Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Matthew 26:36-46 “36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

If you haven’t noticed, our catechism has been slowly working it’s way through the Apostles Creed, defining what we mean by each saying. So far, we have gotten through, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified…” Now we are moving on to the next phrase of the creed. It says, “Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell.” The last part of this phrase is one that has been controversial. It says, “he descended into hell.” Does it say that in the Bible? There are some that believe Jesus, after dying on the cross, went to hell to release the saints of the Old Testament. They base this off of an obscure verse in 2 Peter. I don’t believe this is true. I think that scripture teaches us that Jesus never really descended into hell. One example is while Jesus was on the cross. Luke 23:39-43 says, “39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” When Jesus says, “today you will be with me in Paradise” we would naturally assume that Jesus was going to heaven that day, not taking a detour in hell first. Now, I don’t want to dwell on this topic any longer because I want to get to the core of what we’re talking about tonight and a question that is probably in your heads right now. “If you don’t believe that Jesus descended to hell, then why do you still say it?” Let’s turn to the catechism to get that answer.
The catechism says this: “Why does the creed add, ‘He descended to hell’? Answer: To assure me in times of personal crisis and temptation that Christ my Lord, by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul,  especially on the cross but also earlier, has delivered me from the anguish and torment of hell.” This is why I still say this part of the creed. It isn’t talking about what happened after Christ’s death, it’s talking about what Christ went through before He died. Can you imagine the pain and anguish He went through? As Jesus takes his disciples out to the garden to pray, he says, “And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.’” Matthew says that he was affected by grief and sorrow (or anxiety;) Luke says that he was seized with anguish; and Mark adds that he trembled. We must never forget that Jesus’ body wasn’t the only thing that was attacked during the crucifixion, his soul was as well. He said his soul was “very sorrowful, even to death.” I couldn’t think of a way to explain it in relation to the soul, but Jonathan Edwards helped me understand a physical analogy.
(Show Video of Cross Country Runner Hitting the Wall)

That’s how Jesus’ soul felt while in the garden. Jonathan Edwards said it was like someone who had been fighting a strong man all night long and gave everything they had to overcome him. You can see this again when Matthew says, “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  Luke says, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” If Jesus would have only broke out in a sweat, we would have know how extreme his agony was because it was a cold night. We know this because later it talks of Peter warming himself by a charcoal fire. So it was a cold night and Jesus was sweating because of the agony he was in. And to take it farther, he was sweating blood. As I picture that scene in my head, it is very similar to that cross country runner. Jesus asks his disciples to stay back a little and as he walks forward to pray, he collapses because of the agony he is in. After collapsing, he begins to pray to God and as be prays drops of blood come from his pores.

He does this three times, asking the Father to remove the cup of suffering from him, but he always ends it with “Your will be done”. Why three times? He prayed three times because he was battling with the sorrow and agony. He had to battle it, he had to experience it, and he had to overcome it. Three times Christ went to the Father in his time of sorrow and left each time stronger. Each time he prayed he overcame that sorrow a little more until finally he came back to his sleeping disciples and said, “Then he came to the disciples and said to them, ‘Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.’” Jesus began the evening in agony and pain. He said he was sorrowful even to death. He was trembling. He fell on his face. He sweat drops of blood. Then after the third time praying, he walks us to the disciples with complete assurance and confidence. By the way he talks you can see that the agony that he felt in his soul was gone. He says, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” He gets up and walks right into the hands of the men who are going to kill him. There is a cliche saying that says, “Let go and let God”. That is what Jesus just did. He turned it all over into the Father’s hands and then moved forward to do the Father’s will. He overcame the agony.

Now how does this apply to us? What does this mean for you? A guy named Ambrose, who was Augustine’s mentor, said, “He grieved for me, who had no cause of grief for himself; and, laying aside the delights of the eternal Godhead, he experiences the affliction of my weakness. I boldly call it sorrow, because I preach the cross.” That grief and anguish that Christ went through, even before the physical pain, was for you. He had no reason to be sorrowful, no need to feel any pain, but he did it so that we could relate to him. So that we could know of his humanity.

John Calvin said this, “Whenever our evils press upon us and overwhelm us, we may call to mind the Son of God who labored under the same; and since he has gone before us there is no reason for us to faint.” When you find yourself in times of extreme agony and pain, when you feel like you can no longer go on, you can look towards Christ and not grow weary. He not only made it through the most intense suffering that has ever happened to humanity, but he also conquered it and overcame it. With God’s help, you can do that same. When in the middle of trials and temptations, turn to God. Pray to him over and over until you can walk away with the confidence that God is in control, pray to God earnestly, cry out from your soul, and remember that Christ has been there too. You can overcome this with him.

‎One final thing that I want to leave you with. It’s another quote but it is an amazing quote. It’s by Jonathan Edwards, and he said, “Christ’s soul was overwhelmed with a deluge of grief, but this was from a deluge of love to sinners in his heart sufficient to overflow the world, and overwhelm the highest mountains of its sins. Those great drops of blood that fell down to the ground were a manifestation of an ocean of love in Christ’s heart.” Here these words tonight, that the grief that Jesus felt that night, was out of love for you. If he didn’t care about you, he wouldn’t have suffered. Remember that we suffer the most from those we care about the most. The agony that he felt that night flowed out of love. The pain he felt that night flowed out of love. The drops of blood that he sweat that night flowed out of love.

I want to end by reading Psalm 42. This psalm embodies some of what Christ experienced that night and is an amazing psalm for you to turn to in your times of trouble.

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

It wasn’t too long ago that I showed this clip while talking about Noah but tonight we aren’t talking about Noah. Tonight we are talking about something else that this clip illustrates perfectly. As we on with the message, I want you to remember this clip. Remember what it looked like. Remember what happened. Remember what you were feeling. I want this clip to be playing in the back of your head throughout this message.

