Church: The Embodiment of the Gospel: Sunday, March 16, 2008

Church: The Embodiment of the Gospel

Acts 2: 42 – 47

I. Introduction.

Over the past week, I have read a couple of articles and surveys about church participation in the United States. I don’t think any of you will be surprised to hear me say that the majority of people in our country—and the majority of people in our city for that matter—do not attend church. But perhaps you will be surprised to learn that a 2007 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and the Public Life has found that 44% of adult Americans have changed their religious affiliations. In other words, 44% of all adults who grew up in church have changed denominations or have changed to a different religious faith altogether. According to the survey, the fastest growing religious affiliation in America right now is “Unaffiliated.” In fact, if you consider Unaffiliated as a separate religion, Unaffiliated is the fourth largest religion in America today.

Consider for a moment what the implications of this survey might be for Lufkin’s First Baptist Church. If we do a great job of having babies and rearing our children in the church, the best we can hope for is retaining 56% in our church or another Baptist church. Of course, not all of Baptists on the church roles actually come to church. In my experience, Baptist church membership is usually about three times larger than attendance. If those numbers continue to be true, then we can look forward to approximately 19% of our own children remaining committed to our church or another Baptist church. That is about one out of every five of our children.

Now consider this. A 1999 Gallup poll determined that one-fourth of all unchurched people would be willing to attend church with a friend who invited them. The term “unchurched” is a very broad term. It refers to people who have never belonged to any religious organization as well as people who went to church as children but dropped out of church as adults. For the sake of argument, let’s say it refers to our friends, family members and neighbors. If people in Lufkin, Texas are average people, then one-fourth of all our friends, family members and neighbors are willing to come to church with us if they are invited. If my math is correct, that tells us there are about 8,000 people at home in Lufkin this morning, because no one invited them to come to church.

I have been talking about statistics this morning. One survey from 2007 and one survey from 1999. We may choose to believe these statistics or come up with reasons why they may not apply in our part of East Texas. I simply do not know if this is true in Lufkin. It might be true. It might not be true. I don’t know. But there is something I do know. I know that God has given us a mission as a church to preach the Gospel message. Through the power and presence of God’s Holy Spirit, we are supposed to give others the opportunity to place their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. If the statistics are true, then we are not doing a very good job.

We are not retaining our own children when they become adults. We are not inviting our friends, family members and neighbors to come to church with us. If they are not coming to church, how will they hear the Gospel? We know the Gospel will be preached in church.

Last week, we read the story of the church’s birthday. It was on the day of Pentecost. Jesus instructed his disciples to remain in Jerusalem until the gift of the Holy Spirit came. The disciples obeyed. When the Holy Spirit was poured out, something miraculous happened. The disciples—who were once so frightened they could not stand up with Jesus—were now empowered with supernatural power to preach the Gospel to their friends, family members and neighbors. But what happened next? What happened when the disciples stopped preaching?

Read Acts 2: 42 – 47.

Have you ever experienced a spiritually high moment? Have you ever had a moment when you felt God working in your life and leading you in fresh, powerful ways? Maybe it happened while you were at youth camp. Maybe you were in an old fashioned revival meeting. Maybe you were in the middle of a giant decision, and God gave you unusual wisdom to make the right choice. This is what happened to the disciples when the Holy Spirit was poured out on them.

But there is a difference between what the disciples experienced and what you and I experienced in our spiritual high moments. You and I go through various periods of highs and lows. One moment we feel closer to God than at any other moment of our lives. The next moment, we come crashing down to earth and the real world. We have grown so accustomed to moments like these that we no longer expect our “enthusiasm” to last forever. We watch others—sometimes a new Christian, sometimes a teenager coming home from youth camp—with a skeptic’s eye. We don’t expect “enthusiasm” to last forever.

Do you know what the word “enthusiasm” means? It comes from two Greek words: “en” and “theos.” The Greek word “en” is similar to our English word “in.” The Greek word “theos” means God. To say that a person is “enthusiastic” is to say that people is literally “filled with God.”

Immediately after the story of Pentecost, Luke goes to great lengths to show us how the early Christians maintained their “enthusiasm.” Yes, they were “enthusiastic” on the day of Pentecost. But they were also “filled with God” from that moment on. Their “enthusiasm” took on new meaning and demonstrated itself in a new kind of community. The new community is the church. And, the church is always “filled with God.”

II. The Apostles’ Teachings.

The first way the church demonstrated that they were “filled with God” is the way they devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teachings.

Before the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, there were 12 Apostles and a total of 120 Christians. All of these people had lived with Jesus. The Apostles had sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to all his teachings. The rest of the Christians had followed Jesus in the crowds, witnessing all the miracles and learning from Jesus’ public sermons. They knew what Jesus had stood for and what he had come to accomplish in his death and resurrection.

After the Holy Spirit came, over 3,000 new believers committed their lives to Jesus as Lord. These people did not have the same kind of knowledge and understanding about what Jesus had done for them. Therefore, it was now necessary for the 12 Apostles to share what they knew about Jesus with others.

The most important thing we can say about the Apostles’ Teaching, is to say that they were teaching others what Jesus had taught them. The Apostles were not making up new teachings to share with the new believers. They were giving others what Jesus had first given them.
In the Twenty-First Century, this is the same thing as teaching the Bible. We teach the Bible, because the Bible is God’s Word. It contains the teachings of Jesus passed down to his Apostles, who in turn wrote it down so that we can know what Jesus has done for us.



III. The Fellowship.

The church was also devoted to a new kind of fellowship. This is the Greek word “Koinonia.” It refers to fellowship in the sense of Christian brothers and sisters relating to each other through the love of Christ. The heart of the word “Koinonia” is the Greek word “koinos,” which means common. In other words, these new Christians had something in common with the original 12 Apostles and the original 120 Christians.

I find it noteworthy that Luke does not say the early church was committed to “fellowship.” He says they were committed to “THE fellowship.” There is something different, something unique about the fellowship these Christians shared with one another. For me, I have always associated fellowship with the church. And, I have always associated church fellowships with pimento and cheese sandwiches with the crust cut off. That might be “a fellowship,” but it is not “THE fellowship” Luke was talking about in this passage.

THE fellowship is the significant bond we share with each other that can only come as a result of our relationship with Jesus. When a man or woman places their faith in Jesus, something supernatural occurs. At the moment we profess our faith, God places his Holy Spirit in us to begin the work of shaping us into the image of Jesus. When a group of people whom God is shaping to become like Jesus get together in the church, God begins to work on that church. God shapes that community of believers into the image of Jesus. Just as God is working on you and me as individuals to make us more like Jesus, so God is working on our church to make us more like Jesus.

THE fellowship of Christian brothers and sisters is different from the community life on non-Christians. God is forming us into a community like no other. He is placing in us the same loves and desires that Jesus demonstrated in his life. THE fellowship we experience is a missional experience. Sure, we like to hang out with each other and laugh together. But, we also feel called—even compelled by God—to meet the needs of the world around us and to share the life-changing message of the cross.

IV. The Breaking of Bread.

There is no better place to see community life in action than to observe people who are eating together. Some have interpreted this as a reference to the Lord’s Supper—the act of eating bread and drinking wine (or grape juice) in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrificial death. Others interpret this as simply sharing food together. I prefer to think of this as simply sharing a meal together.

We believe the book of Acts is the second volume of Luke’s account of Christianity. The first volume is the Gospel According to Luke. One of the many consistent themes in the Gospel According to Luke is the criticism Jesus faced as a result of his eating habits. In Luke, Jesus rarely ate supper with good, religious people. Most of the time, Luke tells us that Jesus ate supper with tax collectors and sinners. The religious folks did not like this, because it was against their customs to eat with people who were different from them. Jesus broke the religious and cultural norms of his day by sharing his meals with “undesirable” people.

Some of you are old enough to remember the civil unrest in our country during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s. One aspect of the Civil Rights movement related to the restaurants and lunch counters in our country. The burning question of the day was: Should black men and women be allowed to eat with white people? The reason this was such an issue is because sharing a meal with another person is like saying we consider that person our equal. All social barriers are broken down when people sit shoulder to shoulder at the same table.

I find it remarkable that the 120 Jewish men and women who made up the very first Christians were comfortable eating at the same table with foreigners. They abandoned their Jewish, social norms in favor of a new kind of community where all who believe in Jesus are considered equal.

V. The Prayers.

Literally, Luke tells us the new community was devoted to “THE prayers.” This leads many scholars to interpret this as reference to the official Jewish practice of religion. In other words, the church abandoned their traditional social norms but did not abandon the worship of God in the Temple. In fact, we will continue to see the Apostles teaching and preaching in the Temple and showing how Jesus is the fulfillment of everything the Jews had been hoping for in the Old Testament.

That is a great historical fact, but it does not translate very well to our Twenty-First Century American, Christian lives. What does translate is the way the early Christians were committed to the power of God that is only possible through prayer.

What do you think about people who pray? Some people think prayer is a sign of weakness. They think people who pray cannot take care of their own needs under their own power and abilities. These people are exactly right. This is why we pray. We pray, because we need God. We pray, because we cannot make it on our own power and abilities. We pray in order to express our total dependence on God for even our smallest needs. Without God and his power, we can do nothing.

VI. Selling Their Possessions, They Gave…

This is a source of great debate. Among many theologians, there is a belief that the early church practiced a form of socialism. They claim that individual church members did not own property. They think this is God’s ideal for us, even today.

I do not subscribe to this interpretation. In fact, there is evidence here that Luke did not want to communicate this kind of shared property. Luke described the church’s action by using a Greek Imperfect tense. The Imperfect tense is translated as “continuous action in past time.” In other words, we can translate this as “they kept on selling their possessions to give to those in need.”

The best way to describe what the Christians were doing here is to compare it with stewardship. They used their personal possessions and their personal wealth in ways that demonstrated the life of Jesus. They gave to those in need, and they gave to advance the Kingdom of God missionally.

