1 Corinthians 7:20-24: “Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them. Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.
What Paul is saying here is that your past or even your present circumstances are no excuse or disqualification to serve God. The Bible has an ample list of fallen people who had pretty sketchy pasts, but were redeemed. They had faith in and a repentant heart for God; and God in his gracious sovereignty used them for His purpose and will. As He will you when you truly give your life to Him. Why do I say truly? Because saying “I gave my life to Christ” is one thing, but saying “I am picking up my cross daily for Jesus” is another entirely. When God calls you, obey the will of God no matter what your life has amounted to thus far. We all fall short, but do not limit what God can do with you for His ambition and His glory.
Who was I? A liar, a thief, a murderer at heart, a blasphemer, a coveter…etc. But do you know what the worst thing is that I have done in my life? I ran from God. I would wear out, fall down, get up and run again. I kept running from Him again and again and again over the course of my life. A vicious circle of repetitive failures, trying to do things in my own strength. I finally ran to the point where I was so exhausted; to the point I felt like dying. Have you felt like that? Why do we think that we can run from God who is Omnipresent (everywhere)? Or try to outsmart Him when He is Omniscient (all-knowing)? Or even think we are stronger than Him when He is Omnipotent (all-powerful)?
I remember finally falling to my knees and looking back with any foolish fortitude I thought that I had left; I saw Jesus right behind me, waiting with open arms. My past is nothing but; it is past. It is gone. I think many of us forget how the beauty of our salvation in Jesus Christ works. Listen; will I answer for the mistakes of my past before I was saved? No. They are forgiven and forgotten. If you are not saved, all of your sins in the past can be and are forgiven when you truly turn to Christ in repentance and ask Him into your heart as Lord and Savior of your life. Christ paid for you on the cross and all you have to do is receive His free gift of salvation and eternal life. Isaiah 43:25: “I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins. But, but, we will bear the consequences and punishments of those past and present sins.
King David after his sin with Bathsheba in Psalm 51 wrote: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me…” David was forgiven, but bore the brunt of the penalties of those immoralities for the rest of His life. All sin that we commit is against God who is perfect and there has to be justice. Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We are born in sin and will perish in sin if we do not ask Jesus to save us from them.
Christians must continually repent to God to stay in fellowship with Him. We will answer and give an account for the things that we will do and have done since we gave our hearts to Christ. But, God will take the bad in our past for use to glorify Him and help others in our present and our future. That is why intimacy and abidance in God’s will is so essential in our Christian walk with Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14: ... But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
What are you holding onto and harboring in your life? If someone has hurt you in the past, God will ease that agony once you truly forgive that person for what they have done. Well, you might say, “I cannot forgive them or I will never forgive them”. Why not? Jesus forgave all of us who put Him to death for our sins against Almighty God. We all flogged Him, hit Him and spit on Him. All of us put the nails in His hands and feet. We all crucified Him. Not just Jews and the Roman executioners on Calvary. Our sins are accountable for His death.
We did this to Jesus and in His love and GRACE He forgave us all.
Christ the innocent Lamb gave Himself up for us to be the sacrifice and propitiation for our sins. Knowing this grace, which comes from the heart of God, how can we have the audacity to say that we cannot forgive someone for their sin against us? I know it can be so tough to forgive, but we must. God commands it. Ephesians 4:31-32: Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
We are sinful human beings and we will hurt each other. Sometimes it will be a misunderstanding or unintentional hurt, but we have to work out problems right away, especially as brothers and sisters in Christ. Then we can move on for the greater things we are called to do for God’s Kingdom. Paul said in Philippians 3:8: Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.
You cannot change the former days and nothing in the past now matters. What you are doing for the cause of Christ is what matters now. Ephesians 4:22: “(You are) to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires…”
All of us commit our own sins. No one else commits your sins. If someone has sinned against you, do not take that sin and clutch it as your own. It is not your fault.
That is their sin and do not ever let them make you think otherwise. God will hold them accountable, not you. All you have to do is forgive. All human beings who have ever trampled upon this earth will stand before Jesus either as their eternal Savior; forgiven of all past wrongdoings because of His shed blood on the cross, or they will stand before Him as their eternal Judge. We are without excuse.
