Our Purpose Part 2: Teach The Word and Reach The World For Christ
4/23/2021 Psalm 19:7-14 2 Timothy 4:1-5
Many of us are aware of the new commandment that Jesus gave us in the gospels. Pastor Kellie preached it as part of our opening series on our purpose as New Life At Calvary Church. That commandment is to love one another as I have loved you. Not as many of us are as aware of the last commandment we have from Jesus. That commandment is found in Matthew, and part of it is to “go into all the world and make disciples and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Our purpose statement says in response to God’s love, our purpose is to love others, teach the word of God and reach the world for Christ. When you hear the phrase, “The Word of God” which of these terms comes to your mind. Respect, Fear, relief, rebellion, peace, guidance, authority, gratitude, restrictions, freedom, direction, hope, judgment, rules, encouragement, helpful, Jesus, Bible, Scriptures.
The way in which we view “the word of God” is going to determine how excited we are about teaching it teach it and how willing we are to take it to the world for Christ. There are two things we have done with the Scriptures that have not done anybody much good.
The first thing we have done is to have exalted the Scriptures to such a high place where they are to be respected, but never opened and read. When I grew up as a kid, we had a big family bible on the coffee table. I never once remember us reading it. In the courts we use to be asked to swear upon the bible it as though it forces us to tell the truth. We are to display the Bible in a prominent place in the church to demonstrate our honoring of the word of God. The best way to honor the word of God is to read it and obey it.
The second thing we have done is claimed that it is so difficult to understand the Bible, we should never read more than a verse or two at a time each day or even each week. How did the devil convince us, the best way to get to know what God wants from you, is to avoid spending time reading the word of God because you can’t possibly understand it?
You are much smarter than you think. You can understand more than you think. You can read 85% of the New Testament and come away with a fairly good understanding of what it is about, especially in the NIV version with a bible dictionary.
Can we be honest and admit, we are lazy and want to do something else with our time. We might even be a little afraid , because God might actually tell us something differently than what we want to hear. You will be amazed at how quickly God will speak to you. God has helped me solve other problems while I was reading the word of God.
Just because we don’t understand the book of Revelation with the beast with 10 heads and seven crowns, is not a good reason to not discover God’s will in the other 26 books in the New Testament which are much easier to understand.
Let me show you how you can easily understand the Word. If you were going to have a confrontation or argument with another person, and you decided to get some direction from the Word of God here is what you might find. In Colossians it says, “forgive one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians, “Do not let any unwholesome word come out of your mouth.” Philippians, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.” 1 Thessalonian, “rejoice always, pray continually, and in everything give thanks.” How many of you understand how those passages should affect your confrontation or argument.
Jesus promised to give us the Holy Spirit. Part of the Holy Spirit’s job is to lead us into the truth. They Holy Spirit is there to help us read, understand and apply the word of God to our lives.
The Scriptures do more than simply tell us stories. They provide us with a way to view life and a way to view the world. Everyone has a mind that is being shaped by the forces around them. We may think our beliefs are our own, but in reality they are based on information that is passed on to us by others who want us to think and behave in a certain way. I didn’t develop my own view of the world. It has been passed down to me by Christians from one generation to the next who originally got it from Jesus.
Look at the world view our society wants us to buy into from our news stories in the United States. These stories tell us: Everything is as racist today as it has ever been. Hundreds of blacks are being shot and killed by the police weekly for no reason other than being black. The answer to ending crime is cut the number of police and provide more social workers. Can you imagine hearing somebody break into your house downstairs and reaching for a phone to call a social worker to come and talk to them?
Our Sexuality cannot have any limits on it in anyway. No one can question anything about sexual choices, not even God. If we just print enough money, all our problems will be solved. Who knows what a trillion dollars is anyways? If we call evil by the right name, it will be acceptable to most people. Getting rid of jails will make people commit fewer crimes.
