John and we're going to be here
a little bit longer, a little longer in our journey here because
there are some things that I want to unpack, that I want to bring
to our attention for the sake of our joy, for the sake of our
fellowship, for the sake of our ministry and so just bear with
me as we continue to go through some of these things. Why is it that we assemble? I
mean, we've asked this question several times over. Why is it
that we assemble? What do we do and why do we do
it? To what end, to what purpose
are we supposed to gather together once a week, the first of the
week, as it is the custom of the New Testament church, from
the beginning? And what is it that the scripture calls for
us to do? We could go to Colossians, we could go to the book of Acts
and see through the narrative. We could go into all the instructions
of the apostles and we can see what we're called to do. That's
where we find out why we're here. And of course, we have the Sunday
school answer, for the glory of God. Yes, but what does that
mean? What does it mean to reveal the
fullness of God? Because that's what it means,
the glory. The glory of God is to see all that he is. And how
do we see all that He is? Through what He has said, through
what He has made, through what He has accomplished, and through
the one whom He has sent. That's how we see who God is.
So God has revealed Himself to His people alone. And in that
revelation, He has done so through the Son, and then the apostles
and the prophets have written of Him, and the apostles' writing
are the exclusive places that we see the glory of God. And
the Apostles writing include what we have so passionately,
culturally called the full counsel of God's word. We got to have
the full counsel. How many of you have ever heard
that? And you've seen it. Well, I preach the full counsel
of God's word. No, we don't. We have the things
we love and we have the things we like and we have the things
we ignore. I wouldn't say the things we
don't like because we would never honestly say we don't like those. That
would be unchristian of us. We have the things we love, the
things we like, and the things we ignore. And so we want the
apostles teaching, we want to learn a whole bunch of facts
about Jesus, we want to see all the cool revelation of things
theologically, but we don't care about how we are to live together
in unity. Isn't that the way it is? We
do care, but the culture has dictated that more than the scripture.
Well, what is a church? Well, a church gets together
and they pass the plate and they do the baptism thing and the
Lord's Supper thing and the ministry thing and the Sunday school thing
and the prayer supper thing and blah, blah, blah. And that's
what we do. Praise be to God. Well, can praise be given to
God in some of these things? Yes, but is that what the scripture
has taught us? Why are we here? Are we here
to appease God? No, Christ has appeased God for
us. Christ's death has satisfied
the wrath of God for us. Are we here that we may look
good in the community? I hope not in one sense and I
hope so in another. I hope we gather in the positive
sense that we may look in the eyes of the community as a family,
as one people under the banner of Christ and his gospel, but
not so that we may be seen by the cultural Christians of our
community as godly folks because we are in church. As a child, and I grew up in
this town. As a child, if you weren't a member of a church
and you were a business owner, it was hard pressed for you to
succeed. If you weren't actively involved
in some type of ministry, didn't matter which one it was, you
had to be in the church somewhere that had good reputation in the
context of the community, or you might as well just hang it
up. Was the minute the new doctor, the new lawyer, or the new tractor
salesman, or the new, you know, lawn care guy, or the new hardware
guy joined first or second or third Baptist, you were through.
That's not what the purpose of the church is. Matter of fact,
the promises of Scripture say that the tighter we are in our
relationship with one another in the gospel purely, the less
likely the community at large is going to want to do business
with us at all. As a matter of fact, it even teaches us that
it is going to be a guarantee that the religious of our culture
will come against us. They will begin to hate us, not
because of anything we've said, nor because of anything that
we've done, nor because of any knuckleheadedness or tomfoolery
that we have produced out of our own lives, but purely because
we rest silently and confidently together in the gospel. the true
gospel, the Lord Jesus. So we have these epistles, fancy
word for letter. And we have these apostles, fancy
word for messenger. So we have these letter writers
writing letters to the people of God under the power of the
Holy Spirit. And we are to embrace every phrase,
every piece of context, every piece of instruction And when
we do that, we are receiving the full counsel of God's Word. And that which is told to the
church of the New Testament is sufficient. It's sufficient unto
salvation, it's sufficient unto the assurance thereof, it's sufficient
unto the instruction concerning the divine power of God, and
it's sufficient for our understanding of that which the prophet spoke.
Why are we here today? That we may be instructed in
these things. That we may be exhorted. And
encouraged. And admonished. And corrected. And trained in righteousness.
See, we're headed into those letters, aren't we? We're headed
into Paul's letters to Timothy, a young elder, to teach him what
it means for the church to exist, the power by which the church
is supposed to stand, and the authority that governs the church. And John's letter's no different.
