“Authentic Worship” –Proverbs 15:8

I love to worship with my church family! There is no place I would rather be this morning. It’s a little chilly this morning and the white sand beaches of Aruba or Cozumel would be pretty nice right about now, but I would not want to miss this time with my family and friends, worshiping our Savior together. Tell me why you are here this morning. Why did you choose to get up and worship today?

 

Well, we are all about worship today. In fact, we are continuing our sermon series entitled “Be Authentic” with a look at what is authentic worship. We would all say that we are here to worship this morning so let’s look at what it really means to worship in an authentic manner by turning in your Koran to the book of Abraham. The book of Abraham is in between the book of The Kneeling Down and the book of The Victory so just turn there if you would please.

 

What? What do mean no Koran? It’s the one with the pretty cover on it. Talks about Allah. You brought one, didn’t you? No? I just thought it would be interesting to preach out of that for a while. I mean, it’s all the same, right? No? You want me to preach out of the Bible? Ok, ok. Well then, turn in your Mormon Bible to the book of Proverbs. Sure, some of the verses have been re-translated by Joseph Smith but that shouldn’t be a problem should it? God knows the Mormons are sincere in their worship and in their study of the Bible. They even added another book to it so you know they are serious. What’s the problem?

 

It’s not true, is it? It’s not right. It is incorrect. But the people who use these books are sincere, are they not? And God looks at our hearts and not just our actions so should it make any difference? I’ve heard people say that we are all just trying to get to the hub of the wagon wheel but going on different spokes. Is that true? It sure clashes with John 14:6 where Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

 

The dictionary says that the definition of worship is the reverent honor and homage paid to God. “Reverent honor and homage paid to God.” Are Muslims paying reverent honor and homage? Sure they are. They face Mecca and pray 3 times a day. Are the Mormons paying reverent honor and homage? Their worship services are usually 3 hours long with 1 hour devoted just to learning scripture. The Hindus and the Buddhists and the Scientologists all show reverence and honor but the problem comes with the last part of the definition.

 

It says to pay honor and homage “to God”. That’s God with a capital “g”. And while it may be true that Allah is the god of the Muslims, he is not The God. He is not Jehovah God, the Great I Am, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

 

And we can look at people of other faiths and think about how ridiculous it is to worship a god who doesn’t exist. We can think of people who worship the created instead of the Creator and think how foolish they are.  But how many of us make worship about ourselves and not so much about the One we say we are here to worship.  That is no more authentic worship than worshiping a golden calf or a Brahma bull.

 

So, how can we and why should we worship authentically?  I hope we see the answer to those questions as we continue our study on what it means to live authentic lives in who we are, how we worship, how we live, how we trust and how we think.  We got kind of an overall view of how we are to live last week from the book of Galatians but for the next few weeks we are going to camp out in Proverbs chapter 15.

 

This week we are going to look at verse 8 and then supporting passages from the Old and New Testaments.  But let’s go right now to the book of Proverbs, chapter 15 and verse 8.  Let’s read.

“The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.”

 

To answer the questions of how can we and why should we worship authentically, we first need to ask what worship really is.  Yea, yea, we defined it as paying reverent honor and homage to God but what is it really?  What does it look like?  What kind of building do you need to be in and what kind of music should be played to worship authentically?

 

I think most of us know that those aren’t really good questions.  Anything you do can be worship.  Anywhere you are can be where you are worshiping.  Martin Luther said a milkmaid can milk cows to the glory of God.

 

Let me ask this.  Why do we worship?  This verse talks about someone who is not worshiping correctly.  Why worship at all?  I mean, if you’re not going to do it right then why do it at all?

 

I’ll tell you why. Did you know that all people worship? Everybody does it. Baptists do it. Methodists do it. Church of Christ do it. They don’t even use instruments and yet they still do it. But not only that, even atheists worship. Republicans and Democrats worship. Truckers, bikers, doctors and morons all worship and do you know why? Because God instilled it in us. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has set eternity in the human heart.”

 

God has programmed every single one of us to worship and so we just have to decide who or what we are going to worship. And if we are not going to worship God then most of the time we worship ourselves. I want you to see that is the problem with the sacrifice of the person in the first part of our verse this morning. It says that “The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked.” That word “wicked” just means morally wrong.

