Who Told You That Wasn't a Sin

Who told you that wasn't a Sin April 24/25 2021 1Cor 15:33 - 34 Intro - Pastoral Announcements 1Corinthians today - chapter 15 - only a few verses - while you are getting there I want to think about something that will launch us in to today's topic... Who are the most influential voices you trust?.... Think about it for a second ... These are people that we invite into our inner circle - that we trust and listen to... Influential people are people that we put trust in, listen to, and 'sometimes' follow what they say. Can be mom & dad, friend, teacher, pastor ( hopefully?), news anchor (Walter Kronkite was voted the most trusted man alive when he was a newscaster), social media , Justin Beiber (Biebs) - > 300 million followers across his sites, pewdiepie - how many of you know him or have heard of him? - "108 million people" - one of the worlds most influential people by Time Mag... it's gotten so big online that the term social media influencer has become a highly paid job.... Digital marketing institute: Bullet points should come up one at a time * 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations * 40% of millennials says that an online influencer understands them more than their friends do throw one out... online folks - post in the comments... Those people who we deem influential & put our trust in, can have a significant impact on our thinking & decision making. Many times, this isn't a bad thing - for clarity it doesn't matter if you someone you listen to tells you that sasquatch soap is better than dial soap .... But there are times where people of influence can lead you into unhealthy areas: * Had an influential leader in my life in the corporate world, tell me that the only way to be successful - the definition of success in his opinion - was to work harder than everyone else around you at the cost of relationships - which propelled my success in the marketplace, but caused my relationships to suffer, including my relationship with Jesus. * More somber example - Just last week - 13 year old Adam Toledo in Chicago shot in the chest and killed by a Chicago police officer, incredibly sad - teenager was part of a gang... which means, and I'm not trying to judge those involved, but if we back the story up - someone of influence spoke into this child's life and gave him a gun and he was on the streets at 2am.... do you to see the power of someone of influence in a person's life? Proverbs 13:20 - Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. Scripture tells us that it makes a difference who we let into our inner circle - who we invite in and listen to.... Psalm 1:1-3 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers We should be careful with those we walk, stand and sit with our ways will be blessed! When we get this wrong - when we allow the wrong people into our inner circle of people we trust and list to, relationships - families, marriages, friends - can get ripped apart because of a belief they hold that was given to them by someone they respected, and people have walked away from their relationship with Christ. The reality is that the people closest to us, our inner circle, those we sit and listen to - have significant influence in our decision making process. Here's my big idea today - I think we are living a time where we need to pay very close attention to our inner circle and what they are saying - the world is getting noisy and many of us are listening. So - I want you to consider this question deeply - not just blow through this... "Who is in my inner circle?" [pause] As you consider that question, I want to remind us that we are in a series called "Who told you that?" [series slide] where we are looking at scripture that warns us of some of the biggest delusions in life, and today's delusion I want to focus on is "Who told you that wasn't a sin?", and I want to look at the power of influential people around us - our inner circle - and how they can shape us in good and not so good ways. Look at two verses - give some context to what is going on - The church of Corinth was growing, but there were people that were leading Christians astray. If you read the entire chapter we see that influential people were convincing Christians that there was no resurrection from the dead - which means if there is no resurrection of the dead then they didn't ultimately believe in Jesus death and resurrection on the cross - they were still waiting on a Messiah to come and didn't believe Jesus was that Messiah. It became so much of a problem that Paul wrote the church and said this: 1Cor 15:33 - 34 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God-I say this to your shame. Paul ends this section of his letter by saying this.... 58 - Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. [Read it 2x?]