Sermon Notes -- January 27, 2013

10 Practical Suggestions on “Holding Fast”

1. Pray that God would give you the good and honest heart described in verse 15.

• “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
• “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:24).

2. Read, memorize, talk about, and meditate on the Word the week prior to Sunday.

• One of the glorious benefits of verse by verse studies is that you know what text will be preached the following week. Read it repeatedly, read commentaries about it, listen to sermons about it and come with some understanding of what you are about to hear.

3. Talk about the Word and specifically how it applies to your heart with someone during the week following Sunday. 

• Meet in small groups, bring it up at lunch, talk about it with your friend or  spouse, discuss it with your children – How should what you heard today affect your life tomorrow and how can people pray for you and hold you accountable to that?

4. What you watch and hear seeps into the soil of your heart.

Have you ever witnessed places in the soil where oil, gasoline, or chemicals were poured? That places tends to stay barren and never bear fruit.

• “Put aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). “How do you receive the implanted word? By putting aside all filthiness and wickedness. This is what makes the word ‘unreceivable.’ It astonished me how many Christians watch the same banal, empty, silly, trivial, titillating, suggestive, immodest TV shows that most unbelievers watch – and then wonder why their spiritual lives are weak and their worship experience is shallow with no intensity” (John Piper). I love the old hymns, but also prefer different styles of worship and accompaniment. However, for those of you who just can’t seem to “get into” the worship on Sunday morning, I would challenge you to examine whether or not you have unreceivable soil. MAYBE it is not so much a style issue as it is a soil issue?
• “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete. Look at what is before your eyes” (2 Corinthians 10:3-7a).
• “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).

5. Get a good night’s rest on Saturday night. 

I am aware that some of you work all night on Saturday, get off at 7 AM and shower and grab a bite to eat and come straight to church. Bless you. God has special graces for you and you must seek his special help. Trust him. He will help you. But I am talking to the rest of us who make our own choices about when to go to bed. My counsel is: decide when you must get up to have time to eat, get dressed, pray and meditate on the Word, prepare the family, and travel to church; and then compute backward eight hours (or whatever you know you need) and be sure that you are in bed 15 minutes before that. Read your Bible in bed and fall asleep with the Word of God on your lips and in your mind. 

It takes more discipline to go to bed on time than to get up on time. There are not as many pressures to go to bed. And sleep is so boring compared to playing or going out or watching TV. I especially exhort parents to teach teenagers that Saturday is not the night to think of staying out late with friends. If there is a special late night, make if Friday, not Saturday. It is a terrible thing to teach children that worship is so optional that it doesn't matter if you are exhausted when you come. What happens here is more important than a college entrance SAT, and we do work hard to get our kids to sleep well before an important test. 

Without sufficient sleep, we are not alert; our minds are dull, our emotions are flat and unenergetic, our proneness to depression is higher, and our fuses are short. "Take heed how you hear" means get a good night's rest before you hear the Word of God. 

6. Forebear one another without grumbling and criticism. 

Psalm 106:25 says, "They grumbled in their tents; they did not listen to the voice of the LORD." Saturday night's and Sunday morning's grumbling and controversy and quarreling can ruin a worship service for a family. My suggestion is this: When there is something you are angry about or some conflict that you genuinely think needs to be talked about, forebear, and put if off till later on Sunday after worship. Don't dive in Saturday night or Sunday morning. 

And when you come to worship, don't come as hypocrites pretending there are no problems. We've all got problems. Come saying: Lord, show me the log in my eye. Humble me and cleanse me and show me so much of yourself that I know how to deal with this in a more Christlike way than I feel now. You may be surprised how many of your crises get changed in the light of God's Word and worship. 

7. Come in a spirit of meek teachability. 

Not gullibility. You have your Bible and you have your head. But James says "In meekness receive the implanted word" (1:21). If we come with a chip on our shoulder that there is nothing we can learn or no benefit we can get, we will prove ourselves infallible on both counts. But if we humble ourselves before the Word of God, we will hear and grow and bear fruit. 

8. Be still as you enter the room and focus your mind's attention and heart's affection on God.

I would like to recommend that as we enter the room here we "come on the lookout for God and leave on the lookout for people." That is, come quietly and go hard after God in prayer and meditation. Then leave with a view to taking risks as you extend your welcome and love to other people. We will not be an unfriendly church if we are aggressive in our pursuit of God during the prelude and aggressive in our pursuit of visitors during the postlude. 

