1.1.23

Intro

It is that time of year! We have all gained some holiday pounds, we have had some time off to look at our lives holistically and we all make New Years Resolutions. It is the time of the year where we assess our lives and make a plan for self improvement.

Gyms are packed

There are lots of people who try and influence the way we view our self improvement.

How does God say we are to live? How does Jesus instruct us in areas we need to grow in?

The New City Catechism, a modern-day resource aimed at helping children and adults learn the core doctrines of the Christian faith, asks the question, “How can we glorify God?” The answer according to the New City Catechism is, “We glorify God by loving Him and obeying His commands and law.” There are hundreds of thousands of books that try to answer the question, “How are we to obey his commands and law?” Or, put simply, “How am I supposed to live as a disciple of Jesus?” Many books have different answers, rooted in experience and, hopefully, the Word of God. However, the best place to go is to God Himself. Jesus teaches us how to be a disciple by leaning on Him as the foundation, encouraging disciples to live in obedience, and challenging the church to equip the disciples.

Christ is the Foundation

A few weeks ago in the High School LifeGroup that I help lead, one of the leaders, Kyle Gustafson, asked the room of 20 students, “Are people generally good or generally bad by nature?” And, to my surprise, the room was nearly an exact split. Understanding the condition of humanity from a biblical point of view is important for clarity regarding much of our Christian faith and helps to shape our view of the Gospel. Jesus teaches very clearly about this topic: we have a problem and if we want to live in obedience to God, we need help. We are slaves to sin with corrupt and hard hearts, but Jesus provides us a solution, through a new covenant and a new birth, which lead to new life.

Our Problem

In John 8:34, Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” Not only is sin in the world, it is the master over us all if we are not in Christ. Sin is a master who owns the sinner. The sinner is forced to work and be subject to this master. Humanity is in bondage to sin and escape is impossible in our own strength. We were born in this way, born with a heart enslaved to sin.

We are born with a corrupt and hard heart. In Matthew 15:16-20, Jesus says, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.” Our wickedness, our sinful desires, are not prompted purely by external influences, although the world around us does play a significant role in shaping us. Jesus teaches that out of our hearts comes “evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” Jesus is drawing attention to the fact that wickedness takes its origin in our innermost being.

Not only is this heart of ours corrupt by nature, but it is hardened to change. Before the fall of mankind, human hearts were good. Afterwards, our hearts were corrupted, rebellious and hardened towards the Lord. Our hearts refuse to look at the world and ourselves and see the truth of our depravity. We have an inability to see the truth but also an inability to acknowledge the truth. Jesus teaches in John 3:19-20, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” We want to hide, we do not want the light, our hearts are hardened to the truth.

In order to pursue growth in living as a disciple, “the sinner must experience a heart transplant.” Our hard and corrupt heart must be replaced by a pure and holy heart that desires the things that God desires. Without this transplant, we are unable to obey God and unable to live as disciples. We must experience new life in Christ.

Christ's Solution

Thankfully, Christ did not just teach us about our broken human nature, He provided the solution. Our spiritual state, as slaves to sin with corrupt and hard hearts, has no hope in any kind of self-improvement. There is no way for us to be made right on our own. There is no way for us to have the heart transplant that we need apart from the Holy Spirit.

During the Last Supper, Jesus holds up the cup and says, “And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’” The old covenant was one that involved obeying the law given to Moses. Since the fall, no human has been able to keep the law of God perfectly. But Christ came to provide a new covenant, one that is sprinkled with His blood as He is the sacrifice on our behalf. Because Jesus lived the life we could never live, died the death that we deserved to die, and rose again to give us new life both now and for eternity, we can live in this new covenant that promises the complete forgiveness of sin and the heart transformation that we so desperately need to establish our relationship with God.

Through this new covenant, we are able to have new life in Christ. We can be born again through trusting Jesus to be the leader and forgiver of our lives. Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Christ has given His life so we can be born again into new life as a new creation.

As a new creation, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. In John 14, Jesus is speaking to His disciples and says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” Jesus promises the Holy Spirit will live in us as our helper. But why do we need help? The command in the verse before tells us why, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” If we are to live as disciples of Christ, we must first look at Christ as the foundation and then, with the new life that we have, begin to obey Him.

Our Obedience

Douglas Wilson, Pastor of Christ Church in Idaho says, “your theology comes out your fingertips.” What you know and understand about who God is should show through your actions and obedience. “Being a Christian is not just about beliefs and values; it is about real life in which those values are expressed and embodied in a definite way of living.” Jesus is the perfect example of how to live as a disciple. Through studying His life and His teachings, so many different commands and practices are to be replicated and followed.

This morning, we are going to be looking at parts of the longest recorded sermon that Jesus ever gave in order to understand how to live better as disciples of Jesus. Rooted in the Greatest Commandment and through the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, Jesus teaches His disciples to obey in forgiveness, sexual purity and marital faithfulness, honesty and integrity, and generosity.