Tonight’s message is an important one. It’s one that I feel many people have ignored lately and as a result our faith has become week and fragile. If you haven’t paid attention to any of my messages so far this year, pay attention to this one. Here what God’s word has to say to you tonight. Not only hear it, but feel it. Make sure this knowledge moves the eighteen inches from your head to your heart. I don’t just want you to understand it, to be able to explain it, or even be able to defend it. These are all good things but tonight I want you to feel it in your very soul. I want this to burn inside you in a way that you have never experienced it before. If that happens tonight, everything will change. Everything! I pray that your hearts are softened enough that you can hear this message.

Tonight we are going to be looking at 1 Peter 2:24-25 but we are going to be doing it a little differently. I’m not going to be showing you the passage as I work through it and I’m going to start at the end of the verse and work backwards. At the end of the message you will understand why I’m doing that but for now just be in the moment and hear what God is speaking to you tonight.

Peter says “For you were straying like sheep.” Isaiah says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  To stray like sheep is to go our own way. To think that we have a better way, or even to know that God’s way is better but still choose our way. There is something inside of us that knows God’s way is better and yet we turn the other way. We reject his leading and guiding in our lives and go our own way.

I have been asked before what the definition of sin it and I used to give a variety of answers but I have come to the conclusion of the best answer. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  This defines for us what sin is. This verse commands us to do everything to the glory of God, everything. Therefore, anything that we do that is not for God’s glory is sin. Now, take a look at your life and look at the motivation behind what you do. Is it for God’s glory or your own? Are you getting ready for school in the morning for God’s glory, or your own? Are you playing sports for God’s glory, or your own? Are you eating your meals to God’s glory, or your own? How about church? Are you coming to Ignite for God’s glory or your own? Pretty convicting stuff isn’t it? Every time we do anything to our glory, rather than God’s, we sin.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death…” As sheep who are straying, you are constantly piling one sin upon another, upon another, upon another, earning death for every one of them, weighing yourself down more and more, filling up God’s wrath toward you more and more. Romans 1:18 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” Each day our guilt increases, filling higher and higher.

Some may try to comfort themselves because they don’t realize their present condition is like this. They, like those in the movie, feel that since their present condition isn’t bad they shouldn’t worry. You are right to realize that your present condition isn’t as bad as it could be, but it is only by the grace of God that it isn’t. It is by God’s grace that the waters of His wrath are held back. His hand acts like a dam holding them back, and daily water is added, growing higher and higher. All it would take is for God to remove His hand and the water would come rushing forth, consuming everything. You are unable to stop this on your own. You are utterly helpless to save your self. You are like a house in the wake of a tsunami. You don’t stand a chance. There is complete destruction.
What are you feeling right now? What is going on inside you? Take a couple seconds to begin understanding what you are feeling. Are you feeling lost? Are you feeling condemned? Are you confused? Hopeless? Maybe you are completely unfazed by any of this. Why is that? Why are you feeling the way you do? Is your heart that hard? Is God convicting you of change, convicting you of sin?
Romans 5:8 “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While we were in this hopeless state, Christ died for us. Even though everything we do stores up more and more wrath, Christ died for us. We have been sinning so long, living our own way so long, and the dam is ready to break. Are we oblivious to it? Are we taking advantage of it? Romans 2:4 “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” The fact that your life hasn’t crumbled to pieces, hasn’t been washed away in the flood shouldn’t give you comfort. God has held back His wrath so that you would repent and turn to Him. Don’t take His patience and kindness for granted. Thank Him for it and turn to Him.

Here is our passage, 1 Peter 2:24-25, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”  If you are outside of Christ, straying from His flock, everything that has been said is true for you. There is now way to sugarcoat it or dance around it. It is all true, but there is another way. God is calling you back to His flock. He has given you the ability to come back. He doesn’t leave you hopelessly stuck in your sin.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.” What do you see in this picture? I see the gospel. Everything is annihilated by the tsunami, except the boat. Unless you were on the boat, there was no hope, but the boat remains. Jesus Christ bore all of your sins in His body on the tree so you could get on the boat. It doesn’t matter how much wrath was stored up for you, Jesus has saved you from it.

Why did He do this? For what purpose? “..that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” He died so that we can die to sin. He died so that we can be free from the tyranny of the devil. He died so that we could live free lives, so that we could be slaves of righteousness, rather than sin. He died so that we can have peace. Isaiah 57:20-21 “But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked.’”

When God rescued Israel from Egypt, they eventually found themselves in a desperate situation. In a place where they felt there was no hope. They were backed up against the Red Sea with the Egyptian army coming full force at them. It was God’s hand that held back the water so that His people, His flock, could pass through safely. It was also God’s hand that was removed so that those who were not His people were destroyed in the water.

Hear the words of Joshua tonight and let them land on you with force. “Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

(End with clip from Evan Almighty)

A.W. Tozer says, “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified.”

The second quote is from Charles Spurgeon. He was the pastor of the largest church in the world in the 1800’s and a renowned theologian. He says this, “We must watch—the best of us must watch—lest we fight the Lord’s battles with Satan’s weapons and so even from love to God and His Truth violate the unity of the Spirit. The unity of the Spirit ought to be kept, dear Friends, because Satan is so busy to mar it. He knows that the greatest Glory of Christ will spring from the unity of His Church. ‘That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I in You. That they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that You have sent Me.’

There is no Church happiness where there is not Church unity. Let a Church be disaffected and divided, the schism in the body is death to all hallowed fellowship. We cannot enjoy communion with each other unless our hearts are one. Our work for God—how feebly it is done when we are not agreed! The enemy cannot desire a better ally than strife in the midst of our camp. ‘Can you not agree,’ said a warrior of old, ‘when your enemy is in sight?’ Christians, can you not agree to keep the unity of the Spirit when a destroying Satan is ever on the watch seeking to drag immortal souls down to perdition?

We must be more diligent in this matter! We must seek to purge out from ourselves everything which would divide and to have in our hearts every holy thought which would tend to unite us with our Brethren. I am not, when I join a Christian Church, to say, ‘I am quite certain I shall never break its unity.’ I am to suspect myself of a liability to that evil and I am to watch with all diligence that I keep the unity of the Spirit.”

