This message is from the teaching
ministry of James Tippins, pastor of Grace Truth Church. More information
can be found online at gracetruth.org and anchoringfaith.org. A people
for His glory by His grace. The question was posed to me
last week by three people in this congregation and it's a
culmination, a combination of a question similar to this. The
question or the questions culminate in this way. How is it that a
church as small as ours can have trouble as often as we do? And it is a very good and valid
question. And the answer to that is quadfold. Number one, It's because we are
human beings, we have a fallen nature, and even as redeemed
and regenerated by the Lord, we still have a flesh. Number
one. Number two, the devil is alive
and well. The enemy of God is alive and
well. And we do well to remember that,
but also put the respect where it goes, which is to the Lord,
not to him. so that we know those things
take place, that the work of the enemy is only by the will
of God the Father. Thirdly, it's because we are
believers. So that we have a fallen nature,
we have a devil that's real, we are believers, so we are the
redeemed. And because we are the redeemed, we are guaranteed
stress. Fear, frustration, aggravation,
hostility, persecution, relational strife, financial aggravation,
health problems. We're guaranteed it. We are guaranteed
these things will happen because the first two are true. And that
we are the children of God, the third one is true. It often feels,
and Solomon felt the same way, how is it that the wicked seem
to prosper? But the saints seemed to suffer.
And Jesus says it best in John 7, we saw it last Sunday, not
this previous, but the one before, where he tells his brothers,
his own flesh and blood, you go ahead to the feast. The time
for me to go has not yet come. You go ahead because the world
cannot hate you. But it hates me because I call
out the wickedness and the darkness of the world. Understand this,
beloved. By our even existence, by our
existence, we are a target. We're a target. We're the target
of the enemy. We're the target of the culture. And that's the
fourth thing. It's because we are such a rare
breed of people. We have our affinity in the gospel
of grace. We hold to what we believe the
Bible teaches as a proper ecclesiology, which is that how the church
should function, who she is. We are not doing things the way
normal, professing Christians do them. So then, we are more
aware of each other's lives than most congregations will ever
be. Another person asked me, well,
how is it that you were able to handle the stress of a church
of 1,000 people, 1,500 people, 2,000 people? And it's easy. I had a full staff. We had 30,
40 people working. You never had to deal with troubles.
Troubles and trials were not part of a seeker-sensitive ministry. A seeker-sensitive ministry would
see someone with troubles and they are no longer part of the
ministry. They're just somebody that you,
what? EGR, extra grace is required in order to have a relationship
with, and you pray two things. They either, number one, get
their act together, or number two, get on to another location.
Because when one leaves, ten will take their place. There's nothing more wicked than
that. But we're going to have these trials. Beloved, we are
going to be tempted to sin. We are going to be tempted to
be hateful. We're going to be tempted to give up. We're going
to be tempted by our own flesh, because that's what the book
of James says, that when we're tempted, we're tempted because
our flesh desires that which we're tempted with. Someone to
throw a dead possum on the ground up here, I would have no problem
ignoring it except that it would be a grotesque animal laying
in front of me. I would not consider the fact
that I need to go bag that thing and carry it to the freezer.
But I have friends that, oh yeah, they'd get that. We would take
that home and make some stew out of it. It's the oddest thing. It's like, you know, I've been
really hungry before and there are multiple layers and dimensions
of squirrels that live on our property. I would never really
go out there and shoot them to eat them, but I have family who
eat squirrel constantly. I'm not tempted with those things,
so those things as an option for me are not. But now, a wall
of Krispy Kreme? Oh yeah, we're gonna get on that.
Espresso bar? Whatever our vice might be, whatever
brings an appetite for our body, for our flesh, for our mind,
for our pride, it will bring us to a place where we will want
to do something in opposition to the Spirit of God, the flesh. That's called temptation. We
have this urge, but we hate it, don't we? As believers, we hate
the urge to sin. We hate the desire to sin. We don't want it, but yet we
would love for God to take away all desires for anything that
is not pleasing to His sight, but He does not do that. Why?