Greatest Commandment?

When Jesus was asked by the Sadducees, the rich and powerful religious leaders of the day, What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus responds by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love God and love others. We are to love God by glorifying Him, by trusting in Him fully and everyday, and desiring to know Him more fully. We must pray to Him and read His word, which is God’s revelation of Himself to us. Then, from what we learn, we should obey Him fully.

In John 13:34–35, Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Jesus is the perfect example of love, a perfect love that was sacrificial to the point of death. We are to love in the same way. In John 15:13, Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” If we are to love Jesus and follow His example then we need to obey in loving one another, so much so that we would die for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Sermon on the Mount

Open up your bibles to Matthew Chapter 5, we will be jumping around in the sermon of the mount a bit to cover 4 different teachings from Jesus that have been challenging for me as I have looked at growing as a disciple of Christ this year.

Forgiveness

If we are to love like Jesus, we need to forgive like Jesus. Chapter 5, starting in verse 21 says this:

Matthew 5:21–22 ESV

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

This is a serious statement by Jesus, if you are angry with a brother, it is like you have murdered them. This is the first of many wake up calls that Jesus gives us in the Sermon on the Mount telling us to take our sin seriously. Your anger, your frustrations, your problems with other people are as bad as murder. So what do we do about it? Jesus continues in verse 23.

Matthew 5:23–26 ESV

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

In our lives there are so many ways that we are wronged as people sin against us. This world is a messed up place full of sinful people who need to be redeemed. If you have trusted Jesus to be the leader and forgiver of your life, then you have been redeemed and forgiven. You are free from the power and penalty of sin, of all of your wrong doing, and you have been forgiven. To follow Christ's example and commands, we need to forgive others.

CATCHY APPLICATION

Sexual Purity & Marital Faithfulness

This next section contains another one of those wake up calls when Jesus teaches us about sexual purity and our marriages. It is something that Jesus speaks very clearly about starting in verse 27.

Matthew 5:27–30 ESV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

If you even look at a woman with lustful intent, you have already committed adultery. I have been married for a year and a half, I love my wife dearly, and reading this passage I am so convicted of how sinful my heart is. This is a difficult but very serious command to obey. Jesus does not get more direct than this. Jesus is saying that if your eye or our hand causes you to sin, cut it off. You should hate your sin so much that you are willing to give up members of your body, because it is better for that to happen than to go to hell. Men, women, all of us need to obey. We will mess up, we will fail, we will sin, but we must take it seriously.

Jesus continues to talk about our relationships by addressing divorce, which was very common in that day for seemingly little to no reason. Picking up in verse 31,

Matthew 5:31–32 ESV

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Too many relationships and marriages continue to fall apart because of infidelity, lust, adultery, and overall unfaithfulness to the marriage covenant. I was talking to a man here at CVC that had just recently gone through a divorce and he said, “The covenant is real, especially between you and God, so take it seriously.” Jesus teaches here that this covenant union in marriage is not to be broken. “For better or worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part” - if you are married, you said those words before God and a cloud of witnesses around you on your wedding day. You have made a promise and Jesus has commanded us to keep that promise, so as disciples of Christ we need to remain sexually pure and maritally faithful.

CATCHY APPLICATION

Honesty and Integrity

The next three sections of the Sermon on the Mount have to do with honesty and integrity in our lives. We will pick up in verse 33.

Matthew 5:33–37 ESV

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Jesus is talking about staying true to your word and following through on your commitments. He summarizes it by saying, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’” We are to be people of our word and to deliver on our promises, being people who always stay consistent with what we say and do.

Matthew 5:38–42 ESV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

The following section is about not retaliating when wrong is done to you. Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek when wrong is done to us. Jesus then takes this a step further to one of the hardest commands in all of scripture in my opinion. Jesus says that we are not supposed to retaliate when bad things are done to us, we are to love our enemies, praying for those who persecute us.

Matthew 5:43–48 ESV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

I asked one of our global missionaries that we partner with here at CVC, “How has your perspective on Jesus' command to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you changed since your time doing ministry in a place with heavy persecution?” Here is what he said:

“In the area we live in SE Asia it is legal to be a Christian but it is illegal to share your faith with others - especially those who ascribe to other religions. However, the bigger threat of persecution does not come from the government, but from the people. The vast majority of people in our region live in tight-knit communities where going against the accepted religion, Islam, is unacceptable. This means that the purpose we go with as missionaries to evangelize and plant biblical churches among a Muslim-majority unreached people group is going to naturally lead to pushback and persecution. In my 12 years on the mission field, my team and I have experienced both. I have seen and experienced levels of persecution that I have only read about previous to moving overseas. I would like to say that the obvious command of Jesus to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you has come naturally and easily, but I would consider this to be one of the harder aspects of ministry while serving overseas. It has never been easy. Our national partners have been shunned, interrogated, detained, threatened, followed, and physically beaten. There have been times of intense persecution when we have had to move our national partners’ homes, conceal their identities and move them away from the area for short seasons. My prayers would be focused on keeping our partners away from persecution and out of harm’s way but as I observed how our national partners handled persecution, it changed my perspective and prayers. Rather than cowering in fear and spiting those who were persecuting them they would boldly pray for their persecutors. When I wanted to abandon the people from whom our national partners were being persecuted, they were persistent in prayer and love for their enemies. Through their example, I have grown in what it looks like to truly follow Jesus’ command to love our enemies.”

