My Identity in Christ - Part 3

Thank you for joining us for this broadcast from The Ninth Avenue Church of Christ in Haleyville, Alabama. We hope that you will subscribe and we'll share our broadcast with the others. Now. We take you to the pulpit of the Ninth Avenue Church of Christ to be back. We were gone all last week and it was good to be away and kind of unplug. And and I'm not going to say rest cuz we went to Disney, there was very little resting involved on Monday. I'll took 17000 + steps, but I did that pushing a double stroller and wearing a backpack most of the time so I can B call. As we give her some good Samaritan points for last L. If she cares a backpack or push the stroller and she did a little bit. So I'm not sure how well that motivation work. But it was we had, we had a great time to be away as a family, but as always, it is, it is good to be home and good to be back in good. See all of your smiling face has this morning. Are you smiling this morning? Let me see you smile. Let me see you smile. Come on, everybody looking around. It is good to see your smiling face. As if you have your bottles baby bottles, hold them up and turned them to the book of 1st Thessalonians and the third chapter 1st Thessalonians, and the third chapter is I was driving over the past week. I got a lot of windshield time and and listen to a lot of different things. I listen to some things and contemplated some questions. And I'm thinking about coming into today's lesson. What this particular passage that we're going to look at kind of teaches us and calls us to be in. And I thought about this question because a couple of weeks ago, couple funny not to go at our Round Table. Where you at again tonight, so please come back and we'll dive even deeper into this passage that we are studying the day, but we talked about the idea of identity. What type of Are we when people look at us and see us? What do they know us as what is our reputation? And I was thinking about these two kind of questions as I was driving because I think these questions are questions that a lot of churches, ask them cell end in s are trying to figure out their identities. Are trying to throw us to grow how they're going to grow directions to the first question. I'm first thing, I thought of us, are we going to be a Grace Center Church when I thought about that? I meant. I thought about that idea in the way of, are we going to be a top of church? That tells people, he just come as you are, doesn't matter what you're dealing with. It doesn't matter what kind of problems you're having. Doesn't matter what your lost situation is. We just accept anybody and we accept everybody. We just want you to come and be a part of the family in our in our teaching is going to focus a lot on on the love of Jesus in the love of God in the house. How he accepts those that just come to him and and there's not going to be a lot of challenge to that. They're just going to be a lot of hey just come and be a part 2. Three part of this loving family, you know, that this one, this one direction that we could go and and some Churches, go that direction and some Churches, do some searches go this other directions say we're going to be at church of Doctrine and truth and we're going to really focus on kind of becoming Wordsmith of scripture. We're going to be more concerned about phrases of like biblical worship and we are on things like the Holy Spirit of Prophecy in Iraq dinar. Why we're going to teach Unity through Conformity, meaning if we can take the Bible and all understand it, the same way. Then we're going to have Unity amongst Believers. We're we're more focused on maybe wind abates, even if it means that we lose your soul. I am so we we ask yourself if you know, what kind of a church are we going to be? What does what what what does our callings call us three? More importantly what kind of church does Jesus? Call us to be an ass really where I got to thinking on our trip because The dangerous part of this question. The dangerous part of this question is not, are we going to be the first type of Church of the second top of church, but it's one particular word. In the first part. What type of church are? What's the next word? We putting the focus on who? Ourselves. What type of a church do? I want to be what we want to create? Why should that question be? What type of church does? God want us to be? Is there a difference in those two questions? Because if we just focus on what we want, You just focus on what we want. What type of the church are we going to be? We're going to be at church that meets our needs. We may not meet the needs of the community. We may not meet the needs of the lost. But if you're part of this family and you're here, we're going to make sure that you're taken, becomes more of that social club, kind of idea of we are going to make it what we want it and do the things that we want to do. But the question I really started thinking about is I was reading through it and listening through 1st Thessalonians over over the trip. I kept asking myself the question what type of church does God call us to me because that's the idea here of of my identity that were talking about. So we come out again with come out of this conversation over the first quarter of the Year, talkin about Jesus talk about