 

When we think of wicked, we automatically go to the default setting of one person, don’t we? Who do you think of when I say “wicked”? No, don’t say your wife. You think of Hitler, right? Oh, yea, Hitler was wicked. There’s a special, even hotter place in hell for Hitler, at least that’s what we like to think. But this just says morally wrong. God detests the sacrifice or the worship of those who are morally not right or morally incorrect.

 

That includes the Muslim who prays to the wrong god or to the ancient Pagan who sacrificed babies to an idol. But did you know it also applies to the person in the pew or behind the pulpit who gives a sacrifice of time, talent or treasure for the wrong reason? I want us to look at another passage this morning. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 13.

 

At this point in Old Testament history Saul was anointed by God to be king of Israel. And he was a good king for them. He was a ferocious warrior and a powerful leader and literally and symbolically head and shoulders above the rest. And he was the man Israel needed at the time because there were nations surrounding Israel that wanted to see their destruction. I guess not much has changed in all these years.

But on this particular occasion Israel was defending themselves against a much more powerful and numerous Philistine army but all Saul had to do was wait 7 days right where he was and Samuel would get there and make a sacrifice and God would be on their side and victory would be theirs. So, let’s pick up in 1 Samuel 13:5-14.

 

The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven. ⁶ When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. ⁷ Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. ⁸ He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. ⁹ So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering. ¹⁰ Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. ¹¹ “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, ¹² I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” ¹³ “You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. ¹⁴ But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”

 

 

 

What was it that Saul did wrong? God wanted a sacrifice to be made so Saul made a sacrifice. And it was the right sacrifice done by a good man, trying to do the right thing.  So, what went wrong?  I’ll tell you what went wrong or, rather, I will let Saul’s successor tell you as he writes in Psalm 51:  “Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. ¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. ¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”

 

David knew what God wanted and He didn’t want the sacrifice.  He wanted David.  Saul just thought God wanted a sacrifice.  But he didn’t.  He wanted Saul.  He wanted him to show faith.  He wanted him to be obedient.  God wanted Saul to know that the sacrifice wasn’t about Saul and it wasn’t about the sacrifice.  It was about God.  David knew it and Saul didn’t and that is one reason why David replaced Saul as king of Israel.  There was a price to be paid for Saul’s lack of faith.  There were consequences for his disobedience;

 

And there still is today for us in our worship.  We offer our sacrifice of time to come on Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night or Thursday at the biker church and we think our showing up is going to impress God.  Or we come wanting people to see how we’re dressed, wanting them to hear our prayer request, or hear our testimony and to see how well-worn our Bible is. 

 

Do you know what that is?  That is morally wrong and God detests it.  It makes Him sick. When you bring your tithe after using a calculator to figure out to the penny what 10% would be and your wife pries it out of your hand, all the while you are thinking of what else you could do with that money, I can just hear God say, “Phooey on your money, tightwad!  I don’t need it.  The church doesn’t need it.  You are the one who needs to give it.  My laws and my commands are for your benefit.  And when you give with a cheerful heart there will be blessings to your obedience.  Otherwise just keep it and suffer the consequences.”

 

Saul learned what David wrote in Psalms and it was passed on to David’s son, Solomon who wrote in our text that God detests the sacrifice of the wicked.  But he also wrote that “the prayer of the upright pleases him.”  And if we want to have worship that is genuine then we too will have prayer that pleases Him.  And since we have seen what false worship looks like, let’s see what authentic worship looks like in the book of Acts, chapter 2, verses 42-47.

 

Now, if you think that to have authentic worship you have to have a large choir in choir robes singing to a grand piano and a pipe organ surrounded by stained glass, you may be disappointed with this passage.  If your idea of authentic worship requires a great, rocking band led by an energetic young millennial with a soul patch and a title of “Minister of Music Arts” then you could be disappointed by this passage.  Their worship wasn’t flashy and slick but it was godly and pure.

 

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

 

What’s different about this worship as opposed to Saul’s worship?  The first church most definitely had sacrifices to make.  They didn’t sacrifice animals or grain.  They sacrificed their time.  It says they met every day.  They sacrificed their money, giving to each as had need.  They sacrificed their food with each other and even gave sacrifices of praise and devotion.