Tonight we are going to talk about, what I think, is the key to church unity. If we can begin to live our lives this way, unity will flow from it. We must look the root cause of disunity and sever it. As you listen to the message tonight keep Spurgeon’s words in mind. You shouldn’t assume that you are not causing disunity in the church, or in this group, but you should always be watchful of your actions, making sure they are leading to unity rather than disunity.
Our passage tonight is Philippians 2:1-11. Here’s what it says,

1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

As I read through this passage there are three sections in it. First, Paul talks of the things we should do and stop doing. Secondly, he gives us Jesus as the supreme example of these things. Then Thirdly, he shows us the result of a life truly lived in this way.

So, first, let’s take a look at verses 1-4. It says, “1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  As I read through this passage I feel Paul pushing a point with the Philippian church. As you look at this, you should notice that there is an “if” at the beginning. That means that this is an if/then clause, which means that if the first part is true then the second part should happen. While I think that is true in this case, I think Paul is taking a different angle. Paul knows that all of those if statements are true. He knows that there is encouragement in Christ, that there is comfort from love, that there is participation in the Spirit. So why all of the “if’s” if he knows these statements are true? Paul is using them as rhetorical questions. The answer is assumed. I think we could change the word “if” out for “since” and really get the point of what Paul is trying to say. “Since there is encouragement in Christ, Since there is comfort from love, Since there is participation in the Spirit, Since there is affection and sympathy, complete my joy.” They have all of these things in Christ and as a result Paul says “complete my joy”.

Paul goes on to say how they are to complete his joy. He says “…complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Do you hear the heart behind this? Paul wants this church to function as the body of Christ. He wants them to be unified. He wants them to have “the same mind,” “the same love,” be in “full accord,” and to have “one mind”. Paul’s joy is completed by their unity.

Paul goes on as to how they are to function in unity. He makes a bold statement, saying, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” How is this going in your life? Can you honestly say that you look at those around you as “more significant than yourself”? Take a look at your life and ask yourself if you are doing anything out of “selfish ambition of conceit”. I am going to bold enough to say that I know that some of you are acting this way. You take every opportunity you get to rip someone down so that you can look better. When someone makes a mistake, you attack them like a lion and beat them while they are down. You have no desire to see them as “more significant than yourself”. Your only desire is to make yourself look more significant than everyone else. This is the opposite of humility and the will never lead us to unity. It will continue to tear us apart and break us into small cliques that are ineffective and don’t promote unity within the body. Don’t assume this isn’t you. Look into your heart and ask God to reveal where you need to repent and ask forgiveness.

Paul goes on to say, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” I’m not going to dwell on this long but I do want to say this. Out of true humility will flow service. When you are truly seeing others as more significant than yourself, you will stop looking to your own interests. You will be looking to serve those around you. If you struggle with serving people in this youth group, it is very possible that you struggle with humility. When you are truly humble, you will desire to serve.

Now Paul points us to Jesus. He puts Jesus as the epitome of humility. If we truly live like Jesus, we will have unity. William Law said, “true church unity consists in our walking as Christ walked.” Here’s what Paul says about Jesus. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  Paul gives us four areas of Jesus’ life that represent true, pure humility.

First, Jesus “did not count equality with God something to be grasped” which could be rephrased as saying that he gave up his rights. He didn’t operate out of what he was owed, but out of love. He didn’t feel the need for rivalry or conceit because it didn’t matter. Jesus had ultimate authority and ultimate power but didn’t consider it “something to be grasped”. Are you willing to give up your “rights” in order to serve/love someone else? Jesus’ life didn’t revolve around grasping for power or prestige. How about yours?

Second, He didn’t worry about building himself up or making himself look good in front of other people. He “made himself nothing”. What a tremendous, counter-cultural way to live. He made himself nothing so that others would be something. The goal of His life wasn’t to make himself look good, He wanted others to look good. He didn’t look out for his own interests but for the interest of others. What does your life look like? Are you trying to make everybody think your “something” rather than making yourself “nothing”? How much different would your life look if the focus changed? What if your goal was to make everyone else look better than yourself? What if you truly looked our “for the interest of others”?

Third, He took “the form of a servant.” Since He was looking out for the good of others, He was also serving them. One of the best ways to cultivate humility is to adopt an attitude of service. Stop being a servee and start being a server. Focus your life around being a servant to others. Focus your life around the needs of other peoples. This is our calling!

Fourth, He became “obedient.” Out of humility flows true obedience. Is there a difference between compliance and obedience? Compliance is doing what you should do even though you don’t want to do it, doing something begrudgingly. Obedience is doing something that you should do because you want to do it, doing something with passion and joy. Which one represents your faith? Do you attend church in compliance or obedience? Do you do your devotions out of compliance or obedience? Do you serve others out of compliance or obedience? Obedience requires a heart change, so PRAY!

Paul ends this passage by saying, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Because Jesus lived a life of humility, God exalted Him. We can hold to that promise as well, although it isn’t exactly the same. James says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” 1 Jesus also says, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”2 This counter-cultural, counter-intuitive way of life is what Christians are called to.

This is how we will have unity, how we will function as the body of Christ. We must humble ourselves, consider others in our group as more significant than yourself, think of the interest of others in our group, serve others in our group, do it all out of true obedience. When this happens our group will explode into a life changing ministry. We won’t only be changing the lives of people who show up on a Wednesday night but we change everyone we come into contact with. As Spurgeon said, “the greatest Glory of Christ will spring from the unity of His Church.” May we glorify Christ through the unity we have among ourselves.

The reason I tell you this story is because there are some major life lessons for us to learn. I have been looking forward to preaching this message for a few months now because I know it is a message that you need to hear. Some of you know that I am going back to college for a degree in Christian Counseling. As I have been in class over the last four months I have noticed that most of our problems stem from a lack of knowledge of this truth. In my last class I had to apply scripture to differing counseling situations and I was tempted to use this passage in every one of them. We don’t teach this well in our culture and to be completely honest we are paying the price for it today and I think it is going to get worse if we don’t start fighting against our culture. Tonight I want to start that fight and I will challenge you to meditate on this truth so that it will burn inside you and become who you are. Not only do I want it to burn in you, but I also want you to take it to those around you. When you begin to own something as important as this, don’t keep it to yourself. Help others understand it as well. Help other believe it. Help it to burn inside of them too.