the things that he did talk about the things that he taught. And then how do we take that in translate that from Jesus to My Life as a Christian and to the broader sense of not envy? Call Megan, the direction of church. What is my identity in? What is he calling us to be? So we go to 1st Thessalonians chapter 3 and I want you to start with me and verse 12, even though it's on the screen. I want you to read it in your Bible. If you have it. He says may the Lord, Make Your Love increase and overflow for each other. And for everyone else. Just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your heart so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God, and Father, when our lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. Okay, if you got your baubles open, you like to ride in your Bibles. There's a couple of things I want you to underline here. Okay. The first thing is this, Underline may the Lord make. Now your love increase and circle the word love. Circle the word love, and then and verse 13. May he strengthen your heart, so that you will believe be, and then underline blameless, and holy and circle the word. Holy when I think about what God has called us to be. And I'm reading through this letter to the Thessalonian church, and I'm trying to figure out what it. What is God calling us to these two words? Jump out. He's looking for us to be a church. That is full of love and a church that is full of Holiness. A church that is full of love in a church that is full as hell hole is. So if you go back to do this question, what type of shirt Does God want us to be two things that does he want us to be a Grace Center Church, or does? He want to send me a doctor and a true signature? The answer to both of those questions is what? Yes. Yes. The challenge is making sure we. Don't necessarily go to the extremes of either Spectrum, but rather we find a balance. That we are at church that is full of love that. It our love is overflowing in her loves increasing tonight. If you come back tonight, we're going to talk about the practice of some of these things were to talk about kind of a theory, if you will a little bit this morning, but how do we practice balance? How do we live a life of the church family, where we do have this openness that says, hey look, you know what, I don't care where you are in your life. I don't care what challenges you have. I don't care what struggles, you're facing, come and be a part of this family. You got coming coming in and we live and be loved. I was talking to I was talking to a guy the other day and he said that he did not step foot in a church building in the last two years. He said because the last time he was there, he felt no love and and, and where it, where where he was going at the moment was, was irrelevant to the conversation. Lisa. Felt no love cuz he was dealing with some certain things in his life and in his family Dynamic and there was nothing but judgmentalness given towards him in that moment. Instead of love and acceptance of saying, hey, you're dealing with some things. We're going to love you through it. We're going to dress them. We're going to work through them and then there may be some accountability there, but we're going to do it in a way that shows love and mercy and Grace especially to someone who He was trying to find a church home. He was trying to just go somewhere. He had been going to this place for a very short amount of time. Just trying to find a place to belong. We need to be a place that when those type of people walk into our doors. They go. Hey, this is a Place full of love, grace, mercy and acceptance. Holy group of people as well. We have this morning about this, being the light of the world and salt of the earth. And we talked about this idea that when we do decide to follow Jesus, we do decide to have our sins washed away, baptism, make that commitment and receive that salvation. When we sign up for it, there is a standard in which we have to live. And that standard is laid out for us. And in the word of God in the truth. We have to work toward that standard of holding a cell phone. So how do we find the balance in being? Not just one extreme or the other being a holy, but also loving and accepting church. So let's talk about a couple of these things and, and, and kind of all right, I should use different colors. So how do we practice balance? Will the first thing I want to talk about is this idea of Love Grace and acceptance in in this is supposed to be an arrow. A big arrow with love Grayson except as you can see it better on this street then this Frame, but this is something I'll listen to it and thought about a lot this week. The way you practice the way, you practice, this idea of being a loving church. Is when someone is walking toward Christ, when someone is walking toward Christ and they've got him in there for front and they're saying this is the direction in which I'm walking especially especially if they're not a child of God. Okay, they're not a child of God yet and they're trying to work to that process or or they're a young Christian and then they're trying to learn these basic concept when they are walking toward God. And that is the direction in which they're going. We need to deal with them in a way of Love, Grace and acceptance. Love Grace and acceptance. So