Are you with me in this? This is different than the way many churches conceive of the pre-service atmosphere. For many, the louder the better, because it connotes life and friendliness. That is legitimate in some contexts, but something huge is lost, a sense of the greatness and holiness and wonder of God. There are almost no times in our lives when we together get blood- earnest about God and our meeting him in his greatness. Let Sunday morning be one of those times. "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). Where do we do that? Let's do it just before the service in this room. Let the Commons be abuzz with greetings. But let this room reverberate with the electric power of silent passion for God's glory. There is a world of difference between the silence of apathy and the silence of passion! Pray, meditate on the text to be preached, ponder the words to the songs. Go hard after God. 

9. When the worship service begins, think earnestly about what is sung and prayed and preached. 

Paul says to the Corinthians, "Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature" (1 Corinthians 14:20). And he says to Timothy, "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything" (2 Timothy 2:7). Anything worth hearing is worth thinking about. If a message does not require the engagement of your mind, it is probably not going to take you anywhere beyond where you are now. But that would probably not be biblical preaching. If you would take heed how you hear, think about what you hear. 

10. Desire the truth of God's Word more than you desire riches or food. 

As you sit quietly and pray and meditate on the text and the songs, remind yourself of what Psalm 19:10-11 says about the words of God: "More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward." So because the Word of God is greater than all riches and sweeter than all honey, take heed how you hear. Desire it more than you desire all these things. 

As Proverbs 2:3-5 says, "If you cry out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God." 

May God make us a people who hear the Word of God and bear fruit a hundredfold so that the lamp of our lives will be on a lampstand giving light to all who enter the kingdom of God. Take heed how you hear! Amen. 

PSALM 63 – Pray God would mold your heart into this. 

Italics above: (http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/take-care-how-you-listen-part-2; By John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org)

Sermon Notes January 20, 2013

Sermon Text: Luke 8:1-21

Sermon Title: Take Heed How You Hear part 1-2

Scripture Reading: Luke 8:1-21

What did we learn last week?

This passage is exclusively about hearing. Last week we learned that the care we take in hearing God’s Word will determine our eternal destiny. The difference between Heaven and Hell is how you hear. 

“Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away” (Luke 8:18).

“He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, ‘Lord, will those who are saved be few?’ And he said to them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us, then he will answer you, I do not know where you come from.’’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’” (Luke 8:22-27).

“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by doing so you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16).

“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned” (Hebrews 6:4-8).

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” (1 Peter 2:11)

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fade away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:9-13).

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you and evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’ For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:12-19).

“But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:25).

Wait a minute!? Am I saying that you can have your salvation and then lose it? Am I saying that you can earn your way into Heaven by good works? Am I denying the doctrines of grace? By no means friends.

And we both believe that paradox is woven into the nature of the universe, and that resisting it drives a person mad. The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.

We don’t adjust the brain-baffling categories of Scripture to fit human reason. We take it as one of our jobs to create categories in human minds that never existed in those minds before — a job only God can do — though he makes us agents. For example, we labor to create categories of thought like these: 

• God rules the world of bliss and suffering and sin, right down to the roll of the dice, and the fall of a bird, and the driving of the nail into the hand of his Son; yet, even though he wills that such sin and suffering be, he does not sin, but is perfectly holy. 
• God governs all the steps of all people, both good and bad, at all times and in all places; yet such that all are accountable before him and will bear the just consequences of his wrath if they do not believe in Christ. 
• All people are dead in their trespasses and sins, and are not morally able to come to Christ because of their rebellion; yet, they are responsible to come, and will be justly punished if they don’t. 
• Sin, though committed by a finite person and in the confines of finite time is nevertheless deserving of an infinitely long punishment because it is a sin against an infinitely worthy God. 

(http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-sovereign-god-of-elfland-why-chestertons-anti-calvinism-doesnt-put-me-off).

Read Acts 27:13-26 and 27:30-32.