Because the Scripture would almost be obsolete. The New Testament
would have no place for the church because as we see in the New
Testament, every single letter but one was written to a church
in trouble, a church in peril, a church with heresy, a church
with a false gospel, a church with lust, a church with greed,
and the list goes on and on. Well, shouldn't God's people
not have these things? Yes. Paul says in Ephesians, let not
these things be named among you. And that's why we see church
discipline. So I could even make it five. Because we are a people
who will obey the Word of God and exercise church discipline,
it does bring with it an extra level of stress. Because isn't
it easier just to pretend like nothing's going on? Isn't it
easier just to say, well, we did all right, and we missed
so-and-so, but oh well. Like someone asked me yesterday,
why don't you, joking of course, why don't you just do like most
pastors and just try to appease these people, keep them in the
church. Tell them it's okay to sin, they just need to keep it
to themselves. And he laughed because we've had that conversation
with a pastor who that's his M.O. Let's just let people get
away with whatever they want to do. Let's just stay away from
discipline altogether. But the real question that I
want to answer tonight, pastorally, is what are we to do? What are
we to do? What's the pragmatism of today's
circumstances? We have discipline on the table.
We have other possibility of discipline surrounding us. Because
there are some among us who cannot submit in love. And it's difficult. It's difficult. The problem is that we think
of discipline always punitive in our culture. We think discipline
is bad. Because I know for me, growing
up as a child, subject to my parents, discipline was bad. Discipline was a hailstorm of
whippings or lecture or whatever. And some of you could agree with
that, especially those of you who grew up in this area. I mean, discipline
was just like, you know, you almost die, and then they stop,
and then when you recover, they warn you not to ever do that
again, lest they kill you tomorrow. Discipline could be withholding
something that one loves, taking away privileges. But in every
aspect of discipline in our culture, it is looked upon in a negative
way, but the Bible speaks of discipline always in a positive
way, and the better word for discipline is correction. And
the operative word for discipline is correction, and most importantly,
the operative word for correction in the Lord's service is love,
is love. Paul, as he writes to the Hebrew
believers in that, by the same name, Hebrews, he says that the
Lord disciplines those he loves. The Lord brings correction. What does that discipline look
like? See, what we do there is if we went on the street. I used
to have a team of people that would go out in California. with
green jackets. They were friends of ours, not
part of our ministry, and they're called the Green Jacket Patrol.
And they would just walk around with video cameras and wear green
jackets, and they'd talk to people about theological things or Christian
things, and they'd ask a lot of questions. I would love to
go out on the street in that same manner, just for curiosity's
sake, not that we're going to do this, but in that same manner
and say, what does it mean to be disciplined? And they would say, well, that's
bad, you know, you're punished. That's what punitive means, by
the way, punishment. And this is happening, this happens, it's
always negative, nobody wants to face it. All right, but get this,
the Bible teaches that when we fall into sin, the discipline
of the Lord is a gentle correction. The discipline of the Lord is
one where we have fallen prey to our flesh, we have fallen
in temptation, we have committed an act of sin against the Lord,
and in doing so, we commit an act of sin against each other.
And the discipline of the Lord is that He causes us to feel
the guilt, the shame, to understand the consequence, but we rise
above that almost immediately into the rejoicing of God's mercy. The discipline of the Lord, for
the most part, is the conviction of knowing that we deserve death
because of the infraction, but the joy of knowing that Christ
took the death in our place. The descent of the Lord, and
making us aware of that, is that we then, all of a sudden, hone
our center into the gospel, not into the problem. We don't look
to try to make our lives more molded and fix ourselves, but
we hold fast to the thing that we know can fix us completely,
and that is the gospel. And more operatively, second
time I've used that, Christ alone. So that when we have the love
of God, we think, well, the love of God seems to be in contrast
to the discipline of God. No, the love of God is His discipline. It is part of His intimacy with
His church, whereby we know sin when we see it, we know we're
guilty when we commit it, and we know we're free from the law
of condemnation. We know we are free. It's what
I preached about last Wednesday. We are free from the law. We
are free from the consequence of the law, which is what? Death.
It is death. We are the children of God because
we are subject to the discipline of the Lord. For the scripture
says that God only disciplines those whom He loves. So when we have sin in our lives,
we have opportunity to rejoice in the discipline of our Father.
How does it come? So how does discipline come?