VII. Conclusion: The Favor of All the People.

When a church is “filled with God,” it will demonstrate an integrated understanding of the Gospel. The Gospel is not something that we talk about. The Gospel is something we live out daily. The end result is the church begins to get a reputation in the community. People should see what we do and the ways we live our lives and be attracted to our church.

If people outside our church do not see us living out the Gospel in our daily lives, they will not want to be a part of what we are doing. Outsiders will view us as hypocrites who say one thing and live another.

Micro Business in Kenya

I received the following email from my friend Tony over the weekend. Tony is the director of the Baptist Children's Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.



I visited the Baptist Children's Centre in May 2007. Tony told our group that the girls in their sewing program were in need of internships in order to find employment . The girls start learning sewing as a trade when they complete the equivalent of the eighth grade in the United States. Not all Kenyan children go to high school.



After learning their trades, the graduates begin looking for employment. However, most textile factories require a three month internship before they offer jobs to anyone. This is very difficult for young girls from the slums, because the internships do not pay and require the girls to move into the city.



Tony told us how expensive it was to provide rent and food for the girls in order to make the internships possible. It was the equivalent of $100 U.S.



I shared this story with my church in Lufkin, Texas. In less than a week, our church collected $3,000 U.S. and provided scholarships for approximately 30 graduates! (That was 15 graduates from 2007, plus extra money for 2008 graduates.)

Click on the "Africa" tag to your right to see additional pictures of Tony and the Baptist Children's Centre.



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Praise to our Lord Jesus Christ!



I am writing to let you know of the progress we have at the TEC Centre- Baptist Children Centre and to thank you for making a difference in some body's life.



Towards the end of last year we enrolled 8 girls and one boy went though industrial tailoring internship. Two have joined hands and started a sewing business in the nearby Dandora estate, the boy is to join one of the export factories and the rest had been promised employment in the sewing factories but the election violence that rocked our country made most textile factories to temporally close down.



We are hoping for quick recovering in all sectors soon, now that there is assured safety and peace after the signing of a peace deal between the two warring camps.



We have more nine girls who will be going through the same internship or start up businesses as it may be fitting for them.



Our regards and love to you, your family and church.



Thank you and God bless.



Tony

The Makings of a Revival: Sunday, March 9, 2008

The Makings of a Revival
Acts 2: 1 – 13; 22 – 24; and 36 – 41.


I. Introduction.


Read Acts 2: 1 – 13; 22 – 24; and 36 – 41.

This is the story of the first Christian Pentecost. The reason I say “Christian Pentecost” is because Pentecost was already a Jewish holiday. The word “Pentecost” means “fiftieth day,” and this was a feast celebrated fifty days after the Passover.

There were three reasons for setting aside the fiftieth day after Passover for a feast and festival.

First, this fiftieth day marked the end of the Spring harvest. All the crops had been gathered, and this was a good time to take a break.

Secondly, it was also the time when all Jewish families would divide out one tenth of their harvest and bring it to the Temple in Jerusalem as a “first-fruit” offering to God.

Third, later Jewish tradition associated Pentecost as the day when Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai. However, this religious understanding of Pentecost does not show up in any written form until three hundred years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. So, I don’t think we need to make any comparisons between Moses receiving the Law and the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit.

We only focus on Pentecost as a Christian event, because we are more familiar with the Jewish Pentecost by a different name. It is also called the Festival of Weeks. This name derives from the Jewish method of calculating the date for Pentecost. Pentecost occurs seven weeks—or seven Sabbaths—after the Passover.

The most significant part of Pentecost as a Jewish festival, is the way it explains why so many people were present to witness this miracle. They were Jewish people, living in faraway places, who had come to Jerusalem on religious pilgrimages to make offerings in the Temple. This was a highly strategic moment for the Holy Spirit to come and manifest God’s power.


II. Obedience.

Last week, I made a very bold statement about Jesus’ intentions for the disciples to become the new people of God. In the Old Testament book of Genesis, we read about a man named Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel. Jacob / Israel had 12 sons. These 12 sons became the ancestors for the 12 tribes of Israel. When Jesus came preaching about the coming Kingdom of God, it was important for him to name 12 disciples. Why did Jesus select 12 disciples? Because the number 12 is symbolic for God’s chosen people! One of the 12 disciples—Judas Iscariot—hanged himself. This left only 11 disciples. So, in Acts 1, the 11 disciples recognized the significance of the number 12, and appointed Matthias as the 12th disciple to take the place of Judas.

Of course, there were more than just 12 followers of Jesus at this time. Luke tells us in Acts 1: 15 that the total number of Christian men and women was 120! Again, I find this significant that this number is a multiple of 12. 120 believers = 12 disciples multiplied by 10. The number 12 symbolizes the People of God. The number 10 is a number that symbolizes “completion.” Therefore, to say that there were 120 believers gathered is the same thing as saying the “complete People of God” were gathered.

You might think I am a little off the subject at this point, talking about the disciples representing the People of God. However, this is significant! Who do you think received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost? It was not the 12 disciples! It was the “complete People of God.” Everyone who had faith in Jesus received the Holy Spirit. Everyone who had gathered together with the disciples that day received the Holy Spirit. When we talk about the Holy Spirit, we need to keep in mind that this is NOT a gift God gives to only certain people. The Holy Spirit is NOT the result of a higher level of faith or a “second blessing.” NO! The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to all men and women who place their faith in Jesus.

In Acts 2: 1, we find the complete People of God “together in one place.” This tells us two things about the church. First, they were united spiritually. Second, they were in one place, or location.

I might use this as an opportunity to tell you how important it is for all of God’s People to be united spiritually. But I actually prefer to tell you this is a good Scripture to show you how important it is for you to come to church. Everyone was there. The complete People of God gathered in one place, and God showed up. God showed up in a brand new way. But, how did we get to this point?

Acts 1, gives us a couple of important details about what led up to the day of Pentecost. Jesus gathered his 11 remaining disciples on the Mount of Olives. He reminded them of everything he had previously taught them about the Kingdom of God. Then, Jesus gave them instructions about what to do next. Get ready for this, because I know you will not like what Jesus had to say. He said, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but WAIT for the gift my Father promised…”

It must have been hard for the disciples to wait. Surely they were ready to start doing something. But that is not what Jesus told them to do. He told them to wait for the Holy Spirit.
I want to draw two conclusions from Jesus’ instructions to his disciples. I think these two conclusions apply to us today as well. I think they apply to us, because we are a part of the complete People of God.

First, the Holy Spirit comes on the church in powerful ways when the church is OBEDIENT to God’s commands. The disciples were originally from many different walks of life. They had several different occupations. We know that several came from different home towns. What would have happened if the disciples had listened to Jesus’ instructions, watched him ascend into heaven, then gone back to their regular lives before they met Jesus? What if Peter, James, John and Andrew had gone back to a life of fishing? What if Matthew had resumed his work as a Roman tax collector? What if Philip had gone back to his fig tree?

I believe the Holy Spirit would have still been poured out on all God’s People. After all, this is the fulfillment of all Jesus taught his disciples as well as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy found in the book of Joel. Yes, the Holy Spirit would have come. BUT, the church would have missed out on a strategic and rare opportunity to begin spreading the Gospel message of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Because the church obeyed what Jesus instructed them to do, they had an opportunity to preach to Jewish men and women from all over the known world when they gathered in Jerusalem for a religious festival. Disobedience would have been a tragic mistake!

What kind of mistake might we make in Lufkin, Texas? If we are not obedient to the Lord’s commands, we too will miss out on God’s strategy to reach the world with the Gospel message.


III. Prayer / Holy Spirit.

The second conclusion I can draw from Jesus’ command to the church is that God has given us a specific job to do, AND God has given us the power to accomplish his work! Yes, it would have been tragic for the disciples to return home and go back to their regular lives before they met Jesus. But, it would have also been a mistake for them to try to do God’s work before they received the Holy Spirit.

The job Jesus gave his disciples is the same job he gives us today. In Acts 1: 8, Jesus said: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Just like the disciples in Acts 1 and 2, Jesus has called us to be his witnesses. It is our job as Christian men and women in the Twenty-First Century to keep witnessing to the people of Lufkin, Texas and the United States of America, and the ends of the earth. But we cannot do this on our own power and abilities. We need God’s power. We need the Holy Spirit.

I read a story this week that is supposed to be a true story…A couple from a jungle in Africa arrived in Kingston, Ontario, and were given a fully equipped home to live in. They were handed the keys, but no one thought of explaining about the electrical appliances. During the month of July they went to bed when it got dark and rose with the sun. They collected wood and were able to cook in the fireplace. They found water came from the taps, and they did their washing in the kitchen, and dried their clothes on the line.

But by November they were cold, miserable and very frightened. Happily some friends came to visit, found the house in darkness and they flicked on the lights. They showed the couple how they could set the thermostat to heat the house and use the electric stove for cooking.
The next week they learned about the washer and dryer, the vacuum cleaner, how to answer the telephone and dial their friends. The television helped them find out about Canada, and how people survived the Canadian winter.

That story illustrates the huge change that took place on the Day of Pentecost. “Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a mighty wind and it filled the entire house” (Acts 2:2). The couple from Africa discovered that they were living in a house in which they were free to enjoy light, and heat, and the many appliances needed for the Canadian winter. But the Pharisees and other religious leaders of the day had never told people all that God had for them. On the Day of Pentecost the early Christians began to experience the light and power available to them by the power of the Holy Spirit. —Robert Brow, “Electricity: A parable for Pentecost,” June 8, 2003, Model Theology Web Page, http://brow.on.ca/Sermons/Electric.htm.

Many of us have God’s Power at our disposal, but we do not “turn on the lights.” We live miserable and powerless lives, because we do not access the power God has given us. Our lives are just like the African couple in the story, if we do not pray.