We are to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. How do we do this if we are clinging to unforgiveness or sins of the flesh that we refuse to let go of? We cannot. We cannot truly love unless we give these things over to God. 1 John 2:1-5: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever says “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him…”
Deny yourself. Deny yourself. Denying ourselves is the toughest thing for human sinful flesh to do. It never wants to deny itself. It wants to feed into us whatever we desire and our sin nature will destroy us. Sin turns your own body and mind against you. Most people in the world make the devil’s job easy. Deny yourself and fully give into the will of God for your life.
Stephanie says if you try to deny yourself but still cringe or say “God, OK but I still need this or I still want to do that in my life”, that is not full compliance to God's purpose for you. You are not denying yourself. When you fully repent, fully yield to the Holy Spirit and give it all over to Him that is when you have a true form of spiritual discovery.
You produce good works for God and you become what you were meant to be; a selfless servant to be used by God and for God for His glory. Our meaning in life is to be a vessel for God’s Holy Spirit to show Jesus Christ’s love to everyone. Works done for you or thinking that you gain heaven by them are meaningless because faith in Christ is the only way to heaven.
Please turn to Ephesians 2:1-10: “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
God gives us His grace and gives us His works for us to do for Him. Not for us to do so He can do something for us. God is not obligated to us. God’s Commandments shows us that none of us are righteous and nothing but criminals according to His law. We stand guilty and condemned before a Perfect, Holy and Righteous Judge. Listen, our self-righteous deeds or works are actually an attempt to bribe the Judge of all Creation. Luke 16:15: “And Jesus said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”
We must obey first and then God reveals to us what He wants us to do. But we want to force things or press God to reveal things to us or try to earn favor by doing things and works expecting God to do our will. That is not how God does things in our lives. He expects submission and then He expects us to do what He tells us to do. We are to fulfill His will for us in our lives. Then, we have to extend and share that same grace, forgiveness and love to others that has been graciously shown to us. Then we are doing good and faithful works for Christ. It all has to point to God. 2 Corinthians 9:15: “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” That gift is the Holy Spirit of God and only by faith in Him do we go to heaven. Many around here diligently and faithfully plant seeds in their gardens and their fields (for some it is their livelihood), but how many of us have that same urgency planting seeds for Jesus? Is that not of more importance?
Listen; to work for something is to deserve it (a paycheck, a crop, house, car, etc…) and that work would produce an obligation—a gift of debt. This type of work attitude is what destroys grace. Listen; Romans 4:1-5: “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by his works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.” I can understand why all of you love this church. It has such a beautiful setting and so much antiquity and tradition. I can see and have heard of the many joys and celebrations here, praise God for that. But how much of that past history has distresses, pains and bad memories?
How many of you are still grasping onto bad tribulations or trials that came through this building at one point or another? How many people have come and gone that have offended you or have done damage to the image of this congregation? Let me tell you something. Forgive it and let go. Forgive it and move on. Why drag it along on the road of life with you? How can you walk the narrow path with Jesus Christ if you keep allowing thorns, thistles and brush to block the way of that path?
This church, as wonderful as it is, is just a building. If something happened to this structure, we would still meet together, even if it was in a tent outside. We have to be careful about “things” in our lives. I know how much you all love this church and so do I, but you can make this building or its traditions an idol. I had so many people say that they love St. John’s at the Summer Social and when Stephanie and I are out and about. It was very nice and heart-warming, but it made me wonder if they really love the tradition, this building, or the true believers in Jesus that meet inside of this place. I also asked myself, why aren’t they here now if they truly love it so much? It is not about things. It is not about this beautiful building. It is not about the traditions and church by-laws. It is about our one-on-one relationship with Jesus Christ (period). Hebrews 12:1: Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…
St. John’s Church is not this house. St. John’s Church is all of us who believe on Jesus Christ as Lord. We are a small part of the body of true believers of our Lord and Savior. My point is this. Are you doing the works that you do out of obligation or traditions or trying to earn favor or are you doing them solely for Christ? Are you doing them in selflessness without expecting anything in return? Jesus Christ is in our hearts and our unity as His body of believers should be bound together by faith in Christ alone and nothing else. No events, no ministries, nothing. We should be doing good works for Him as a witnessing body of believers without expectation. Our faithfulness brings reward. Our faithfulness brings church unity. Our faithfulness fills this place and our lives with the Holy Spirit!
