SIMPLY JESUS
LIVING HONORABLY FOR JESUS (Part 2)
HEBREWS 13:4-17
-A while back our Community Pastor Jae decided to treat the baptistery water…chemically like a swimming pool.
-He called a hot tub expert and they gave him some basic equipment and training on how to regulate the water.
-Now Jae is a genius when it comes to technical stuff, and he figured this out instantly. Me…not so much.
-Which is convenient because I really don’t want to do that job!
-But Jae explained it to me; you place your water sample into this container; you put a drop of chemical in & watch it turn color.
-You compare the color of the water against a chart to see if the color is off.
-And if it is, it tells you what to add to keep the water balanced.
-There are 3 different measurements that you take.
-The Chlorine level, the alkaline level, and the PH level.
-The idea is that you’re keeping everything in balance.
-Too much chlorine and our converts come out of the baptistery as platinum blonds!
-If the PH balance is off…the pump and the filter will get corroded.
-Not enough chemicals and the green gooey stuff starts to grow!
-It doesn’t seem hard...for Jae to do this…but it does require that take frequent readings to gauge the condition of the water.
-That brings us to the topic of our passage today:
-Last Sunday in Hebrews, and it ends with a collection of random
18 Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do.
-What know what it means to live honorably for Jesus?
-And how do we know we’re doing it?
-We could ask different people and get different answers to that.
-If living honorably for Jesus is our goal, we will need to take frequent readings to make sure that we our living w/clean consciences and being honorable in all that we do.
-But we are testing chlorine, alkaline, and PH.
-Our passage gives us several different areas that we can evaluate to get a sense of how we’re doing, at living honorably for Jesus.
4a Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage.
-BE FAITHFUL TO MARRIAGE. (VS 4)
-If we are going to live honorably for Jesus we must give honor to the institution of marriage.
-Christians are people who believe in marriage.
-We believe in making the commitment to be married.
-We also believe in staying married.
-We believe that two Christian people who are married should reflect Jesus in that marriage.
-You know what leads to a divorce between two Christians?
-When one or both people stops acting like Jesus!
-My friend Rob said something very wise in our life2life group this past year. He said, “If you want to know how my marriage is, look at my walk with Christ. If you want to know how my walk with Christ is, look at my marriage.”
-My friend Rob has discovered something many others haven’t
-Your spiritual life and your marriage are connected.
-If your marriage is in shambles there’s a good chance that your walk w/Christ is also in need of repair!
-You can’t have a healthy Christian marriage without healthy Xians
-That’s an easy reading we can take any time.
-Am I living honorably for Jesus? How’s my marriage.
4a Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. 4b God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.
-STAY FREE FROM IMMORAL BEHAVIOR. (VS 4)
-Literally, this translates, “The marriage bed is to be undefiled.”
-A warning is given. God will judge people who R sexually immoral
-There are consequences for those who defile the marriage bed.
-It’s funny how timely God’s word can be.
-This past week many American Christians were fired up about the gay marriage controversy.
-And here we have back to verses which discuss the sanctity of marriage and the call to be free from sexual immorality.
-There are 3 competing voices in the discussion on gay marriage.
-There is God’s word on the matter. There is the US government’s word on the matter. And there are people’s opinions.
-Let me say respectfully, that we are not most concerned with what the U.S. government says about marriage.
-Their certificate is not what constitutes a marriage in God’s eyes.
-People in our culture have all kinds of opinions and arguments;
-We can, and should listen respectfully to what they say.
-But what we care about most, as followers of Jesus, is placing the highest value on God’s Word…which is the final word for us on all
matters. They don’t understand that and they don’t have to.
-Whatever the world wants to do…they can do…and they will.
-But we are not the world, we are the church!
-And in the church we are called to refrain from immoral behavior
-It’s ironic to me that many Christians think gay marriage in America is the defining moral issue of our time.
-Everyone is jumping on that bandwagon. The sky is falling!
-But where R the Xians crying out about immorality in the church?
-Do you know that Xians have a higher divorce rate than atheists?
http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/christian-polling-group-finds-atheists-divorce-less-than-christians/news/2013/07/02/70328
-Where is the outcry against such immorality?