What do you think would happen in our church and in Lufkin, Texas if we would just access God’s Power? What would happen if we prayed something like this, “Lord, send a revival. Begin in my life. Then, transform my church and the city of Lufkin?” That’s a dangerous prayer. It’s dangerous, because God wants you to pray it. AND, because God will answer that prayer.


IV. Inside Out.

In the story of Pentecost, there are two things that changed. First, the most obvious change was the number of people who placed their faith in Jesus. In Acts 1, we read about Jesus’ speaking with 11 men. These 11 men chose Matthias to become one of them, so they grew from 11 to 12. Then, the 12 gathered together with 120 men and women—the complete People of God. When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the complete People of God, the church exploded. The 120 grew to be over 3000! That is a big change in a short amount of time.

But there is another change that might not be as obvious to you. The church changed their focus.

In Acts 2: 1, the church was gathered “in one place.” Luke does not tell us where this “one place” was, but there have been several suggestions made. Some people think they were gathered in a common area of the Jerusalem Temple. Others think the church was gathered in the “Upper Room”—the place where Jesus and his disciples had shared the Last Supper on the Day of Passover. This is where I think they were gathered, because it makes sense to me by comparing Acts 1 and 2 with John 20.

It doesn’t really matter where they were. What matters is that the complete People of God were gathered in a place where only Christians were present. They were worshipping God; they were praying together; and they were probably reviewing all the things Jesus had taught them before his ascension. Does this sound familiar? That is what we are doing this morning! We have come together in a place where only Christians are present. We are worshipping God, praying and reviewing our Bibles.

But these people did not stay inside the walls of the church! When the Holy Spirit was poured out, the people of Jerusalem heard a sound that reminded them of a roaring wind. It sounded like an East Texas tornado. When the people followed the sound, they found that it was coming from the church. THAT is the exact moment when the Christians got out of the church and started preaching the Gospel to lost people. The Holy Spirit turned the church “inside-out.”
If we are going to fulfill our God-given responsibility to spread the Gospel of Jesus and to be witnesses in Lufkin, Texas, then we need to get out of the church. We need the Holy Spirit to turn our church “inside-out!”

V. Conclusion: The Miracle of Pentecost.

When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church that day, a miracle took place. Most people focus on the disciples’ speaking in tongues. Some say the miracle of Pentecost is the gift of speaking in tongues. But, notice that 3000 people heard and understood the Gospel in their own native languages. This leads some people to say the miracle of Pentecost is a miracle of understanding, since the disciples were obviously not speaking in ecstatic utterances. They were speaking real languages which could be understood by non-Christians.

I disagree with both of these interpretations! In my interpretation, the miracle of Pentecost is the preaching of the Gospel. The Gospel was preached in languages understood by the people. But the Gospel was also preached in a way people could respond and be saved!

God's Purpose for Our Church: Sunday, March 2, 2008

God’s Purpose for Our Church
Acts 1: 1 – 11.

I. Introduction.

This is a true story. You always know it going to be good when someone begins by telling you it is a true story…

In 1980, a young man who had recently graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary travelled to Lufkin, Texas to preach in this church. The young man came to Lufkin to share his vision for evangelism and starting a new kind of church in Southern California. Some of our long-term members remember this young seminary graduate and the time he preached in First Baptist Church. His name is Rick Warren. His dream turned into one of the largest churches in the United States.

On any given weekend Rick Warren’s church—Saddleback Community Church in Mission Viejo, California—holds six worship services with a total attendance of 26,000 worshippers. And it all started right here in Lufkin’s First Baptist Church.

After Rick Warren preached in our church, our deacons held a meeting and made a recommendation to the church that we support him financially in his dream to plant a church in California. The church agreed, and we supported Rick Warren with $250 per month from 1981 – 1984.

Most of you know the name Rick Warren through his book, The Purpose-Driven Life. Churches all over the world, including Lufkin’s First Baptist, have studied this book and undertaken an event known as Forty Days of Purpose. Several years ago, we went through Forty Days of Purpose. We divided our members into small groups to read and discuss God’s purposes for our individual lives as well as God’s purposes for our church.

There were so many people who purchased the book The Purpose-Driven Life, that Rick Warren is now recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the third wealthiest author in America. I wasn’t sure how to feel about this until I learned what Rick Warren has done with his finances. The first thing he did was to refuse any salary from his church in California. Then he added up the total amount of salary his church has paid him over his 25 year career and paid it back to the church. So, now he can say that he has never benefitted financially from serving as a pastor. Then he identified five world-wide projects and sponsors them with his book earnings.

Last year, I got this crazy idea to invite Rick Warren to come to our church and preach. Jeannie Gilcrease helped me research Rick’s email address and phone number. And I started trying to call him. I discovered in the process that he has a secretary who answers his phone and responds to his email. I have never been a person to give up. I am tenacious! I am a bulldog! I do not give up. I called his secretary and emailed her so many times, that she finally gave me her cell phone number so I could call her direct.

When I called her on her cell phone, I thanked her for helping me. I said, “I realize that you get calls like this from hundreds of pastors just like me every single day.” She said, “I do get a lot of requests, but I’ve never had anyone as persistent as you are!”

She tried to help me, but we could not get our church calendar and Rick’s speaking calendar to line up. So, now I am working to schedule him sometime for 2008.

Then, I had an opportunity to meet Rick Warren face-to-face. He was the keynote speaker for the Baptist General Convention of Texas back in October. Right before Rick was supposed to speak, I walked backstage and found him. He was surrounded by a group of pastors just like me. They were engaged in conversation but stopped when I walked into the room. They gave me a look that communicated, “You are not supposed to be here.”

When the conversation stopped, I stuck out my hand and said, “Rick, my name is Andy Pittman. I am the pastor of First Baptist Church in Lufkin.”

Rick shook my hand and said, “Andy! I just finished a press conference and told them that I got my start because First Baptist Lufkin believed in me and my calling to California. Your church was the first church to believe in me and to support me financially. Tell me how things are going in Lufkin.”

We sat down on a sofa as I started telling him about all the wonderful things taking place in this church. I told him about people joining our church and the excitement we feel every single week. I told him about the five mission churches we are sponsoring right now—a cowboy church, an Hispanic church and a black church in Lufkin as well as two international churches, one in Canada and one about to begin in Ethiopia. He took out a notebook and started writing down notes on what I was saying.

Then, Rick leaned back on the sofa and said, “I want to come to Lufkin to preach.” I said, “It’s interesting that you say that. I have been trying to schedule a date through your secretary for the past few weeks.” He asked for my business card and promised to come back to Lufkin.
Now, I want you to keep in mind that we are still surrounded by other Texas pastors. They are watching us and listening to our conversation.

Then, Rick added something. He said, “I am going to come to Lufkin to preach and give your church a plaque. I need to tell ya’ll how much you have meant to me.”

I replied, “Rick, I want you to come to Lufkin, and I want you to preach. But, I don’t want you to give us a plaque. I have a better idea. Remember when you wrote that book and made all that money?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “And remember when you added up the salary your church paid you over 25 years?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Instead of bringing us a plaque, why don’t you bring us a check?”

The room erupted. Rick was bent over laughing. He loved it. He even offered to write a check on the spot to cover the first installment. Of course, I told him I was joking and did not want anything from him.

I tell that story to introduce two ideas. First, I want you to know the story of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church. This year, 2008, is the 125th anniversary of our church. A lot of changes have taken place in our church over 125 years. But, hopefully one thing has remained unchanged—our purpose. God placed each man, woman, teenager and child in this church for a purpose. What do you think that purpose might be?

I also told that story to introduce Rick Warren. His first book was The Purpose-Driven Church. In this book, he addressed the contemporary fascination with church growth. Everyone says they want their church to grow. But what are you doing to grow this church? If you agree that God has brought us together in this church, how are we going to work to grow this church?

Rick Warren says there are three ways for our church to grow:
1. Birth. As long as our members keep having babies, our church will grow.

2. Transfer. Sometimes people transfer their membership from one church to another. Often these people have moved to Lufkin for new jobs, and they come to our church from a church in another town. At other times, people will move from one church in Lufkin to another church. Aubrey calls this “aquarium growth.” It means taking fish out of one aquarium and placing them in our aquarium. I prefer to call this “sheep stealing.” Our church will grow if we can steal sheep from other churches. Or, perhaps we don’t have to steal sheep if another church in town starts having conflict. Sheep will start to come here to get away from the conflict.

3. Evangelism. Would you believe, this is the only kind of church growth found in the New Testament? The New Testament does not tell us to grow our church through either birth or transfer. The New Testament tells us our purpose is to evangelize the lost.


Read Acts 1: 1 – 11.

These were Jesus’ last words to his disciples as he ascended into heaven. After the resurrection, Jesus spent forty days with his disciples. They had one final gathering together on the top of the Mount of Olives. In this final meeting, Jesus did two final things. First, he gave them their last instructions. Second, he promised them the Holy Spirit.


II. The Disciples’ Misunderstanding.

It’s interesting to me that Jesus ended his ministry on earth just as he began it. He talked about baptism and taught them about the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God was the dominant theme throughout Jesus’ teaching ministry. You have heard me say that we can debate all day long about what exactly the Kingdom of God is. On one hand, we know that the Kingdom of God is a future reality. It is something Jesus taught us to pray for in the Model Prayer—Let your kingdom come (to earth). In this sense, we will never fully experience God’s Kingdom until we are with him in heaven.

On the other hand, in Jesus’ first sermon he said, “Repent! For the Kingdom of God is here.” In this sense, Jesus taught his disciples that we can actually begin to experience the Kingdom of God while we are still living on this earth. The Kingdom of God is the realm in which God is the sovereign King.

This world is the realm of the devil. Satan subdues this earth through sin and sickness and natural disasters and death. Jesus broke into Satan’s realm and began spreading the reign of God. When people placed their faith in Jesus as Lord, they stepped out of Satan’s kingdom and entered into God’s Kingdom. Through the ministry and teaching of Jesus, the Kingdom of God began to grow and expand. This was Jesus’ work on earth. This is the work Jesus is now handing over to his disciples. So, Jesus spent his last forty days reminding his followers of their responsibility to expand the Kingdom.