Number one, it comes because our conscience bears witness
to the righteousness of God and when we fail to meet it, we know
it. We know it, the law of God is written on our hearts, we
know it, it's our conscience. Secondly, it is affirmed, our conscience
is affirmed through the word of God by the Holy Spirit that
teaches us very clearly what is and is not pleasing to the
Lord. So the word of God then gives us the truth. So we have our conscience, we
have the Word of God, and here's an amazing thing. What typically
happens to us internally? We begin to start wallowing in
guilt. We begin to start trying to hide
or trying to avoid people. But what does the Lord's Word
say about His discipline in the context of His people is that
we do it together so that there is protection there. So God's
discipline then is reaffirmed through the local assembly that
operates and functions as God has not just suggested, but absolutely
and divinely commanded us to do. So that it may be something
as small as, hey, are you okay? To the point where we have to
say, church, so-and-so is in trouble. We've had to do that. And if the Lord tarries, we will
do it over and over and over and over again, because these
are the expectations of the assembly. It is what the Lord requires
of us. There is no redeemed person who has ever been restored without
correction. Ever. Ever. The Lord loves us. And because
He loves us, He will correct us. But what are we to do? Of
course, we teach, we learn. I don't have to come out of Romans
7 in order to fulfill what you need as a body so that you can
sustain in this day and age. I don't have to come out of exposition
of John to deal with things in a topical way so that we can
be equipped. But I feel by the Holy Spirit's
leading, that tonight would be a night for us to put some practical
expression through the exposition of Scripture as a way of reminder. Two things on the table. One
is that spiritual warfare, as I've already said in the beginning,
those four or five things, is a guarantee. It is a battle that
we will fight. If we're not fighting, something
is wrong in our spiritual lives. Now, that's not what we want
to hear. I'm not talking about fighting with each other. I mean,
yes, that can take place too. But if we're not fighting spiritually,
if there's not a battle going on, that means we've given up. Or that means that we are what?
Not the Lord's. Did you hear that? If we're not
fighting spiritually, we do not belong to the Father. He has
not given us to the Son, because all whom the Father gives to
the Son will come, and all who come the world hates, and the
devil hates, and it will be a war. Let us stop praying for that
which God has promised to give us. Oh no, God, take away what
you promised. No, Father, hold us in it. You
see how silly it is? But that's what we do because
our culture, we have so far divorced ourselves from the truth of the
scripture for so many generations that even we as Grace Truth Church,
we have a caricature of God in certain aspects of His nature
and His working, i.e. discipline, correction, love.
So we must understand that we stand, we stand and the power
and the might of God in no other place. What can take us away
from Christ? Romans 8. Nothing. What can remove
the love of God from us? Nothing. What can cause us to
be lost? Nothing. What can take away our
joy? Nothing. You know why? Because
our joy is not in our temporal circumstances. If we live a hundred
years on earth, it's just, what is that? It's a pumpernickel. Just a conversation at home.
It's just like gas in the wind. It's just gone. It's just a small
little second in the face of eternity. And that's even too
long in the measurement of it all. We are nothing but a vapor. And this life is not what it's
about. Friends, we spend more time as human beings working
for ourselves to create something that God is going to destroy.
then we do rejoice in the fact that we have a kingdom that is
unshakable. You should think about that for a second. And
I know we don't do this, but I mean, our children, those of
us who have children, we've seen them build with blocks and Legos
and sand and mud and whatever else, or chairs, you know, to
build forts at the house, and they're like, ah, this is aggravating.
But we don't run in there with bats and smash their stuff. You
stupid child, always building something so dumb and temporal.
I mean, you know, you're making a mess of my house. I mean, wouldn't
that be funny to get a big broom and just start... But we don't
do that. We actually take pleasure in
seeing the creativity of our children, what they build. So
in the same way, I mean, our Heavenly Father does too, but
there's a difference in a child who builds for imagination and a redeemed person who should
build the Kingdom of Heaven in their life. Bill for the kingdom
of heaven. I'm not saying that we're doing
anything. That's a figure of speech. We don't build the kingdom. Christ does. But there's no difference in
how we operate in daily life. We fix the cars, we cut the grass,
we do this, we do that, we plan for the future, we balance the
budget, we keep the bills, we buy the food, we go on trips,
we do all sorts. You know what it is? It's equal
to our children building the hut in the living room. That's how important it is. As
a matter of fact, I would suggest if we really kick the can in
the corners of the room and look in, we would see that the imagination,
hey, don't think about that one too hard, that the imagination
of our children is far more important than the progression of our lives
as adults. It's just, but yet we will spend
more time worrying Laboring. What did Jesus tell them in John
6? Do not work for the bread that perishes. Are we supposed
to work? Yes. Paul's very clear in that.
As a matter of fact, he tells the church of Thessalonica that
those who are not laboring do not get food. Let them starve. What's that labor look like?
Whatever needs to be done, do it. Whether you make money or
not. If you're able, jump on it. Jump on it. Work, be productive,
be fruitful. Don't stand around and just,
oh, the Lord's gonna take care of me and just, you know, well,
I don't have to do anything and then expect the Lord to take
care of you through what? Through the church. We do the
same thing in the context of the world. We do it in the opposite
way. Oh, we're gonna take care of ourselves. Now, where's the
Lord? James would even say, don't say that I'll do this or do that.