 

 

 

 

The difference in Saul’s sacrificial worship and the first church’s was that the first church gave everything they had in their worship.  And I hate to break it to you but that’s what God still wants today.  He wants everything you have.  Saul gave an item.  The first church gave themselves.  Saul was following some rule that he thought would make God happy and it would wind up being to his benefit. The first church followed their hearts that were in tune with God and worshiped Him for the sheer joy and pleasure of doing something for God’s benefit.

 

Our original verse says, “The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.”  And at this point you may be thinking that I just said that God doesn’t want your stuff (and He doesn’t.  He already owns everything anyhow.)  But I also just said that God wants all of you including your time, talent and treasure.  So, which is it?

 

Well, again, that’s not a good question because it’s not about the stuff.  Giving of stuff shows no devotion, love or passion.  There is no relationship when you just give stuff.  Try it with your spouse sometime and see how well it works.  Give your wife a gift card to Chili’s and go play golf with your buddies on your anniversary and see how much fun you have when you get home that night.

 

In Isaiah chapter one God says to the wicked, “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah! ¹¹ “The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. ¹² When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.”

 

He might as well say, “Hey all you people living in Wise County, quit giving me lip service and start giving me your whole selves.”

 

Our worship; authentic worship of God, will include every aspect of our lives.  Worship is not just something we do on Sundays in this building.  It wasn’t for the first church.  They met every day wherever they happened to be and praised God in devoted worship, not because they felt they had to but because they couldn’t help it. 

 

They had life-changing relationships with God and it spilled over into every part of their lives.  Those relationships meant that they knew God and trusted God to provide for their every need and that kind of relationship will lead to generous and joyful giving.  And when God sees that generous, joyful giving, He sees that you can be trusted to give more and more away and He starts to bless you with more and more and pretty soon it’s a game to see who can give more away, you or God and you will always lose.

 

And don’t hear me say God will repay your gift of stuff with more stuff.  Sometimes He may decide to do that but that’s not the promise.  The promise is and what He did with the first church was there in the last line of that passage in Acts.  He added daily to those who were being saved.  He increased His Kingdom.  He furthered His Kingdom and in doing so the first church had everything that they needed.  Just like it says in the first chapter of James where it says you will be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

 

Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

 

Authentic worship includes giving reverent honor and homage to God but it’s so much more than that.  What is it that God is asking of you today?

“Be Authentic” – Part 1 – Galatians 6:1-5

This may not be the best time for this but in the spirit of being debt-free, as Scott has been telling us about this morning, I would like to kick it off by selling something that is dear to me.  I wouldn’t normally do this but I think it would be appropriate in this instance to illustrate the power of getting out of debt by selling this family heirloom.  It has been passed down for generations and is very valuable but I have no real use for it.  So, if my parents don’t mind too bad, I would like to sell the Blair family Faberge egg.  And here it is.

You know it’s the real thing because it even says Faberge on it right there.  It even has the little line over the last “e” to verify its authenticity.  Now, I looked online and the last Faberge egg that was sold was sold at auction for over 18 million dollars.  But to help me get out of debt and so as not to gouge any of you, I am willing to let this one go for just $1000.  So, the first one to pledge a thousand dollars gets it.  And I will take checks.  I trust you.  Anyone?  Don’t fight.  Just raise your hand.

Maybe you don’t understand the significance of this.  It’s worth millions of dollars.  It’s a real Faberge egg.  Just look.  I don’t know why nobody is interested.  Ok, I confess, it’s not the real thing.  Obviously we have a group of Faberge experts here who looked at it real close and finally figured out that it is an imposter.  It’s not real.  It’s a fake.  You might even say it’s a hypocrite.  It says it is something that it’s not.  And I hate that in an egg, especially in church.  It’s almost as bad as a person in church who says they are something that they are not.

And we all hate that, right?  Nobody likes a hypocrite.  Nobody wants to hang around somebody who says they are holy and doesn’t act holy.  Nobody wants to be around somebody who says they are a sanctified child of God when they act like a certified son of the devil.  And everybody feels this way and yet…there are a lot of hypocrites in the church.  How does this happen and how do we keep it from happening to us?  Those are the questions I hope to see answered today as we start a sermon series entitled simply, “Be Authentic”.