The question that we are going to talk about tonight is a question of value. How do you know how valuable you are? Do you even know where to begin figuring this out? Where do you turn to determine what your worth? I’m going to leave these questions hanging right now but hopefully all of them will be answered before I wrap up tonight. If you have any questions at the end of the night, please come and talk to me.

Our passage for tonight is 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 but to get us started I want to read it in context. I also want to say that when many people preach on this text, they miss the point. They apply this scripture to the symptoms rather than the cause and we know that never helps anyone. Tonight I want to help you see the cause. So hear we go with 1 Corinthians 6:12-20:

12 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. 13 You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. 14 And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.

15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” 17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

Now, there is a lot that Paul is talking about in that passage but I want to skim over most of it and then settle on one of the points that I think is extremely relevant to you today. As you read through this passage you notice that Paul is setting up an argument against sexual immorality. He starts off by saying, “You say, ‘I am allowed to do anything’—but not everything is good for you. And even though ‘I am allowed to do anything,’ I must not become a slave to anything.” I am going to touch briefly on this and then move on. There are many of you that are asking the question, “How far is too far?” in relation to sex and in relation to sin in general. We all want to know how far we can go down the wrong road before it is considered “sin”. Please hear me tonight when I tell you that you are asking the wrong question! I challenge you to tell me a time when that question has helped you out and not gotten you burned. I can almost guarantee you that you can’t find one. That is like asking how far you should let the other team beat you before you begin to try. That is not the question of someone chasing after God, it is the question of someone drifting away. When you are chasing after God, you aren’t asking how far you can go into sin, you are running away from it.
Next Paul says, “You say, ‘Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.’ (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality.” Did you hear what Paul is saying? He is saying that evolution is wrong! You might be asking why I might jump to that conclusion and I’ll tell you. Paul says that our bodies are not made for sex, our purpose is not procreation. When you begin to look at evolutionary theory most of what drives it is dying and procreating, that is it. As you begin to study what evolutionary biologists are writing they continue to say more and more that we were made to have sex. What drives survival of the fittest is females finding strong males to mate with and by doing so they are creating stronger/better offspring. That is exactly the opposite of what Paul is saying. He is saying that your stomach was made for food but your bodies are made for God! They were created in God’s image and designed to worshipfully glorify God.
I am going to skip over verses 15-17 for times sake and head to 18-20. He says, “Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” Now, this is where most people will take this passage and twist it, missing the point entirely. I have heard well meaning leaders preach “Run from sexual sin” and “You must honor God with your body” many times but these are only symptoms. They are not the cause. I don’t want to solely focus on these two commands, I want you to understand why he commanded them.
Let’s go back to the question I asked at the beginning. How do you know how valuable something is? Let’s take my guitar for an example. How much is it worth? Some of you may say that it’s worth nothing, others, who like it, will say it’s worth a lot. In the end how do you know what it is worth? Hear me closely, when I say this. In reality, my guitar is worth the highest price that anyone is willing to pay for it. So, Karna may say that it is only worth $100; Willy may say that it’s worth $300; and Rachel may say it’s worth nothing. Actually everyone in this room could tell me this guitar is worth nothing, completely worthless, but if Willy gave me $1,000 for my guitar, it is worth $1,000.
Now take this and apply it to yourself. How do you determine your worth? Do you determine your worth by what people tell you? You may have had people tell you that your worthless. Maybe they’ve never came out and said it but they have treated you that way. Does that mean your worthless, that you have not value? Maybe you have had times in your life where everyone around you told you that you are worthless. Does that mean it’s true? NO! It’s just like the guitar. It doesn’t matter how many people say that you are worth nothing. “God bought you with a high price.” He has determined your value and worth. As a result nobody else has the right to tell you otherwise because none of them will be able to out-pay God. He bought you with a high price. He gave everything for you. Do you realize how valuable that makes you? This may sound cliche but I’ll say it anyways. That makes you priceless. The God of the universe, who created everything, died on the cross to buy you. You have uncomprehendable worth.
I think this is what Paul is trying to get at. He is saying that you are extremely valuable, so start treating yourself that way. I remember when my my brother and I got that Joe Montana card. We ran to the hobby shop and bought this ridiculous case to put it in. It was Plexiglas and inch thick. We knew how valuable this card was and we didn’t want anything to damage it. You’re the same way. Realize how valuable you are, then don’t let anyone damage you. NOBODY! Protect yourself and your body. Once you realize this and begin to live it (and we need to live it, not just realize it), I won’t have to tell you the other stuff. It will flow out of this understanding.
You will no longer ask “How far is too far?” because you want to do everything you can to protect yourself. You will begin to realize what you are made for. You are made to worship God, not to have sex (a side note: If we hold to the view of evolution, then we have no value. You can’t have purpose without design and you can’t have value either. No wonder we are seeing things fall apart around us. When we see ourselves without value and without purpose, we will do whatever it takes to feel like we do).  On top of all of this we will be so thankful that God has purchased us out of a life of slavery to sin and hopelessness that we will run to Him. We won’t hold on to our sin in a loving embrace but we will kill it. I heard a great saying at the Pastor’s Conference. Doug Wilson said, “The only way we should ever hold onto our sin is the same way David held Goliath’s head, in victory.”
Realize tonight how valuable you are. Jesus Christ died to purchase you. He wanted you. Let that set in. Meditate on it. Let it burn inside you. Then take it to those around you. Not only do you need to start treating others as if they have value, but you also need to show them hoe valuable they are. Spread this Good News. Jesus Christ purchased you from slavery to sin. Believe it and be saved.

There were three ways that you could see this in our team. First it was because every time we stepped onto the field, we gave it everything we had. We knew that we had a job to do and if we didn’t do it, the rest of the team was let down. If one of the linemen took a play off, either the quarterback or the running back were going to get hurt. If the linemen were giving it everything they had but the wide receivers were slacking, not only would the team be ineffective, but the linemen would get sick of blocking. As a result of this, we played with everything we had because we knew there were other people relying on us and we knew that there were other people breaking their backs for us. We all relied heavily upon each other and were determined not to let the others down.