Say, if the Lord wills. Friends, God can take everything
from us like that. But I didn't finish the antithesis
of the idea that we often don't realize that we are the Lords
because we have this spiritual warfare and that the discipline,
the correction, the love of God in the life of the believer is
a positive thing because even though we feel the pressure of
it, what's the opposite? Not feeling it at all. And if
you remember what Paul teaches in Romans 1, what does it look
like to not be under the love of God? that God turns the reprobate
over to their natural mind to do that which is wicked. And
they have no desire to change. See, that's the opposite. So
if we don't want war, then we want reprobation. If we don't
want stress, then we want to be turned over to destruction.
If we don't want to be disciplined, then we want to be left alone
to die again. Put it in perspective, church. You know what's amazing about
that? As I think through that and as
I say it to you, I rejoice in a deeper way because of it. I
can rejoice in a deeper way because I know that the discipline of
the Lord in my... I've had a really rough several weeks. Haven't
you all? Some of us have had a rough several
years. Some of us have had a rough several lives. And some of us
feel like we've lived another rough life if somebody else we
don't know just got stacked on top of us. And yes, I pray that
the Lord would give us a reprieve. I pray that the Lord would give
us seasons of peace. I pray that the Lord would give us correction.
I pray that the Lord would correct those among us who are continuing
in sin. But if He doesn't, we have not
lost hope. If He doesn't, we have not lost
anything because Christ will never cast us out. And though
in our temporal way, in our human mind, we do feel the pain of
that, what's most important is that we recognize the significance
of our suffering and the significance of our unity in the faith. I
don't know if it was last Sunday or the Sunday before or whatever,
but I remember expressing this, that our faith, I've said this
a thousand times over, but our faith, though it is personal,
it's not private. But more importantly, we live,
my household, I said it this way, is for your sake. That's why we do what we do.
I don't come to church and get what I need and go home and be
a selfish hoarder of my spiritual maturity. We come together that
we might invest in the lives of each other. And sometimes
it looks different depending on who we are and our personality.
Some people just love to be hospitable and just have people around all
the time. Some people are hermits. And it's okay to be who you are
But intimacy is necessary for spiritual correction, and necessary
for spiritual growth, and necessary for the glory of God. See, we
could talk about sola de gloria all day long, and if we don't
get this, we've got nothing. We can preach the true gospel,
but if we don't get intimacy, we have nothing. You want me
to prove it to you? 1 Corinthians 13. Well, first of all, in chapter
12, 21, he says, the eye cannot say because he's not a hand.
He's not part of the body. Nor again to the head, to the
feet. I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of
the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. And on those parts of the body
that we think less honorable, we bestow a greater honor, and
our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty. which are
more presentable parts, do not require. But God has so composed
the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that
there may be no division in the body, that the members may have
the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer
together. If one member is honored, all
rejoice together. Now, Paul says, you are the body
of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed
in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers,
then miracles, gifts of healing, helping, administration of various
kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? No. Are all prophets? Are all
teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all
possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do
all interpret? Absolutely not. That's what he's already said.
But earnestly desire the higher gifts, and I will show you still a more
excellent way. Now, why would I pick this text? Well, the context
here is that this fledgling church had fallen into this idea that
the more mystical things were, the more expressive things were,
and the more magical things were, the more spiritual they were.
And Paul is saying that's not true. Paul is saying everybody
has different gifts, and some of the weaker, most insignificant
gifts are just some of the most important things. Some of the
great gifts, it's always like teaching prophecy, seem to always
get the honor. Yes, they're important, but it's
not. If everybody in the church was
a teacher, then what in the world would the church be? Let's all
talk at the same time. There's nothing, it's just noise. But this is no matter the gift,
I'm gonna show you a more excellent way. And I'm gonna use this same
application here to show us to show us that no matter how
well we know our doctrine, no matter how deep we are in our
theological understanding of the doctrines of grace, no matter how spot
on we are in our understanding of sanctification, or justification,
or all these things, no matter how amazing our witness may be
in the world where we can answer any question, the bottom line
is, is that the intimacy that we have with each other, listen
to this, the intimacy that we have with each other is the pure
litmus test of whether we give glory to God or not. Yes, it
glorifies God to have truth, but Jesus says in Revelation,
when He's given that as indictments against most of those churches,
six of them, I have this against you, you did not tolerate, number
one, I commend you, you did not tolerate false teaching, you
stood there, you have good truth, but I have this against you,
you have forsaken your first love. Remember, He says to the
church of Ephesus. Remember the heights from which
you have fallen and go back, repent, do these things again.
