An Enlarged Heart (05-17-92)
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I. Introduction
A. "But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called 'Today,' lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." (Hebrews 3:13)
B. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who has promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:23-25)
C. As those of you who have heard me preach during this past year are hopefully aware that I have endeavored primarily to do two things in my sermons.
1. Set forth the vision that I believe God has given for His church here at Eastgate. My heart and my energies have been directed to the ministry of this congregation. A day does not go by without asking, Lord, what can I do to be more effective in this ministry.
2. Secondly, encouragement and the edification, that is building up of the church is always on my heart when I am preparing a message. I am aware that there are many things in life that try to drag us down, try to beat us up, try to discourage us, that I am convinced that when we get together as the church it must be a time of encouragement, a time of lifting up.
D. To be effective in accomplishing these two goals several things are needed.
1. I must be in touch with God, I must be established in the Word, I must be sensitive to the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit.
2. Additionally I believe that it is important that we be aware of what is happening around us. Events in the world have significance in the plan and working of God for His Church and for the world. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and the Sadducees when they sought to test Jesus by asking for another sign.
!!!! a) "And the Pharisees and the Sadducees came up, and testing Him asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. But He answered and said to them, 'When it is evening, you say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning, there will be storm today, for the sky is red and threatening. 'Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times.'" (Matthew 16:1-3)
3. To look at events around these past few weeks has been difficult. To see pain, suffering, destruction of lives and property. To see unrestrained rage and lawlessness rightfully causes discomfort. What kind of pent up hostility and hatred could be so powerful and consuming that it would cause people to destroy their own neighborhoods and communities.
4. During the violence in South Los Angeles I am certain that there were many who breathed a prayer of relief that the violence did not invade their own community and touch them and their families.
5. But others, even in own community were beset with fear, uncertainty and doubt. Over 100 people from our schools families signed up to come to the pancake breakfast two weeks ago. This was the first Sunday after the riot. Less than half actually attended. The next week Gina asked some of them that did not come what their reasons were. Some expressed fear, while others said that they were too shaken by the events of the past week to leave their homes and come.
II. The Analysis
A. Scripture Text
1. II Thessalonians 2:7-15
2. II Timothy 3:1-5
3. Luke 21:8-9, 25-36
B. I wish to point out to you before I comment on these scriptures that I was a teenager in this church in the early seventies, but for sake of discussion it could have been any strongly Evangelical church during that time. Hal Lindsay's book "The Late,Great Planet Earth" was a runaway best seller, not just in the religious market but in the secular as well. Bible prophesy dominated study topics and many predictions were being thrown about concerning the Second Coming of the Lord. Some teens openly wondered whether or not they should even pursue college or a career, because "those in the know" were predicting that it would be inconceivable that the Lord would not return before 1980.
1. Nearly twenty years have passed since then and we are still here. Unfortunately many of those that I knew in those years are no longer serving the Lord having been left discouraged and disillusioned. So as you may very well understand I take a very cautious approach to prophesy and prophetic scripture interpretation.
2. Having said that, I now will tell you that I am more concerned about the apparent lack of concern for the Lord's return that I see among God's people today. Perhaps it is a reaction to the overhyped predictions of the 1970's, but I do not see an eager anticipation among Christian saying to one another, "MARANATHA - COME QUICKLY LORD JESUS"
3. We desperately need a more balanced approach to prophecy that will not diminish the hope and anticipation of the Lord's soon return.
C. The scriptures that we read from II Thessalonians, II Timothy and Luke 21 describe the state of things before Christ Jesus returns for His Bride the Church. From a worldly point of view it is not a pretty sight. We could justifiably say that before the Lord returns "ALL HELL WILL BREAK LOSE"
D. Yet in all this the Christian can find hope and encouragement. Look again at Luke 21:28
1. "Now when you see these things [begin] to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near"
2. Paul writes in Romans 8:23
"And not only they, but we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body."
E. The scripture in II Timothy 2 describes the traits and characteristics of men in the last days.
1. Lovers of self
2. Lovers of money
3. Boasters
Actually being proud of doing evil
4. Proud
5. Blasphemers
6. Disobedient to parents
7. Unthankful
8. Unholy
9. Unloving
10. Unforgiving
11. Slanderers
12. Without self control
13. Brutal
14. Dispisers of good
15. Traitors
16. Headstrong
17. Haughty
Overly convinced of one's superiority or importance
18. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God
19. And lastly it can sometimes be done under the cloak of religion. You know how I have commented many times on the surveys done in this country on the percentage of people who say that they believe in God and those that consider themselves to be Christian.
"...having a form of Godliness but denying it's power"
F. The Scripture in II Thessalonians 2 speaks of the man and the mystery of lawlessness.
1. "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way."
II Thessalonians 2:7
2. Have we ever experienced a greater example of lawlessness than we did during the riots in Los Angeles. We saw television coverage of the police standing by as looters did as they pleased without any apparent fear of authority. What will things be like when the restraining power of the Holy Spirit is completely removed.
G. Let me share with you my greatest concern about the spirit of lawlessness that pervaded our world.
1. "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved."
Matthew 24:11-13
2. The love that is spoken of in verse 12 does not speak merely of brotherly love or neighborly affection, the word used is AGAPE, the love that comes from God. What we are saying is that because of the increase of lawlessness there will be many who will become so hurt and discouraged that the gift of divine love that they once possessed will grow cold.
! III. The Solution
A. I suppose that we could borrow a technique from the old west and put out the call to circle the wagons or we could follow the example of that eminent prognosticator Chicken Little who went frantically proclaiming "THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING.
B. Suppose that we did decide that isolation from the world was course that we wanted to follow. Besides having serious reservations about how effective it would be in avoiding the problems and conflicts, after all someone once said "we have seen the enemy, and he is us." We would be unable to fulfill our commission and our ambassadorship.
C. If you really believe what I believe that Jesus Christ is the only answer, the only way of salvation for mankind. If you believe that there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved, then you cannot isolate yourself from this world. The government is committing hundreds of millions of dollars to the rebuilding of Los Angeles, but the sin and desperation will still remain without Jesus.
D. To this point I have only introduced my message. My sermon this morning has only one point, but in the next couple of minutes I want you to carefully listen to what I have to say.
E. The way for us to prosper spiritually is not to hide our lamp under a bushel in hope that someone will not come along and try to blow it out, but now in a society that is becoming increasingly hostile to God our love must not only continue, it must abound. Listen to Paul's words in II Corinthians 6:11
1. "O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged"
!! F. I don't see how we could not feel sympathy for the many victims of the violence and hatred. People losing their homes, businesses and many even lost their live or were seriously injured. If the heart of Jesus operates within us we felt compassion for them, we sensed their pain and agony. Maybe we even went so far as to donate food or goods to their cause. But it would undoubtedly be more difficult if this morning we asked for volunteers to go and help these people in a direct face to face way.