Robert Redford was walking one day through a hotel lobby. A woman saw him and followed him to the elevator. "Are you the real Robert Redford?" she asked him with great excitement. As the doors of the elevator closed, he replied, "Only when I am alone!" http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/h/hypocrisy.htm

"Only when I am alone!" he said.  It would be appropriate for an actor to say such a thing.  The word “hypocrite” was originally used to describe someone who was an actor back in the days when actors wore masks to portray different characters.  Today we use the term in a similar fashion to describe someone who says they are one thing but is in reality something different.  It is a term no one likes to be called but all too often fits almost all of us some point.  And it can be poison to a church or to an individual.

So, for the next few Sundays I want us to focus on how we can be authentic Christians in who we are, how we worship, how we live, how we trust and how we think.  Today let’s look at how to be authentic in who we are by looking at a beautiful passage in the book of Galatians.  The overall theme of the book of Galatians is how we are saved by grace and through faith, not by the Law.  And how wonderful that is but we still have a responsibility to live holy and right lives and we do that only with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit that lives within us as believers.

Chris Tiegreen says in his daily devotional that “there’s a difference between pretending to be who you’re not and disciplining yourself to be who you ought to be.”  There will always be tension between living our lives in a holy manner and being who we really are without putting on airs or pretending to be more holy than we really are.  And this passage will help us to know how to help others with the life we lead without having to put on a mask of holiness.

Let’s read Galatians 6:1-5.

“Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. ² Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. ³ If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. ⁴ Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, ⁵ for each one should carry their own load.”

Years ago my uncle first started preaching he preached a similar message on hypocrisy except for the whole message he pronounced it “hippocrissy”.  We don’t want to have hippocrissy in the church no matter how you pronounce it and so we look at this passage and we see how to be authentic Christians in who we truly are without pretending to be more holy than we really are. 

And I want us to see 3 things as we study this passage closer.  I want us to see how to restore your brother, regard yourself and revere others.  Verse 1 says, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore that person gently.”

There’s a lot in that one sentence but real quickly let’s see that he starts out with “Brothers” or some versions say “Brothers and sisters”.  He is talking to what we now call Christians and talking about Christians.  This does not apply to non-Christians.  I’ve said before that you can expect non-believers to act like non-believers.  Don’t be surprised when someone who does not have a life-changing relationship with Jesus doesn’t act like their life has changed.  It hasn’t.  But a fellow Christian should act that way.  He should be different, set apart and holy.

 

But even those of us that are Spirit-filled, Jesus-loving, God-worshiping believers sometime mess up.  We all do it.  But I want you to note the phrase that is used here.  If someone is “caught in a sin” we are to restore him.  That phrase literally means to be caught as in a trap or to be surprised or overtaken.  Sometimes we go looking for sin and sometimes sin comes looking for us.

 

Just before Jesus was arrested, He and Peter had a conversation that went something like this.  Peter said, “Now Lord, I just want you to know that no matter what happens, I got your back.  No matter what the others do I will be there for you.  James may fail you.  Matthew may high-tail it.  Even John may run away but I never will.  You can count on me.”  And Jesus told him that Peter would deny him 3 times before morning.  “No, no!  You must be thinking about Judas.  That’s not me.”  And we all know what happened.

 

Can you imagine the guilt Peter must have felt?  Can you comprehend the shame that wouldn’t let him sleep or eat or function normally at all?  It had to be his every thought.  It had to be in every dream.  He never would have imagined he could do such a thing.  Sin came looking for him and he fell right in the trap.  He was caught by sin.

But what did Jesus do?  When Jesus appeared to the disciples He could have told everybody what Peter did.  He could have heaped well-deserved shame on him and driven him away.  But instead, Jesus made it a point to go to Peter and gently restore him.

 

That word “restore” is a word that Peter would know.  It was the same word used when it says in Matthew 4 that Jesus saw James and John mending their nets.  They would restore or mend their nets when they were broken by gently patching the net to make it usable again.  They would make that tear or break into a strong point again.  And that is just what Jesus did with Peter.

 

Jesus gently restored Peter, not by pretending it didn’t happen.  He didn’t say, “Aw, it’s ok.  It didn’t really hurt that bad.”  No, Jesus just showed great grace and mercy and forgiveness to the one who was broken and hurting and made him whole again and usable for the Kingdom.  And when Jesus restored him, he was restored better than ever.  He was a better man, a better apostle, a better preacher, a better husband.  I bet he was even a better fisherman when Jesus gently restored him.