Remember, have your mind set on those things. Because if you don't, I'm going
to take out your light. What does that mean? Friends,
is the light of the gospel shining from many congregations these
days? What good is it to assemble together if there's no light
of truth? And the light of truth is taken from a congregation
that does not have love. And love is directly related
to intimacy. And intimacy is messy, dirty,
nasty, hurtful, aggravating, stressful, and not a lot of fun. But God is glorified in the intimacy. Listen now, 13. If I speak in
the tongues of men and of angels, but I have not love, I am a noisy
gong or a clanging cymbal. I have several pet peeves in
my life, and they're not really pet peeves, they're just things that
are left over from days of psychological errors in my brain. And one of
those is repetitive noises that have no purpose. Like when the
kids just start going... You ever been there? That was
the noise in my house a few days ago, and I'm going, you know,
the gift of deafness. She looked at me too. She's like,
she's doing what I'm doing. It gets on my nerves. Well, that's
exactly how we are when we have all this to say, and all this
knowledge, and all this wisdom, and all this truth, and all this
stuff that comes with good doctrinal academy, but we don't have love.
It's just noise. It's worthless. It's noise. God, therefore, is not glorified
in the truth of our knowledge if we do not have love for each
other, if we have prophetic powers.
You know, these are all hypotheticals with Paul. He's saying, if I,
he's showing, he's using, and he's also doing, and I believe,
and people argue with me, I think he's being hyperbolic. I think
he's over the top. Well, if I had prophetic powers,
if I had this, if I had all these things. He's not saying you have
all these things or even that he has all these things. He's
using this as an example. Did he? Maybe. That's not on
the table tonight. If I have all understandings
of all mystery and I have the power of knowing all things and
all knowledge and I have all faith as to remove a mountain
from its place, but I have not love." Listen to what he says.
He says, I have all this, but I have not love. He doesn't say,
I have nothing. He says, I am nothing. I am nothing. I'm nothing. So Paul is saying the greatest
of all, most powerful prophets are nothing if they don't love
those for whom Christ died. If I don't love you, but I teach
you, I'm nothing, even if I teach you rightly. He even shows, he says, if I
give away all that I have, if I become poor for the sake of
other people but I don't love, I gain nothing. If I deliver
up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing. I have
gained nothing. And then he begins to define
love. Now we know what the Scripture teaches about love. God is love.
God showed His love for us in this, that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. God loved the world in this way,
that He gave His Son for them. But love, is patient and kind. It does not envy or boast. It
is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own
way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing,
but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes
all things, hopes all things, endures all things. I have this
in my bathroom at home, the one people most frequent. whether
they know it or not, it was intentional to put it there, because we sit
there often. And sometimes the Lord will let
us look at that. Actually, some people in my household
say, well, that's my favorite verse, and I want to go, it's because
you look at it every day. We love the verses. Love is patient,
love is kind. You can go to Fred's and buy
a frame with that on it already. It's everywhere. And we love
to placard that stuff all over the place. We love to talk about
it. But have we compared ourselves to it? Well, let's just think of it.
Patient and kind and not envying, doesn't boast, not arrogant or
rude. Doesn't insist on its own ways, not irritable or resentful.
It doesn't rejoice at wrong. And we're all going, yeah, I'm
not like that at all. I'm pretty loving. Really? Are we? No, we're not. We are at times
because the Spirit of God works in us love, and it's a righteous
love because it is the work monergistically of God. It is Him alone, singular,
mono. He works it in, but it's not
perfect. It doesn't always last. Why? Because of what I talked
about in the beginning. We have the opportunity. Whether
it be something as simple as whose shoes are in the floor
to, I don't know, I'm leaving and nobody's gonna stop me. You see? And both of those things
are so evident in our lives. We see it often. Love is patient. What is patience? We define patience
in my home this way. Patience is waiting without complaining. And then we've added recently,
with joy. So a joyful waiting without complaining. As a matter of fact, that's a
very good way of defining patience because Paul would say, do all
things without grumbling and complaining. Endure all things,
young Timothy, by the grace of God. Endurance does not complain. Patience is waiting. But how can we be patient? How
can we be patient? Because Christ has redeemed us. Is Christ not patient? Is the
love of God not patient? Is the gospel of grace not patient?