. Powerful. I want to unpack these few verses and give some context to how it applies today as much as it did to the church that Paul wrote to. [Pray] My inner circle can.... 1) Impact my character 1Cor15:33 - Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." Paul is writing the church about lies that were deceiving the church. The company they were keeping were allowing in to speak into their lives was corrupting their character. Now just for clarity - this has been going on forever! E.g. * Eve tempted Adam to eat from the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden - she was deceived by satan - she allowed a another - the evil one, into a conversation, into their inner circle, which changed the course of her life and every human thereafter * Samson - had some powerful hair - put his trust in a woman named Deliliah who was really just a traitor, but he fell in love with her - Samson ended up dead even though he had a call from God on his life. * Jesus was in his hometown and the people were talking among themselves about how Jesus was just Mary's son, wasn't he just a carpenter - lots of chatter. Matthew 13:58 - And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. - Jesus' own hometown missed out on the power of the living God because of the chatter influential voices in the city pulling people away from the truth. Prov 12:26 says it this way... Proverbs 12:26 - The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. OH THIS IS HARD - I've become aware of a young adult recently that is really trying to figure out how to walk with Christ in everything they do, but they also have a group of close friends that pull them to do things they know isn't right. It's a struggle for them as they are just beginning to realize the impact the group has on their character. I had a family member that by all accounts was a Christian, but their views on events in the world was shaped by news programs they listened to regularly - and several of those views were not Christian views, but those views shaped the character of my family member. It's one thing to have friends and family pull us away but some of us allow news programs, television, and even podcasts in close enough to you that you allow those programs, anchors and actors to shape your thought on key issues.... And it's corrupting your character! 2Tim 4:3 - For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. I get it - we are living in confusing times - but in those confusing times what I'm seeing is people engaging in activity that is sin - Figuring out relationships but having *sex outside of marriage* - trying to relax from the confusing and crazy life and smoking pot to get high*, Trying to find peace and drinking alcohol that goes well beyond just recreation but impacts opportunities and relationships*, feeling like your intimacy is suffering in a confusing relationship so you *watch porn*, * not sure what to make of confusing circumstances so you gossip about your neighbors, church, friends, co-workers.... All of which are "legal, others are doing it - getting affirmed about those things from those around us BUT they are sinful 1Cor 10:23 - everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial. Paul's command to those who were being pulled away in the Church was this...1Cor15:33 - Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning The translation that literally means wake up out of your drunken stupor. In a confusing and challenging world, When we start believing the voices around us that pull us away from a Christ and His views - we end up acting and believing things like we are in a drunken stupor and the reality is.... A great answer to a confusing world is Godly character When things get challenging and confusing, we need to come to our senses and realize that it's our character that our best life is a life anchored and rooted in the person of Christ Jesus that bears the fruits of the Holy spirit - fruits like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.... Those are the fruit that we can expect and walk in when we are led by the Holy Spirit as our guide instead of other voices guiding us. Those are the fruits of Christian character - the fruits that we need to walk in the hopes and dreams that God has for us in the middle of the challenges that the world throws at us. Let me be clear - If we want our communities to thrive, our relationships to flourish, our marriages to thrive, and to be have semblance of a grip on what real TRUTH is - the only long term answer is to center ourselves and our character around the person of Jesus above everyone else! How is my character being influenced by others? My inner circle can.... 1) Impact my character Which brings me to a practical second thing I see in the text. My inner circle can..... 2) Be selectively filtered This might be new information for some people listening - did you know that you have control over who you let into your inner circle and you can filter some people out? Look at what Paul says.... 1Cor 15:58 - Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. ESV states it this way - Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Those are bold, clear words - BE STEADFAST, IMMOVABLE... sometimes it take that level of clarity to filter our what's leading us astray.... I want to share an example that I witnessed this last week. I helped lead a mission trip to Chicago and met a man that everyone called Brother bear. He was our driver during the mission trip as we served the homeless during the late evenings under bridges and homeless encampments. Brother bear, as he was driving us around, told us that he was homeless in Chicago - addicted to things he shouldn't