Jesus taught this to his disciples for the entire three year period of his ministry with them. Surely they understood after three years? Surely they didn’t need to be reminded what the Kingdom of God is? But look at the question the disciples asked Jesus in Acts 1: 6, “Lord, are you at this time going to RESTORE the kingdom to Israel?”

The disciples still did not understand their purpose! Jesus did not come to RESTORE anything! Jesus came to create something completely new—the Kingdom of God. To restore something means to return it to its original state. To renovate something means to take what you have and make it better. Jesus came neither restoring nor renovating. He started over. He created something new. He did not restore Israel as God’s people. Jesus created a new people, the church.


III. Jesus’ Final Instructions.

In my interpretation, Jesus established his disciples as God’s people on earth. We see this at work in the very next passage of Scripture. In the book of Genesis, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. Jacob / Israel had 12 sons. These 12 sons became the ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel. From Genesis through the end of the Old Testament, God’s people were represented by the number 12. When Jesus selected his followers, Jesus chose 12 disciples. At the end of Jesus’ life on earth, Judas—one of the 12 disciples—hanged himself. Therefore, there were only 11 disciples remaining. Eleven is a good number. It’s more than ten, but less than twelve. It’s a good number, but it does not symbolize anything. This is why Judas had to be replaced. There had to be 12 disciples in order to symbolize the new people of God Jesus came to create.

Acts 1: 8, contain the final instructions Jesus gave God’s chosen people—the church. One word: Witness. Tell someone about Jesus.

Jesus created his new people so that we can tell others about Jesus. Jesus established the church so that we could continue his original work of breaking up Satan’s reign on the earth. Our job—our God-given purpose—is to grow and expand God’s Kingdom on earth. The only way to do this is by witnessing—telling others about Jesus.

Notice what Jesus did NOT say. Jesus did not say, “Break into Satan’s reign on this earth by having a lot of babies.” Jesus did not say, “Break into Satan’s reign on this earth by transferring people out of the church across town.” NO! Jesus said, “The only way to stop the advance of Satan’s kingdom is to witness to others about Jesus.”


IV. The Holy Spirit.

God’s purpose for our church can be summed up in one brief statement. God has called us to stop the reign of Satan on earth. The only way to stop the advance of Satan’s kingdom is to witness to people who do not know Jesus. Our purpose is evangelism. If we are not doing the work of evangelism, we are not fulfilling our God-given purpose.

Jesus gave us instructions to do the work of evangelism. But Jesus also gave us the power to do the work. The bad news is that we cannot fulfill our God-given purpose of evangelizing the world on our own. The good news is that Jesus gave us the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish this.


V. Conclusion.

So, how can we tap into the power of the Holy Spirit to do the work of evangelism? Simple! We have to pray!

On January 28, our church staff met in an all day planning retreat. It is ironic that on the same day, the BGCT evangelism director described the four ways to do evangelism in today’s world. He said evangelism should involve (1) Prayer for lost men and women; (2) Intentional efforts to win the lost; (3) Building Relationships with non-Christians; and (4) Specific Events which gather non-Christians to hear the Gospel.

I say this is ironic, because on the same day, our staff developed a plan to use small groups to reach non-Christian people. We did not read about these four elements of evangelism until after our staff retreat concluded. But we our plan incorporates all four elements.

Beginning on Sunday, March 30, I want to see 100 people from our church meeting in small groups. These small groups will focus on evangelism and will ask each person to identify three people you know, whom you believe are not Christians. We will spend five or six weeks praying for these people. Then, we will host an event at the church with food and information about our church.

I want our church members to approach the people you have been praying for and invite them to the event. Tell them, “I have been praying for you for the past five weeks. I want to invite you to come to my church on Saturday night. You will learn more about what my church does, and my pastor is going to tell you what we believe.”

Whatever Happened to Sin? Sunday, February 17, 2008

Whatever Happened to Sin?
Genesis 3: 1 – 24.

I. Introduction

Do you remember the old nursery rhyme about Humpty Dumpty?

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
couldn’t put Humpty together again.

This is a familiar rhyme about an egg that had the misfortune of tumbling from top of a wall. I have always wondered what business an egg had sitting on top of a wall.

This nursery rhyme is believed to be thousands of years old. It is widely known in several European languages that were around long before the English language. But it didn’t start out as a nursery rhyme. It started out as a riddle.

What, when broken, can never be repaired, not even by strong or wise individuals?

The answer to the riddle, of course, is an egg. No matter how hard we try, we can never fix a broken egg. It cannot be put together again.

I remember when I was a child that I was proud of myself when I was finally big enough and strong enough to help my mother bring in the groceries from the car. But one time I took the wrong sack. I picked up the one with the eggs in it. And—of course this probably means that I am strange—I remember walking in the door and dropping the sack right in the middle of the floor. I broke the whole dozen eggs. And there is no remedy for broken eggs. They cannot be put back together. When the eggs are broken, there is only one thing to do…Clean up the mess.

I think this is a good parallel to sin. In Genesis 3, we read the story of how sin first entered into creation. Adam and Eve sinned. We normally describe this as the Fall. In one weak moment, Adam and Eve faced temptation and gave in to sin. As a result the human race fell. We were broken—just like an egg. Broken beyond the possibility of repair. All that was left to do was “clean up the mess.”

Did you know that you can never be repaired? Your only hope is to be re-created by God. And that is what the Easter season is all about. Sin entered into the human race, and we fell. Now there is no possibility that we can be repaired. So God sent his son to die on the cross to forgive us our sins and to re-create us, to make us a New Creation.

Read Genesis 3: 1 – 24.




II. The Nature of Sin (Genesis 3: 6 & 1 John 2: 15 – 17).

A. Good for Food…(The Lust of the Flesh).

The fruit appeals to her flesh, or human nature…Just as sin appeals to our flesh, or human nature.

As a result of what happened to Adam & Eve, we have a natural tendency toward sin…
Given an opportunity to choose between God’s will and our own will, we choose to rebel against God…Nine times out of every Nine.


B. Delight to the Eyes…(The Lust of the Eyes).

I remember hearing an evangelist preach once when I was a teenager. He stood before the church and said, “Once you become a Christian, sin is no longer fun.” I remember thinking, “If sin is no longer fun, then he must not be doing it right.”

NASB => “Desirable”…NIV => “Pleasing”…KJV => “Pleasant”
Better to translate “Lust”…Sin is Lust, not Pleasant or Desirable…
Do you know the difference between Desire and Lust?
Lust can never be satisfied…

This is a rather gruesome illustration, but a great way to describe sin and lust…It was told by Paul Harvey…

Eskimos have found an interesting way to kill a wolf that is disturbing the village or camp area…They coat a knife with animal blood and allow the blood to freeze on the blade of the knife…Then they add another layer, and another, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by layer after layer of frozen blood…

Next, the Eskimo fixes the knife in the ground with the blade up so that the wolf will be attracted to the scent of the blood on the knife…When the wolf discovers the freshly frozen blood, he begins to lick the knife…The more the wolf licks, the more blood he tastes, so he begins to lick faster and faster trying to satisfy his lust for blood…The wolf begins to lick vigorously, faster and faster…The wolf’s lust for blood is so great that he never notices that the knife is cutting into his own tongue with every lick…After a short time, the wolf begins to taste his own blood…Yet he craves more and more, until the next morning when he is found dead in the snow…


C. Desirable to make Wise…(The Pride of Life).

Ultimately all temptation comes down to this one category…We want to be our own gods…
We don’t want to be subject to anyone…Not even God…

Notice also that this is an appeal to the human intellect… Temptation includes physical, spiritual and mental…



III. The Consequences of Sin.

A. Distorted Values (Genesis 3: 7).

Cf. Genesis 1: 31…God SAW everything he had created and said, “It is good”…Now, Adam & Eve see the same thing as somehow bad…It is the difference between seeing yourself through the eyes of God or through the eyes of sin…

The way we see ourselves is important…Remember when Moses sent the spies into the Promised Land…12 spies went in…But 10 spies came back afraid…They said, “We SAW the people of the land, and we were like grasshoppers in their presence.”…But 2 spies said, “We should take it, because God is on our side.”



B. Distorted Relationships (Genesis 3: 16).

Cf. Genesis 2: 24…God’s plan was for the man to leave his father and mother so that the husband and wife could become ONE FLESH

But that was distorted after the Fall…What God created to be ONE FLESH was separated by sin…Sin created division, even competition (Lord, the woman you gave me…)

The text describes 2 symbols of separation, or broken relationship…
1. Clothing…Man separated from Woman…Human separated from Human…
2. Angel with a Sword…Humanity separated from God…


C. Distorted Life (Genesis 3: 22 – 24).

God took away the Tree of Life…
A direct result (consequence) of sin = Adam & Eve lost the possibility of eternal life…Before sin entered the creation, all they had to do was eat from the Tree of Life and they would live forever.

Now, eternal life was lost…But it is worse than that…Not only have they lost eternal life…Now they will have to die…Sin brought about DEATH…

Notice that God did not kill Adam & Eve…God did not take their lives…Adam & Eve forfeited (willfully gave away) life…Cf. modern question, “How can a loving and gracious God SEND anyone to Hell?”…

God does not SEND anyone to Hell, just as he did not KILL Adam & Eve…When anyone rejects Christ, you forfeit life…You choose Hell over Heaven…You choose DEATH over LIFE…



IV. Conclusion

In 1997, Timothy McVeigh was finally convicted for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. During the 1997 trial, one of McVeigh’s old Army buddies, Jo Thomas, testified in court. According to the New York Times article on the trial Jo Thomas said, “I’ve known Tim for quite a while. If you don’t consider what happened in Oklahoma, Tim is a good person.”

If you just overlook the fact that he murdered 168 innocent people with a truck loaded with fertilizer and diesel fuel, Tim was a good person.