Peter would say that the Lord is patient, desiring none of
his people to perish, but that all may come to the knowledge
of faith, knowledge of truth. Love is patient. Love is proved
to be patient. When we don't feel like being
patient, because we want things to speed up. Love is kind when
we don't feel like we should be kind, but love is kind. The
kindness of God is often synonymously used with the love of God. The
love of God and His what? Mercy and kindness. God caused
us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. I just muddled three different
writings of Paul together to pull that together. It's there.
The kindness of God. It's just love. Love does not
envy. We don't see others and wonder,
why can't we have the life they have? Why don't we have the things
that they do? Why can't we be as strong as
they? Love is not envy. Love does not
envy freedom. Love does not envy opportunity. Love does not envy chores, children. Why does he have to do the dishes?
Why do I have to do the dishes? That's not my job. Envy. It's everywhere. We might
not think of envy as it's intended to be understood. It's not just
jealous for a lover. It's jealous that other people
get things or have things that we don't. Whether it be a privilege, an
opportunity, money, even in our own household. It does not envy, it does not
boast. It is not arrogant or rude. What
is arrogance anyway? I mean, what does it look like
to be arrogant? Well, let me show you what these
are. Have you figured it out yet? These are the opposite of
love. All of these things are opposite of love. To envy, to
be boastful, to be arrogant, to complain. To not be patient, to not be
kind, to boast, it's opposite of love. It's opposite of love.
So if we're to love, we have to see these things for what
they are. We have to recognize that we operate in the constant
realm of spiritual warfare and we feel these things rise up
in us. What we must do is put them to
death. And we'll close our time out
in just a minute with how that works by reading Ephesians 6. And I would say that most of
us could, verses four and five so far to the word rude, we're
thinking, I see that in my life and I'll take it. But here's
where the rubber would really not hit the road, hit us in the
face. It does not insist on its own
way. Love does not insist on its own
way. It is not irritable. It is not
resentful. Let's stop there. How many times do we insist on
our own way? I mean, what does the child do
in the grocery store who says, who hears the words from his
mother, no, you cannot have that. Have you seen this child stomp
their feet, scream? I like to duck hunt. I don't
hunt much. I've hunted twice since I've
been back in seven years, but it is a very fun thing. Sometimes
when you nick a duck, you have to take care of business after
you pick it up. and you just grab it, and you swing, and you
put it in your pouch. When I see a child stomp its
feet and scream, I don't want my way, I just want to take it
by its head. That's how we were
disciplined. We were just nearly killed. Now, do I do that? No. We should not do that. It's abuse
to wring your children's necks. But it is sin. It is not love. But when we don't get our own
way, it's a lot like that child. Of course, we would never as
adults stomp our feet, you know. Well, we would not often stomp
our feet and do that thing. But what we will do is continue
on a path that continues to push people into the direction that
we want them to be, whether it be manipulation or whether it
be just flat-out rudeness. we can easily call strife rather
than walk in love because we're not getting what we want. And
don't think of that as material either. Think of that as circumstantial.
Think of that as relational. Think of that also in the sense
that we would like things to be differently. Circumstantial. I want this my way. We don't
insist on our own way. We are not irritable or resentful. Do we realize when we feel resentment,
it is not because we have a reason to, it's because we are sinners. And we have chosen to allow resentment
to come into our hearts and come into our lives and take seed
and root in our minds because we've decided not to love that
person. I hate using stories in my teaching,
but one I heard a pastor talk about years ago, and I think
it was a true story, but just like I've told true stories in
camps and conferences, and I've heard pastors use them as their
own, and somebody came up and rebuked me one time of using
my true story because he'd heard another pastor do it at a conference.
I'm like, that guy's a liar, he stole my story. Either way,
here's the story. about a man sitting there and
watching this gentleman on the train with three little boys
who were absolute monsters. And the man did nothing to correct
them. And he was irritated and he said
something to the man, you know, if you put some discipline in
these boys, I'm sorry, we just got back from burying their mother,
that type of thing. Sometimes when we have the perspective
of knowing what's going on in someone's life, we don't make
judgments that cause us to reveal how asinine we really are. And no, we can't know that. So
what should we do? We should love them before we
judge. We should love them before we
allow resentment to come. We should love them and give
the benefit of the doubt that even if it is that man is a horrible,
horrible father and he did not buy them that toy and that tantrum
was a carryover from the grocery store, we should love him anyway. Because if God so chooses at
the snap of His divine finger, He can make our children just
like theirs. If God so chooses with the snap
of His divine finger, He can put cancer in our body. Now that sounds capricious and
I don't want to illustrate God in that way. I'm just using that
as an example. We are not to be irritable and
resentful. We don't rejoice at wrongdoing.
