Representing the Lord Rightly

Title: Representing the Lord Rightly

Text:

Introduction:

10,000 Sermon Illustrations False Values

False Values

Though we do not face a pantheon of false gods like the Israelites did, we face pressures from a pantheon of false values—materialism, love of leisure, sensuality, worship of self, security, and many others. The second commandment deals with idols. This may be something that most of us can’t relate to—unless we include life goals that revolve around something other than God Himself. What is the object of our affections, our efforts, and our attention? Where does the majority of our time go? On what do we spend the greatest amount of our resources?

Today in the Word, June 14, 1989

Israel had mischaracterized the holy Lord (v. 16). They were to be a nation of priests who mediated the presence of the Lord to the nations.

Israel had mischaracterized the holy Lord (v. 16). They were to be a nation of priests who mediated the presence of the Lord to the nations.

Mis-characterization or misrepresentation in our modern day can have tremendous consequences. If you misrepresent information on an insurance document, it can be voided. If you walk into a hospital and impersonate a doctor, there are legal consequences.

The God of the Bible is True, and to claim his name verbally but to worship another God is to misrepresent the Lord. In other words, you act/live falsely but you do so under the banner of his Name.

This message of Isaiah is to point out the utter contradiction of the lives of Judah, and to show them the judgment that is coming with the purpose of restoring the Lord to a right representation of WHO HE ACTUALLY IS. Thus,...

10,000 Sermon Illustrations False Values

False Values

Though we do not face a pantheon of false gods like the Israelites did, we face pressures from a pantheon of false values—materialism, love of leisure, sensuality, worship of self, security, and many others. The second commandment deals with idols. This may be something that most of us can’t relate to—unless we include life goals that revolve around something other than God Himself. What is the object of our affections, our efforts, and our attention? Where does the majority of our time go? On what do we spend the greatest amount of our resources?

Today in the Word, June 14, 1989

Proposition:

Proposition:

It is imperative that God's people sanctify (represent rightly, set apart) the Lord by lives that genuinely, humbly worship Him over themselves.

(1) He is the Lord of the fruitfulness (increase) (v. 8 - 10)

Warning (v. 8) regarding being enslaved to property & produce

Judgment (v. 9 - 10)

The Lord is going to directly impact the produce of the land, which they are using for their selfish purposes. In this he will establish his supremacy again, noting that the Lord is the One who gives the increase.

Application Principle: Having riches can lead to a selfish, hoarding way of living. The Christian then must be one whose passions are not ruled by the pursuit of land and pleasure. [the potential for these passions are real. They are called lusts -

1 Timothy 6:9 KJV 1900

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

1001 Illustrations that Connect Illustration 974: Freezing the Assets

FREEZING THE ASSETS

Topics: Afterlife; Ambition; Death; Eternal Life; Human Condition; Immortality; Life; Limitations; Money; Mortality; Power; Resurrection

References: Amos 4:12; Matthew 6:19–21; Luke 12:13–31; 1 Timothy 6:6–10; Hebrews 9:27

At least twelve American multimillionaires are looking forward to life beyond death. Confident in the continued progress of modern medicine, they have arranged for their bodies to be frozen after they have died. They also have set up “personal revival trusts,” which are designed to ensure their present wealth will be waiting for them when they have been resuscitated one hundred or two hundred years in the future.

David Pizer, sixty-four years old, figured that the “roughly $10 million” he left to himself—after all the compound interest has been added in—will make him “the richest man in the world” when he wakes up.

—“Only in America,” The Week (February 3, 2006)

It is part of our fallen condition to be easily swayed by lustful passions. This tendency is rooted in the Garden of Eden, and has been passed down to every generation since.

It is part of our fallen condition to be easily swayed by lustful passions. This tendency is rooted in the Garden of Eden, and has been passed down to every generation since.

I would caution believers to NOT enshrine their houses or possessions. When a Christian first comes to Christ, they make a choice to follow Jesus Christ to the rejection of all other rivaling passions.

As we consider the fact that one day Jesus Christ, the seed of David, will rule in a very visible way, we mustn't allow the possession we have to be viewed as ours.

New Testament Christians - There was a Spirit-produced culture where they were not ruled by their possessions and lands.