On one hand, I can’t believe those words could actually be formed on the lips of a reasonable person. On the other hand, we say the same kind of thing about ourselves almost everyday.
If you overlook the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life,” I am really a good person.

That is a lie the world wants us to believe about our own sinfulness. The truth is much worse. Sin has affected us so much that we are broken beyond the possibility of repair. And the only hope that remains is to “clean up the mess.” We cannot clean up our own lives. But God can clean us up. We can be re-created by God through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

From Sinner to Saint: Sunday, February 10, 2008

From Sinner to Saint
Psalm 32: 1 – 11.


I. Introduction.

Have you decided who you are voting for? I had two church members tell me this week they had decided to vote for “None of the Above.” I think “None of the Above” would have won every presidential election I have voted in since 1988!

Several presidential candidates are running on a platform of “change.” If you are not satisfied with the way things are, you can make a difference by voting for the right candidate. Or, you can vote for “None of the Above.”

Perhaps we can make the world a better place to live by selecting a new president. But that won’t solve everything. We will still have the same jobs and live in the same families. We will wake up every morning and take the same pills and worry about the same health problems. We will even face the same temptations and struggle with the same spiritual problems. No. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans can solve all our problems.

If you have spent any time watching television, reading the newspaper or reading Internet news, you have heard a lot of talk about the economy and the war in Iraq. Often, the television news is interrupted with pharmaceutical commercials promoting the latest pill for joint pains or bladder problems or depression or healthy weight loss or even prostate health. But when was the last time you saw an advertisement or a news story promoting spiritual health? It seems that Americans are concerned about everything else. But no one seems concerned about spiritual well being.

The truth of the matter is that most people are concerned more about physical health and economic stability than they are their spiritual condition. Let me suggest that we have things exactly backwards. Our spiritual conditions as individuals and our spiritual condition as a nation should be our biggest concern.

We don’t need a new drug. We don’t need the right president. We need a revival. We need God to change us as individuals and as a nation of people. We need to feel the Breath of God blow across our churches and communities in a fresh, new way. We need to experience the power of God and the joy that comes from having confident hope in our spiritual lives.

But how can this happen? Psalm 32 demonstrates the path to a personal revival, but get ready…You are not going to like this…


Read Psalm 32: 1 – 11.

Psalm 32 is one of seven Psalms, known as the “Penitential Psalms.” The most famous Penitential Psalm is Psalm 51. That is the Psalm of David we associated with his affair with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah. In Psalm 51, David “comes clean.” He confesses his sin to God, and he experiences God’s forgiveness. The same thing happens in Psalm 32.

vv. 1 – 2: This Psalm begins with a “pronouncement of forgiveness,” in the form of a Beatitude. Some believe this would have been the words of a priest in a public worship service. The priest announces God’s willingness to forgive sins, then the worshippers respond by seeking God’s forgiveness.

vv. 3 – 5: Then the Psalm “moves” to the actions of the worshippers. The second movement describes the close connection between confession of sin and forgiveness of sin.

vv. 6 – 7: The third movement is a prayer for God’s protection.

vv. 8 – 10: The fourth movement is God’s response to the prayers of confession and prayers for protection. God’s is willing and able to forgive us our sins, AND God is willing and able to give us the protection we need. God’s protection comes by way of his instructions.

v. 11: The Psalm ends with joy and gladness. Worship—in this Psalm—is a joyful expression of what it feels like to be forgiven for all our sins.

In describing the movement of Psalm 32, I have used several words that are not very popular words in Twenty-First Century America. For example, when was the last time you heard someone talk freely and openly about “sin?” Or what about “confession?” One of the reasons we don’t hear people talk about confession, is because we don’t really like to talk about sin. Confession is about admitting guilt. And there are not many people in our culture who are willing to admit they are guilty. We might even have a difficult time finding a guilty person in the Huntsville (Texas) prison.



II. Three Words for “Sin.”

There are three Hebrew words that we translate as “sin.” The interesting thing is that all three of these words show up in the first two verses of Psalm 32.

Verse 1 a: “Blessed is he whose ‘TRANSGRESSIONS’ are forgiven…” This is the Hebrew word “pasha…”

Verse 1 b: “…whose ‘SINS’ are covered.” This is the Hebrew word “hatah…”

Verse 2: “Blessed is the man whose ‘SIN’ the LORD does not count against him…” This is the Hebrew word “avon…”

Hatah is a term from the world of archery. It paints a word picture for us. The translation would be something like “to miss the mark.” The archer takes careful aim at either a target or at his supper. He draws the bow string back and releases the arrow. He is doing everything in his power to hit the target or to kill the animal. BUT, he missed his mark. If we apply this to sin, then we can say that there are times in our own lives when we tried to do the right thing. We wanted to do the right thing. We might even have thought we were doing the right thing. BUT, we missed the target.

Avon is a term from the world of shepherding. It also paints a word picture. The translation would be “to stray off the path.” Think about the nature of sheep. Individual sheep do not consider the needs and desires of the rest of the flock. All they think about is themselves and what they want or need at any given moment. And what is a sheep’s most immediate need? Usually, it is food. A shepherd cares for the flock and provides food and water for the flock. He also wants to keep the flock together, so they will be easier to protect from predators. But the sheep don’t think about things like this. Individual sheep only think about eating the grass in front of them. A sheep might put his head down and move from one clump of grass to the next without ever paying attention to where he is going or where the rest of the flock is. After moving from one clump of grass to the next, a sheep might look up and discover he is all alone. He has strayed away from the path and is separated from the rest of the flock. Again, we can apply this to sin in our own lives. We might move closer and closer to the boundaries, thinking, “I’m not hurting anyone. What I am doing is really not sin. This is the Twenty-First Century. No one follows those out dated rules anymore.” Then one day, like the sheep, we look up to find ourselves all alone. We strayed away from God’s will and purpose. And we wonder, “How did I get to where I am now? How did I become this person? This is not who I am!”

Pasha is a strictly moral term. There is no word picture associated with this type of sin. Its translation is “willful violation of God’s standards.” Another word we might use here is “rebellion.” We know what the right thing is, but we don’t care. We know what the Bible says, but we ignore it. We seek to please ourselves and satisfy our own desires with no regard for what is right. If you want a word picture, we might compare this to an angry bull that charges and injures others. He does not care about your feelings or your pain. He only cares about himself.

We could build a case here for what we might call “Hebrew parallelism.” This is a poetic device often found in the Psalms and other Hebrew poetry. The author repeats himself using similar words and phrases to communicate one idea multiple times. However, we could also build a case for a comprehensive view of sin.

Such a comprehensive view would mean that all sin separates us from God. It does not matter which kind of sin you might commit. You might have TRIED to do the right thing and failed. You might have WANDERED away from God’s plan. You might have REBELLED against God willfully. It doesn’t matter. Sin is sin. Any sin—no matter how small you think your sins are—needs to be forgiven by God. And the pathway to forgiveness is confession.


III. Confession.

Again, let me point out that confession is not very popular, because at its very root, confession is an admission of guilt. We cannot be forgiven if we never admit we are guilty of sin. That is the first step to confession. Confession is the opposite of pride.

The second step is to say it out loud. You cannot keep your confession of sin inside. Notice how David was struck with physical ailments as long as he kept his sin inside himself (verses 3 – 4). God has already told us he is willing and able to forgive our sins, so why would we remain silent? Are we trying to hide our sins from God? It is like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Once they realized they had sinned against God, they hid from God. But God knew about their sin and confronted them. God already knows about our sins. God has already told us he is willing to forgive. We should have no reason to remain silent out of fear.

The third step of confession is to be specific. We are not told to pray, “Lord, forgive us our sins and wherever we have failed you.” Let it out. Start naming the ways you have sinned against God. If you want to be forgiven, you must tell God what you want him to forgive.



IV. The “Godly” Person in Verse 6.

Notice how David changes the way he views himself in verse 6. Up to this point, he has described himself as a “sinner.” Now, he has taken a huge leap and describes himself as “godly.”
What does it mean to be godly? Does it mean that we are perfect? No. It means we are forgiven!

The godly man or godly woman is the one who admits he or she is guilty and comes to God for forgiveness.

Forgiveness is the pathway from sinner to saint.





V. Conclusion.

If you want the world to be a better place, vote in the election, take your medicine, but don’t forget to take care of your spiritual health. You and I cannot fix our sin problem. We will deal with it for the rest of our earthly lives. But God has given us a spiritual prescription. The human path to forgiveness is confession. The forgiveness is up to God.

Third Sunday of Advent: Forgive Us Our Christmases...

Forgive Us Our Christmases…
Matthew 11: 1 – 19.

I. Introduction.

When I started my doctoral work at Truett Seminary (in Waco, Texas), I was pastor of a church in Mississippi. The doctor of ministry degree is a professional degree designed for pastors who are currently serving in a local church setting. The degree requirements included four doctoral seminars, an extensive reading list of over 50 books and a written project (my project was 265 pages long). I had a “field supervisor” in Mississippi who met with me regularly to guide me and keep me on task. But I only had to be on campus in Waco four times for 14 days at a time.
As you can imagine, it might be expensive to live away from home for 14 days. Some guys stayed in cheap hotels. Others discovered that Baylor would lease apartments for short terms. But, I had a friend. My friend Steve—who was in my doctoral class—has grandparents in Waco. So, we had a free place to stay.

Steve’s grandfather’s name is Tootie. His name is actually Walter, but everyone knows him as Tootie. And as you can imagine, Tootie is quite a character. Lots of jokes and joking…Even a few theories about life.

One of Tooties’ jokes is to suggest the title of our sermon today. Tootie suggests that we should change the words of the Lord’s Prayer to say, “Forgive us our Christmases as we forgive those who Christmas against us.”

Think about that. Do we need to ask forgiveness for the way we celebrate Christmas? It’s all according to how you “celebrate” Christmas.