CATCHY APPLICATION

Generosity

One of the Fruit of New Life here at Cuyahoga Valley Church is Investor, meaning we grow in the desire to be givers, not takers. Instead of feeding the consumer mentality, we develop an eternal perspective and invest our time, talent, and treasure into things of eternal value. Jesus addresses this in the beginning of chapter 6.

Matthew 6:1–4 ESV

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

In our context here at CVC, in Broadview Heights Ohio, in the U.S. in general, we are all financially stable enough to be comfortable. The Lord has entrusted us with so much and because of that we want to give back to Him.

Brenda Leisinger and our Generous Life team have developed a Theology of Generosity and Stewardship that gives incredible insight to this discipline. I am going to attempt to give you an overview, but I would encourage all of you to read it on CVC’s website or a paper copy that is out in the lobby. There are 4 foundational biblical truths that shape our understanding of generosity. First, God owns everything and needs nothing. Second, we own nothing and need everything. Third, God is the sole provider of all resources. Finally, God uses stewards to manage His resources.

Since God owns EVERYTHING and we own nothing, we should shift our view from having full authority over our stuff to acknowledging God’s full authority over His stuff. As disciples, we should desire to give back to God all that is His.

CATCHY APPLICATION

Church Equips us

Jesus gives a lot of commands throughout the Sermon on the Mount. The good news is we do not have to walk through the journey of obedience alone. The Lord has left us not only with the Holy Spirit, but with His bride, the church. Jesus teaches that faithful brothers and sisters are essential allies in the quest for surpassing righteousness. Jesus tells us to join our brothers and sisters as allies and encourage one another. John Calvin argues through much of his work that Spirituality is rooted in the Word and nurtured in Church. Jesus instructs the Church to equip the disciples through moral instruction and compassionate correction.

Moral Instruction

Matthew 5:19 ESV

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus encourages the teachers and will reward them in heaven. The church is supposed to teach the word from the pulpit on a Sunday morning, but the disciples are also supposed to teach each other in community. “Disciples must affirm the commandments of Jesus, seek to obey those commandments, and encourage others to keep even the least of Jesus’ commandments.”

Moral instruction is one of the core commands of the Great Commission. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” We are to go and not only baptize the disciples into the faith, but to teach them all that Jesus has commanded us as disciples. As a church, we must pursue the ends of the earth, invite them into Christian community through baptism, and then help them understand the Lord’s commands for the Christian life.

I asked our Equip Pastor, Joe Valenti, the Pastor who is responsible for the planning and execution of equipping the church body, “Why is it important for the church to provide moral instruction?” Here is what he said:

“Morality needs a basis - a place from which the morals originate. As Christians, we believe that God has made clear what is right and wrong - what is moral and immoral. These standards are rooted in God's character, but also in natural law. God made the world in such a way and human in such a way that He knows not only what is RIGHT, but also what is BEST. He combines those two things into His instructions so that it is not only right to follow Him, but rewarding and full of blessings. The church must teach morality from a biblical point of view because once moral standards are unhinged from God there is no end to the possibilities of who can dictate what is "right" or "wrong", something we're seeing in our world right now. When we allow ourselves to define morality, we not only oppose God, but we actually invite pain and suffering into our lives as a result because not only do we not know what is right, we also don't know what is best.”

Compassionate Correction

Jesus instructs very clearly through His teaching and through the way that He lived that as disciples, in the context of community, we are to correct and restore our brothers and sisters.

Matthew 7:1–5 ESV

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Although this is a lesson about hypocrisy and being overly judgemental, it is also clearly a call to call out your brothers in their sin. You need to examine your own heart first, but we are instructed by Jesus Himself to take the speck out of our brother's eye.

Matthew 18:15-17 is the perfect instruction on how to handle conflict and sin within a church. It says, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” There are 3 sequential steps for disciples within a church to handle conflict according to Jesus: one on one, 3 on one, and in front of the whole body. We are commanded to call out the sin’s that we see in our brothers and sisters, not only saying it but going through the process alongside them. The Lord desires the church to be a place where people not only just learn about who He is but to help one another live in obedience to what He commands.

Conclusion

Is Christ your foundation?

Are you obeying?

Remind them of challenges.

Are you in community that corrects and teaches?