It's just a little bit simpler. It's this elder loving a people
whom Christ has purchased even diatrophies. And he wants their
unity to be secure and their love to be true and their gospel
witness to be light. And most importantly, he wants
them to understand by what authority they stand. He wants them to understand that
they are subject to Christ. We are here to learn so that
we may live. Everything that we learn in Scripture,
whether it be theological, that which explains God, or whether
it be Teaching as to how we live, therefore, is to the praise of
His glorious grace. I can love you by the grace of
the Lord. If it weren't for the grace of
the Lord, I would vanish. I can serve you by the grace
of the Lord. Well, why is that working in
my life? Some of you may be saying, because you're spending more
time worrying and laboring in your heart and your mind and
your life on things that are not gospel rather than investing
in the celebration of the grace of God through Jesus Christ.
Therefore, you have nothing to give anyone but complaints. I
should have had a mirror in front of me when I said that. Praise and glory is all about
thankfulness. We started James Wednesday night.
And for those of you who don't come midweek, that's no problem.
I beg of you to please pay attention to this letter. Don't get 12
weeks in and go, it's too late. It's never too late. Start. Listen
to the teaching of the apostle James. It's what you need. It's what we need. So find time
during the week to listen to those sermons because it will really help us.
It'll help you and you and you and you and me. And in turn,
it'll help us be the body that God has prepared for us to be. I want to go to third John. And
I want to remind us of a few things. And you notice we've
already preached the whole thing. So now we're having to come back
in here. Remember, you see, it's not that long of a letter, but
we have to come back in here and expressly show a few things. And today, I want to show the
authority of the apostles over the church. And in turn, that authority still
stands. And in turn, because that authority
still stands, I want us to see that we are subject to the instruction
of the apostles as the doctrine of Christ. In matters of teaching about
Christ and the matters of teaching about living together as Christ's
body. That's the full counsel of God's word. People don't like
that. You know why they don't like that? Because our flesh
hates authority. We love to have our idols. Now this is going to blow some
of your minds, some of your minds. We can make an idol out of a
one-sided theology. We can have it all right, we
can praise the Lord, we can love the Lord Jesus as we see him
revealed in scripture, and we can have bitter disdain for being
told what to do. What does Jesus say? If you love
me, you'll obey my commands. And what is the context of that?
Very clear instruction. To love one another as I have
loved you. What? How we do in church? If we were
to measure ourselves against the love of Christ, the God of
the cosmos, putting on a creation, putting Himself in subjectivity
to creation, bearing the wrath of God as a substitute for wicked
people that hate Him, how are we doing in comparison to love? Poorly. Because at 1230, I'm
going to be thinking, what am I going to eat? You see? Is that wicked? No, I'm hungry,
I need to eat. But our bodies and our lives
are going to, even by design, worry about our survival before
we worry about someone else's. Now parents, And grandparents,
we know the difference, right? We know what it's like to sacrifice,
but listen, sacrifice as a parent is not, even though it should
be a picture of Christ, it is not, because as a father, I sacrifice
because it is my duty, but oh, I'm complaining the whole time.
In my spirit. I'm frustrated. I'm irritated. You see what I mean? Let's be
honest. At work, we're to serve our bosses and our co-workers
as if they are Jesus. Whatever you want, Lord. It is
my joy, Lord. I lay my life down. Are you not
going to pay me? That's great, Father. See, that sounds good
in the spiritual sense. Right here, till about noon,
that's all well. Tomorrow around noon, what do
you mean I can't take lunch? This is my time, you see? But
we do that. We don't serve as Christ served.
We don't love as Christ loved. That's why Christ's perfect righteousness
is imputed to us. It is credited to us before the
Father of life, before the Father of light, before the Father of
justice. Because we aren't measuring up, beloved. And that's not the intention
of the gospel, is that we measure up in and of ourselves, it's
that Christ measures up for us, and all that He is is credited
to us. And beloved, that's all John's wanting. Verse 5 of 3
John, Beloved, it is a fateful thing you do in all your efforts
for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testify to your
love before the church. You do well to send them on their
journey in a manner worthy God for they have gone out for the
sake of the name of God accepting nothing from the Gentiles Therefore
we ought to support people like these that we may be fellow workers
for the truth. I Have written something already
to the church, but diatrophies who likes to put himself before
others Does not acknowledge our authority So if I come I'm gonna
bring up what he's doing talking wicked nonsense against us And
he's not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers,
and also stops those who want to welcome the brothers, and
he puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate evil,
but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God,
and whoever does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received
a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We
also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.