one of the things that I thought about it, I wish that I had brought some with me, but I just, I just forgot this morning. You know, I always, I don't know why, but I always like to talk about chocolate chip cookie addictions. Anybody have a chocolate chip cookie addiction couple of you. Okay, so seems got a chocolate chip cookie addiction and that's not a good thing. Always has its and not always a good thing to say, brother Williams. Here. He is. He's not a child of God is with us for the first time and I mean, the first day, he walks in the door. He brings himself and 10 bags of chocolate chip cookies, but he's bringing the baggage with them, right? Bringing the baggage with them, you know, what's easy to do? It's easy to. Look at that, Senegal. I don't have that problem, or doesn't he know? He can't bring that in here, but doesn't, doesn't he know that. It's easy to think. Okay. I'm where I am in my face and in my walking, when you walk in the door, you should be in the same place. It's easy to see that. It's easy for kids. They're spread out over 11 years, Ten Years day. They're spread out of that period of time. There are times that Collins looks at me and says, why do I have to do this? But Vance doesn't or Britain dozen? Okay. Why does why do I have this responsibility but they don't have that responsibility. What's the answer as a parent? It's because she's one, she's older. She's capable of doing more things in different things. Then the other ones are, I don't expect as much out of Britain is a, do I have aunts and I don't expect as much out of Vance as I do out of college and it's the same thing as we think about this idea of people coming to cry, some people already got one time, call Oaktree Christians, and we're trying to get them to that place, new Christians, and young Christians. But they're all in a different phase and their walk and in their life and we don't need to look at them and just expect but you were Christian the moment they become a child of God because here's what happens in those moments. So chocolate chip cookie addiction and he come. He says, you know what I'm going to come. I'm going to be part of this family, Christian and I'm going to do my best to start. Chocolate chip addiction Cookie Addiction aside. And I'm going to I'm going to start putting them back and I'm going to start not bringing them with me, everywhere I go but you know what? The end not but sin, our sin is comfortable. We're comfortable with our seeing a lot of times. You're my mother-in-law ask me. What's 5 + 500? *? What are you preaching on this morning? Send are you for it or against it? And I got tired of hearing her ask me that question every time we were together. So you know what I finally said? I'm for mine, but I'm against yours. How true is that statement? How true is that statement? I don't like your chocolate chip Cookie Addiction, but my sugar cookie addictions. Okay, you need to deal with your stuff but leave my stuff alone. We're comfortable with our, with our own challenges. We're comfortable in that worldly, lost out sometime. So, What we wear, love grace, and mercy comes in and accept it comes in with not with with not yet Christians new Christians and young. Christian is understanding that mr. Williams. There are going to be times in his infancy as she's growing and learning that he may reach back out and grab that bag of chocolate chip cookies and bring them right back in the building with him reading that baggage right back with him. But where is his Focus? What is he really looking forward to? Where is he trying to get through? He is pointing his life to Christ. So when he does, make that have that moment of weakness and goes back to that what you still profitable instead of that, which is new and challenging. And even though salvation is great and wonderful and His blessings involved. It's easy to go back to that, which is comfortable. As long as his overall Direction, Steal toward Christ's, what do we do? We love him. And we helped him and we encourage him. We say, even though you're still struggling with this. You're still a part of this family. We're still going to keep you and help you move in this direction in which you and teach you and train you to get you to a point to where that Temptation in that, stand of no longer there. But we love them and teach them in a loving way and in a gracefield way to get to that place. That makes me think of the question is is do a truly understand why? I think that's the interesting kind of thing in this whole Conversation, truly understand. Love. Nathan, what is love? You remember what I say? Two weeks ago, you asked me. What was that saying? Love is a feeling that you feel when you feel a feeling that you never felt before? You with me, love is a feeling that you feel when you feel a feeling that you've never felt before, and also jumped said it could be indigestion as well. What if I told you that love wasn't necessarily a feeling, but a decision? You believe that Hollywood makes love look. So romantic. Doesn't it guys Hollywood has done us very few favors in the realm of love in Romance. We looked pitiful compared to some of these lifetime will make you look like the worst husband in the world. Specially it Christmas. Specially Christmas carols at Christmas. You can't do that.