The second way you could see this in our team was the intensity with which we trained. As a team we didn’t just lift weights every once in a while, it was at least once a day, maybe twice, and we never trained alone. We always were training with our teammates and the entire time we were lifting or running, you had someone cheering you on or screaming at ya (in a good way). When you thought you couldn’t do another lap, someone would come along side you and help you do another one. When you thought you couldn’t do another squat, someone would come alongside you and motivate you to do another one. It was intense.

The third way that you could see this is by how we related to one another. Nobody on the team looked down on anyone else on the team. There was nobody else on the team that played a less important role than the others. Not even the “star players” looked down on us little freshman. We all had a place or a purpose on the team and none of those roles were more important than the other. Although I was only a freshman, and never started a game in college, I still had to help prepare the guys that were going to be starting. That means that all week long I had to give everything I had in order to help someone else succeed. If I slacked off, they wouldn’t be as well prepared as they could have been. Everyone had an important role. Everyone had worth. That is why we were such a solid football team.

Now why spend so much time talking about football in our Wednesday night message? Because I think our churches need to look a lot more like the good football teams. It saddens me to think that churches do such a poor job at this but it also gets me excited to think about what would happen if we start to do this better, the way God intended it to be. Let’s take a look at our passage for today.

1 Corinthians 12:12-26 says this, “12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

This is a pretty large passage so let’s take it paragraph by paragraph and see what God is trying to tell us tonight. The first paragraph says, “12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” Do you notice any words that repeat themselves in this passage? Yeah the words “body” and “one”. Whenever you see words repeated like that, you need to pay attention. Paul wants us to take a look at our bodies. Look at how many different parts there are. Some are pretty cool looking, some are pretty weird looking, but they all come together to form one body that functions wonderfully. He says that it is the same with Christ. Why does he say that? Verse 13 starts off with the word “For” and that tells us why he is saying it is the same in Christ. You could almost translate it as “Because”. Paul is saying that when you become a Christian, you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Everyone who is filled with the Holy Spirit has the same Spirit. It doesn’t matter where they live, what they look like, or how they were raised. They are all filled with the same Holy Spirit. Because of this, we are to function as a body.

Like I mentioned a few weeks ago, we have an extremely diverse group that meets here on Wednesday nights. Some would see that as a bad thing, but I see it as an awesome thing! In order for a body to function properly it needs to have diversity. If everyone who met here on a Wednesday night acted and thought the same, we couldn’t truly operate as a body. That is exactly what Paul says next in this passage.

He says, “14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.”  If all the members were the same, it would no longer be a body. It would only be a bunch of members. You must have diversity in order to have a body. Be happy with how God has created you. Don’t complain because you don’t have the gifts that someone else has. God didn’t want you to have those gifts. He gave you the gifts you have for a reason. Be happy about it and be excited.

The next paragraph says something similar but with a different twist. It says, “21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24which our more presentable parts do not require.” Do you hear what is being said in this passage? Make sure you do! If you want to see me get wound up and angry, ignore what this passage is saying. I have begun to see more and more of this in our group and in churches in our community and honestly it angers me greatly. Paul says, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’” I see this over and over again. People grow up in the church and as new people come in, who maybe look different or act different, they basically say “I have no need of you”. They stay away from them, they treat them differently, and with their actions they tell them “I have no need of you”. Who are you to say that you have no need of someone when “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose”? God chose to give you a different role than He gave them, but that doesn’t mean that your better than they are or that they are unnecessary. Every role is important. Every role is needed. Every role has worth.

So how does this passage end? I think this is the main point, the reason why Paul was writing all of this. He says, “But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” God has designed the body, his church, so that those who are looked down upon are actually the ones that will receive the greater honor. Take a minute to think about that. How would this idea change the way you look at other people? How you treat those in the room tonight?

He not only designed it for that reason but he also designed it so that everyone would care for each other equally. That isn’t saying that God designed the church so the leaders would care for everyone equally, but that everyone would care for everyone equally. As a member of this group, it is your job to care for each other equally. Not just those in your clique but EVERYONE, EQUALLY.

He has also designed it so that there would be “no division in the body”. When you begin to look at people in this way, unity will emerge. When you see that everyone is needed and that everyone is caring for each other the group will grow closer and closer together. You will begin to experience what Paul says in verse 26 that, “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” If one of you is suffering, we all suffer. If one of the leaders is suffering, we all suffer. It doesn’t matter if it is Brandon, Alli, Troy, Rachel, David, or Jason. If one is suffering, we all suffer. Why wouldn’t you do something about that? We are a team. A team with a huge variety of people, that we need in order to function. Everyone of us needs everyone else.

It is no different from a football team. Our group needs to reflect the three things that my football team did. First, that we will do everything we do to the glory of God. We will serve Him with passion and intensity. Realizing that our team, our church, is relying on us. We will leave it all on the field for God’s glory and the sake of His church. We will strive not to slack off or grow tired because we don’t want to let our team down. We will train with intensity and “spur each other on” so that we won’t grow tired as the game closes to an end. When we see someone who feels like they can’t go on any further we will encourage them or yell at them (in an encouraging way) in order to help keep them going. And we will see the value in everyone who is on our team. Some have been “playing the game” longer than others but everyone has a place and a role on this team. Everyone had value and purpose. Everyone is needed to accomplish the goal. Nobody is more important than the other. You all need each other.

Our football team that year was undefeated. Nobody even came close to beating us. If the church would begin to operate in the way that God has designed it, it could say the same thing.

That’s why I think God loves football!

Posted via email from ignite-bethel’s posterous

Along with this conviction I have also noticed how pride can really blind people to see the obvious truths in scripture. I have had numerous discussions with people lately about some controversial topics in Christianity. I tried my best to keep these conversations from getting heated, they did get a little heated, but for the most part the conversations were good, except two things. First as the conversation went on farther many people made lots of claims about things that I had never heard of in scripture. They would say this or that but never way where it was mentioned in scripture. When I finally asked them to show me where it says these things, they were unable to show me. The second thing is a big one. The other thing that I noticed is that when people have decided that they know everything about a particular topic, pride come creeping in and blinds them from even looking at the truth (Sadly I have noticed this in my own life as well). As I showed them passages of scripture that, I felt, argued my point, they came up with some really off the wall responses to what the passage really meant. They were so determined to be right, rather than seeking the truth, they were blind to even seeing what God’s word is telling them.