So here we are, same text, different week, nothing new to see, but
attention needs to be brought to something. Attention needs to be brought
to the very tightly packed verses 5 through 8. These few verses say a lot. It says a lot because In verses
5 through 8 we are seeing John praise Gaius for what he is doing
and then encouraging him to continue in that manner. What is he doing?
He is showing hospitality and love to gospel ministers. Now remember I had jokes last
week. I don't know why, just funny
things came to my mind. So my stand-up bit took about
eight minutes of my sermon. all together. I listened to it
yesterday. I'm thinking, man, talking about
derailing the sublime. Yet the Lord is faithful still. And so when I got to this point,
I had to put my brain back on track. Here's something I want
you to remember today. Showing hospitality, according
to the scripture, has nothing to do with just opening up your
door for snacks and tea, enjoying a meal together. It's not about hospitality. Hospitality
is, I have things that belong to me, I have time that belongs
to me, I have treasures that belong to me, and my brothers
and sisters in the faith need them, I give them away. I split
them up. And these missionaries, whom
I believe John gave the letter to the church to begin with,
the atrophies saw it like, not happening here, get out of here.
That's why they came back to John and said, dude, he threw
us out of the church. And as a matter of fact, there
was some other people there said, no, we're going to support these men. And he threw them
out of the church. And the other elder brothers are going, well,
what are we going to do? He's a powerful guy. And all sorts of foolishness
was taking place. But John says it is good that
you do this because this is a life or death situation. If you're
traveling, for all intents and purposes, in the wilderness from
city to city on camelback or it wasn't horses then, horses
can't traverse the desert. Dry and arid places, they have
to drink water all the time. Camels don't. You fill the camel
up here, then you've got a pit stop a couple hundred miles away.
Camels fill up again. But here, these missionaries
were traveling all around Asia Minor and Palestine and they
were coming into the area where there were churches and people
like Diotrephes, as a leader in the church, had an obligation
to give these men food and shelter and clothing and money. Because
if he did not do that and they sent them away, they very well
could perish on their way to the next location. So hospitality
in the context of the New Testament and even the Old Testament, I
could go to Genesis and show you what hospitality looks like.
I could even go to Sodom and Gomorrah and show you what hospitality
looks like and doesn't look like. In that we are to take care of
people, especially those who are gospel ministers, because
they are not supposed to take anything from the world. Look
at that. These men do well. They have
testified to your love before the church, here with me, and
you are faithful in what you've been doing to support them. Even
though you don't know them, they are telling of your love. You
do well to send them on their journey. Listen to this, in a
manner worthy of God, and a man are worthy of God.
For they've gone out for the sake of the Lord and are taking
nothing from the Gentiles." Now John is writing in a Semitic
way. He's not saying non-Jewish people. He's using the term Gentile
as unbelievers. He's using that as unbelievers.
He says they're taking nothing from the world. They're taking
nothing from Now you might think, well what in the world? What
Christian missionary, what pastor takes something from the world?
Do I really have to answer that question? I mean, really? You ever met a ministry that's
constantly about fundraising? You ever met a ministry, you
ever seen a minister that's constantly about fundraising who doesn't
look like he needs anything? but yet you're serving the Lord.
You're not serving, you see what I'm saying? And some of us, we
feel compelled sometimes to give our money to secular organizations
that do good benevolent work. I'll be honest with you, you
can do that, but if you're not supporting the gospel ministry,
you shouldn't do that until you can support the gospel ministry. Because it's just worthless. And for
non-gospel ministry, for people who say, well, you know, we're
doing the Lord's work, but they're not, they don't have the gospel,
you shouldn't give them even the time of day. But for those who are truly teaching
and truly serving and truly going out, it is our responsibility,
it is the body's responsibility to support them and to provide
for them so that they are not tempted to go into the world.
Therefore, verse eight, we ought to support people like these
that we may be fellow workers of the truth. Why do we assemble? Here's one of the reasons. There's
some things that we do, we understand, we're to do the Lord's table,
we're to observe baptism, we're to pray together, sing together,
hear the word of God, and then encourage one another as we have
opportunity. That when we break up those relationships
and those bonds from those promises, carry out throughout the week,
throughout the life of the church. But here, what are we really
supposed to be doing? We're supposed to be glorifying
the Lord as we learn and grow by living in a manner worthy
of the calling, together taking care of, so let's take this a
step further, and this is not necessarily John's point, but
we've already seen it in his first letter, haven't we? We
have an obligation to one another above all other obligations,
above all other obligations. We have an obligation to one
another above the obligations of our community at large, above
the obligations to our physical blood family, above the obligations
to our government, to our jobs, to national politics, to world
issues, to social issues. That is our calling. God doesn't
call people to be the national stage of political reform for
Jesus. You know what political reform
for Jesus, when he burns it to the ground. Stop, you're wasting
your life. We waste our lives. You want
to see the image of what it means to go and take all that God has
given us, the Father has given us, and throw it away and end
up wanting to eat hog slop? Luke 15. That's what most people
do in the name of Christ. They end up throwing it all away
by going and trying to become everything but that which God
has said, this is what I want from you. We don't need big ministries.