So, you brothers who are spiritual; you who are living according to the Spirit living inside you; you should gently, not harshly, not publicly, not loudly, not gleefully but gently restore that friend and brother who has been caught in the trap of sin and make him strong again in his faith and in the Kingdom.

 

So we see that we are to restore our brother but you are also to regard yourself.  That next phrase is extremely important.  In fact, it is the secret to being an authentic believer as opposed to a genuine hypocrite.  “But watch yourself.”  Why does it say to watch yourself?  What possible harm could come of somebody restoring a brother gently?  Well, you think about that question as I tell you this story about what happened the other day.  I don’t want to mention any names but you won’t believe what I caught Scott doing the other day.  Oh, yea, it was horrible.  I just hope his wife and kids don’t find out.  That would be sad.  We need to pray for that family, I’ll tell ya.  But don’t worry.  I was able to step in and restore him gently back to a usable state just like the Bible says.  And I did it right and with love so look at me.

 

Ok, no, I did not catch Scott doing anything.  I just used him in this example to show the traps that we can fall in when we restore somebody.  What traps did I fall into?  Did you hear me fall into the trap of pride? Slander? How about gossip?  Except it’s not gossip if you say we should pray for them, right?  That makes it a prayer request.  No, it still makes it gossip!  And do you know what prideful, slandering gossips are?  They are hypocrites and they are not being authentic.  And they are sinning.  And do you know what sinners need?  They need somebody to restore them.

 

Mark Twain said, quote, “We're all like the moon, we have a dark side we don't want anyone to see.” Unquote.  And that dark side can come out into the open at any time.  We have all been there and we will probably be there again, needing someone to restore us. We will probably find another trap and be caught by sin again.  And we know that God is good and faithful to forgive us our sin when we repent; when we turn away from that sin and ask for forgiveness, knowing that it was for that sin that Jesus bled and died.  And so that forgiveness is not a problem.

 

It’s the forgiveness and restoration of our friends and family and, Lord forgive us, our churches - that is the problem.  And we wonder why people are turned off by the premise of getting up on Sunday morning, getting dressed in clothes we can’t afford and in which we aren’t comfortable to go be with hypocritical condemning judges who smile at your face and talk behind your back all the while doing worse than what they are accusing you of the whole time!

 

I won’t be a part of a church like that and I thank God I am not a part of a church like that.  Because some of us have that dark side that Twain was talking about just barely hidden.  Some of us remember being in that trap of sin and remember the loved one that gently restored us not so long ago.  And we are eternally grateful for that loved one but we don’t want to go back into that trap because we know the consequences of that sin.

 

So, restore your brother but regard yourself, lest you fall too.  Because like Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”  Who wants to live with God’s face hidden from them?  But we don’t have to and Paul is warning us here how to keep from it.

 

And lastly he tells us to not only restore your brother and regard yourself but we should revere others.

Let’s see that in verse 2 where it says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

 

I saw a quote that said, “Those who commit injustice bear the greatest burden.  Hosea Ballou  Maybe you know that feeling.  As a believer, sin should grieve us.  It grieves God and what grieves God should grieve us.  It should be a burden on us.  If you can sin without it feeling like a burden or without it feeling grievous then something is wrong.

 

Thankfully we have forgiveness of our sins.  1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  So, we know God will forgive us; that no sin is too horrible for Him to forgive.  Then when we get over the hurdle of our friends and family forgiving us, then we can start to forgive ourselves.  That’s where verse 2 comes in. 

Helen Keller said, “Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.”  Ecclesiastes 4:10 says, “For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!”  There is not a worse feeling than being alone after you have messed up.    That’s when you know who your friends are when you have made some bad choices and you are suffering the consequences and someone comes along beside you.

 

They don’t lecture you.  They don’t scold you.  They don’t talk down to you and it’s usually because they have been there before.  They just come and love on you as you need to be loved on.  Maybe that means you have a long talk.  Maybe that means you just go fishing.  You need someone in your life who you know has forgiven you and just wants nothing other than to get you through to the other side.