What does that look like? That could go on and on and on.
When we see somebody suffer, we rejoice. When we see the bad
guy get his due, we rejoice. Oh my gosh, that's the entire
Hollywood genre of Marvel. Yes. But what about when that slips
over into real life? I mean, how many people have I
had to correct, I can't count, who hate Muslims and say it publicly? Why? Why can't you love them? Why can't you pray for God through
missionaries to preach to them the gospel that God has elect
who are in the culture of Islam? I'm not saying there's no such
thing as a Christian Muslim, but there are people who are
in Islam who God will call into Christ. It's like there were
Jews who were utterly lost that God called into Christ, Paul
being one of them. He's not a Christian Jew, he's
in Christ. It's like we who at one time were
unbelievers, we don't go around saying, I'm an unbelieving Christian.
I'm a Christian unbeliever. No, we are no longer in unbelief.
We are no longer lost. We are found. We are in Christ
because He loves us. And then Paul says here, and
this is all I have time for before I go and close in Ephesians,
love bears all things. This is where it starts to really
hit the road. Love bears all things. What does
that mean? What does that bear mean? Is
it care bear? No, it's bearing. The burden
that we carry Because we love others is more than we can carry. That's why the connectivity and
the intimacy and the unity of the church in life is so important. Because if you have not needed
the body of Christ yet, you will one day. We bear all things. What is all
things? All things. What? Just take a
stab. Well, what about, yes, that too.
What about, yes, whatever. Fill in the blank, pizza pie,
yes. Roach legs, absolutely. We bear
all things. Even in that absurd example,
there is nothing that love cannot bear. But brothers and sisters,
we don't have that type of love in us because our flesh is always
inundated with a temptation to not bear. So how do we hold that? Well, let's finish that sentence.
Love believes all things. Love hopes all things. Love endures
all things. Ephesians 6. Go there. I don't have much time
but just to read it. Where is the practical application
of how we love? War. It is war. It is war. Finally, verse 10, be strong
in the Lord. Did it say be strong in yourself?
No. Be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might. Put
on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand. Standing
here is not falling. Falling is falling into temptation.
Falling is falling into fear and doubt and animosity and bitterness
and resentfulness. That you may stand against the
schemes of the devil. Remember the second point I made
as I started my introduction. That you may stand for we do
not wrestle against flesh and blood. The enemies that we think
we have in our lives are not the people that we consider enemies,
but the devil who is our eternal enemy. We do not wrestle against flesh
and blood, but we wrestle against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against
the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, Therefore,
because we do this, because we're fighting spiritual things, the
enemy of God who is spiritual, therefore, take up the whole
armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all, to stand firm." Then the command
comes, verse 14, "...stand therefore, having." presently, actively, already,
having fastened on truth. It's a picture, see? There's
no belt of truth you've got to go find and put it around. It's
putting on the belt of truth. It keeps our pants up spiritually. It's truth. That's how we teach
it. It's truth. We fasten on the
belt of truth. We've already done that. Having
put on the breastplate of righteousness. Who is Jesus Christ? Faith alone. as shoes having put on the readiness
given by the gospel of peace." Which is found where? In the
Word of God. In all circumstances, taking
up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all
the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, as
you are praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer
and supplication, to that end, keep alert with all perseverance,
making supplication for all the saints, And also for me. So what's
the war? What's the victory? We hold fast
to the truth of the gospel of grace given through the Word
of God which is the sword and the only weapon that we have.
For our own hearts and minds, it is the Word of God. There
is no counsel I can give you apart from Scripture that will
be more effectual. The Word of God. And with the
Word of God, we find the righteousness of Christ, who is our righteousness. For He has given Himself for
us in love, because He first loved us before we were. God
loved us before there was ever a world. God loved us. God's
love is eternal for His elect. And you, beloved, have been loved
before God ever said, let there be light. The readiness of our
feet in order to walk and stand and move and go is the gospel
of grace, the gospel of peace found in the Word of God. And
so we have the Word of God, we have the gospel that comes from
the Word of God, we have the promise here of Paul in Ephesians
6 from the Word of God, that in all circumstances we know
that we can believe in Christ, who is the living Word, to be
able to help us stand against all the attacks of the enemy
in every aspect of our lives. We guard our hearts and our minds
with Christ's righteousness and the salvation that He gives and
the Word of God. And as we do it, we are praying
at all times. And not just for ourselves, but
it says supplication. We are praying for each other
at all times. And we also are to have our mind
on straight. and to recognize that because
we have a spiritual battle amongst us in every circumstance of life,
individually and then collectively as a church. Beloved, listen.