We don't need famous teachers. We don't need great outreach. We need intimacy and concern
and prayer. And this is the same type of
thing. This is what happens. And by the Lord's mercy, we don't
have diatrophies in the midst of our assembly trying to strong-arm
his own way. But beloved, if we are honest,
there is a diatrophies waiting to bloom in all of us. Is there not? What's the moniker? Is he a brother? Yes. Interesting
thing is that John never, ever, ever threatens that diatrophies
would be ejected from the church. John just says, when I come down
there, I'm gonna call him out. We're gonna get in the assembly,
and I'm gonna say, hey, brothers and sisters, all you all following
Diotrephes, you know what I'm talking about, boy, you tore
the letter up. Shame on you. And the apostle had the authority
to go into the assembly as an elder of elders and do it. Diotrephes
had started his Romanism way too early. Well, I'm the overseer
of the overseers around here, and I'm going to tell everybody
what to do. Beloved, there is no head overseer. There's no
chief elder. Except in the context of role
and responsibility, like Timothy, a chief elder in Ephesus. Like Titus. I left you there
that you may appoint elders in every congregation. in every
city so that congregation can be born and then get out of the
way. You don't have authority over them anymore. And so this
idea about church autonomy is indeed biblical, but church individuality
is not. That's why, as I've said a thousand
times, if I've said it once, the plurality of elders is the
only safe way that a church can remain. Because when the elders
fail, There is no remedy for the church to continue. None
whatsoever in the Bible. We've got to call a new pastor.
You can't do that biblically. The worst thing you could ever
do is call a James Tippens from one state to another and say,
yeah, come down here and be our pastor. I don't know you from Adam's
house, cat. You see? But that's what we're taught.
In the back of our mind, no big deal. It'd be terrible. Oh, Lord.
No, it's just disperse. But John's joy came from knowing
that these redeemed people walked intimately and loved one another. And not just one another, but
they were loving other brothers and sisters in the faith. They
were loving those who were taking the gospel out to the world.
Now I'm going to tell you, my final message in this text is
going to be complete application. And I've been working for years
on this application. Years, I'm not exaggerating.
Because I want to make sure that I'm not dogmatically strong-arming,
but that I'm passionately and intimately and humbly gaining,
executing wisdom that God's given me. And it's a very delicate
thing. So here, We see these things,
we see this instruction, we see what God has called the church
to do, we see what John is telling these people to do, but there
is this Diotrephes who does not want to do it. Instead, he wants
his own way. He wants to put himself first. He likes to put himself first.
He loves to put himself first. Now the irony behind this is
that I believe if we were able to sit down and really peel back
the layers of his thinking, he has come to conclude that by
putting this type of restriction on the body and by strong-arming
the church at large for fear of ostracization and expulsion
to do his bidding, I don't think he was sitting up at night maniacally
going, you know, I'm destroying the church. No, I think he was
thinking, I am going to serve you, Lord. I'm doing the Lord's
work. I'm honoring Christ my King.
I'm not going to allow this to do this to my church. Who does
John think he is? Well see, that's the cool thing,
is the apostles are always obeyed. No matter what's happening. No
matter how bad or weak or ridiculous somebody else may be in their
understanding or their application, when the Scripture is opened
up and if a cat is sitting up here and meowing out the construction
of the Word, we as God's people are subject to hear it and to
do it. We are subject to it. So there
is a fail-safe. In the service of eldership,
of oversight, of pastoring, of shepherding, of teaching, of
instruction, there's a failsafe in that the apostles have authority
over the pastors. And they're dead, but the Spirit
of God, the living Word of God, as it is written, still holds
that power. You see that? It's interesting to see what forms diatrophies can take
in a local church. And if I say this in a real sensible
way, I'm not saying this in a supernatural way, but I'm just talking about
the flesh and the spirit of diatrophies. We are all prone to one our way.
