Mission Busters: Apathy
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Do you care?
You ask, “Do I care about what?”
Do you care that people are dying?
“Dying of what?”
Dying and going to Hell.
All of us at times can be guilty of this mission buster. It’s the mission buster of apathy.
We can be so happy that we and our crew are saved, that we forget about everyone else. We can sit comfortably in our pew and not share Jesus because we’ve given that job over to someone else.
This morning we are going to look at the mission buster of apathy, but I want you to see this morning that not only is it not just a bad character trait to have, like laziness, it is actually a sin that may reveal more about your own heart and whether you yourself are even saved.
1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—
2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
Pray
Someone once said, “Everyone talks about apathy, but no one does anything about it.”
Well, this morning let’s do something about it by looking to the Word of God and examining our hearts in the mirror of it.
1. We Must Have an Anguish in Our Hearts Towards the Lost (v.1-2)
1. We Must Have an Anguish in Our Hearts Towards the Lost (v.1-2)
1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—
2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
Great Sorrow
Why would Paul be sorrowful? He knew where they were going.
Do we get sorrowful over the fate of the lost?
Illustration: Titanic Lifeboats
People only cared about saving themselves.
Unceasing Anguish
see Gal. 4:18-19
18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you,
19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!
Paul’s anguish was that the church be mature and that the lost be saved. It actually caused him grief to see others that were perishing.
2. We Must Distinguish Religion from Saving Faith (vv. 4-5)
2. We Must Distinguish Religion from Saving Faith (vv. 4-5)
4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.
5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
Paul goes through an Old Testament series of analogies that highlight the good things that have come as a result of the Jewish people.
God made them into a nation
The Patriarchs came from them
God sent Jesus through the Jewish line of David
Our salvation comes directly through this line
Christianity was not the invention or creation of a new teaching. It was a fulfillment of an old one
Just like with Judaism, a person cannot be saved by being a good Christian any more than he can be saved by being a good Jew. There must be faith in what Jesus has done.
Through the rest of the chapter, Paul is going to talk about how God chose to work among a particular elect group that came through Isaac and through Jacob. Faith was the distinguishing characteristic in God choosing to use these people to bring about the Messiah.
3. We Must Trust in the Sovereignty of God and His Word (vv. 6-8)
3. We Must Trust in the Sovereignty of God and His Word (vv. 6-8)
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Because of time this morning, we cannot break down every one of these verses today, but we can see the overarching message
Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord in Faith, meaning that they place their trust in Jesus.
Regardless of what you believe about election and free will from chapter 9, chapter 10 makes clear that no one who has faith will be left out
No one can call on the name of the Lord if they don’t hear the message
You and I have been sent to bring them the message
4. We Must Call Out to the Lost to Be Saved (vv.24-32)
4. We Must Call Out to the Lost to Be Saved (vv.24-32)
24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
25 As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,
28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.”
29 And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”
30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;
31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.
32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,
God is the One Who Elects
God is the One Who Calls
God Uses Us to Do This
It is an act of obedience. We are not to try to figure out the elect and only preach to them. Any who believe and are saved are elect and that is God’s business.
It is a sin to disobey the command of God.
It is a sign of a lost and hardened heart to not witness for the the Lord and give testimony to what He has done to save you.
3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
To not share Christ is to hate your brother
9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.
13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
Conclusion
We know that we belong to Christ by the love that we have for one another.
John went on in his 1st epistle to say,
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
I hope that you see this morning that to love God is to love your brother enough that you cannot sit idly by and watch them perish.
To love God is to love Him enough to give testimony to what He’s done for you.
To love God is to confess Him. Sometimes I think that we believe that confessing God is the same thing as just standing in front of the church one Sunday and telling people that we got saved and then we shyly get baptized and hope that we never have to say anything about it again.
Illustration:
I know that this illustration has somewhat become over-used, but is that how you would be if someone saved your life?
In 1982 some of you may remember that there was a disaster that took place in California at a ski resort in the mountains surrounding Lake Tahoe. The name of the resort was Alpine Meadows and even after taking as many precautions as they knew to take, 6 people were trapped under an avalanche that came rushing down the mountain and leveled the ski resort. All but 5 of those people lost their lives, but one person lived to tell the tale.
Her name was Anna Conrad. She was actually found by a rescue dog, but they were not able to get Anna out for two more days because of the increasing threat to the rescue workers of further avalanches. The rescue team had to make a horrible call and leave the scene and couldn’t get back for a couple more days. When they got back they didn’t know if Anna would be dead or alive.
Miraculously she was alive. When they pulled back a board that had been buried under the snow, they saw Anna reach out for some snow. She had been trapped under two lockers and could hear them the first day the dog alerted them to her location, but she couldn’t be heard screaming under the snow. She knew she needed something to drink and when the board was pulled back she reached for the snow that she saw. She didn’t realize her rescuers were right there and saw her hand come out from under the pile of rubble.
After she was taken to the hospital, the doctors and staff were hesitant to allow her to conduct interviews, because they weren’t yet sure if she would make it.
Well, she did make it. She survived. But can you imagine this woman never wanting to talk about what happened to her again! Can you imagine her never telling her story?
She had a second chance at life!
You and I are in her shoes if we are saved. We were bound for Hell and there was no way out. We were trapped. Only because God sent rescue workers to tell us about Jesus were we saved. If you believed that Jesus died for your sins and it is only in Him that we can be saved, then you were given new life.
Now, can you imagine wanting to keep that a secret? Can you imagine not wanting to tell anyone your story? It would be a travesty.
I want to encourage you this morning to begin thinking about people that you know that you can tell your story to. Confess Jesus as Lord. Believe in Your heart that God raises the dead, even the spiritually dead around you. Love your neighbor as yourself and don’t live in apathy over whether they perish or not.
God loves you and He loves them, so let’s go shine the light of God’s love on their hearts by sharing the good news of the gospel with everyone we can.