have been addicted to and living in squaller - literally. He shared, as he was our driver, that he was 500 days clean from drugs and alcohol and off the streets - you see he was driving us around LITERALLY VISITING AND MINISTERING to the same place that he called home in a tent on the streets in Chicago. As we visited his 'neighborhood' by a highway under a bridge Brother bear came across someone who was homeless alongside him when he lived there, one of his friends that was (past tense) part of his inner circle - This man once told him he wouldn't amount to anything. Can you imagine, regularly hearing "You aren't going to amount to anything". When Brother Bear hit his absolute bottom and broke away from homelessness he also broke away from those voices. As brother bear noticed him - he went up to him and said "I amounted to something - look at me now, and then asked the man - where are you at?"... He went on to encourage him to step out of a painful life on the streets to something better - what a turnaround! 2Thes 3:6 - In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. Paul, in this letter, commands us to filter those around them who are idle and disruptive - even believers. Now, you might not be homeless, but do you have friends that are pulling you into things you know you shouldn't be talking about, or doing? - are you listening to voices that are putting stumbling blocks in front of you that are preventing you from walking the journey that Jesus paid for you to have? Romans 16:17 - 17 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. Our charge is to hold fast to the teaching of Jesus and SEPERATE from those who are putting obstacles in the way of that teaching.... If we really deeply go this it would be SO helpful in our walk with Christ because there are so many voices that we are listening to that might be holding us back! When God has a better plan, you stick with it! You don't have to get wrapped up in other people's junk, in your friends problems, in their opinions, in the sin they are leading you to, you don't have to agree with all of the theories the media is feeding you - you STICK WITH the Lord and filter out the rest of the voices. The information in here [bible] has lasted the last 2,000 years it will last until Jesus returns, but the sin filled garbage other people feed you will last until the next louder voice jumps in. We have to stick with the truth and filter other voices out even when it gets tough. Peter and John were thrown in prison for preaching Jesus - pulled out of prison and put in front of the leaders of the community... people of influence... Acts 4:18-20 Then [the leaders] called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, "Which is right in God's eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." The unshakable core of your inner circle should be Jesus And then we grow from there with people who build us up! With people who share the same values we do. We can add people in our inner circle that will be a group of people that will hold fast to the teachings of Jesus, that will encourage us, build us up, when we take steps to live the way Jesus told us to live - THAT CANNOT HELP BUT SPEAK ABOUT WHAT THEY HAVE SEEN AND HEARD JESUS DO! Listen - I want people in my inner circle reinforcing what the TRUTH really is - JESUS. I want people rooted in TRUTH (Scripture) speaking into the dreams and visions that God gave me for my life. When I'm 70 I want people in my inner circle telling me that I still have something to offer a younger generation instead of just hanging it up. I want people in my inner circle now telling me that the problems in the world aren't going to be solved by being safe and keeping to yourself, but they are solved when people who have the truth of the gospel actually go share it with the world. Here is why this is important - we just had in our community a 16 year old that was shot to death this month - IN OUR COMMUNITY - I share responsibility for that because the person that pulled the trigger didn't have the light of Christ in their lives. We have a neighborhood that we are partnering with just a few minutes from here is struggling with healthy relationships: that's on us to walk beside them - there are people listening right now that you probably know - that are struggling with addiction to prescription medications, alcohol marijuana and porn and it's ripping lives apart. It's destroying families and relationships and leading people to deeper and darker sin. And the answer to those problems is not listening to voices like pewdiepie and other influential people - the answer is a community that believes and walks in the character of Christ to bring the light of the world. Those are the people we need in our inner circle and other voices need to be filtered out! What voices in my inner circle need to be filtered out? My inner circle can.... 1) Impact my character 2) Be selectively filtered Ministry Time: Pray for strength to filter your inner circle ----------- Program Who told you that wasn't a sin? Text : 1Cor 15:33-34, 58 My inner circle can.... 1) Impact my character A great answer to a confusing world is Godly character 2) Be selectively filtered The unshakable core of your inner circle should be Jesus 1