Love is not just this feeling, love is not just an emotion, love is a decision. When I see, how do you know that will fall talks about in the first Corinthians? 13 says, if I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love. I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal if I have the gift of Prophecy and can fathom all Mysteries, and all knowledge. And if I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love I gain. Nothing. Then he goes on his. Love you. Love is it does not, it does not boast. It is not proud and it's not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love, does not Delight in evil. But rejoices with truth, it always protects always trusts always, host always perseveres. Love. Never. Say it again. Love never. Bealls, go back and look at these. Things are any of these things feelings and emotions. No, they're not. Being patient. How many of you if you could be patient, you have to make up your mind. I'm going to be at that is a decision being kind is a decision. Not envy is a decision not boasting, not being proud. These are decisions. He's our action. The word Agape is the word that is used, love in this text. And in our first Thessalonians text here, this morning and the idea behind Agape means moving toward the same thing. It means I'm in a relationship and I'm in this relationship and we're moving in the same direction toward the same thing. It is a decision Blair, not on our marriage. We are in a relationship and we have made the decision to love each other and move in the same direction with each other for God. That is agape laws, moving the same direction, having the same focus and that is a decision.

So I think maybe to understand this idea of what it means to love and accept love and acceptance. And in this idea of becoming a loving church. Is it just about letting anything going? I'm just going to love you and go on now. It is, it is it is the decision that we're going to bring people in and help them move in a direction toward God, but in that process, we're going to be patient with them. We're going to be kind with them. We're not going to dishonor them. We're not going to try to anger them. We're not going to keep records of their walk of their wrong. We're not going to delay by an evil. Okay, we're going to rejoice in truth, but we're going to protect each other. We're going to trust each other. We're going to hope for the bath with each other. We're always going to persevere forward with each other. We're going to do our best to never fail each other. And that's what that looks like moving forward as a church. That practices love Grace and acceptance. As people come in and want to be part of our family. So that's step one, but the next part of that.

Okay. The next part of that. Is what is holiness? What is Holiness? Holiness is not this morning and you've heard me say this, you've heard me talk about this, because it's something that I think is important for us to understand, Holiness is not Perfection, say that with me, Holiness is not. Play One More Time. Holiness is not. Why is that important to understand? Because you will never be perfect. Got to be holy, like I'm holy. Holy as I'm always in our text to be blameless. And holy is he saying to be perfect? No, not at all because that's not attainable. So God's not going to call us to do something that we cannot do. What does holy mean. Holy means to be set apart for a specific purpose that needs to take us out of the world. Take take us out of the world and set us apart from the world, so that we can serve God. So that we can bring glory to God so that we can show others, the greatness of God's face. So that is that is what we're trying to do. And with that comes a standard of living. With that comes a standard of living. Now. It's back up to this verse. I got my stuff out of order this morning.

When I was a child. Talk like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child when I became a man. I put the ways of childhood behind me for now. We see only a reflection in the mirror. What, what is he talking about here is talking about growth. You talkin about growth. We all become Christians at different points in our La, think about it for a moment. What is your Christian age this morning? Your Christian age is different than your physical age. Right? So near your age as a Christian. I was baptized in February of 94. Midway of 94. 94 2004 2014. That makes me what 20? And 28 years old is a 28 year old girl that rides going to do that math, right? If not, it's in the right ballpark.

Some of yours is some of you are older than me an age, but maybe younger than me and your Christian age. What is he say here? This is this this journey is about growth. And there comes a point in time where since chocolate chip Cookie Addiction has to be put away, and he has to commit to a life of holiness. And live above that addiction or that challenge or that's in that he has in his own life. And so how do we practice this of the church? How do we balance is out? Well, We need to be about love Grace and acceptance as people are walking toward Christ. But once you have lived in this body, and in this salvation relationship, once Sinners, put that the addiction of his chocolate chip, cookie all the sudden, he's moved away from that and that's no longer. He's not living in bondage to that anymore. And he's lived his life. What if one day? He wakes up when he says man? That that's all that's missing in my life. Still need that. Any walks back over there and he picks it up. A walk back through the doors with his son that Sunday morning. It's like I'm here, but I've got this again. How do we handle that? Believe there's a difference there. Still has to be loved it, still has to be grace. Because without those, there is no forgiveness. There also has to be a reminder of holiness. There has to be that teaching, there has to be an understanding of that doctrine of where we say. Hey, mister Williams. You have to live above this. You've let this go now, you're turning away and walking away from God, and this is a hard thing to practice. This is a hard thing to practice because you're the one that feels judgmental. It feels just how many of you like people telling you what to do. Anybody anybody like people telling you what to do and how to live your life and how to how to manage your own business. No, none of us like that, like the feelings of someones judging me. How many you like to be judged? How many do you like to be accused of judging other people? None of us do this part is hard? Cuz it is so personal and if it's not handling the right way, it can push people away instead of bringing people back but it's so important. A Hebrews 5:12 is in fact about this time. You ought to be teachers. He said there's a time in your life and you should gross and you should be in a certain place and you should love in a certain way and you should do you should you? She said you should be teachers by now, but he said a lot of you. You still babes? He said, you need someone to teach you. The elementary truth of God's word. All over again. You need milk. Not solid food and says you. Growing in this positive positive way towards Holiness and this and that so easily entangled and let us run with perseverance, the race marked down for us. What is this about? It's about getting rid of these things in living this. Holy wife. Now, what's now, what's were in that direction and we're living that Holy why? When we turn it around and we start walking the other way. That's when we have to deal with it and then in a reminder of Holiness and saying, hey, here's the word of God in, this is what you're supposed to be about one instant that we read about in scripture from 1st Corinthians, chapter that Paul has with the church that car and he says it is actually reported at their sexual immorality and mind you another time that even pagans do not tolerate us, man is sleeping with his father's wife and you are proud. So what is Aiden there in this place? We're seeing his entered their church and not just the act of sin itself. As a church. You have turned away from God and you're walking in a different direction and he says, not only you doing that. He says you're proud of it. He said there's a way you should deal with this. He said, shouldn't you rather have gone in the morning? And if put out of your fellowship, the man who has been doing this for my heart, even though I'm not physically present, I'm with you in spirit, as one who is present with you. In this way. I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord, on the one who has been doing this. So that when you are assembled, and I'm with you in spirit in the power of the Lord is present and this man over to Satan for the destruction of The Flash. So that his Spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord's. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little use leavens? The whole batch of dough, get rid of the old you so that you may be a new unleavened bat as you really are for cross. Our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed the same. Look, you guys should know better. You need to move in a different direction. I'm reminding you I'm maybe some of us May.

