
[00:15:26] It's when you allow your heart to engage, to truly feel the hurts and the pains and the losses of your brothers and sisters in Christ. And to engage means not in words alone, but in action.
[00:15:39] It means that you're willing to enter into their struggles and find ways to help and support them. It means to share your life and inviting others into your life and your home.
[00:15:49] You realize that your biological family has been placed in God's larger spiritual family where you're called by God to do life together.
[00:15:58] Humility realizes how much you need these brothers and sisters in Christ to survive the onslaught of the world and how much they need you.
[00:16:07] Humility realizes that there's no way that I can thrive as a Christian and fulfill the call that God has upon my life without being dedicated to live with my brothers and sisters in Christ through life giving and life transforming community.
[00:16:23] Let's go back to Matthew 18 and read our text again.
[00:16:30] At the time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, so who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? He called a child and had him stand among them. Truly I tell you, he said, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself like this child, this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one child like this in my name welcomes me.
[00:16:53] So Jesus identifies greatness as one who will come to God as a child.
[00:17:00] A child begins life with no expectations to perform or accomplish things except to latch onto their mother's breast, eventually hold their head up, or to sit up, or maybe stand up, or to say their first word or take their first step.
[00:17:14] When a child comes into this world, he or she is completely dependent on their parents to do and provide everything for them.
[00:17:22] And just so you know your parents, young parents, this continues maybe to the age of 18.
[00:17:30] I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. It really never ends.
[00:17:38] So with you little ones, hang in there.
[00:17:44] Listen, as a fellow dad, I know that you come through in huge ways, dads for your kids in support of your wives and support of them. But kids are utterly dependent, especially on their mom, for everything.
[00:17:56] And as mom provides milk when they're hungry and changes the diaper, or bathes them when they're dirty, or gets up in the middle of the night to comfort and hold them or nurse their wounds when they fall, that child grows in trust.
[00:18:08] That child learns the mom's voice, her touch, even her scent means that they have come to know that they can trust this person and they are absolutely secure in this person's love and care.
[00:18:22] While speaking to a group of adult men, Jesus says that this is how you must be towards God to be great in the kingdom, you must turn and become like children.
[00:18:33] And in the Bible, to turn almost always means to repent.
[00:18:37] And regarding salvation, it means you turn from your disbelief in God. You turn from thinking that you can save yourself.
[00:18:44] It means that you turn from your sin. You turn from your pride and self sufficiency and desire to control your life and happiness.
[00:18:53] Instead, you put your faith in Christ, you believe in him, you trust him, you depend on him, you surrender your life to him because you realize that when someone loves you so much that they will put everything on the line, even die, that you might have life. That is a person who I can trust. Amen.
[00:19:12] Jesus uses the example of a child to bring home the point. He brings a child right smack in the middle of these grown men who are arguing over who is the greatest. To use the child as a visible illustration, basically say, you've got it all wrong.
[00:19:29] If you want to be considered great in my kingdom, you must come to me as a child would come as a needy child with arms raised high, asking his mother to pick him up, to make everything right, to hold him tight.
[00:19:43] You won't make it into Christ's kingdom where true and lasting peace and joy and rest can be found apart from childlike humility, trusting Christ as your savior, Lord and King.
[00:19:58] I've got a photo of my grandkids that I think is going to be coming up on the screen.
[00:20:05] Now I don't care what you think, but I am going to be unashamedly a proud grandpa as long as I live. So you can be seeing pictures like this anytime I get up.
[00:20:14] Even if it's not on the subject of children. I'm going to pop my grandchildren up.
[00:20:19] Aren't they adorable?
[00:20:23] I mean, I'm helplessly and hopelessly a proud grandpa.
[00:20:28] And as a grandpa I want to believe that my grandkids are the best and they can do no wrong. They are more handsome and beautiful and smart than all of your grandkids.
[00:20:40] And then reality hits me square in the face as my sons tell me from their day to day experience.
[00:20:45] And like I said, this weekend we had Theodore and Ephraim for the whole weekend.
[00:20:50] Theo is four and Ephraim is two and we have a fantastic time with them. And I they're great kids, I love them to death.