Where does it start? It starts up here. It starts
with how we think. We listen to our little voice
in our head. We listen to our feelings. We
listen to our thoughts. And friends, they're liars. Fueled
and fed and driven by the enemy of God, Satan himself. So how
do we overcome that? By the Word of God. We renew
our mind, as Paul would say in Romans 12, through the continued
study of Scripture. individually and collectively.
And we are praying because when we're praying, we are not pondering.
We're not trying to be the wise old man in our own minds. We
are trusting in the finished work of Christ, and we are laying
our burdens and our battles on Christ, who is more than victorious. But we are alert. We recognize
this is a war. We recognize that our minds are
going to lie. We recognize that we're going
to be accused in our own consciences. Remember what I said, number
one, of how the Lord disciplines us? And the outcome of what Paul
did in the context of his suffering, as hard as it was, is he prayed
for this church while he was imprisoned to give him the boldness
to preach the gospel. And I will tell you this, church,
when we preach the gospel to the adversaries of our lives, They're toothless. If my wife and I are mad at each
other, which I guess is rare, but we could be mad a lot. And
there are seasons. You all have been married, you
know, over two decades like us. It can be stressful. Two years
can be stressful. The decision is not ours to make
whether or not there's going to be strife. but the power of
Christ in our lives when we preach the gospel to ourselves and to
each other and to the circumstances. When I say the circumstances,
I'm talking about teach others in the circumstances. I'm not saying
speak the gospel in a certain way. We are victorious. We're victorious. There is no
fear that can be overcome in the flesh. but there is no
fear that will overcome us if we hold fast to Christ. There
is a discipline, beloved, that we have to be in prayer, that
we have to be in the Word, that we have to be in assembly, because
it is only there that we will be equipped to do the work of
the ministry, which is, most of the time, warfare. So whatever
has befalled you this day, and I know, for most of you, what
you're dealing with, Some of you don't know what's happened
in the lives of each other. Maybe you should tell somebody. And
what is our answer? Praise God for Christ. And when
we need to discipline each other, to correct each other, we will.
We will say, this stops. We'll say, this needs to happen.
But ultimately we have that authority because of the Word of God, Christ. So rest in that. Know that the
battle is not lost. And that whatever this... what
does Paul call it in 2 Corinthians 4? This light momentary affliction
is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory that is beyond
comparison as we, here's the warfare, look to the things that
are unseen, not to the things that are seen. We're really just
building Lego houses to just... They're going away. They're important,
but they're not eternal. Friends, we, as bad as things
can be, we have not really suffered. In contrast to our brothers and
sisters across the world, who this very evening, and I'm not
trying to lessen, our suffering is as real as it is to anybody
else, to us. But there are brothers and sisters
in Christ who this very day were murdered and killed because they
were caught with Scripture. And you know what's crazy? When
we're running for our lives, we don't have time for the silliness
of the world. We don't have time to lust after
the world or to hate somebody or to be irritated by politics.
We don't have time for that because we're running for our lives.
Well, beloved, in a spiritual sense, we're running for our
lives. We're running a race that Christ has already finished.
So let's put our eyes on that. Let's put our hearts into that.
Let's put our discipline into those things, because Lord knows
if I am not disciplined in these ways, I will fall away. And I promise you that is a true
statement. Let's pray. We love You, Father. We praise
You, Father. Sustain us, Lord. Sustain our
households. Hold us fast. Help us to fight
our own selves and our own minds. Lord, I pray that this season
of our lives, this season of our church, would be such a glorious
moment. No matter the outcome, Lord,
that You would press us into understanding that our suffering
is purposeful. And that in no way have we ever
shed our blood being tempted. No way have we
ever shed our blood because of your wrath. But Father, Jesus
Christ has shed His blood to satisfy your justice. Lord, help
us to encourage one another in that. And Lord, help us to give
counsel from that point of view, even in the practical, small
matters of life. Father, I pray for those who
you are correcting. Father, I pray for those who
have been named that we need to see restored. And Lord, there's much more that
we cannot see, but we do not have to fear. And
so in that we rejoice. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you
for listening. We hope that this message has
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