There comes a time where you have to say. Hey look this is what the word of God says, you know, this you've moved past that point of being a young babe in Christ. You're a thirty-year-old Christian who is mature and studied and understands this stopping and even though those Temptations may still be, there. You have the tools to overcome those things in the move, past those things and they don't need to come back in to you, your wife and be an everyday part of your life where that becomes the focus again, and if that does happen, we're going to have to deal with it or else to talk about it and have some loving yet hard conversations. But it's also frame this way and let us consider my favorite passages in Hebrews. How we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. And I think it's important to remember this of what we're turning onto. Whispering people toward what? Love the back into that relationship back into that place with God. But what's the idea of a Spur? Does a Spur feel good? No, Spurs there to get your attention to put you back in the direction in which you need to go and that's the direction of holiness. So we need to be a balance Church. We need to be at church. That practice is love. Practice is Grace. That practice is acceptance. Listen. There is nobody that cannot walk into these doors. You agree with that? There's nobody that can't walk in these doors. There is no lie. That is too messy.

For us to help them work through. In light of God, in the presence of God, there's no sin that we can't help someone over come, there's no lifestyle that we can't help someone put back into the place to where it needs to be. If they want to make that commitment to Christ. Have their sins washed away in baptism in the live as a child of God. On the flip side of that. As mature Christians. We don't need to be doing anything out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. We don't need to be living and still holding on to some of these things that maybe were part of our old life. We should have put those things away. We need to be striving for holding for Puri for blamelessness in front of God. And in those moments, it's a hard conversations have to be had. We have those, but we do those with the understanding of were pushing those people for love love and relationship with God, but there has to be a balance. We have to be a church that on balance. In those things. I want to encourage you to come back tonight as we talked about, kind of the Practical side of some of these things. But one overflowing in love looks like in in what real hole in his kind of looks like in our in our walk. It'll be a good conversation. So be back tonight. At 6 in the fellowship hall for disclose our thoughts with the word of Prayer. This morning. God, we're so grateful to be here in to be in your presence. Thank you for each and every person that's here with us in person. Those that are joining us. Virtually this morning that are maybe not physically with us, but as Paul said, are with us in spirit. We're so grateful for everybody being engaged in your spirit this morning. God, growth is not always an easy thing growth. Presents challenges presents new situations. And help us God to approach each and every one of those moments in a balanced way. In a way that ultimately shows you above everything else that keeps you and put you in the focus of every decision that's made help us to find. Call Heart of Love and acceptance of some of us may struggle with that this morning. God help us to be a loving people, but also help us be a holy people that strive for Holiness every single day of our Lawns and hold each other accountable with that Holiness in the most appropriate way possible. We thank you for Jesus. We thank you for your sacrifice. We thank you for his life is in your son's name. We pray. Amen. Is this program has been beneficial to you, please consider subscribing on YouTube Apple podcast or your favorite podcast. Provider also would love for you to leave us a 5-star review, which will greatly assist us in getting the message of God's love and salvation to others. Would love even more for you to join us in person. We are located at 2309 9th Avenue, in Haleyville, Alabama. You can also check us out on Facebook.

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