As we peer into what the Lord has given us, we are able to be freed from hoarding for ourselves:

Application:

Specifically, this would rule out the emotional outbursts when something of our's is broken by someone else

This would rule out the extreme possessiveness that prohibits us from sharing.

This would rule out the extreme possessiveness that prohibits us from sharing.

This would rule out using those possessions to find our ultimate pleasures fulfilled.

This would rule out using those possessions to find our ultimate pleasures fulfilled.

It is then, and only then, that we can rightly represent the Lord as holy.

(2) He is the Lord of freedom (v. 11 - 17)

Warning (v. 11 - 12) regarding being enslaved to pursuit of pleasure & partying

Judgment (v. 13 - 15)

Result (v. 16 - 17)

The Lord would allow his people to be taken into captivity. It's quite interesting to consider this, since it was the Lord who brought the nation out of captivity of Egypt.

The truth is that they were physically free but they were truly enslaved to their pursuit of pleasure and partying.

Application Principle: So it is with God's people today: the elusive deceitful lie of pleasure and partying is that it will make us feel as though we are free, but the more we engage in it, the more is captures our affections.

In the end we must see that pursuing pleasure and partying like this is really self-exaltation.

It is tremendously appealing and impossible to defeat on your own. It would seem that enjoying these pleasures is just us (mankind) extorting our freedom and living freely. [CAUTION: THE ANSWER HERE IS NOT ASCETICISM].

Application:

God, in his grace, has provided for us a wonderful power over the deceitful lie of self-serving, pleasure-seeking. In his grace, he has given to us Jesus Christ, and now by adorning Jesus Christ we are able to no longer make provision for the flesh.

This would specifically rule out:

(i) a lifestyle of gluttony or binge-eating

(ii) a lifestyle that includes drowning misery in a substance

(iii) a lifestyle that lives from one temporary pleasure to the next

(iv) a lifestyle that lives

Conclusion #1:

In the end, God’s people are to show forth the Lord in a way that rightly represents Him.

(I) He is the Lord of the fruitfulness

(II) He is the Lord of freedom

Within our sinful nature, we find these sins to be ever present. These lusts often rule us; but God has sent the perfect representation. He sent Jesus Christ.

SALVATION: When we are put into Christ, we are made to be in union with him. It is by this union that we are now able to rightly show forth to the world who God really is.

As we live in reality of this union, we don’t live as though the increase is our master, but we live using the increase of our lands for the Master.

As we live in reality of this union, we don’t seek freedom in pleasure, lust-filled living, but we live by the freedom that we have in Christ. Content in Him!

1001 Illustrations that Connect Illustration 260: Prisoner of Appetite

PRISONER OF APPETITE

Topics: Addiction; Appetites; Bondage; Food; Foolishness; Gluttony; Greed; Limitations; Self-control; Temptation

References: Proverbs 23:1–3, 21; John 8:34; Galatians 5:1; Philippians 3:19; 1 Timothy 6:9; 2 Peter 2:19

Raynald III, a fourteenth-century duke in what is now Belgium, was grossly overweight. His Latin nickname, Crassus, means “fat.”

Raynald’s younger brother Edward revolted against Raynald’s rule. Edward captured Raynald but did not kill him. Instead, he built a room around Raynald in the Nieuwkerk castle and promised him he could regain his title and property when he left the room. This would not have been difficult for most people, since the room had several windows and a door of near-normal size, none of which were locked or barred. The problem was Raynald’s size; to regain his freedom, he needed to lose weight.

Edward knew his older brother. Each day he sent a variety of delicious foods into the room. Instead of dieting his way out of prison, Raynald grew fatter. When Duke Edward was accused of cruelty, he had a ready answer: “My brother is not a prisoner. He may leave when he so wills.” Raynald stayed in his room for ten years and wasn’t released until after Edward died in battle. By then his health was so ruined that he died within a year—a prisoner of his own appetite.

—Thomas Costain, The Three Edwards (Popular Library, 1964)

(3) He is the Lord of fairness (righteousness & justice) (v. 18 - 25)

(4) He is the Lord without fetters (restraints) (v. 26 - 30)