And we are all prone to logically argue that what we are doing
and how we are responding and what we are trying to accomplish
is the will of the Lord. And then the whole time sometimes
we're ignoring the clear instruction and the commands given to us
in the scripture because we know that what we know is better and
better and truer than what someone else knows and we're not going
to submit to the word of God alone, period, until we get our
way. You ever been there? Oh yeah,
I have. Remember the joke I made last week? We had the list of
complaints. We had all the complaints. If we had the, if David had been
an apostle, you know, and I love the Psalms, but beloved David
whined and cried a lot. He was a musician. We're melancholy
by nature. That's the point. That's why
we're musicians. We wear our emotions on our sleeves. We walk
on a waterbed. There's not a whole lot of firmness
underneath a melancholy temperament. But beloved, I'm going to tell
you, if David had been an apostle, the New Testament would have
been hundreds and hundreds of letters. And they would have been sob
story after sob story. Whoa, it's me. Why is this happening
to me? You don't see that in the resolve
of Paul, do you? You don't see that in the resolve of Peter. You don't see that in the apostle
because God is sovereign in all of these things. So David is
a type. He's not a prophet. He's not
a priest. He's not a King, except that
he's a shadow of the true prophet, priest and king. He pointed to
him in his Psalms. But even then, he was a man after
God's own heart. Intimacy and hospitality and
love and affection and support. Beloved, that's why we're here.
We're here to lay the foundations of living life together as a
family. that spring from who Christ is and what he accomplished
on our behalf, for us. We are the beneficiaries of all
the riches of grace. We've been given life. We have been established in the
heavenlies at the right hand of the Father today. That is
the work of our Savior. And the simple answer to all
of our anxiety is to look at the apostles' teaching, is to
rest in the one to whom they point, and is to listen and to
follow the simple prescriptions of how we ought to live life
together. I mean, let's put it to a test.
Diotrephes loves to put himself first, but yet today, how many
thoughts have we had about ourselves concerning ourselves, planning
for ourselves just to get here this morning? It's a pandemic, and nothing's
gonna stop it. What keeps it in check is that
we learn together here this morning. What keeps it in check is that
we are reminded of the gospel of free and sovereign grace.
We remember what God has done. We remember what Paul says concerning
Christ in Philippians, to the Philippians, right? Though he
was God, he became nothing. Though he was
omnipotent, he lowered himself and became an infant. And because of this, God raised
Him up that at the name of Jesus, every living creature that ever
has or will live will call Him Lord. Because that's who He is. So we are to be about the business
of Christ. And it is a two-edged sword.
The Word of God is a two-edged sword. I mean, think about that,
Hebrews 4. Think about that for a second. The Word of God is
living and breathing and active and working. Sharper, see this
is the metaphor, sharper than any two-edged sword. Now I know
a bunch of us nerds got cheap swords. But I've held a $15,000 katana. And I wanted it until I saw the
price tag. Oh yeah, what is this, 200 bucks? I'm going to get this. I'm going to get two. You can't
dull it. You can't break it. It's only
one edge. So in this picture, I mean, whoosh.
It's just like butter. Everything's like butter. I'm
like, can I go cut something? Sure. They let you cut with a
sword like that. That costs that much money because
you can't hurt it. Test it out. Robin sent me a video about some
Japanese cooking knives the other day. Like a four-year wait to get
one. I'm like, I don't even cook, but I want one. I mean, that's
just amazing. Men love sharp things. and they cut and they do what
needs to be done. Listen to that. I'm not talking
about a cheap sword. The Word of God is like a double-edged
sword. It's sharper. is active and living
and breathing and working. God Himself is working through
the Scripture, teaching and growing and expanding our understanding
and developing our maturity and processing our intimacy. And
it is the Word of God that is active and cutting like a two-edged
sword. And in one side of that, it cuts
doctrinally. It teaches us about who Christ
is. It teaches us the implications of what God has done in the gospel. And we grow in our worship, and
we love Him, and we praise Him. Hallelujah! I know that my God
is a gracious God. And it also causes fear, doesn't
it? trepidation to know what could
have been. When we see what God has done and we see the alternative,
we know where we could be. We could be lost and dead and
blind in our sins. That's one side of the sword
of the Word of God. The other side is in the context
of the very scripture that it's written in Hebrews chapter 4,
we have a responsibility to hold fast in the person of
Christ, and then we have a responsibility to hold fast together. Let's look at chapter six, seven,
eight, nine, and 10. We don't neglect one another
by neglecting to assemble. And this is a tall order. How
do we, as we like to say in America, how do we balance these things?
