I was sitting with lots of old friends
and we sang and worshiped and we just had a powerful time and it was great. And
then Scott Parrish got up to preach. Most of you know Scott and after last week
you know that the man can really preach. And preach he did! He brought it! And
he started into sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and what His life, death,
burial and resurrection meant to mankind and it was powerful.
I knew lots of people there and I knew
not all of them were believers and so when he got to passionately sharing the
Gospel, I got to passionately agreeing; encouraging him with some “Amen”s and
some “That’s right”s. Every now and then somebody else would say “amen”or
something and I tried not to be loud or distracting at all but I couldn’t help
but voice my encouragement every now and then. It was a beautiful message,
preached eloquently and passionately and God was honored with the whole
service.
But afterward, I had 5 or 6 people come
up to me and jokingly say something about me being the “Amen Corner” or “getting
Pentecostal”or something. And I felt bad that I had said too much and I was
worried that people would think I was trying to draw attention to myself. And
so I apologized to a bunch of them, saying I didn’t mean to draw attention to
myself. I really wanted to draw attention to what Scott was preaching.
I don’t think anybody was necessarily
offended by what I said but I was embarrassed that they might have gotten the
wrong impression. I was embarrassed and a little sad. I was sad that my
agreement and encouragement of the preacher might have been interpreted as
something else that was not authentic worship. I was sad that the life-changing
Gospel was being beautifully and powerfully presented and I was expected to sit
there like an unchanged bump on a log.
Now, let me just make sure we all start
out on the same page with some things I am saying this morning. It is biblical
to make noise in worship. It is biblical to sing, laugh, clap, raise hands,
even dance. My only problem with any of that is when it becomes a distraction
to the people around you or it becomes something that draws attention to
yourself, which is where I feel I made the mistake the other day, even if it
was unintentional.
But if that’s not how you worship; if
that’s not how you are comfortable and you want to just sit there then I know
it doesn’t mean you aren’t worshiping or that you are not changed. It’s just
not how you do it and that’s fine too. I say all of this in the context of our
sermon series on being authentic. I want us to be an authentic church that
worships authentically and lives authentically.
I want us to be relevant and real to a
lost and dying world and we do the Gospel a disservice by highlighting the
differences in our worship styles. Our differences should be doctrinal, not
based on style or what we wear or how loud we get. We are a Southern Baptist
church because this body believes that Southern Baptists interpret the Bible
the most correctly. I don’t want a fundamental church over a contemporary
church. I don’t want a black church or a white church, rich or poor church,
redneck or uppity church.
Ok, I am more comfortable around
rednecks but I still don’t want a church that is known as anything other…than
“authentic”. I want to be part of an authentic church. I want to be part of a
church that has a passion for people and a passion for Jesus. Period. Pretty
much everything else is fluff and not substantial and not worth building a
church on. The question is, how can we be an authentic church? How do we do
that?
We talked 2 weeks ago about authentic
worship and how God has wired us as humans to worship. We saw what God
considers wicked and what He considers authentic worship from looking at the
first church in Acts 2. Then last week Scott talked about authentic
giving and how we should approach God with open hands, allowing Him to give or
take as He sees fit. Scott said we should all be funnels, not buckets. I loved
that.
This week, continuing in Proverbs
chapter 15, I want us to see how we can have authentic lives. We will never
have an authentic church if the people that make up the church are not living
authentically. And we live authentic lives by knowing what God expects of us
personally and what He does not want, as well. Let’s look at verse 9 of Proverbs 15.
“The LORD detests the way of the
wicked, but he loves those who pursue righteousness.”
Do you want the whole sermon in one sentence? Here it is.
To live an authentic life, quit living a life of sin and start doing
what God wants you to do. Thanks for
coming! See ya tonight at 6. That’s it.
That’s basically what Solomon is telling us to do here.
When he says the Lord detests the way of the wicked, it is
interesting to note what the word “way” means.
The way of the wicked literally means the path but it’s talking about
the way of life; how a person lives. And
when we think of how a wicked person lives we might think of the wicked witch
of the west, dressed all in black, cackling as she prepares a boiling cauldron
of water to cook up little Hansel and Gretel or something.
Maybe to you wicked means a drug dealer or pornographer;
someone that is ruining people’s lives through addiction. And you wouldn’t be wrong. Maybe you think of a corrupt politician (and
maybe that’s a redundant term) but you think of somebody taking money in return
for favors that are not in the best interest of the public. And you wouldn’t be wrong. Those people are wicked. And the Lord detests that kind of lifestyle.