 

I have heard counselors say that this person should be someone other than your spouse.  Evidently, we are the hardest on those we love the most intimately.  And that’s a shame because who better than the one who knows you best to do what is best for you.  If your spouse is going through a trial brought on by their own sin and they have sincerely asked God for forgiveness of that sin then who better to help carry that load than you?

 

Because when you carry that load, when you lovingly and gently come alongside of that person, look at what the verse says about that.  “And in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ”.  Now what is the law of Christ?  Well, He tells us plainly in John 13:34 where Jesus says, “I give you a new law. That law is, "Love each other." As I have loved you, so you also love each other.  ³⁵ This is how all people will know that you are my disciples.'”

 

DL Moody told the story of a little boy that went to Sunday School in Chicago at a church on the other side of town from where he lived.  When his friend asked him why he went to that church instead of one of the other churches closer to where he lived, the little boy said, “I go there because there they love a fellow.”

 

When we carry each other’s burdens and we restore each other gently, making sure that we don’t get prideful about it or start to gossip about it; when we do those things we do exactly what Jesus did and what He commands us to do.  It shows that we love people.  Nobody wants to go to a church filled with hypocrites but everybody wants to go where they love a fellow and prove it biblically.

 

So we see in this passage that we are to restore our brother, regard ourselves and revere others to keep ourselves and our church authentic.  But do you know what the most hypocritical thing a person can do is?  Do you know what drives more people away from church than anything else?  It is saying you are a part of the body of Christ when you are not.

 

Maybe you have gone to church all of your life.  You might even be a member here or somewhere else and your daddy was a preacher and your mama was a Sunday School teacher but you don’t have a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus.  You are on all the right committees and you know all the verses to all the songs but if you have never asked Jesus into your heart to be Lord and Savior then you, my dear friend, are a hypocrite.  You are not being authentic.

 

The good news is that there is Good News.  And that Good News is the Gospel of Jesus that says He was born, lived, died and was resurrected to pay the debt for sin that you could never pay.  Because we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God the Bible says that what we get for that sin is death.  Sin requires a payment of death but Jesus paid that for you on the cross and is anxiously waiting for you to just accept it and receive His forgiveness.

 

Will you do that today?  Don’t be a hypocrite.  Be authentic.

"How to Waste Time" - Part 2 - Anger - Genesis 4:2-8

It’s the spring of 1894.  It’s a much simpler time.  And a beautiful day for baseball in Boston .  The Baltimore Orioles are in town and everything is shaping up to be a great game on a great day.  Until the Orioles' John McGraw got into a fight with the Boston third baseman.  It started out as a minor disagreement between the two but quickly spread to all the men on both teams.  And then, as so often happens, a similar fight broke out in the stands among different fans.  That too spread until almost everybody at the game was fighting with somebody.  Then somebody actually set fire to the stands and the whole ball park burned down.  But it didn’t end there.  That fire actually spread to 107 other Boston buildings as well. What started out as a minor disagreement nearly burned down a whole city.  And it started at a baseball game.

 

Isn’t that ridiculous?  I will say, though, that not much has changed in 120 years.  Just before Christmas in the Bronx , huge fights broke out over the new Nike Air Jordan 11 Gamma Blue sneakers.  Multiple people had serious injuries over $185 pair of shoes.  Isn’t that crazy?

 

A while back, a man in Topeka , Kansas was arrested after he drove his car through the front doors of Dillon’s Grocery Store.  When asked why he did it he said he was angry because the wind blew a shopping cart into his car and scratched it…so he crashed the car into the building.  Sometimes I think the world has gone crazy.  Or at least I would if I didn’t know that this kind of thing has gone on literally since the beginning.

 

Now, the Bible doesn’t say anything about Adam and Eve getting into any arguments, although, I’m sure there was plenty of heated discussions about whose fault that whole apple incident was.  “I told you not to eat that thing!”  “Well, I wouldn’t have eaten it if you had been sensitive to my needs!”  But their 2 sons did have a problem one time as you may remember.  And it did not turn out well.  Turn to the very first book in the Bible, Genesis, and let’s look at chapter 4, verses 2-8.