We don't balance these things. They're never gonna be balanced. We should always be high in our
praise and thankfulness to the Lord for what he's done. And
that is the power of God and is the love of God for his people
that compels us to be concerned with one another. Because if
Christ did that for me, what can I do for you? And that's
counterintuitive. Beloved, there is no molecule
inside the sinful human person that sacrificially understands
or understands and comprehends the sacrificial nature of true
love, divine love. We grasp it, we see it, we behold
it, we look at it, we just wonder, we're just in awe. Because Diotrephes wanted to
put himself first, thinking he was putting the church first,
thinking he was putting the glory of God first. And beloved, that's
why John's not after him to kick him out. He wants him to be reconciled,
which is the introduction of my sermon last week. Reconcile. Reconcile the gospel with intimacy. Now the awesome thing is that
I'm not even here yet, but this coming week and the week after
we're going to get in the part of James chapter 1 where it starts
to talk about wisdom. Because this requires wisdom.
It requires deep thinking and prayer and counsel and seeking
the Spirit of God to show us how and what we are to be doing. how we are to understand and
apply the things taught to us in the Bible. And it takes wisdom.
It's not human intellect. It's not historical theologians
who have figured it out before us. It's not a checklist. It is wisdom. And so the wisdom
of the Lord comes from the writing of the apostles to the church
and now to us, the church of today, so that when we see what
the Bible says, therefore do these things, therefore put away
these things, therefore treat one another this way. This is
the recipe for joy, for intimacy and for wisdom. But sometimes we want our own
way. Until this is fixed, I will rebel against God Almighty. Now
who has ever said that? Raise your hand if you've ever
said that, that way. No, no, no, no, no. We ignore it. Remember? Things we love, things
we like, things we ignore. We ignore it. I'm praying for
the Lord to do this in my life. Well, the Bible says for you
to be in assembly. The Bible says for you to consider
others better than yourselves. The Bible says for you to pray
and supplicate for your brothers and sisters. The Bible says to
love as Christ has loved. And the instruction on what that
looks like has been given to us throughout all the New Testament
letters, all of them. So to say, well, until this is
going my way, I'm not paying attention to this. That's telling
God no. That's spitting a loogie in the
face of Christ. Wisdom. This is what the Word
of God promises. This is what the power of God
produces. But I'm not gonna do that. I'm
just gonna keep praying for God to abracadabra it. Well, God
is not a magician. He's not a wizard. He's God.
He's all powerful and all wise. And he has said, this is the
way. I mean, how many times did Peter
and the disciples say, that's a bad way, Jesus. Why are we
going there? What are we doing here? And then
the confident, awesome follower that we see in John 20, we see
Thomas. What do we see him in the Gospels?
Well, you know what? All you little sissies, I'm going
to go die with Jesus. Let's go. He had his own way. We're always trying to converse
with God in a way that tries to convince Him to listen to
us. And that happens in our mind, doesn't it? It happens in our
actions. And it wrecks marriages, it wrecks
friendships, it wrecks congregations, it wrecks communities, it wrecks
politics, it wrecks everything. Everything. Those, as the brother
told me this week, those who do not know the Lord do not know
themselves. And that is so true. We create the view that we think
we are, and the view that we think we want, and the view that
we think others need to see, and then we just act in that
way. But the Bible, in the tender, listen to this, beloved, in the
tender, loving, merciful way of the Lord, He calmly and patiently
nudges us in the right direction. Now think about it for a second.
Is that how you see your relationship with the Word? Does the Father
of Life, does the Father of Grace, does the Father of Righteousness,
does He nudge you and urge you and discipline you and comfort
you into the right direction, into right understanding, into
right affection? Or are we scared to death? When's the first time you read
the book of Hebrews? or the book of 1 John, or the book of James. And it's usually later in our
Christian life when we get to those, right? When we start to
see them. And then we go to bed that night
and we go, I'm going to hell. I'm lost. Because we've been
taught by the culture that these instructions are how life is
assured, or worse, like some say, how life is obtained. And then to be spiritual and
all subject to the sovereignty of God with the Lord's dominion.
Now the Lord did it already. We get the benefits. But when
we read them in the context of God's mercy, of His love that
He only has for His elect, we know that that love of God,
that the work of Christ is the motivating influence. What does
Paul say? The love of Christ compels me. I love you with all the affection
of Christ. Now there is man's glory. There is earthly glory. There
is, you know, esteem and wealth and stuff that John says in his
first letter to not love. Do not love the world or the
things of the world. The lust of the eyes, the pride
of life, the pride of possessions for the things of the world are
passing away and are not from God. And there are some ministers
who think they're gospel ministers and there are some Christians
who think they're truly in Christ and they do everything that they
can do in the right way from the outside looking in because
they're acting like ants but they're building nothing. Never been outside and seen a
trail of ants? They're not on a journey. They're
not on vacation. They're not taking a trip. They're
not just having a walk. They're building something. And you can't tell unless you
get one that decides to carry something 400 times its size.