All of these things are part of today’s world view in the United States. They are all absolutely false statements. Unfortunately many people are starting to believe it, because it keeps coming at them time and time again.
The Scriptures want us to view the world through the eyes of God. The Word of God gives us a viewpoint that God created the universe, God created life, God created human beings male and female, and God wants to be in fellowship with humanity. God has laws that are for the good of each person and for the society in general. There are consequences for disobeying those laws and rewards for obeying them.
Each person will be individually responsible for the choices they make. Every person has a heart with a bent toward doing evil because sin is real. God has established a list of things that are right and that are wrong. God has given guidance so that we can have the greatest amount of freedom, justice, righteousness, and love in life and society.
God has a plan for each person to be brought into a right relationship with God because each person is going to live for eternity. That plan includes knowing who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus has done on behalf of each of us.
So when we talk about teaching the Word of God, we are talking about getting this message to others because somebody else is trying to reach them with a different message, a different world view.
One of the reasons we need to read the word of God, is so that we can know when someone is giving us a so called truth that is contrary to the word of God lest we become a part of a false gospel.
Adam and Eve listened to Satan because they thought he was bringing them some new truth that was going to make their lives better. We have all fallen for some new truth that did not provide us with what it promised.
Have you ever noticed there are evangelists everywhere.? If someone were to ask you, are you an evangelist, what would you say? The reality is, we are all evangelists for something.
Some of us are evangelists for our sports team. Let somebody say something negative about our team and see how quickly we respond sometimes without even being asked. If they say something positive, we’re ready to embrace them even though we are total strangers.
Some of us are evangelists for our political parties. We make sacrifices to get their message out to the people and will hand out flyers going door to door. We will pick them up to drive them to vote.
Some of us are are evangelists for our special causes, our hobbies, our favorite tv shows and our favorite singers. At times our zeal for these things can be amazing.
Do you think it break God’s heart that we are more ready to proclaim these things than we are word of God? In our New Testament reading, the apostle Paul tells us that a time will come when people will not want to hear the truth of the word of God. People will only listen to the leaders who are willing to say what they want to hear. They will turn aside from the truth and believe myths.
Paul provides us with three reasons why we need to teach the word of God. The first is that it is there to correct us. We are all prone to go after things that we should not go after. In the beginning, the thing may seem harmless, and it just doesn’t make sense to us that God would say for us not to do it.
For instance if someone does something to me, doesn’t justice demand that I get even. If someone makes fun of me, shouldn’t I be able to do something to hurt them. Why on earth should I forgive them and just let it go?
Is there anyone here who can look back on their lives and you wished if you could, you would have just let that thing go? Remember Jesus corrected the disciples when they thought they could forgive someone seven times and be done with the person. Jesus said forgive them seventy times seven. Anyone who is married, or has kids, or has parents knows that Jesus’ number is much better to maintain loving relationships.
The word of God is there to correct the errors that we make in our decision making process before we have to pay a price we don’t want to pay. God knows some things about us that we do not, and sometimes we just have to trust God on this even though we want to disagree.
Psalm 19 asks the question,” who can discern their own error or see their hidden faults?” There are times we are so convinced we are right, that we can’t see what is really true. The Word of God should not only be our standard it should be our starting place to reach a position or conclusion.
The second thing the word of God does is to rebuke us when we are openly sinning. A rebuke is in order when we know what the word of God says, but we willfully choose to ignore it. Even if we do not participate in it ourselves, we gladly encourage those who do.
I learned yesterday that several of our large cities will no longer enforce laws against prostitution. They seem to think every prostitute is doing it because they want to be involved in prostitution. One politician said sex work is still work.
Doesn’t your heart go out to the women who are being forced into prostitution because of pimps and gangs. Won’t this make it even harder for them to escape knowing the police are looking the other way. There’s nothing glamourous about being abused and risking your life with men you don’t know.