Tonight I want to challenge you as believers to strive, to fight, to stay away from these two ways of thinking and acting. There are many of you in this room who believe something but you are completely unable to explain why you believe it. To be completely honest you don’t even know why you believe it. The majority of your belief system is based on what people have told you to believe rather than basing it on God’s word. Go to God’s word for your guidance. Search God’s word for the answers. They are there waiting for you. You need know why you believe what you believe or you will never live it and you will never actually believe it.

As for the other issue, the one that deals with pride. There are many of you here in this room tonight who have grown up in the church your whole life. You have gone to private school, Sunday school, and have attended church every night. Your family has done devotions after supper every night since you can remember and you have tried your best to get up every morning to read the bible yourself. As a result of this, you think you have it all figured out. Pride has begun to creep into your life and is beginning to blind you from the truths of God’s word. You look at certain topics that we talk about and you shut your brain off because “you’ve already heard all this before”. The question I have for you tonight is, are you living it? Does your life represent what you say you believe? If your life isn’t changed by what you believe, you really don’t believe it. The truth about scripture is that that more you read it, and the more you understand it, the more you will realize that you don’t understand it all. If you feel like you have all the answers, you don’t, and pride has begun to creep into your life.

The scripture we are going to talk about tonight is one that many will skim over and miss some of the beauty and power that is in it. I don’t want you to do that. I don’t want you to miss out on the power that our God has in our lives. Open your eyes, ears, and heart tonight to hear God’s word!

The passage that we will be discussing tonight is Hebrews 7:25 and it says, “Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save[e] those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.” Now before we go any further I want to point out a couple things. First, I usually have been happy with the NLT translation and it accuracy of interpretation, but not this time. If you look at this verse you will notice a little [e] after the word “save”. This is a little footnote that says, “Or is able to save completely.” As I have studied this passage, this is a better translation. So for the rest of the evening I am going to switch from our normal translation and use one that does a better job, the ESV. The ESV says, “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives.” This passage is one that you should hold onto for great peace and hope.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this deals with something I have been convicted of lately. I have heard many pastors talking of preaching “Half a Gospel” and how many pastors are only preaching part of the gospel and are leaving out parts. At first when I heard this I couldn’t believe that anyone would do this, until I realized I was to some extent. There are many times when I have stood in front of you and told you that “Christ has died for your sins” and if you believe in Him you will have eternal life. There is power in that statement. It brings conviction on those who hear it but there is more power when you preach the rest of it. You see, when we stop at Christ’s death for our sins, we are left at square one. He has paid for our sins but now what? Hasn’t He also done something else? He has also risen from the dead! Now some would say that is a minor difference and really the power lays in the death but I think the writer of Hebrews says differently. Let’s take another look at this verse.

“Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives.” As we see this verse there is one thing that should stand out in your head as you read it, the word “consequently”. This means that we should read the verses before it to understand what he is saying. So let’s look at verses 23-25. “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” So the verses before hand are talking of the Jesus’ priesthood and how it is better than the Levitical priesthood. It says that it is better because “he continues forever” then it says “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him.” Why is that important? As you begin to break down the argument you will see why it’s important. The writer of Hebrews is basing Christ’s ability to save on the fact that he lives forever, not solely because of the cross. You can see this by him using “consequently” at the beginning of the verse and “since” at the end of the verse. You could reword the verse to say this, “Since he always lives to make intercession for them, Christ is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him.” Have you ever thought of that?

This verse is saying that Christ died to cleanse you from your sins. It is only because of his death that the penalty for your sins can be removed. But it is also saying that since Christ rose from the dead and is living forever at the right hand of the Father, he can intercede for us, he can pray for us. This is how he is able to completely save us. If he had only died for our sins, they would have been removed but we still would not have access to the Father. It is only because He also lives that we have access to the Father.

This puts a whole new outlook on the Paul’s saying in 1 Corinthians 15, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.” I used to look at this passage as saying that the resurrection proved Christ’s divinity but now that I understand Hebrew more fully, I don’t think that is what Paul is saying. He is saying the same thing; if Christ isn’t living forever, then we have no access to God and our faith is in vain.

Now some may look at this and wonder why the big deal. They may think that this is solely someone who love theology making distinctions that really have no impact on our lives. This is completely untrue! When we have a better understanding of this concept it give us great peace and hope in our lives. There are many but let me give you two areas where it gives me great peace and hope.

First, it give me hope as I daily struggle to follow Christ with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Let’s look at Romans 8:34 where Paul talks about this same thing. He says this, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” What a powerful comfort to those who are following Christ! Who can condemn you? Nobody! Christ lives and is pleading to God on your behalf. It doesn’t matter how many times you stumble and fall in your walk of faith, Christ is able to completely save you because he is pleading your case in heaven. This should not only cause you great peace but should also give you great courage. Step out in faith, be bold, take a chance for God’s kingdom, all the while knowing that if you fall and mess up, Christ is still pleading you case and nobody has the right to condemn you. NOBODY!

Secondly it give me peace to know that since Christ “always lives” he is able to save to the “uttermost”. This means that those in my life whom I love, who are not following Christ, some are walking away, some are running away, some are wandering aimlessly through life, all of these Christ is able to completely save. He is always alive and is able to completely save to the uttermost. The “uttermost” is long way and a huge distance. None of you can run or fall farther than the uttermost. All are able to be saved, none are too far from God. Christ is able to save because He lives forever. What an amazing truth!!

Tonight if there are any of you who are not sure where your life lays, or where you have put your faith, I plead with you to choose Christ tonight. He is able to completely save you from all of your sins, no matter how far you have fallen, but our verse says that you must come “through him”. There is no other way. Christ not only died on the cross for your sins and made them white as snow but he also rose from the grave. He is sitting at God’s right hand and is willing to plead your case, if you will turn to Him, if you will follow Him. Will you do that tonight? Will you choose life?