[00:20:57] But none of our kids or grandkids are super saints and so they throw temper tantrums and they wake up at 2 o'clock in the morning howling and screaming for attention and they stubbornly refuse to eat anything they don't think they're going to like or refuse to try new food that you put on their plate. And the older sibling sometimes hits or pushes over the other sibling or steals the toy they're playing with.
[00:21:23] So mom and dad take heart. It's not only your kids.
[00:21:27] Life experience confirms that newborn babies and toddlers are cute and precious little sinful human beings.
[00:21:35] And the scriptures confirm this. They declare that we are all sinful from birth and it only takes a day in the real world for our demandingness, our self centeredness, our selfishness and our desire for the world to revolve around us to come out.
[00:21:50] It's in these moments I'm reminded just how difficult and challenging things can be as young parents.
[00:21:55] The constant sleepless nights, the ongoing sickness being passed from one family member to another and then you're over it. And then it starts all over again.
[00:22:03] The financial struggles, wondering if you're going to be able to pay all the bills and have the money to repair a vehicle that you desperately need.
[00:22:11] How about the first time when those cute little precious little human beings learn their favorite word? No.
[00:22:18] When Their stubbornness, disobedience and sinful hearts rear its ugly head.
[00:22:23] I can still remember times when one of the kids was seriously injured or had illness and that can scare the life out of you.
[00:22:31] And how the stresses and pressures of it all would lead to conflicts and fights between Lisa and I saying things to one another that we wish we could take back.
[00:22:41] There'll be a new and difficult challenge in every season of your child's life that will test you and push you to your limits.
[00:22:49] Thanks for the encouragement, Jim.
[00:22:52] You're welcome.
[00:22:54] I often say that marriage and family are the two most significant schools of faith and character development that God uses in our lives.
[00:23:02] And you go through this personal training school. As you do, I want to remind you of five things.
[00:23:07] And the first thing I want to remind you of is don't despise your humble beginnings.
[00:23:12] We live in a culture where everyone believes that they should have access to all that life offers. From day one, over 35 years of married life, the majority which include child rearing. As I look back, it was the lean years and the trials and the challenges and the hardships, not the comfort and ease that God used to make us into the people of faith that we are today.
[00:23:32] We get to now look back in amazement on how God came through each and every time. Those times when you thought, there's no way we're going to make it this time, there's no way that we're going to have ends meet, there's no way that we're going to get through this one.
[00:23:46] And he always brings us through.
[00:23:51] The second thing I want you to remember is this too shall pass. There are times when you truly think that these life stresses and pressures, they're going to last forever or my child's never going to change.
[00:24:04] It's always going to be this way, and I just want to tell you it's not true.
[00:24:10] The third thing is every season will have precious memories. You'll look back and remember precious moments in each season of your child's life that you'll cherish forever until you go home to be with the Lord. You look back and you'll smile and you'll laugh and you'll cry together, and even some of the harder times will be looked at with joy because you know it was God who brought you through every step of the way.
[00:24:32] The fourth thing is you've been given the special honor of molding and shaping these little lives.
[00:24:39] Your sacrifices are for one primary reason that your son or daughter will come to know and fall in love with Jesus and have the kind of faith and character that will carry them through a living in a fallen, sinful world.
[00:24:51] Every difficult day that you have, remind yourself of this, God has blessed you with this special ministry and here's the fifth thing that I want you to hold on to tightly.
[00:25:04] We are here for you.
[00:25:08] Those of us who are beyond child rearing or maybe have never had children.
[00:25:14] We're part of your equation.
[00:25:17] These parents need our help so that their existence is not continuously one of treading water to barely keep themselves from drowning.
[00:25:24] God has given the rest of us a special honor of both blessing these parents and being their kids spiritual aunts and uncles through our humble and sacrificial service of them and their family.
[00:25:34] It is what allows all of us to experience the reality of the blessedness of community life together and what it means to be a spiritual family sharing our lives with one another.
[00:25:47] You know, I thought of the story of Moses in Exodus chapter 17, where Moses instructs Joshua to select men and go fight against Amalek.
[00:25:57] And Joshua took his men into battle while Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill to oversee the battlefield.