It’s like turning a blind eye to sexual trafficking. Will women no longer be able to prove rape if the guy leaves behind a $100 bill? . If we don’t stand up and let these women know about the love of Jesus Christ, who will?
This world view rejects the word of God that some behaviors are wrong and are demeaning and hat all people are created in the image of God. All of our bodies belong to God. Our society rejects the word of God because of its rebuke to many of its teachings.
Sometimes we as believers need to be rebuked for the positions we hold that are contrary to the will of God. Jesus rebuked Peter after explaining to Peter what would happen, Peter insisted that Jesus was wrong and didn’t know what he was talking about.
The third thing the word of God does is to encourage us. It lets us know that God is still in charge regardless of what is going on around us. It encourages us when things around us are against us, that this world is not our home and that we belong to another kingdom. Our hope is never to be placed in the systems of the world around us.
It assures us, that in everything we are going through, God is at work for our good whether we can see it or not. We are being transformed to allow God’s Spirit to be at work in us making us more like Jesus Christ. We are never alone.
It tells us that we can be freed to live different kinds of lives and lifestyles. It gives us the assurance that in the end God will make all things right, and that all of us who put our faith in Jesus Christ will be reunited with him. God’s word give us hope, meaning, and a reason for living.
This is why we want to teach the word and reach the world for Christ. This world is a pretty battered up place on its own. People are pushed to be constantly in a state of fear. We should be afraid of the pandemic, afraid of climate change, afraid of systematic racism, afraid of the Equality Act, afraid of Packing the Supreme Court, afraid of the Big Social Media Companies, afraid of mass shootings, and afraid of the increase in crime. Afraid, afraid, afraid.
In the midst of this fear, Jesus offers a world hope. After the resurrection he declared to his followers”, Peace be with You. As the father has sent me, so I am sending you. “
In the midst of the fear that surrounds the world, we are to come with the good news message of peace. Sure things are going to happen, that we would rather see not take place, but Jesus has risen from the dead and he’s offering people His peace in the midst of the storms.
In response to God’s love, our purpose is to love others, teach the word of God and reach the world for Christ.
Who is in your world that does not know Christ? When we hear reaching the world for Christ, we may think globally when God is sending us locally. We’re thinking of going to China but God is thinking of us going across the street. Are you praying for anyone in your circle of friends to come to know Jesus so that they can be with you in heaven? Do you think Christ could make a difference in their lives now?
Do you know what’s one of the leading factors that determines if a church grows? The people in the church are so excited about the church and what God is doing in it, that they invite others to come and be with them.
Do you know when you start to believe God has left the church. You come to it with no expectation of God speaking to you or even ministering through you to someone else. Your body may be present, but your mind is somewhere else. If you do not receive the word, there’s very little chance of you taking it, to reach anyone for Christ.
I challenge us to examine our hearts to see if we are truly interested in learning the word of God so that we can teach it to others, or have we simply made up our minds and hoping that somehow the bible will confirm what we think is true?
Will we give at least half of the time to reading the Bible as we do watching one of our favorite tv shows? I don’t want you to do it because of guilt or legalism, but because you simply love God enough to want to get to know the God who gave us the Scriptures. When I fell in love with my wife and she wrote me a letter. I not only treasured it, I read it. Sometimes several times.
Is our goal to reach the world for Christ or are we content with just being a loving body that we can get together with each other to cheer each other on. It’s great that we enjoy the love we share together, but God has a lot more people He wants to see in the kingdom of God before Jesus returns.
The greatest gift that we can give to a lost person, is the opportunity to help them spend eternity in heaven by letting them know about Jesus Christ. The weather is getting warm. Will you hold up a sign before and during worship outside to welcome someone. That’s part of going into the world and reaching someone for Christ. God has called you into ministry to build the kingdom of God.
You are going to be so glad in heaven, to discover all the people who are there, because you chose to use the gifts and talents that God gave to you. Pray God will open your eyes to discover how he wants to use you this week.