1 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”

3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. 4 We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. 5 But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”  6 Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. 7 He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!

Now this story goes on to tell us more about what happened but tonight I want to focus on a small part of the story but, nonetheless, a huge part of it’s meaning.
Jesus and his disciples are walking through town and they come across a man who was blind. Not only is the man blind but he has been blind since birth. Now I find it interesting how the disciples respond. At this point Jesus has already done a bunch of miracles. He turned water into wine; he had healed an officers son; he healed a lame man; he has fed the five thousand. So Jesus has done some big miracles, including healing people. Wouldn’t you think his disciples would ask Jesus to heal the man? Here is a man who has suffered from birth and Jesus has the ability to heal him but the disciples don’t ask about that. They ask another question.

“Why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”

I think they ask this because they know Jesus has the ability to heal the man but they want the answer to the deeper question. Why is there suffering in the world? Why has this man had to deal with blindness his entire life? Have you ever asked that question? We normally don’t even think about this question until it hits close to home. Maybe a friend gets really sick, or one of your parents lose their job, or maybe their fighting all the time, or maybe your family is worried about losing their house, or maybe you are struggling with school and you wonder why things don’t click for you like they do with everyone else. When life gets hard we want to know why, we want to know the cause. I’m sure the blind man had asked himself that before, don’t you think? Why does everyone else get to go through life seeing things clearly and I have to go through life in darkness? Is it something I did? Am I being punished for my parents sins?
There is something inside of us that yearns to understand the purpose behind our suffering. If we are able to understand even a little bit, we will be able to make it through. Something inside of us understands that there is purpose and design in everything, even our lives. We know that when bad things happen to us or to other people, there has to be some reason for it, even if it is punishment for something we’ve done wrong. That is the cause that we immediately jump to isn’t it? When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans it wasn’t long before pastors were on television claiming that it hit because the city was sinful. They immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was a result of their sin. Now I’m not saying that it wasn’t because of their sin but I am saying that there is another option that we sometimes overlook. God can discipline us for our mistakes and will demonstrate his holiness on sinful cities but we must look deeper to the underlying reason for suffering. Jesus gives that to us in his answer to his disciples.

“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.”

In the first few words of Jesus’ answer he dispels both of the disciples conclusions. They had asked the question as if those were the only two options. He was blind either because he sinned, or his parents sinned. They thought they had it figured out but Jesus helps them to see it deeper. Jesus answers, “[Neither], this happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” Can you imagine what must be going through the blind man’s mind as he hears this answer? There had to have been a million things running around in his mind. There must have been an overwhelming sense of relief. It wasn’t because of anything he had done. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t his parents fault either. I’m not sure how long the sense of relief must have lasted but I’d guess his mind went another direction shortly.
Many of us in this room might freak out, might curse God, might even turn away from Him if we found this out. You’re trying to tell me that the blindness isn’t my fault or my parents fault but that God did this? God caused me to be blind! I had to deal with this pain and suffering my entire life and because of God? These are the hard questions of our faith. These are the questions that many atheists use to try and debunk God. So what are we saying then? Is God unjust? Absolutely not! There is nothing unjust about God.

One of the things I am saying is that there is always a purpose behind your pain. If God wasn’t in control of everything, you couldn’t say that. God would be constantly trying to fix things and he would always be a step behind. That’s not the God we follow! He is bigger than that, greater than that. Jesus gives us the answer of purpose in the man’s blindness by saying, “This happened SO the power of God could be seen in him.” That word “so” is a purpose word and in the Greek it is a clause means purpose. So Jesus is saying that the purpose behind the man’s blindness is that God’s power could be seen in him, that God would be glorified through him. Isn’t that amazing to you? Our only purpose in life, the reason we are on earth, is to glorify God and Jesus is telling the man that he’s fulfilling that through his blindness. Also think about how many people have been helped as a result of this event. This happened two thousand years ago and we are still talking about it today. Many people have received comfort in their pain as a result of his suffering. Isn’t that amazing? There is always purpose behind your suffering, even when we don’t understand it.

Some may say that is all fine and dandy but I still think that God was unfair to do that. I want to give you an illustration to help you understand this a little better. The illustration isn’t perfect but hopefully it will help you to get a better grasp of what I am talking about. Last night I was looking at Lauren’s immunization record and at her two month appointment she received six shots. Six shots! Now, how do you think a two month old baby handles the whole process? Not very well. As a parent you literally have to hold your child down on the examination table, while they are screaming bloody murder, as the doctor gives them the shot. What do you think is going through the child’s mind at that point? They don’t understand why this is happening, all they feel is the pain of the needles and the fact that their parent is holding them down while it happens. They fight and cry and scream because they don’t want to go through the pain and they can’t understand why their parent isn’t saving them from the pain. Isn’t that what mom and dad do? How can they hold me down as I am going through this? Now, think of it from the parents perspective. How hard do you think it is to pin your child to the table as they scream and cry? It’s very hard. The question I have for you is, would it be loving for the parent to not give them the shot? What if the parent knew that the child would end up with Polio or Hepatitis without the shot yet didn’t give them the shot, would that be loving? Of course it wouldn’t!

That’s what is happening with us in our pain. We are in the middle of the pain and all we want is for it to stop. We don’t understand why it is happening to us. So we scream and cry and fight it every step of the way. From God’s point of view, He knows we are in pain but he sees the bigger picture. He knows that the purpose for our pain is to cure us of a deeper disease, a disease that will kill us if not cured. He hates seeing us go through the pain but also knows that it would be unloving to avoid the pain. In the end it is the most loving thing for Him to do.

What happens as we mature and begin to understand why we get shots? Do we continue to fight them and scream about it? Some do, but most understand that there is a purpose behind the pain and they no longer fight it. We should do the same as we mature in our faith. We should realize that there is a purpose behind our pain, even when we can’t see it. We should walk into it knowing that God has it all in control and is doing it for a reason. James says, “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” Why should we consider it joy when we face pain? Because we know that God is using it to cure us of our faults. James says that the end result of our pain is that we will be “fully developed,.. perfect and complete, needing nothing.” That should cause us great joy!