 

As you turn there, I want to build on something we talked about last week.  Everybody says they hate to waste time and yet we do it every day in one way or another.  Some people watch too much TV.  Some people spend too much time on Facebook.  Others may gossip.  People do all kinds of things that are a waste of time but I want to focus on 2 things that really gobble up large amounts of people’s time but also do damage in other ways as well.

 

Last week we talked about how worrying was such a waste of time.  We know that worry is a waste of time and that we are not supposed to do it but we also saw that it is a sin, creating a barrier between us and the One Who is able to help us, God.  This week we will look at the sin of anger and see that it too is a timewaster but that it also does great damage as well.  Let’s read about the first murder ever committed, a murder born of anger.

 

Genesis 4:2-8 says,

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. ⁴ And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.⁶ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”⁸ Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

I mentioned earlier that anger is a sin.  I think we all know that not all anger is a sin but the kind of anger we are going to be talking about today most definitely is.  The other kind of anger is anger like Jesus expressed toward the men who were selling things in the temple and defiling the temple in such a way that Jesus got very angry and even started turning their tables over.  That kind of anger is what we might call “righteous indignation.”

Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be angry and do not sin.”  The problem is that when the time comes for us to show righteous indignation most of us sit on our hands and wait for somebody else to do it.  But when somebody gets our parking spot at Walmart, then we want to emulate Jesus and go off on somebody.  But it doesn’t work that way.

Let’s look closer at the true story of Cain and Abel again.  I’m sure you have all heard a hundred sermons preached or lessons taught about this passage since you were a little kid.  And there are volumes and volumes of books written about this with the common conclusion basically being that God was not so much displeased with the offering of Cain itself as He was with Cain.  It was Cain’s attitude that spoiled the offering.  And that is a huge lesson to be learned for all of us.

But what fascinates me most this morning in relation to our topic of how anger is a waste of time and more is what God says to Cain in verses 6 and 7.  And in these 2 verses we will see how we can either be accepted by God or acquired by sin.  Then we will look at some practical ways that we can achieve victory over anger.

So, let’s read verses 6 and 7 again.   ⁶ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

“If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?”  The word accepted is to be accepted by God and means to be raised up or have dignity in the eyes of God.  That’s fascinating to me because Todd has a hard time believing that God could ever respect him.  But that’s what is meant by that phrase and it comes from the mouth of God Himself.  When we overcome the sin of anger, God has respect for us.

I’ll be honest.  I had a hard time writing that in my notes.  I really had to study that phrase and what it meant over and over to be sure I was right.  You know, it has always amazed me when I think about God wanting to be my friend.  We sing about it and we hear that Abraham was called God’s friend.  Jesus even said in John 15:14 that, “You are my friends if you do what I command.”

But when I think of who I am and Who God is it is hard for me to understand it.  But as far as I am from deserving it, I have to believe it.  And if we are God’s friend then I can believe that He has respect for us when we overcome sin, like this sin of anger that Cain is dealing with.

And at this point I want us to see that it is not too late for Cain.  He has not sinned yet and God is encouraging him not to by telling him the pros and cons of the choice he has to make.  We have all been there.  Something negative happens to us.  Somebody cuts us off on the highway.  Somebody cuts us out of the will.  Somebody cuts us with a knife.  Whatever it is, big or little; it’s the same sin of anger if you respond incorrectly.  But at the moment it happens, you have a choice.

You have heard it said that you can’t keep a bird from flying over your head but you can keep it from building a nest in your hair.  Well, that bird had flown over Cain’s head but had not yet landed and so it was not too late for him to make the wise choice and to respond properly.  And God was encouraging Cain to do just that.  Respond properly and be accepted and respected by God.

We might not think about it but God knows how difficult it is for you to overcome sin.  He created you and He knows you.  He also knows about sin.  Jesus was tempted just like we are and He never gave in but He knows the struggle.  He knows how hard that is.

That’s why when we as believers have been obedient we can expect God to welcome us into Heaven, not with, “Ok, next!” but with, “Well done my good and faithful servant!  I know how hard that was for you.  I was with you every step of the way and I saw how hard you tried and I saw you fail but I also saw how you stored my words in your heart and allowed me to work in and through you to overcome that sin.  So, I respect you for that and welcome you in to my Heaven!”

In Acts 10 it says, “So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”  Again, that word “accepted” means to be raised up or have dignity or be respected by God.  And how do we do that?  God told Cain to do what is right.  Peter said if we do what is right.  And we will see in a minute some practical ways we can make sure we do what is right.