They're moving back and to. They're bringing food. They're
building whatever they call them, beds or nests or whatever. They're
developing community. And we can be busy like that.
We can be running here and there and moving stuff and feeding
things and doing, but not understanding the intimacy that's truly behind
it all, which is Christ. The first time I ever said this
phrase, and most of you have heard it before, was in 2007. And I said, you may want to hear
my preaching, but you don't want my pastoring. And that's where
a majority of the world is. That's where a majority of believers
are. They enjoy the doctrine, they
enjoy the teaching, they enjoy the opportunity to hear again
the gospel of what Christ has done, but they have no interest
in the accountability of intimacy. And even those who do sometimes,
when that accountability rubs up against their idols or their
own way, it starts to rub. It's like having two big shoes
with no socks on a wet day. You're going to limp home that
afternoon. You're going to be in bad shape.
Beloved, I love you and that is why I do what I do. And I
want you to learn to grow to love one another. That is why
we assemble here to the praise of His glory. What else are you getting from
this? What else are you looking for? What else are you hoping
to obtain in the context of the assembly of the saints? What
doctrine are you not confident enough in that you need reinforcement?
What theology do we need to cover so that you can be at peace?
I'll tell you, wherever we are in the word, that is what you
need. And the reason that it is being
given to you is to grant you great confidence so that you
and I may live together in intimacy. That intimacy is the utmost importance
to John. That intimacy was the utmost
importance at the church of Corinth. That intimacy was the primary
issue to the Ephesians. And the things
that upset that intimacy were the things that upset the body
of Christ. And when the sword of the word cuts us, I said this
last week but I don't think we heard it. We should, even though
we use the word conviction, that means an inner understanding
that we're not doing that which we should, as James would say,
he who knows to do right and does not is sin. And then when
we see that we are doing things that we shouldn't. But ultimately,
the teaching of the scripture is more than just correcting
behavior. It's to reveal the behavior of
God. To reveal the behavior of God the Son and His ultimate
love. And to follow Christ and follow
the apostles as they follow Christ and to follow each other as we
follow Christ. And beloved, there is no area of our lives, there's
no sphere of our lives that escapes that. It's not just about the ministry
or the church or the assembly, it's about life. It's about the
world at large in which we live, which we are not of. We have
been snatched out of the world by mercy, by power, by grace,
by love. So we're together in every aspect
of our lives, every aspect of our lives. We're not subject
like little police officers, but we are subject in the context
of the teaching of scripture that we are to understand that
when we need each other, it is most of the time at the hardest
times in our lives. And in that moment, we will not want each
other. We will want to hide. We will
want to escape. We will want to bury ourselves
or blame ourselves. We are not supposed to come to
the throne of grace fearful or rejected. That's the whole reason
we can come. We are not rejected by our Father.
How can the righteous God of glory not reject me when I know
what I am and I know what I've been doing? And I know what I've
been thinking and I know what I've been feeling. Because all
of those things, wicked as they are, have been placed on Christ
who was crucified for them. So if God in all righteousness
can intimately hold us in tight affection At the cost of his
son, can we not also learn through that example, through that proclamation,
to love each other in the same way? And I'm gonna tell you,
beloved, we gotta teach our children this. We have to teach our children
and our grandchildren and our neighbors and our family, we
need to teach each other this. We need to be reminded at the
darkest place of our lives, even when there needs to be some just
pragmatism, What am I supposed to do with this? Well first you
need to understand that this is in the hand of God's sovereignty. First you need to know that this
is not surprise the Lord that He has purposed it before the
foundations of time. He decreed that this would be
your gift from Him to suffer, to experience, to know, to understand,
to apprehend so that you with all the other saints may understand
the love of God. the breadth and the depth and
the height of the love of God. Ephesians 3, by the way. I don't
make words up, I just throw them out. And then you need to know that
because of who Christ is and because of who you are in Him,
this is to be satisfaction to your soul above and beyond that
which the circumstances dictate or provide, because God is in
charge. So above all things, the greatest
thing that we can do together is to know the gospel, to learn
it, to grow in it, and to grow in grace continually in the knowledge
of who Christ is. That's why it's always so preciously
fresh, even though it's the same thing every week. The gospel
has not changed since the foundation of the world, yet it is as if
we have seen an epiphany every time we hear it. The gospel is not boring, the
gospel is not dull, the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. And so when we are intimate,
we are learning to imitate that which Christ has revealed. To what end? To the glory of
God. To what end? To our joy. You realize that our joy together
in Christ is glorifying. It's a sacrifice of praise. See,
that phrase has been damaged, hasn't it? There's a lot of phrases
that have been damaged. I've got a damaged dictionary list. Damaged words. A sacrifice of praise. Let's
redeem it. In Romans 12, you know? be transformed
by the renewing of our minds. We think about those things.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, I put my mind on that which is
eternal, not temporal. So though I've been beaten, shipwrecked,
nearly snake bit, whipped, left for dead, imprisoned, disowned,
dishonored, nearly dismembered, praise God. Job, praise God. And see, we all give too much
credit to these people. We give too much credit to Job. We give too much credit to Paul.