I try to tell this story every Advent. Another one of my preacher friends once called me and recited all that he had done for the previous week: worship, meetings, parties, fellowships, etc, etc, etc… He called to say, “Next year, I am not going to ‘celebrate’ Christmas. Next year, I am going to ‘observe’ Christmas.”

What is the difference between “celebrating” Christmas and “observing” Christmas? Celebrating requires a lot of energy. Observing is a passive activity. Rather than hustling and bustling around, we would allow God to do his work, while we sat in observation of what God is doing around us.

Now, there is a lot about Christmas worth celebrating. The angels announced the birth of Jesus with joy and singing. The shepherds ran and jumped and told everyone they could find about this joyous event. The Wise Men brought expensive gifts. But there was something even bigger than a big Christmas party. God himself finally broke into our world and our history to reveal himself. God took an extraordinary step to demonstrate his love for us.

On one hand, we have something to celebrate. On the other hand, if we spend all our time partying and celebrating, we are going to miss something. We might fail to “observe” the extraordinary love of God revealed in his Only Begotten Son.

If all we do is celebrate, we ought to pray, “Forgive us our Christmases…”

The story of the first Christmas, is the story of God’s directing his attention on us. Of all the things God could have focused his attention toward, God chose us. Rather than being all consumed with the grand order of the universe—the planets, the stars, the solar system, the changing climate on earth, or the melting polar ice caps—God fixed his attention on the human beings who inhabit this planet. God turned his attention toward you and me. Where is our attention this morning?

Some of us are, in this very moment, trying to complete our Christmas shopping lists. Others are just now beginning to fret about the gifts we have not even begun to think about. Fathers and mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers are arranging schedules to host the entire family, while balancing the time children spend with their in-laws. We are thinking about Santa Claus, Christmas trees, candy and stockings. All the while ignoring the fact that God focused his full attention on us.

Forgive us our Christmases, indeed. Forgive us, Lord, because we are less concerned about you than you are concerned about us.

Our Scripture today tells us about the true nature of Jesus Christ and why he originally came to this earth. While it does not tell us about angels and shepherds, it does describe the work and purpose Christ had and continues to have today.


Read Matthew 11: 1 – 19.

Matthew re-introduces us to an important man by the name of John. Sometimes, the Bible simply uses the name John. Other times, it uses a brief description to distinguish this John from other John’s in the Bible. This is one of just a few biblical references to John the Baptist.
The Gospel of Luke gives us a little family history of John the Baptist. Luke tells us that John and Jesus were cousins. In fact, when the angel Gabriel told Mary that even though she was a virgin she would give birth to the promised Messiah, Luke tells us that Mary first went to her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth was John’s mother and was expecting John at the time of Mary’s birth. The baby in Elizabeth’s womb recognized the significance of this meeting and leapt in his mother’s womb.

The next time we see John, he is preaching about the coming Kingdom of God. John told the people of Israel that God had finally had enough of their rebellion. The Kingdom was coming. The Kingdom would come when God’s Promised Messiah entered into our space and time. The Messiah would usher in a time of judgment. And the only way to avoid judgment was to repent and be baptized. John said, “I baptize you with water, but the One following me will baptize you with Holy Spirit and fire.” In other words, if you want to escape the fire of God’s judgment, get in the water.

Then Jesus came to John to be baptized. Once again, John recognized something special about Jesus. The first time, he leapt in his mother’s womb. This time, John refused to baptize Jesus, saying that Jesus is the One who should baptize John. Jesus insisted, and immediately the Spirit of God descended and a voice from heaven announced that Jesus is the Son of God.
There is an interesting thing about John the Baptist which I had never given much thought to before this week. In Matthew 4: 12 and 17, we read, “When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee…From that time on Jesus began to preach…”

This tells us a little history and gives us a timeline which is important for our Scripture today. John announced that Jesus was the coming Messiah. John thought that Jesus would usher in the Kingdom of God by bringing down God’s judgment against Israel’s rebellion. BUT, John never witnessed the ministry of Jesus first hand. John never saw any of Jesus’ miracles. John never heard any of Jesus’ sermons. He couldn’t, because John was in prison! The only thing John knew about Jesus’ ministry and preaching was what had been reported to him in prison.

According to Matthew 11, John had a group of followers, or disciples. Disciple is the Greek word for a “student” or a “follower.” We believe that these men—and all disciples were men in the ancient world—studied John’s interpretations of the Hebrew Bible and patterned their lives after John’s life. They studied like John. They preached like John. They might even have dressed like John and eaten the same foods John ate. One thing is certain, they told John everything Jesus did.



II. Expectations.

Matthew 8 and 9 tell the stories about many of the people Jesus healed as a part of his ministry. He healed an unclean leper. He healed the servant of a Gentile soldier. Jesus calmed a storm. He cast out demons. He restored a paralyzed man. He raised a dead girl to life. He touched an unclean woman. Jesus even gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. In short, Jesus performed miracles that only God could perform.

But there was no judgment. On one hand, John might have felt a little embarrassed that he had predicted Jesus would bring the fire of judgment, and now Jesus is doing the exact opposite. Instead of judging sinners, Jesus is calling tax collectors to be his followers. On the other hand, John might feel a little disappointed. He was looking for a different kind of Messiah. John wanted a judgmental Jesus, not a compassionate Christ.

This is what lay behind the question John’s disciples brought to Jesus: “Are you the One who is to come, or should we look for someone else?” Jesus was not meeting John’s expectations. But there is only One Jesus. And, when it comes to Jesus, what you see is what you get.

In fact, that is the way Jesus answered their question. He could have very easily answered, “Yes. I am the Promised Messiah.” But he didn’t. Jesus said, “Go and tell John what you have heard and seen. The blind receive sight. The lame walk. …”

John was looking for a Messiah who would bring the “Bad News” of judgment. But Jesus did not come to bring Bad News. Jesus came to bring Good News. And the Good News is that sick people can be healed and sinners can be turned toward God.



III. Incarnation.

Jesus came to bring us the Good News of healing and restored life. But there is a part of Good News that we cannot miss. The miracles Jesus performed were not possible for ordinary people. Jesus did things that only God could do! That is because Jesus is God. He is not God-like. Jesus is God.

God loved us so much that God became a man and dwelt among us. Jesus is God in the flesh—the Incarnation. He brings God closer to us, and he brings us closer to God. God turned his attention toward us and expects us to turn our attention toward God.

This is what John missed. John was expecting God to turn his attention to earth. But, John expected God to look at us with wrath and anger. Jesus shows us that God looked at us through eyes of love. In the person of Jesus, the Good News is that God loves us and wants us in a relationship with himself.


IV. Hear and See.

Notice Jesus’ words to John’s disciples: “Go back and report to John what you HEAR and SEE.” This indicates a progression of the Good News—both in Jesus’ ministry as well as in our lives.
We first HEAR the Good News. Then, we experience it first hand and SEE what Jesus can do in our lives.

It also describes the progression from John the Baptist to Jesus. John came preaching. Jesus came preaching and doing.

And John never got to see for himself all the things Jesus did to demonstrate God’s Good News.
We might feel a bit tempted at this point to criticize John for not understanding the Good News Jesus preached and performed. Or we might shake our heads, because John held different expectations for Jesus. However, Jesus never criticized John. In fact, it was just the opposite. Jesus gave John the greatest compliment we can even imagine. Jesus said that John fulfilled a God given mission to be like Elijah, who was to come before the Messiah. John announced the coming of the Messiah. John was the one who prepared the way.

Exactly how did John “prepare the way” for Jesus? Did he “smooth out” the road so that Jesus’ life and ministry would be easier? Of course not. Jesus did not have an easy life or ministry. He was despised and rejected, even crucified by the political and religious leaders.
John prepared the way by preparing the people to hear and see the Good News. He told the story. John announced that the Kingdom of God was coming. John called for people to repent and believe.

This is what we are supposed to do when God turns his attention toward us.



V. Conclusion.

There is only one thing missing in this story. There is no happy ending. We would like to think that John’s disciples returned to the prison. They told John about the Good News and the lives that had been changed. Then, we want to think John said something like, “Ah. I knew Jesus was the One.” But there’s nothing like that. There is not even a sad ending. There is just no ending. We are left to wonder.

We wonder…What did John do? And we wonder…What would I do?

And what will we do? It is Christmas. God turned his attention on us. God has become a human being. God shows his love to us and calls for us to respond with our love for him. If we are too busy celebrating the things of Christmas, we might just miss what God is doing around us.

If we miss what God is doing…Then, Lord, forgive us our Christmas…

Second Sunday of Advent: Christmas Inside Out

Christmas Inside Out
Romans 15: 1 – 13.

I. Introduction.

A couple of weeks ago, I told a story about Paul “Bear” Bryant in a Sunday morning sermon. You may remember the story. It was about the athletic trainer who accompanied Bear Bryant from Kentucky to Texas A & M to the University of Alabama. The trainer’s name was Charles “Smokey” Harper.

Bear Bryant didn’t have a coaching position for Smokey on the Alabama staff, but gave him an “at large” assignment to travel all over the state of Alabama as an ambassador for the new coach. Smokey went into coffee shops and roadside diners to smoke cigarettes and drink coffee with Alabama fans. Over coffee and cigarettes, Smokey told the people of Alabama that Bear Bryant was the best football coach in America, and by the time Alabama won their first national championship the fans believed Smokey’s story.

Today, we have the same job as Smokey Harper. We want our church to grow and make an impact on our community. And, the only way we are going to see that happen is to get outside these walls and tell the men and women of Lufkin, Texas that we have the very best church in a 50 mile radius. I truly believe that about our church. Do you believe this? Do you tell your friends and neighbors? Do you ever sit down with people and brag about your church? If you don’t, then they will never know why you go to church here.

When I told that story, I made reference to the ESPN TV movie—The Junction Boys—inspired by Bear Bryant’s early days at Texas A & M. I later learned that the author who wrote The Junction Boys (Jim Dent) has a new book that was published in 2007—Twelve Mighty Orphans.