Here is the point: Yes it is absolutely true that God chooses whom He will save (Romans 9-11) and causes those whom He chooses to persevere or be unconditionally secure until the end (Philippians 1:6; Romans 8; John 10:28-29). However, I must also believe that if I am not a good soil hearer, I will fall away and will spend eternity in Hell. 

The Parable of the Four Soils Explained

Each of the four soils describes a different way to hear.

Hard Soil (Luke 8:5, 12)

These seeds are said to fall along the path (vv. 5, 12). The path describes the pathway or rows between the fields. Because of the traffic along the path, the soil became hard-packed and impenetrable. Sure, truth (the seed is the Word of God) was found on the surface of the path; with the sower “broadcasting” along the path, the path was certain to be littered with seed. However, the seed did not penetrate.

The hard soil hearers are certainly interested and receptive to the Word, but it does not penetrate. The hard soil hearers often comment on how a text was interpreted or communicated, but rarely speak about personal conviction and need of change. Like the Pharisees, the hard soil hearers hold the Word dear, yet are found examining everyone else rather than themselves. 

Over lunch the conversation is almost exclusively a critique of someone else – what they said; how they handled a text; what is wrong with the Church; what errors were made – rather than deep introspection on how the text applied to their life and how they need to change. Hard soil hearers are good at pointing out problems, but are rarely part of the solution.

Biblical literacy is not to be confused with Christian maturity. Homiletic accuracy is not the same as godliness. 

Theological dexterity is very different from practical holiness. Successful leadership is not the same as a heart for Christ. Growth in influence is not to be confused with growth in grace. Because of the feeling of arrival, I/you don’t sit under my own preaching (Tripp, Paul. Dangerous Calling p. 105).

Rather than humble learner, you sit as judge. Rather than someone to be known, God has become a puzzle to be pieced together. Your hermeneutics have led you to approach the Bible as a text book to dissect, rather than approaching the Bible with the intent if it dissecting your heart. 

Maybe the greatest sign that you are a hard soil hearer is that you are not considering for a moment that I just described you. What I am saying is just sitting on the surface; it will not penetrate. Without God’s grace the seed just sown will sit on the surface of your heart and will be easy picking for the birds to steal it away.

Rocky Soil (Luke 8:6, 13)

Here Jesus teaches that these hearers receive the Word with joy, but cultivate no root. These hearers are perceived to “grow up” above the surface of the soil, but have no depth beneath. Eventually, trials expose the hearer for who they are: joyful hearers and circumstantial followers. 

If you have ever re-sodded your lawn, you might understand what I mean. After re-sodding five times in my life, I consider myself an expert. The first several times I put down sod my neighbors would enviously comment on how beautiful, green, and lush my lawn was. I outwardly accepted their praise with humility, while raging inside with pride. You see, lawn of the month was my objective and my new sod was the key. 

As I have gotten a little bit older and a little bit wiser my response to these compliments have changed. Now my reply humble inwardly and outwardly: “Thank you, but I would ask that you withhold your compliments until after the winter.” The once green grass goes dormant, or to sleep, over the winter. During this period, the grass turns brown, which is its defense against drought and cold.

You see, during the trials of drought and freeze, the winter reveals the depth of the root system. Because all the grass is brown, you just don’t know if the grass persevered until spring. How – it comes back green, healthy, and lush like before. 

According to the University of Purdue (http://purdueturftips.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-lawn-is-brown-and-crunchy-is-it-dead.html), there is a way for a lawn to survive during the trials of winter: 

“A friend recently asked me recently what to do about their lawn during these very dry conditions. I told them, honestly we will really just need to wait and see. He said, so I should just accept a little bit of brown? I responded, accept a whole lot of brown! If you have been regularly watering your lawn you should continue, the turf has been conditioned to this practice and shutting off the water may be damaging to survival. The driving factors for survival during severe drought have to do with rooting depth and the reservoir of available water. What about fertilizing? One of the suggested water conservation practices is to stop or reduce (decrease amount) nitrogen fertilization during periods of drought. There is no need to push shoot/leaf growth in the plant when other resources like water are limited.”

In other words, the seed fell on the rock. The seed didn’t fall on good ground and then someone threw rocks on top. The seed feel on the rock. What does that mean? It means that although your heart received the Word with joy, you didn’t have pliable soil. The trials revealed the shallow nature of your heart. What do you do? Why was the root shallow? You can make it on lack of moisture and still remain (to some degree) green. However, when there is a drought, you will be exposed. If you neglect your heart in times of drought, you will fall away.