[00:26:04] And when Moses held his arm high with a staff in his hand as a childlike act of worship and dependence upon God, Israel prevailed. But whenever he put his hand down, their enemy Amalek prevailed.
[00:26:17] When Moses arms grew weary, Aaron Hur took a large stone and put it under him for Moses to sit on. Then Aaron and Hur supported his arms, one on his right and one on his left, so that they remained steady, raised high until the sun went down.
[00:26:31] And in Exodus 17:13 it says, so Joshua defeated Amalek by the sword.
[00:26:37] What a beautiful picture.
[00:26:40] How often do the pressures, stresses, responsibilities, conflicts of life feel as if they are going to defeat you, overwhelm you to the point that you won't survive you? You feel so weary of the fight that emotionally you're ready to put your arms down in defeat.
[00:26:55] But then you experience the support and encouragement of your brothers and sisters in Christ who are there not only in words, but they're in person to encourage and to support and to help you make it through the struggle to carry some of the burden and to help you see that you aren't alone in this fight.
[00:27:15] This is to be true for the family of faith from the womb to the tomb.
[00:27:22] It's just as true with those who are in the beginning stages of life as it is for those who have special needs in the latter stages of life.
[00:27:30] For Paul says in Galatians 6:2 carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. And this is how we are to live with one another at ifc.
[00:27:41] Not only for young families, but for single moms, for single people, for those who are widowed, for those who are suffering with illness and because of illness are shut in. It's a terrible thing to feel all alone in the fight. There should never be one person at IFC that ever feels this way, that I'm alone in my struggles, in my fight.
[00:28:05] This will only experientially become true if two things happen.
[00:28:11] If you decide and I'm speaking to you, I'm not speaking to the person sitting next to you, that you decide to be the answer to people's struggles, loneliness and pain. You become to them Jesus with flesh, Jesus with loving hands that reach out to them.
[00:28:26] And the second thing is those of you in need must decide to ask for and accept the help of others.
[00:28:35] And it's just pride when you don't.
[00:28:40] When we don't take the role of meeting needs or expressing our need, it becomes the difference between pride destroying community and humility becoming the life giving force of God within community. And that's what it means to come to Jesus as little children.
[00:28:58] You want to know what is often missed in this?
[00:29:02] When we become and we live with childlike faith in community with one another, it becomes our power in evangelism.
[00:29:11] This is how Christ uses us to win the world to him. In John 13, 34 and 35, he says a new command I give you love one another as I have loved you, so that you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples by your love for one another.
[00:29:27] Jesus is telling us, his disciples, his church, how our love for one another that flows out of his lavish love upon us will impact the lives of unbelievers who see and how we live and love and sacrifice and share our lives and possessions and our homes with one another and draws them to Jesus. Isn't that amazing that not only our needs are being met in the moment, but it's like this tract of magnet. It's this picture that the world gets to see that these Christians are different.
[00:29:55] Did you see how that church sacrificed and blessed that single mom and her kids?
[00:30:01] Did you hear about what that church did for that family who was in crisis?
[00:30:06] I was amazed at how many people from that church were there visiting every day as he laid there week after week in the hospital. They sat with his wife, they brought food, they Prayed with her and the kids.
[00:30:17] Did you hear about how John lost his job and that church made sure that he had enough to pay his bills and have food on the table until he got back on his feet?
[00:30:26] Man, these people really sacrificed for the good of one another. I wonder what makes them so different.
[00:30:35] Isn't that incredible that Jesus can use our love for each other as we care for one another and sacrifice one another and share our lives and resources with another to meet real life needs? That Jesus will use it to lead others to salvation in Him.
[00:30:51] That's when the truth of Paul's words to the Corinthian Church are experienced to more amazing depths when he says it is more blessed to give than to receive.
[00:31:04] Listen, we don't go to church on Sunday mornings. We are the church.
[00:31:10] The church comes together to meet at this building every Sunday. Being the church is not primarily even what we do on Sundays. Being the church is how we live with and for one another and love one another the other six days of the week.
[00:31:26] One more thing. You may be the one in crisis right now, but there will be a day when that crisis has ended and God will have you pay it forward to others in urgent need.