In the late 1800’s the Texas Freemasons established an orphanage on the outskirts of Fort Worth. In 1926, the Mason Home established their first football team by hiring Rusty Russell as their first football coach. Many people thought Russell was committing career suicide by leaving the position of head football coach of the successful Temple Tigers to move to a school which, at the time, did not even own a football.

Throughout Russell’s tenure as the football coach at the Mason Home, he led the Mighty Mites to 127 wins, two Texas Interscholastic League state championship games and one co-championship in 1932. These were remarkable feats since the Mason Home had less than 200 high school students and played nearly every game as underdogs to schools with enrollments around 1000 students. In fact, the orphans were only able to field a team of twelve players and sometimes played against teams with rosters of over fifty players.

Of course, there are a various theories about why the Mason Home always did so well on the football field. Some accused the Home of running a program more like a college program than a high school program, with players living together in dormitories, eating all their meals together in the dining hall and living as a football team 24 / 7. Some might even attribute it to the fact that these orphans had developed a “street toughness” unlike their opponents which had come from more traditional home environments. However, I think it was something else.

I noticed in the book that every orphaned child entered the Mason Home not wanting to live there. For the first several weeks no one called the new kids by name. They were simply addressed as “New Kid.” Then, after several weeks the “New Kid” was given a nick name as a sign of acceptance. And that is when something magical happened. While no child outside of the orphanage ever wanted to know what life was life like inside the orphanage, the orphans didn’t want to live outside the orphanage. Inside the orphanage, life was comfortable and predictable. Outside the orphanage, life seemed dangerous and uncertain. The twelve orphans did not just play football. They were fighting for their identity as orphans. They were proud of their life inside the orphanage, and they did not want to become like the kids on the outside.

I see a parallel in this story to our story as Christians. We have an identity as Christians—on the inside—that is different from the world outside. We are proud of who we are—children of God, followers of Jesus Christ, Christians. We don’t want to become like people on the outside. Inside the church, we have security. Outside the church, we see a dangerous life that is uncertain at best.

On one hand, this is what God wants for us. God wants the church to be different from the world—a place of safety and security in a dangerous and uncertain world. On the other hand, this view of the church can be misrepresented into something God never intended. Yes, the church is supposed to be different from the world. Yes, we are supposed to find safety and security inside the church. But NO, we are not supposed to retreat from the world, satisfied in what we have, while the world around us goes to Hell. The purpose for the church is to break outside the walls of security and bring others into the same kind of life we have in our salvation through Jesus Christ.

Christmas is a beautiful picture of our purpose to turn the church “Inside Out” in an effort to bring the world to faith in Jesus as Lord.


Read Romans 15: 1 – 13.

This does not quite sound like a Christmas story. There is no mention of angelic messengers or a miraculous virgin birth. There are no shepherds or wise men. However, the purpose of Christmas is apparent.

II. Inside the Church.

Just a few chapters before this, Paul described the church as the Body of Christ. Our human bodies are made up of many different parts. Each part has its own purpose and function within the system. When all parts are functioning as they were created to function, the body can be healthy and effective. But, when just one body part is unhealthy, the entire body suffers from pain, disease and cannot be as effective. There is an intimate relationship between all the parts of our human bodies—when one part suffers, the entire body suffers. There is a division of labor among the parts of our bodies—the eyes depend on the feet to perform their duties and the feet depend on the eyes. In the same way, there should be the same kind of interconnectedness and interdependence among us as members of the Body of Christ.

This is more than just a description of an ideal world. This ought to be the reality we experience. The problem lies in the fact that most churches only experience this periodically. We face several threats to our unity on a daily basis.

In Romans 15, Paul described three threats to unity faced by the church at Rome—and, I believe, threats faced by the church at Lufkin.

A. Sin…(Verse 1)

This is the point Paul made in verse one. As long as we live here on earth, we will be plagued by our own sinful nature. This is true both inside the church and outside the church. Christians are not immune to the temptations of the world. In fact, I would argue that sin is perhaps an even greater struggle for us than for others.

On one hand, we do have God’s forgiveness for our sins. On the other hand, we have God’s conviction through his Holy Spirit in our lives. When a Christian sins, more times than not, he or she knows that what they are doing is actually sin. We usually don’t need our sins pointed out to us by other people. That is one of the roles and functions of the Holy Spirit in our lives. When we face temptation, the Holy Spirit helps us to discern right from wrong. Then, even though we know it is wrong, we go ahead and give in to the temptation at hand. After the fact, the Holy Spirit continues to convict us of our failure in order to bring us to confession and repentance.

How should we deal with sin inside the church? One very popular opinion is that we should constantly be on the “look out” for church members who sin. Then, once we have found a guilty person, we should cast that person out of the church. After all, if we welcome sinners into our fellowship, the world will judge us based on that one sinner.

If you hold to that opinion about sin inside the church, I am going to disappoint you. As I look around the room, I see several hundred men and women, teenagers and children present. If we “kicked out” all the sinners this week, I dare say the room would be empty. Of course, there has to be someone here thinking that they would not have been kicked out this week. If you are thinking that right now, I hope you are willing and prepared to preach on Sunday, because I don’t think we would be able to find a deacon or a minister who passed your “sinless test.”

No, the proper way to deal with sin is to follow the example of Jesus. In another part of the New Testament—Philippians 2—Paul wrote to us about how Jesus “condescended” to be with us. Jesus held the very same nature as God, but he took on the nature of a human being to demonstrate God’s love for us. Jesus was all powerful, but he became a man with limited power and abilities. Jesus was strong, but he became weak. In the same way, we who are strong ought to bear with the failings and failures and sins of our weaker brothers and sisters. We ought to embrace sinners inside the church and outside the church with the forgiveness that God showed us in Jesus Christ. I might also add at this point that there is coming a day when the roles will be reversed. You might be the strong Christian today, helping a weaker brother or sister. But, one day you will be the sinner in need of a stronger brother or sister.

Paul’s encouragement to us: Don’t let sin destroy the unity of the church!

B. Self-Centered Members…(Verse 2)

It would be absurd for a part of our human bodies to begin to think it was the most important part of the body. We might imagine an eye trying to tell a foot that the eye held a more important position. Of course, the foot could reply that the eye can only see things when the foot transports the body into new environments. The heart could challenge the skin that the heart is a vital organ. And the skin could reply that the heart could not survive if it were exposed to the harsh outside world. In the same way, choir members and the preacher would not be as effective if there were not people willing to take care of our babies in the nursery on Sunday mornings.

Once again, Paul presents Jesus as the remedy to this internal problem in the church. We should imitate the love and forgiveness of Jesus when we deal with sin in the church. We should also imitate Jesus as we deal with self-centeredness in the church.

It’s interesting that Paul makes his point here by quoting from the Old Testament. Specifically, he quotes from Psalm 69: 9—“The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” Paul interprets this as a reference to the Jewish Messiah. This Jewish Messiah did not come with the glory due him. No, Jesus came as a Messiah who was rejected and despised by all humans.

I would have chosen a different illustration to place here. I would have chosen the story in John 13 about how Jesus served his disciples by washing their feet before the Last Supper. I would have quoted from Mark 10: 45, where Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The very nature of Jesus Christ was to serve others. When faced with the temptation to call down 10,000 angels to rescue him from his crucifixion, Jesus chose to be a servant to you and me by giving his life as a ransom for our eternal salvation.

Again, Paul encouraged us: Don’t let self-centeredness destroy your unity!

C. Persecution…(Verses 4 – 5)

In the first century, Christianity was not accepted in Rome. Christians were accused of being unpatriotic, because they would not pledge their allegiance to the Caesar. Christians were accused of being atheists, because they did not acknowledge the Roman gods. Christians were accused of committing incest, because they recognized each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Christians were accused of being cannibals, because they ate the flesh and drank the blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper.

Christians were killed, imprisoned and beaten for their faith in Jesus. As a result, many were becoming discouraged, and some gave up.

Paul encouraged: Don’t give up, and don’t get discouraged! Our hope is in the Lord. This reminds us of our theme from last week: Jesus is coming back. The wicked will be punished, and the righteous will be vindicated. Don’t give up. And don’t let persecutions destroy your unity!

III. Outside the Church.

Once again, Paul turned his attention to the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Any time you read the word “Scripture” in the New Testament, it is a reference to the Jewish Scriptures that we now recognize as the Old Testament.

Here Paul did a very interesting thing. He quoted from every section of the Old Testament…Not every book, but every section. Jewish people generally recognize three divisions within the Old Testament: Torah, Prophets and the Writings. The Torah includes the first five books of the Bible. The Prophets includes the books which were attributed to the words of a prophet, or a spokesman for God. The Writings includes the poetry and wisdom literature.

Verse 9 is a quote from David found in both 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18…

Verse 10 is a quote from Deuteronomy 32…

Verse 11 is a quote from Psalm 117…

Verse 12 is a quote from Isaiah 11.

Do you notice anything these verses from the Old Testament have in common? All of these quotes describe God’s plan to show Grace, Mercy and Salvation to the Gentiles. God never intended that Israel and the Jews would be the only ones saved. God has always had a plan to extend salvation to every nation and every people of the earth. Israel just rejected God’s plan and preferred to think of herself as God’s only people. Israel was God’s chosen people, but Israel was never God’s only people.

IV. Conclusion: Inside Out.

This is where our Scripture intersects with the story of Christmas. When God first revealed himself to Abraham, it was for the purpose of beginning with Abraham’s descendents and extending salvation to all people. Israel rejected God’s purpose, because they never turned God’s revelation inside out. They just kept it inside.

God sent his Son Jesus for the same purpose. Jesus was born into Jewish heritage, but Jesus finally turned God’s purpose inside out.

Now, we face a choice. Christmas is a wonderful time of year inside the church. But that is not enough. We must turn Christmas inside out, so that all the world can experience God’s purpose for sending his Son.