-Did you know that 15 million children are growing up without a father in their home? That’s 1in 3 children.
-Where is the outcry about these men who are going around making babies without committing themselves to marriage?
-Many of those men call themselves Christians!
-Where is the outcry against such immorality?
-Do you know 1 in 4 women in America will be living with a man by age 20 and 3 in 4 are living with a man unmarried by age 30?
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/04/living/women-premarital-cohabitation
-Many of those women claim to follow the teaching of Jesus.
-Where is the outcry against such immorality?
-Many of our young people are graduating high school, going to college, shacking up, making babies, sleeping around…and the only thing we hear from the church on the issues of sex and marriage is to protest against gay marriage!
-Do you want to know why culture doesn’t care what the Bible says about marriage and sexuality?
-Because apparently, the people who believe in the Bible, don’t care what it says about marriage and sexuality.
-We have lost our voice to speak about this to lost people because we have forsaken marriage and sexual purity in the church.
-Now if you’re sitting here this morning thinking about the past, don’t. It’s the past. It’s done. God is the God of today.
-Whatever you’ve done in the past…decide today that your sexuality will stay within the confines of a heterosexual marriage.
-If we’re being honest, the way you conduct yourselves sexually is a great indication of how closely you’re walking with Jesus.
-Now if those were the only two categories some of you would already be nominated for sainthood. But he names others…
5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has
said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” 6 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear.
What can mere people do to me?”
-DON’T LOVE MONEY. (VS 5)
-Our American culture says make money, have money, spend money, save money, and get all the stuff that money can buy.
-And many people in the church have bought into this lie.
-For many people…their highest hope for their children isn’t to follow Jesus, but to get an education so they can make money.
-For many, the most important goal in their life isn’t crossing the finish line with their integrity and faith intact…
-It’s making sure we enough retirement money so that we can maintain our lifestyle.
-We are the richest nation in the world, with the richest Xians in the world and yet the average American tithes 2% of their income
-We are in debt up to our eyeballs, everyone wants to have more, no one wants to give more.
-Money is the number one false god of American culture.
-In Scripture the love of money is called the root of all kinds of evil
-But he says to the Christians, we don’t love money we trust God.
-TRUST GOD. (VS 6)
-It is so easy to trust God when things are going well.
-How much faith do you need when everyone’s healthy, happy, there’s $ in the bank?
-How much time do you spend praying about your finances when all the bills are paid?
-How much trust do you place in God, when your sense of security comes from the money in your 401k?
-By the way, I think that’s the principle behind tithing.
-The first time someone told you that the Biblical standard of giving is 10% of your income…you immediately reacted with fear.
-I can’t give that much because I won’t have enough!
-And in that moment your trust in money was exposed.
-Some of us freely say that God is our provider!
-Tithing forces us to act like we believe that God is our provider.
-Part of living honorably for Jesus is to free from the love of money and all its trappings.
-But living honorably for Jesus also means learning to trust that God is going to take care of us no matter what. In vs 5 God says
“I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
-Are you living honorably for Jesus?
-Ask yourself about money? How much do you love it & trust in it?
-Now marriage, sex, and money…there’s even more.
7 Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think
of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the
example of their faith.
-BE DISCIPLED. (VS 7)
-The author says look to the people that taught you the word of God, and follow their example.
-That’s what discipleship is. We don’t believe that discipleship is the transfer of information. It’s not just teaching.
-Yet…that’s how many churches approach discipleship. We’ll meet on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night and the pastor will talk and you will listen.
-And somehow magically, by listening to many sermons you will grow up in the faith and become mature disciple-making Xians!
-Discipleship is a transfer of personhood. It’s not just teaching someone what you know, it also showing them how to do it.
-That’s why we put our people in life2life groups. They can talk and discuss and interact and learn from each other.
-Want to know how your walk with Jesus is? Are you being discipled? Are you coming to be taught on Sundays? Are you in a men’s group, women’s group, or co-ed life2life group?
-If U want to live honorably for Jesus, you’re need to be discipled!
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them.