[00:31:38] For most of the first 15 years of our marriage, Lisa was a stay at home mom and a homeschooling mom and we lived off a meager pastor's salary and there were days when we thought we don't know how we're going to make it because the ends just aren't meeting here.
[00:31:56] A vehicle would break down with a couple hundred thousand miles on it and we couldn't afford to repair it. And then someone gave us a van and over the years we have actually been given three vans and a car.
[00:32:09] The boys would outgrow their clothes and one of my siblings would drop off a bag of their boys use clothes who are older and they were hand me downs but they weren't rags. All my siblings are much more financially wealthy than I am and they were name brand stuff and they seem like new and stuff we'd never afford to buy.
[00:32:29] Lisa's mom was always buying the boys new shoes, clothes and toys.
[00:32:33] When we first planted a church in St. Charles county, we moved into a house there and in a miraculous way we were able to purchase the house for 50,000 less than a listed value.
[00:32:43] And while we were away with the kids for an extended weekend, a group from our church family decorated the inside of our house, placed much needed antique desk in the family room, hung curtains that we didn't have, and placed A new comforter on our bed and new dishes in the cabinet.
[00:32:59] When I was going to officiate my first wedding and someone found out that I didn't have a suit, they gave me the money to buy one.
[00:33:07] There have been several times that people gifted us with large sums of money that helped us to get by. Others would allow us to use their vacation home to get away. I have one long time friend, even to this day who buys me lunch twice a month, probably for 15 years now and over 35 years together. No matter what our financial condition was, we always gave at least 10% of our gross income to the Lord because we always believed all of it was his and he deserved our first fruit, not what was left over.
[00:33:38] At least in my story is not a story of our deserving these blessings from God at all.
[00:33:44] It's actually a story of a God who is rich in grace, who chooses to give beyond what we could ever deserve and chooses to live look favorably upon his children's humble obedience and faithfulness to Him. It's always about God getting the glory for all that.
[00:34:00] It's always been our firm belief that if you do not mismanage your funds and always give back to God your first fruits and are generous in heart towards others, he will provide what you need, not everything you want and desire.
[00:34:14] And at times it sure ain't easy. But he will always provide what you and your children need. And he will make a way at times for you to have a surplus to meet the needs of others.
[00:34:27] And if that isn't happening, there's four things I want to encourage you to do.
[00:34:34] And the first thing is to get your finances in order.
[00:34:37] Stop living above your means. If you can't afford it, you can't have it.
[00:34:42] You may need some help by seeking godly counsel. Often there's some unmet need you're trying to satisfy through buying stuff. But stuff doesn't satisfy in any long term way. It only serves as a band aid in your attempt to mend an open wound or avoid in your heart.
[00:34:58] The second thing, you need to start giving God your first fruits instead of what's left over.
[00:35:04] The third thing is you need to lay your needs before him in prayer every single day.
[00:35:08] The Scriptures are clear in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus told the disciples to ask God to give us this day our daily bread.
[00:35:17] And when I think about this, I thought of the Old Testament example of God's provision of manna to his people in the wilderness.
[00:35:23] It was just enough to meet that day's needs. And if they did not believe and trust God for His daily provision and tried to collect more hoarded to themselves, it all rotted.
[00:35:35] When we run ourselves into the ground trying to meet our family's need and not trusting God to provide, when we live in worry, anxiety and fear that we won't have what we need, it's our hearts, our spiritual lives, and sometimes our relationships that are things that rot.
[00:35:52] God's word to you is this. Cast all your anxieties upon me because I care for you. My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in glory.
[00:36:03] And the fourth thing is wait on him, trusting him to meet your needs. Believe me when I say that living life humbly in complete trust and dependence on God can feel scary.
[00:36:17] Our natural fleshly tendencies are to quickly do something to fix it. I have to make more money. I have to take on more jobs. I have to work 60, 70 hours a week to be successful. I have to change jobs or careers or move to another city to make things happen, to make things work. Sometimes God may reveal that life circumstances do demand this, but sometimes it's the choice of not surrendering our lives to Christ as Lord and childlike faith that forces these extra stresses, pressures and burdens upon our lives because we're running around trying to fix it and not bringing it to the Lord so that he can fix it.