But first let’s look at the consequences of not doing what is right.  Let’s see what will happen if we allow that bird of anger to build a nest in our hair.  Read the end of verse 7 again.  “But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”  This verse reminds me of 1 Peter 5:8 that says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

So, we have 2 choices:  we can either do the right thing and handle our anger correctly and it says we will have the respect of Almighty God or we can poke the lion with a stick.  It says that sin is crouching at your door and that gives the picture of an evil demon crouching there waiting for you to open the door so he can devour you.  When you open the door to sin, you are opening the door to the powerful being that wants nothing more than to kill you dead.

Anger doesn’t just waste time just like worry is not just a waste of time.  Both are sinful and sin puts a barrier between us and the One that can and will help us and opens the door to the one who wants to kill us.

But the last part of verse 7 says that we must master it.  We must master our anger so there must be a way to do that.  Abraham Lincoln's secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, was angered by an army officer who accused him of favoritism. Stanton complained to Lincoln, who suggested that Stanton write the officer a sharp letter. Stanton did, and showed the strongly worded missive to the president. "What are you going to do with it?" Lincoln inquired. Surprised, Stanton replied, "Send it." Lincoln shook his head. "You don't want to send that letter," he said. "Put it in the stove. That's what I do when I have written a letter while I am angry. It's a good letter and you had a good time writing it and feel better. Now burn it, and write another." http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/a/anger.htm

There are ways of handling your anger.  You can go to anger management classes and they will probably teach you things like Lincoln was teaching.  They might even teach you to count to 10 before responding or to put yourself in the other person’s shoes.  But I want to show you what the Bible says about it, written by a man who had reason to be angry lots of times.

He was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, left for dead, starved, robbed and put in prison all for just preaching the Gospel and nowhere does it mention him being angry at the ones who did it to him.  When talking about anger, some people use the excuse that that’s just how they are and they can’t help it.  God made them that way.

That excuse doesn’t fly when you see that Paul was once Saul and it says that he was “breathing out murderous threats” on one day and the next thing you know he was the Apostle Paul who gave great insight into overcoming anger in the book of Ephesians.  Turn there if you will, to the 4^th chapter, starting in the 25^th verse and let’s read through the end of the chapter.

²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶ “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold. ²⁸ Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.²⁹ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

There are 92 more sermons right there but I promise I’ll be brief and just give you 3 helpful, practical ways you can overcome the sin of anger as written by somebody who has done it.  Paul says in verse 25 to speak truth.  Now, why would he say that in context of anger?  Well, it makes perfect sense.  What happens when you are dishonest and you are found out?  Somebody gets mad at you and you get mad at them in return.  It doesn’t make sense but tell me it doesn’t happen because it does.

And Romans 12:18 says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”  And that means to always speak the truth and do not deceive.

So, #1 is to speak the truth.  #2 is from verse 26 and that is to stay current with your anger.  It says not to let the sun go down on your anger.  And that is whether it is righteous indignation anger or sinful anger, let it last no more than a day.  I have heard it said that a person who is angry on the right grounds, against the right persons, in the right manner, at the right moment, and for the right length of time deserves great praise.

And #3 is to attack the problem not the person.   This is from verse 29 that says to build others up with your talk.  I just quoted Romans 12:18 but let me read the whole paragraph that it comes from.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  That’s Romans 12:17-21.

So, God told Cain to overcome the sin of anger.  And Paul said it and proved it could be done.  So, we can do it too.  God knows that anger and worry both are not just a waste of time but they can be extremely harmful to us, our friends and relatives and to our relationship with God.  A lady once came to Billy Sunday and tried to rationalize her angry outbursts. "There's nothing wrong with losing my temper," she said. "I blow up, and then it's all over."  "So does a shotgun," Sunday replied, "and look at the damage it leaves behind!"  Billy Sunday.

So, this year let’s all try not to waste any time with worry or anger.  But the real secret to not doing that is by first making sure that you have a relationship with God through His Son Jesus.  Because it is through that relationship that we not only have forgiveness for doing those things but the help we need to overcome and not do them again.  And those are just earthly benefits.  I would love to tell you more as the music plays and we enter into our time of invitation.