When you’re in the intersection between the promises of God and the details of your situation, what you do with your mind is very important. In this intersection, God will never ask you to deny reality. Abraham did not deny reality. Romans 4 says that he “considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb” (v. 19). Faith doesn’t deny reality. No, it is a God-focused way of considering reality. As Abraham renewed his mind and meditated on God, he actually grew stronger in faith even though nothing in his circumstances had changed yet (Tripp, Paul. Dangerous Calling p. 133).

Thorny Soil (Luke 8:7, 14)

“The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie.

It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for

heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not

the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we

drink in every night.”

― John Piper, Hunger for God

I run the risk of sounding like I am promoting asceticism here. Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures, often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals. I am not promoting asceticism here. I believe in enjoying God’s gifts and I believe strongly in Christian liberty. I like to play. I like to have fun.

With that said, you cannot go to work, play 2 hours of video games, mess with fantasy football for half an hour, watch three games on Saturday and one on Sunday, do little league, dance, gymnastics, lift weights, play cards, go dancing, check your Facebook ten times a day, have a cagillion (defined by the Urban Dictionary as a little more than a bagillion but less than magillion) pins on Pinterest, watch full television seasons in two days on Netflix, have too much to drink, go to the movies, have dead noise in your car, listen to Boortz, Rush, and Hannity or sports talk radio each day – then waltz in here on Sunday with a few personal devotions and a podcast in your pocket and expect to bear fruit. 

Good Soil (Luke 8:8, 15)

In our day it is said that preaching is not an effective way of communication or the most conducive environment for change. I agree that is a biblical statement. However, preaching has never been an effective way of communication. Regardless of what I have said this morning, I would do well to expect about twenty of you to hear this, hold fast to it, and bear fruit because of it. So I echo the words of Christ, “Take heed how you hear.”

What did we learn this morning? 

This passage is exclusively about hearing. Last week we learned that the care we take in hearing God’s Word will determine our eternal destiny. The difference between Heaven and Hell is how you hear. 

What should we do because of what we have learned?

10 Practical Suggestions on “Holding Fast"--next week. 

Sermon Notes: December 16, 2012

Sermon Text: Luke 7:36-50
Sermon Title: Observation or Adoration?
Scripture Reading: 1 John 1:1-10

Introduction

Three weeks ago, we talked about the centurion. I am not worthy, you are worthy (centurion) – but I ask you to bring your power into my life on the basis of something other than my moral virtue. Two weeks ago we contrasted the widowed mother with the centurion and learned that God is relentless in dispensing grace. Last week we learned that when trapped in the prison of circumstance (providence), we are often blind to the goodness of God. It is okay to ask questions and even doubt, but we must beware of becoming a brat.

What do I want you to know this week? 

Saving faith is transferring your basic fundamental life trust from where it is to Jesus (Timothy Keller)– It is not just believing in Jesus, it is shifting our trust and depending on His power on the basis of His goodness and mercy. The “transfer or shift” happens through worship. 

This morning we will see what authentic worship is in the life of this unnamed lady.

This narrative is unique to Luke. The lady was a professional prostitute. She does two things that are just as astounding as the centurion. 

“We will then discover the striking fact that the woman whose actions are recorded here most probably owed her conversion to those well-known words, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28). (J.C. Ryle).” [2]

Read Luke 7:36-50

Luke 7:36-37a

The opening two verses “set the table” as Jesus sits between the Pharisee and the woman who “was a sinner.”

“The Greek text of verse 37 literally reads, “and behold” (kai idou), emphasizing that a startling, shocking thing was about to happen. What was shocking was that this woman was well-known in the city as a sinner, a term for the most despised people in society. In all likelihood, she was a prostitute, a professional adulteress; immoral, impure, and living a flagrantly sinful life at a public level. There is no reason to identify her, as some do, with Mary Magdalene. Mary is introduced just a few verses away (8:2) as if for the first time; if she were this sinful woman, Luke would have named her here, not later” (John MacArthur). [1]

This passage describes two kinds of people: those who stand out on the peripheral and observe Christ and those who dive head-long into worshipping Him. The Pharisees prerogative was to examine Jesus, while the woman’s prerogative was to worship Jesus.