Because we forget the dialogue. We forget the narrative. We forget
the instruction. And all of these people in the
scripture, none of them have taken the credit because if it
were up to them, they would have vanished. And my deepest desire for you
as your brother and as a pastor is for you to have the joy that
comes only in Christ. So that's what we've been instructing
you for. Beloved, do not imitate evil,
but imitate God. Good. And I believe that imitation
comes first and foremost in the mind. Knowing who we are in Christ
and putting that first and foremost in every aspect of our day will
cause us to learn by the Spirit how we ought to relate to one
another. Because the gospel is indeed
good news. It is good news. We see what Peter talks about
in chapter 2 of his first letter. Listen to these words as we close.
So put away all malice and deceit and hypocrisy and put away all
envy and all slander. Why? Because we're not joyful
when we're doing these things. Diotrephes was a miserable man,
thinking he was serving the Lord. If you're serving the Lord in
your actions and desires, but the joy of Christ is not yours,
you're probably not serving Him. And if what we do and what we
say and how we interact in the name of ministry, we can't teach
and command others to do likewise, we shouldn't be doing it. If
it is not commanded of all of us, it should not be done by
any of us. I'm going to say that again. If it is not commanded
for all of us, it should not be done by any of us. Like newborn infants, Peter says,
long for pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into
salvation, not gain your salvation, you're growing in your salvation,
you are maturing in your salvation, if indeed you have tasted that
the Lord is good. When we're enjoying a nice meal, when we
put food in our mouth, and guys, I close my eyes when I eat some
foods. I don't want to be distracted
from what I'm tasting. I don't frown. I don't spit it
out. I don't scrape my tongue with
a butter knife. I savor it. The gospel is that which God
has given us and helped us to see and we savor it and then
when we are intimate in the right manner we savor it together and
then we begin to savor one another's company and lives and intimacy. But not if we are diatrophies. Not if we are not trusting in
the sovereignty of God. Long for pure spiritual meekness,
that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you taste
it, to see that the Lord is good. As you come to Him, Jesus Christ,
a living stone that was rejected by men, but in the sight of God,
chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being
built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer
spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God. How? Through
Jesus Christ. For the Scripture stands by saying,
Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor
is for you who believe, Peter says, but for those who do not
believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone
and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Beloved, let
me tell you something. It says they stumbled because they disobeyed
the word as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race. You are a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation. You are a people for His own
possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light. So there we are, beloved. That is our role, that is our
calling, that is our hope, that is our purpose, that is the bread
of our intimacy. Are we doing that? No. Are we
striving? Yes. Are we ever going to be
perfect in it? Absolutely not. For if we were,
then Christ needed not to die, but we are not going to be. Perfect. But we are going to be perfected
in the love of God and therefore we also can be intimate in Christ
together. Let's pray. Father, there are so many things
that we need to hear. Thank you Lord for not putting
on the shoulders of the elder brothers the perfection of your people,
the growth of your people, the understanding of your people.
The Father, you've put on our shoulders the teaching to your
people so that you may do what you were going to do. The promise
that you've given us, Father, that your word will not go empty. It will not come back to you
as an echo, having not hit the ear. But Father, if it does not
do what we think it should, it is because that is what you have
desired. So it will bring life when you
desire it. It will bring hope and joy when
you desire it. It will bring maturity and intimacy
when you desire it. And Father, we need to wait upon
you as we encourage one another. And Father, as we remember the
death of Jesus and the body and the blood of Jesus in this very
moment, Lord, help us to pray in our
hearts and minds and spirit that you would help us to become closer. Not necessarily in life and fun
things, but Father, most assuredly help us to become closer in concern
and care around the gospel. Help us to be mindful. Cause
us to pray for one another. Lord, cause us to worship and
thank you for things that are seemingly impossible to bear. And we thank you for this privilege
and for this honor and for this opportunity to give you things.
In Christ's name we pray. Amen.