So what do we do when we are in the middle of the pain and we can’t comprehend how God could use this for the good? We trust that God is good, that God is faithful, that God loves you, that God has a plan for your life, and that God is in control of that situation. Once you understand that all of those are true, you rest in the fact that God has a plan and a purpose for your pain. He is using it to perfect you and to conform you into the likeness of His son.

19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

22 “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. 23 But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

So Jesus starts off this passage by saying, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” So what is Jesus trying to tell us? On the surface it looks pretty basic right? Don’t store up stuff on earth, store it up in heaven. We all get that and have heard it a bunch of times, but do we really understand it? Do we really live our lives that way? And how in the world do we know which one we are doing? Jesus says, “Take a look at where you heart is, then you’ll know where your storing up treasure.” He is also saying the opposite, “Take a look at where you treasure is, then you’ll know where you heart really is.” Look at your life, how you spend your time and money, where is your treasure at? Now realize that your heart is also there. It is not possible for your heart to be in heaven, if your treasure is on earth. So Jesus starts off this passage by telling you to take an inventory of your life, look at how you live, and then determine where your heart is.

Then he says something that sound very mysterious. He says, ““Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!” To be honest, this passage threw me for a loop for quite a while. It seemed to be completely random. I kept asking myself, “How in the world does this fit in with the rest of this passage?” After a lot of study, I think I finally understand it and it is a beautiful analogy that flows directly out of what the last few verses talked about.
There are some translations who would translate it to say, “But when your eye is single,” rather than saying “healthy”. This threw me for more of a loop until I read a description of what they meant by a “single eye” or by a “healthy eye”. When any eye is healthy, it sees everything clearly and uniform but an unhealthy eye sees everything distorted or with double vision. What Jesus is saying that we must have a single focus, or single minded. The eye is the organ that guides the rest of the body, if it is seeing double the body doesn’t know where to go. Our lives are the same way. If our eye is unhealthy, if we have one eye on heaven and the other on earth, the rest of our life will be unhealthy, especially our spiritual life. So many people try to have one eye on heaven but will not take the other eye off earth and they wonder why their spiritual life is failing. This is why. God calls us to have a singular focus, to have healthy eyes, and they must be focused on Him. Isn’t that what he was getting at in that other verses? Stop laying up your treasures, or focusing your life, on earth. All of that stuff disappears. Focus your life and your treasure on heaven where it lasts forever.
As we move to the next part of this verse, Jesus takes this to another level. Here’s what he says, ““No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”  This sounds really familiar to the conclusion we came to in the last couple passages, but with a twist. Jesus lays it out plainly. You can not serve two masters! You must have a singular focus! He not only says that but says, “For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other.” Basically you could say it this way. You will EITHER hate God and love money OR be devoted to God and despise money. You will EITHER hate money and love God OR be devoted to money and despise God. Based on the context, I think you can apply this saying farther in your life. You could fill in anything. You will EITHER hate (Fill in your specific challenge) and love God OR be devoted to (Fill in your specific challenge) and despise God. What is it for you? What is it that makes it so hard for you to have a singular focus on God, to store your treasure in heaven, to have your heart in heaven? If you are wondering why your passion for God is weak or dry, you need to look at where your heart is, where your focus is, where your priorities are. Remember, you can’t serve two masters! Which master are you going to choose to serve? Which one is worth serving?
Then we get to a word that needs to stop and make us think, in this translation it says “That is why” but in the Greek it says “Therefore”. A catchy little phrase that you should always remember is, “When you see the word ‘therefore,’ you should always ask what it’s there for.” This word, “therefore,” is tying this next section into the last three sections we talked about. It’s saying, “Because of everything we have just talked about, do this.” So what comes after therefore? Let’s take a look at the rest of the passage to get a better idea of what it’s saying.

That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

A lot of things are said in this passage, but what is the main reason that we should not worry? What does Jesus base his entire argument on? He talks about God caring for everything in nature but that isn’t his entire argument. That’s what we tend to focus on but there’s more. Look at verse 33, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”  Isn’t that exactly the point he’s been getting at the whole time? Jesus keeps pointing us to God, to seeking Him. He says, “You don’t have to worry about all of this stuff, if you are seeking God and His righteousness, if your focused on Him, if your serving Him, and if your heart and treasure are in heaven.” If we are seeking God with a singular focus, storing our treasures in heaven, we will find that our needs are met. We’ll find that God has taken care of them without our worrying about it because he “already knows all [our] needs.”
There are many who would look at this passage and say, “Telling me not to worry, when I’m already worrying, doesn’t help me,” and their right. That’s not what this passage is saying. It’s not saying, “If you are worrying, stop worrying. You should know better.” It’s saying that if we are worrying, we need to start seeking God. We need to look at where our treasure is. We need to see where our focus is. We need to figure out who we are serving. After all of that, ultimately, we must seek God wholeheartedly and in the end we will have no reason to worry and our needs will be met. I keep thinking of Philippians 4:6-7 that says, “…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  There are many people who have this verse memorized and it is talking about the same thing. It’s not saying, “stop worrying,” it’s saying that you should seek God. Pray to Him, read his word, do everything you can to get close to God. In the process you will find that your needs have been met.

I have experienced this over and over. “Do Something” was the fruit of this. I was freaking out one day because I had waited too long on a few things and couldn’t figure out what to for our summer missions trip. My head was spinning, my heart was racing, I was definitely worrying about it. At that point Philippians popped into my head. So I walked off to our bedroom, got on my knees and cried out to God. While I was on my knees God gave me the idea for “Do Something”. Every problem, frustration, and concern that I had disappeared and look at how God used that event to change lives in a huge way. That’s what I’m talking about.

There’s one more thing I want to say about this passage. What about those who don’t seek God and His kingdom, who have one eye on heaven and one on earth? Should they worry? I would say that they definitely should worry. They’re not serving God, they are serving themselves and by serving themselves, they are hating God. On top of that they are storing up all of their treasure and all of their hope in things that will eventually leave them. How can they really be happy? It is impossible to be completely happy in anything that is eventually going to leave you because when it’s gone, your happiness is gone with it. If I was that person, I would definitely be worried!

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” — Matthew 6:33