The difference between observation and adoration…

Luke 7:37b-38

The act of the woman letting down her hair in public is an act of intimacy – rabbis ruled that if a married woman let down her hair in public it was grounds for divorce – this is something that she had never done a) in public b) for free – before. The flask was tied around a woman’s neck.  This is ancient times before deodorant, air conditioning, hot climate – body odor was incredible. For a woman to walk around with this flask around her neck – it was very expensive and it set her apart from the other women. For a prostitute to wear this, it would have been the essence of her trade.  This flask is the way she would make money. 
Her desirability was the only thing in the world she had going for her. She shifts her trust from her beauty and desirability to Jesus. 

In her worship of Jesus she is freed from what previously enslaved her. AS SHE WORSHIPPED, WHAT ENSLVAVED HER WAS BROKEN. You worship your way out… 

“Wet” (brecho) literally means, “to rain.” Kissing is an intense word and describes a striking expression of affection. The emotional dam had burst. 

Luke7:39-40

Simon used a very respectful term for Jesus here (teacher). 

The contrast is between Simon and the woman. He invites Jesus into his home. Hospitality meant “Jesus I want to be your supporter.” Look in v. 39 – Simon thought there was a great chance Jesus was a prophet. Jesus says, “Simon, why haven’t you been letting your hair down since I came in.” Jesus was saying, this is the type of faith that transforms – this is the type of faith that saves. Have you pulled the flask from around your neck – is there passion – is there weeping – is there letting down of hair? Or are you just interested in Jesus like Simon.

What is her purpose? Why is this happening? How can you have life-transforming faith like this?

Luke 7:41-50

As we have discussed, there is a simultaneous absolutely free and extremely costly grace that God provides. Because God is just (which makes Him good), when He forgives believers’ sins He incurs their debt.

Jesus tells how to move from Simon faith to her faith through the parable. Quantity is not in view here; realization is. The person who most understands the debt forgiven will be filled with the most transforming love (Matthew 18). Simon, you think I am a prophet who has come to teach you how to live right – but she sees me as the one who has come to bear the cost for not living right.

You have invited me in – but she has poured her life out – the reason you are not pouring your life out and she is, is because she understands what Isaiah says in Isaiah 53. Simon came through compulsion (it is the right thing to do) – she came through attraction – there was a passion created by her understanding – without that kind of passion you can never be free. The Pharisee sat in judgment of Jesus, while the woman resolved to sit at the feet of the judge. 

“It is a wise thing to be responsive to the one who wields the gavel” (Bock).[3]

Jesus has to become your master. Where there is weeping, there is freedom. Her attraction for Jesus moved her away from the flask to Jesus.

If you feel forgiven little you love little. This is the point. To the degree you see me pouring my life out for you – to that same degree you have love, joy, patience with all the people around you.

This faith takes you to freedom and assurance. She doesn’t care what people think (this is why we don’t evangelize). Do you have Simon faith or her faith?

“More doing for Christ is the universal demand of all the churches. It is the one point on which all are agreed. All desire to see among Christians more good deeds, more self-denial, more practical obedience to Christ’s commands. But what will produce these things? Nothing but love. There never will be more done for Christ until there is more love from the heart toward Christ himself. The fear of punishment, the desire for reward, the sense of duty are all useful arguments, in their own way, to persuade men to be holy. But they are all weak and powerless until a person loves Christ. Once let that mighty principle get hold of a person and you will see his whole life changed” (J.C. Ryle).²

2 Corinthians 5 – The love of Christ compels us

Romans – The goodness of God leads us to repentance

Titus 2 – The grace of God teaches us to renounce ungodliness

Closing vv. 49-50

There is no middle ground. Jesus claims to forgive sins, which either makes Him God or a heretic. You cannot merely observe Him. You must make a decision to pour your life out  or strip Him of all credibility. Those are your only two options.

Will you observe or adore? Will you denounce or embrace? There is no middle ground.

1. MacArthur, John. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Luke 1-5. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009.
2. Ryle, J.C. Luke. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1997.
3. Brock, Darrell. Luke 1:1-9:50. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1994.