[00:36:51] Before trying to make things happen and work yourself, maybe you should ask yourself a few questions that you may not like the answers to.
[00:37:00] Lord, are we living above our means?
[00:37:03] Lord? Have I made poor choices that have gotten our lives between a rock and a hard place?
[00:37:09] Lord, are we trusting you enough to give sacrificially of our first fruits, believing you will supply our needs even when on paper our finances don't look so good?
[00:37:18] Lord, in pride have I taken control of things and made life more stressful, sapping life, joy and peace? Because I haven't surrendered control of everything to you, Lord, before acting to fix things myself, have I waited in prayer with you? You see, this is not the life God has planned for you.
[00:37:38] I can't really express in adequate words how humbling all of this was and still is for Lisa and I.
[00:37:44] Each time it was God who laid us and our need on someone's heart and they responded in humility to say, yes God, I can meet that need. And that's what I want you to understand is, yeah, we appreciate the people that come through and we're richly blessed and they touch our lives. But it's God because He loves you that much who's placing your names on their hearts to come and meet that need for you.
[00:38:08] And that's what the beauty of living in community with one another is. That's what it means to be the church.
[00:38:16] Lisa and I learned without a doubt how our God is truly Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides. Do you remember when that name was first used in the Scriptures?
[00:38:27] There was a story of Abraham and Isaac.
[00:38:30] Abraham was given a promise that he and his wife Sarah would have a son through whom all nations would be blessed. Because through his lineage, the promised Messiah was to come.
[00:38:39] They waited for decades until they were both old. And it appeared Sarah was beyond childbearing years.
[00:38:46] Rather than fully trusting God's word and promise and childlike faith, they sought to fulfill it by their own means, their own plan. Abraham slept with his maidservant Hagar, who was of Egyptian descent, not the chosen line of God. And she gave birth to Ishmael, who was foretold by God that this line was always going to be wild and at war with this half brother's line, which we still see today, centuries later in the Middle East. I mean, can you imagine, can you see the mess we can make of things when we just forget about trying to trust God in childlike faith and start trying to run around doing all these things ourselves?
[00:39:21] Anyway, Abraham and Sarah are finally blessed with a son who they named Isaac. And the child grows and develops. And one day God commands Abraham to take his son up on the mountain to the altar of sacrifice and offer him as a sacrifice to the Lord beyond belief. Abraham obeys. I mean, none of us with children could ever imagine laying our child on the altar of sacrifice and getting ready to plunge a knife into his heart.
[00:39:44] But the Scriptures declare that Abraham knew that even if God made him follow through, that he could rise Isaac from the dead.
[00:39:54] Abraham, is everything ready. His son is lying on the altar. He's ready to plunge his knife into his heart when an angel of the Lord appears and stops him.
[00:40:03] And over in the thicket close by was a ram stuck with its horns and would be the sacrifice God would provide for Abraham to offer.
[00:40:12] Abraham offered the ram unto the Lord and named that place the Lord will provide. And in Hebrew it's Jehovah Jireh.
[00:40:23] Abraham grew in childlike trust and independence of God as he experienced the reality of God's nature and character in his life. And I contend that the many names for God in the Bible are not solely there, that we might intellectually know and understand more about him, but because his desire has always been that he will give us opportunities as we live by childlike faith to experience him in these ways in our lives. Those names are there so that we can understand that he wants us to experience him as God in our lives in this way. To experience that he is the God of provision and protection. That he is the God who is all powerful and almighty in our lives and circumstances. That he is the God who is sovereign and is in control of the circumstances of our lives and the world around us. That he is the God of love who richly lavishes us in his love. That he is the all knowing and all wise God who shares that wisdom with us through counseling us through his word and through others, leading us through life by his truth.
[00:41:20] That he is the God of grace and mercy. That because of Christ does not treat us or condemn us in our sin, but readily forgives us as we come to him in childlike confession and repentance. That he is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals as we have experienced deliverance and being set free from the power of sin and the healing of our bodies when we're sick. It's how David could Write in Psalm 910, those who know your name trust in you because you have not abandoned those who seek you, Lord. Amen.
[00:41:52] God has taught Lisa and I who he is over our 35 years together as he so often has broken into our lives by revealing who he is and how he is always faithful to his name.