Ephesians 2:19-22: “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
If there is an issue between brothers and sisters in Christ, we must address it now and not let embers fester and grow into a large inferno. I cannot stress this enough. Satan will not always attack with a full-out frontal assault. He gains much more success by attacking us in 500 small subtle ways. Small wounds cannot be pushed aside or ignored; they slowly becoming infected and grow into a dangerous disease that can wipe us out.
If we are wounded, not matter how small the cut, we have to treat these lacerations quickly. God will heal all injuries if we take them to Him. This church’s history, good and bad are just that - history. We need to be in the perfect will of God for St. John’s present and future.
Ephesians 6:12: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Satan wants this church to die, not flourish. That is why we must be of sound mind and hearts in one accord for Jesus Christ.
Colossians 3:13: Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
But if we refuse to do that – that is nothing but pride. Pride keeps us from reconciling with God and reuniting with our brothers and sisters. Pride keeps your past from being resolved.
Do you have the thoughts of “Well I am too humiliated of what I have done and not worthy to take them to God for forgiveness” or “I can never forgive what they did to me”? Why do we think like that? P-R-I-D-E.
When I did this or do this it shows that I did not want to let go of the things that I was doing wrong. I was trying to justify and rationalize my sins or unforgiveness in my own mind. I was being ignorant of the blood of Jesus Christ that washed my sins away forever. How many of you are doing that now? Trying to hold on to depravities that you refuse to confess of, or sinful lusts in your life that you refuse to let go of? Why won’t you deny yourself so that you can truly gain Christ? Why won’t you forgive? God forgave you! Don’t you understand that your sin doesn’t just affect you? Sin affects all of those who are around you, whether you want to realize that or not. Or is there a fear? Why are you afraid to let go? Why are you afraid to let God control your life? Why wear burdens that break you down? Give them to Jesus.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:30: For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
I am telling you from experience in my own life; there is no comfort or contentment outside of God's will. None. Nothing fills the emptiness that is inside of us except for the Holy Spirit. Why do we prefer to stand in the wasteland when we have been granted permission to stand in the Holy of Holies? Romans 8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You are no longer convicted. When you forgive, when you repent of all of your sin; that is when you can have a clear conscience and find true joy and freedom in Jesus Christ.
When you are lost, the world will feel like it is falling down all around you. Being saved by Christ you need to see it in a different light. The world is no longer falling down around you, it is you breaking free from the world and the pieces of it are falling off of you as you ascend closer each day toward heaven. Amen.
Philippians 3:20: But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…Keep Jesus Christ at the center of everything. We can do nothing apart from Christ. In John 15:5: Jesus said 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
As Christians, we should never be content with the fact that many people every day refuse to let go of their past, to give it to Christ, to refuse Him and His forgiveness. Countless people dying every day; sending themselves to Hell. We should never be content with the fact that many that we love will be left behind and will suffer the test that Christ said will come upon the entire world when God unleashes His wrath. It should grieve us beyond comprehension. We should do everything that we can to bring as many as we can to salvation in Jesus Christ. Being a Christian is not easy and that is alright. That is why God gave us the Holy Spirit to help and guide us. Stephanie said this the other day, “We have to be in a place of safety and comfort with God when we are not in a safe and comfortable place.” Amen.
Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
I will close with this. Picture a place that you have wanted to visit your entire life but just did not have the means to do so. But, then one day, someone shows up on your doorstep and says they will take you there, free of charge, all you have to do is except that gift. They tell you they will be back soon to take you, but you do not know the exact time. Imagine your joy and anticipation! You will make sure that you are fully prepared, have everything in order and make sure that you strive to do everything correctly. You will always be ready! You will also tell everyone you know about this free gift! We have to treat the gift of salvation and the return of our Lord to take us home with a greater respect, willingness and anticipation!