First Sunday of Advent: Jesus Is Coming in Time

Jesus Is Coming in Time
Romans 13: 8 – 14

I. Introduction.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent is the season of the year in which we prepare ourselves for the “Coming of Christ.” In fact, that is what the word “Advent” means: “Coming.”
I did not grow up in a church that recognized Advent, so when I first encountered a Baptist church observing the season of Advent, I thought they were doing something that wasn’t really Baptist. And you may be wondering the same thing. Of course, Lufkin’s First Baptist has observed Advent for many years, but most of us did not grow up at Lufkin’s First Baptist. So, for those of you wondering if Advent is Baptist or not, I have an answer. No. Advent is not Baptist. Advent is Christian.

Two times during the course of a calendar year, we pause to celebrate the highest and holiest Christian holidays. I know most of you think I am going to say Easter and Mother’s Day. No. Easter and Mother’s Day are our highest attended days of the year. Our highest holy days are Easter and Christmas. Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. When we celebrate these two significant events in the life of Jesus, we unite with Christians of all denominations from every people of the world. We are not just Baptists, we are Baptist Christians; and we unite with all Christians to worship the same Lord Jesus Christ.

By observing the first Sunday of Advent, we are beginning our Christmas worship 23 days before Christmas. This means we are extending our Christmas worship to something more than just one worship service. It also means we are creating a sense of anticipation, perhaps even giving ourselves an opportunity to prepare ourselves. We anticipate and we prepare for the “Coming” of Jesus.

There are two ways we can think of the “Coming” of Jesus. On one hand, we will light candles in anticipation and prepare our hearts for December 25. On the other hand, the hope of our faith is based on Jesus’ promise that he will one day return to this earth. So, I want to direct your thoughts this Advent season to both the First Coming of Jesus when he was born in a Bethlehem stable and the Second Coming of Jesus when he will return to bring judgment to the world and vindication to the righteous.

It was two millennia ago—in the fullness of time—that God fulfilled his promise to Israel by sending his Only Begotten Son as the Promised Messiah. God had originally called Abraham and established Abraham’s descendants as God’s own people. Then God sent Moses to rescue his people from slavery in Egypt; to lead them through the desert; and to establish God’s Law and covenant with these people. God’s people continually rebelled against God’s Law and covenant, so God sent the prophets to call God’s people to repentance and faithfulness. When the time was right—hundreds of years after the prophets fell silent—the God broke into the space and time of our world in a new way. God became flesh and dwelt among us so we could see God and know God like never before.

The birth of Jesus was the beginning of a new time. It was the beginning of the end. Today, we live in expectation of Jesus’ Second Coming. His first Coming was simple. He was born of a virgin. He had no place to call home. No one really suspected that this simple baby was the Son of God. But when Jesus returns, he will return as the righteous judge. It has not yet happened, but it will. This is another promise God has made. And we have a Bible filled with God’s promises, each of which was fulfilled exactly as promised.

Read Romans 13: 8 – 14.

This Scripture appears in a context in which Paul describes how Christians are supposed to live in the world as we wait for the Second Coming of Jesus. He writes about our relationship with the government, our relationships within the church and our relationships with non-Christians. In a nutshell, Paul told us to obey the law and pay our taxes. Then, he turns his attention to the daily relationships of life.

II. Love One Another (v. 8).

Paul starts out with some practical advice. Well, it’s practical advice to you and me. But in the ancient world, this was not so much advice as it was a common assumption. We live in a world of easy credit and high balance credit cards. In the 21st Century, there are people who make millions of dollars hosting radio programs to give out advice like this. In the ancient world, people did not carry a debt load like we are accustomed to. In fact, most people lived like our grandparents. If they didn’t have the money, they didn’t buy it. They didn’t borrow money for houses, transportation, Christmas presents. They just knew how to live without. So, Paul states the obvious: “Do not owe anyone anything.” Then, Paul introduces an acceptable debt for all Christians: the continuing debt to love one another.

There is something unusual about this debt of love. First, this is a continuing debt, which will never be paid off. As long as we live, we will always owe love to others. Secondly, this is a debt we owe, not to the people around us, but to God. God loved us and sent his Only Son who died for our sins. This is a continuous debt we can never pay off. God does not expect us to pay him back: He expects us to love each other.

III. Love Fulfills the Law (vv. 9 – 10).

Two times in this passage, Paul mentions love. The first time, he said we should “Love one another.” The second time, he quotes from Leviticus 19 and from the teaching of Jesus by saying, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

There is a very subtle difference between these two commands to love other people. The first reference is to “Love one another.” This is a refrain which we find in the teachings of Jesus, the Apostle John and here in the writings of Paul. I would make an argument here to say that this is a command for Christians to love other Christians. In other words, church people are supposed to get along.

The second reference is to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is a teaching that comes directly from the Old Testament book of Leviticus (19: 18). Most of the Jewish people interpreted this to mean they should love other Jews. However, Jesus gives us a fresh, new interpretation of “Love your neighbor” by telling us the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the parable, Jesus presented a Samaritan man as the hero—the one who demonstrated love for his neighbor. Therefore, I believe this is a reference to love people who are outsiders and do not look like us. People who are like the Samaritans—different from us in race and religion.
When we love the people who look like us and dress like us and smell like us, we are no different from the people of the world. BUT…When we love people who are different…When we love every person God has placed on this earth, we separate ourselves from the world and demonstrate that we are God’s people. We are God’s people who fulfill God’s original purpose for his people Israel. But let me ask a question. If loving each other inside the church and loving people outside the church is the way we fulfill God’s purpose, then what does it mean when Christians do not love other Christians?

Since Paul is making such a big deal about loving other people, perhaps we should ask what it means to love others. Well, if you are reading verse 10, you don’t have to wonder. Paul says that we love others when we choose not to do harm to them.

This may sound like a strange definition of love, but it is one that has been around for many years. In fact, it sounds a lot like what we refer to as the “Silver Rule.” I know you have heard of the “Golden Rule,” but have you heard of the “Silver Rule?” We believe it originated in the teachings of a Jewish Rabbi, named Hillel. Hillel was noted for teaching his disciples: “Whatever you hate, do not do that to others.”

Of course, this leaves open the possibility that it is OK for us to do nothing and feel good about not doing harmful things to others. I believe Jesus would have been aware of such a teaching about withholding evil from others and chose to set a higher standard for his followers.

Therefore, Jesus gave us an entirely positive definition of loving others by teaching us: “Do to others as you want them to do to you.”

This is love. Withholding evil and doing good to others.

IV. The Hour Has Come (vv. 11 – 12).

Here Paul begins to express his urgency in commanding us to love each other and to love the world. We should love; because the time is right…We are running out of time to do the right things.

In the New International Version I read, there is a word missing in verse 11. It may seem like a small word, but I think it changes the way we interpret this. The word is “already.” Paul did not write, “The hour has come.” Instead, Paul wrote, “The hour has ALREADY come.”

The difference is like when the alarm clock goes off in the morning. On a regular morning, the alarm goes off, and we wake up—The hour has come. But then there are some mornings when we are not quite ready to wake up when the alarm goes off. We turn the alarm off and think we can sleep for just another five minutes. Then, 30 minutes later we wake up in a panic—The hour has ALREADY come.

This is the kind of desperation Paul is communicating. Every day we live is one day closer to the Second Coming of Jesus.

Again, if you want to play with my image of the alarm clock, we can think in terms of the dawn—night is coming to an end, daylight is beginning to break. Yet, this daylight is different from the daylight of dawn. It is different, first, because it is symbolic. It is different, second, because this daylight is not recognized to everyone.

If you want to think in terms of what Jesus taught us, we can think about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God was the primary theme in the teachings and preaching of Jesus. After his baptism, Jesus began telling his followers that the Kingdom of God was at hand. When you and I place our faith in Jesus, we enter into his Kingdom by allowing Jesus to become the King of our lives. Yet, we continue to live in a world that does not acknowledge Jesus as King. Therefore, we live as citizens of two different worlds. We are ultimately citizens of God’s Kingdom, but we are forced to live in a world filled with evil, death and pain.

This is the image of light and darkness. When Jesus came into our space and time, dawn was beginning to break. Everyone who places faith in Jesus as Lord and King lives in the light that Jesus brings. However, we are surrounded by a world of darkness. Yet, this will not always be the case. When Jesus comes to our space and time in his future Coming, the light will break forth throughout all the earth. There will be no more darkness, only light—for the dawn will have come.

The church should be like that one house in the neighborhood that has Christmas lights everywhere. You know the house I’m talking about. Everyone in the neighborhood has modest decorations and a few lights on the house. But there is always one house that is so bright that the Houston airport has to divert air traffic away from it to keep pilots from trying to land in their front yard.

V. Clothe Yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 14).

There are two ways we can interpret this verse. The first way—and this is what I thought it was at the beginning of the week—is to interpret this as a baptism formula. The new convert would wear an old set of clothes to be baptized in. Then, after baptism he or she would change clothes and put on a brand new set of clothes. This was a visible representation of the spiritual change in the person’s life—Taking off the old way of life and putting on a new life with Christ.
The second interpretation is to return to Paul’s charge that it is time to wake up. What do you normally do when you wake up in the morning? I eat breakfast, I shave, and I get dressed for the day.

The hour has come. We have slept too long. It is time to wake up and get dressed. But what am I going to wear?


VI. Conclusion.

I remember when I was a child, we always went to church on Sundays and Wednesdays. We always dressed up on Sunday mornings. But as soon as I got home, I started changing clothes. I wanted to put on my “play clothes.” It’s hard to have fun while wearing your Sunday clothes.
Different clothes serve different purposes. We have work clothes, dress clothes, school uniforms, etc… No one would try to work in the yard while wearing their dress clothes! There are just some things you can’t do while wearing your best clothes.

When Paul commands us to “clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ,” he is making the same point. As long as you are clothed in Jesus, there are some things you just cannot do. But there is one thing we can do—Love.