[00:42:12] To those who in childlike faith seek him with all their heart.
[00:42:18] God has also taught us how precious God's family has been to our lives and our kids lives and reflecting to us the undying love and caring of our Savior.
[00:42:28] Now God has brought us to a place where we are able to bless others at times with financial resources from our little surplus to help those in time of need.
[00:42:40] If you're that person or family that's doing well financially, I want to ask you keep your spiritual antenna up. Ask God where there might be an urgent need in the IFC family and choose to meet that need.
[00:42:53] This is how God has called us to do church. It is what it looks like to live in humble childlike community together.
[00:43:01] Ben, you can come come back up.
[00:43:10] The life of a person who comes to God as a child is characterized by humility.
[00:43:17] While we are saved through a disposition of humility towards the Lord, he never wants us to lose that childlike disposition of trust and dependence on Him.
[00:43:27] Humility is needed in salvation.
[00:43:30] Humility is needed to grow and Flourish in Christ.
[00:43:34] Humility is needed to live in a life transforming community with one another.
[00:43:40] While humility is needed to serve others who we are in community with, humility is also needed to be served by others in a community of faith.
[00:43:50] I want to close with a passage from the Apostle Peter.
[00:43:54] A man like most of us, who had to learn to trust and depend and learned to be humble. And he had to learn the hard way.
[00:44:03] That's why he can speak so clearly to us about it.
[00:44:07] I believe the main message Peter wants us, wants to leave with us, is you are a child of the Father whose love for you cannot be measured and can never be broken.
[00:44:15] That you are a precious and beloved child of His. His heart is for you and he loves to provide for you. He loves to provide for you. He's not a reluctant father.
[00:44:28] And that you are a child of the King who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and who is sovereign, in control of all things. He has the power to work the supernatural in your life, in every life, who chooses to humbly submit and surrender their lives to him.
[00:44:43] And this is the passage I want to close with first Peter 5, 5 and 6.
[00:44:48] Peter writes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility towards one another because God opposes the proud that gives grace to the humble.
[00:44:56] Humble yourselves therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
[00:45:08] We're going to move into just a brief ministry time, and this morning each of us have an opportunity to come to him as a child, come to our Heavenly Father, Jesus, our King, as a child, to admit to him where we really at in our lives, where we're really at in our hearts, to ask for his insight, to reveal what he wants us to do, what humble steps on change he wants us to make.
[00:45:37] Maybe it's how you started your journey of faith, in humble trust and dependence on God. But in pride, you've taken back control of some aspects of your life and are suffering some consequences.
[00:45:48] Maybe you've never really surrendered to the lordship of Christ and through bad choices have made a mess of some things.
[00:45:55] Maybe you've been overwhelmed by fear and anxiety because you've stopped trusting God to meet your needs.
[00:46:01] Maybe you've never chosen to give your first fruits to God and have only been giving him the leftovers.
[00:46:08] Maybe in pride you've been running life on a treadmill, trying to fix everything and make things work and happen and have just exhausted yourself and your family, feeling spiritually empty.
[00:46:22] Maybe you've never humbled yourself to see your need for deep relational community and have kept your community of faith at a distance and need to obey God to fully engage in doing life with your spiritual family.
[00:46:35] Maybe you haven't thought much about sacrificially laying your life down to meet the needs of your brothers and sisters in Christ. Or maybe in pride, you haven't let your spiritual family into your struggles to help carry your burden.
[00:46:47] Maybe God has richly blessed you with resources that can help out brothers and sisters in need, but you haven't really been asking or seeking God on how you might be able to help.
[00:46:57] Or maybe God has brought you through many of these life lessons and you have a story to share of God's faithfulness and God wants you to encourage others who desperately need to hear your story.
[00:47:11] I believe that every person this morning has one thing.
[00:47:16] Ask God to reveal it to you now.
[00:47:21] And please hear me on this.
[00:47:24] This is not a journey that you or your spouse and family are meant to travel alone.
[00:47:29] If you need help, if you need counsel, if you need your brothers and sisters in some way to support you, humble yourself, seek someone out and admit your need. Please, let's go ahead and spend some time with the Lord now.