-STICK WITH THE GOSPEL. (VS 8-9)
-People who are always looking for special insights or some new teaching. That’s where most of the heresies come from.
-Just stick with the simple message about Jesus.
-I remember this pastor down in the Eugene area who was always baptizing people who’d already been baptized.
-He would convince people that they didn’t know what they needed to know at the time of their original baptism.
-That would get them questioning their salvation. Then he’d teach them “what they needed to know”, because he had the special insights. And the he would re-baptize them.
-There are people who have left this church, in search of some new insight, caught up in some fringe teaching, or with some fringe group who claims to have a new word from God.
-This is another great way to get a reading on your Christian life.
-Are you “all-in” with the simple message of salvation by the
grace of God, through faith in his Son Jesus?
-Or are you searching for something that is more appealing
-vs 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
-He doesn’t change and his message doesn’t change….
-If you want to live honorably for Jesus…stick with the gospel.
11 Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. 12 So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. 13 So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore.
-This part isn’t very popular to teach.
ENDURE SUFFERING.( VS 13)
-Jesus was mocked, ridiculed, persecuted and killed outside of the city. And why? They didn’t like his message.
-So our author is asking, “are we going to sit inside the city or go outside with Jesus?”
-Are we going to sit comfortably inside culture and be a part of all that it stands for?
-Or, are we willing to speak up, follow Jesus, carry our cross, and risk the suffering that comes from following the Lord?
-If you want to test your Christian life this is an easy one.
-Are you willing to suffer for Christ? Are you prepared to face humiliation, taunting, the loss of relationships, and pain?
-He was. How do we sign up for that kind of suffering?
14 For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.
-KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE. (VS 14)
-This is another great way to test the contents of your heart.
-For 2000 years Christians have gone against the flow, endured suffering, been mocked and ridiculed.
-They’ve done good deeds, held to the moral high ground, lived sacrificially, served Jesus & others because of their hope in heave
-Want to know if you’re living honorably for Jesus.
-RU focused on the things of the world or the Kingdom of God?
15 Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. 16 And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God. (now it gets really good)
17 Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. (Car wash)
Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.
-And all the spiritual leaders said “amen!”
-LISTEN TO YOUR CHURCH LEADERS. (VS 17)
-The work of the pastors and the shepherds in this church is to watch over your souls.
-We don’t get our kicks out of seeing you stumble. We don’t enjoy confronting people about sin. It’s just our job.
-We get to teach you Scripture, we try to lead by example, and be there for our people when it really counts.
-This week we got to pray blessings for new babies, comfort the sick and dying man, sit with people in a courtroom, and offer people counsel from God’s Word.
-The pastors/shepherds are accountable to God for how we serve this church.
-And so he says to all the Christians…listen to what your spiritual leaders say and do it.
-He says make it a joy for your leaders to serve you…which translates in the Greek, “Cut your pastors some slack!”
-Some of you sit here on Sundays thinking, that guy is an idiot.
-Some of you think, “I don’t care what the church leaders say.”
-I don’t care what that message said...I will do what I want to do.
-The Scripture says you should listen to your leaders because they are looking out for you.
-Are you living honorably for Jesus? One indicator of that is listening to your spiritual leaders.
-If you were to visit the city of Florence, Italy you might find your way to the Galleria dell' Accademia.
-I’m pretty sure that’s also some kind of exotic nut.
-In that Gallery are several famous statues carved by Master Renaissance artist Michelangelo.
-The most famous of these statues depicts the OT hero David.
-The statue is 17ft tall & carved out of one solid piece of marble
-It is incredible that someone could carve a human form with that precision and detail and that size with a hammer and chisel.
-When Michelangelo was asked how he’d done this he said, “I carved away everything that didn’t look like David.”
-Michelangelo had a picture in his mind of what David looked like.
-He worked to bring that image into reality…by slowly chipping away all the things that we’re David.
-Our passage today is like that. It gives us a picture of what it might look like to really live honorably for Jesus.
-Everyone here is doing good in some of these areas.
-And everyone here could use some improvement in some areas.
-Our whole lifelong we’re battling to chip away all the things in our life that don’t look like Jesus.