But just like in several other instances, God has a
different standard than we do. When the
Law said don’t murder, Jesus said don’t hate.
When the law said don’t commit adultery, Jesus said don’t lust. When the law said an eye for an eye, Jesus
said when somebody takes something from you to give them even more and do it
with love. That’s a whole different
standard. And so you can imagine His
standard for wickedness is different as well.
Two weeks ago when we looked at the first church as an
example of authentic worship, we looked at Acts
chapter 2:42-47. There we see the
first church worshiping authentically while they met together in the
temple. The worshiped in each others
homes. The worshiped while they ate and
while they worked and everything they did we see that they were
worshiping. What were they doing when
they worshiped? They were just living. That was their lifestyle. That was their way.
In Acts 4 it says
that they shared everything and nobody was needy. Every now and then somebody would sell
something and donate the money to the church just to make sure everybody’s
needs were met. Then in chapter 5 we see Ananias and Sapphira come on the scene. You know the story. They sold a piece of property and told the
leaders of the church that the money they brought was the full amount but Peter
knew it was only part. They made the decision to lie and deceive
Peter and the others and that decision came back to bite them; or actually it
came back to kill them.
I have no doubt that Ananias and Sapphira were nice
people. He helped put the chairs up
after the worship. She made a great
casserole and brought it to all the gatherings.
They attended pretty often and even tithed and led a Sunday School class
for young couples. But they made a
choice and God detested that choice.
They charted a course. They made
a path, on purpose, and it made God sick!
Eleanor Roosevelt once
said, quote “One's philosophy is not best expressed in words. It is expressed
in the choices one makes.” Unquote. Our choices determine our way. Our choices determine our lifestyle. Sure, lots of things are going to happen to us
that we don’t choose and they may lead us here or there but it is our choices
that determine our way of life in those places.
We may wind up some place that we didn’t choose but God
looks at our choices that we make while we are there and He has made plain to
us through His Word what He expects us to choose. He expects us to choose to love even when
people are un-lovely. He expects us to
give even when we know we won’t be repaid.
He expects us to have joy, ask for wisdom, be humble, be united, and
forgive, forgive, forgive.
And when we make the choice not to do those things; when we
choose the wrong way, the wrong path, then that is sin and God detests
sin. In Proverbs 6 it lists some things that God hates and one of them is “a heart that devises wicked schemes”. Every sin is a choice. Somebody might say that God made them with
this anger problem and they can’t help it.
Homosexuals say they are born that way.
The apostle Paul said he did what he didn’t want to do and he didn’t do
what he wanted to do…but he still made the choice.
Every sin is a choice and sin is
detestable to God. But our verse in Proverbs 15:9 says that He loves those
who pursue righteousness. If we are
going to live authentic lives; lives that are relevant, real and attractive to
unbelievers then we will make the choice not to sin and we will make the choice
to pursue righteousness.
I want to take a quick time out
right here and tell you that if you never come here on Sunday nights, I want to
just tell you that Sunday nights are my time to ask questions. If you know the answer you can speak up but
you don’t have to if you don’t want to.
One might say one has the choice.
J But I just said something that would make a
great question for tonight. I said that
if we are going to live authentic lives; lives that are relevant, real and attractive
to unbelievers then we will make the choice not to sin and we will make the
choice to pursue righteousness.
Is that true? Does making the right choice make our lives
more attractive to unbelievers? That
might make a good question (nudge nudge wink wink). Write that down and we’ll talk about it
tonight.
Ok, time in, let’s continue on
looking at what it means to pursue righteousness. To be authentic we have to pursue
righteousness. Have you heard it said
that no one drifts toward holiness?
Holiness and righteousness go hand in hand. You have to pursue them. You can’t just relax and expect to get there.
The Bible is full of passages that
command us to pursue righteousness. 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Proverbs 21, Isaiah
51 all say to pursue righteousness but what does it mean? What does it look like to pursue
righteousness and how does that make our lives authentic?
My Dad got some sobering news from
the doctor the other day. The doc said
Pop’s bad cholesterol was way too high and he was on the verge of a stroke if
he didn’t do something immediately. The
doctor gave him some meds but he said a big part of what he needed to do was to
go on this very restrictive diet.
The good news is he can have all
the kale he wants. So does anybody know
of any good kale restaurants in Bridgeport
I’m pretty sure I couldn’t make it
on that diet. And I’m just glad I don’t
have to…yet. Now, I know that I should
be on that kind of diet. I’m sure it
would be healthier for me but the thing is, I’m just not motivated to be on
that kind of diet. I know in my mind
that eating healthier will lengthen my life and make the life I have better but
I would rather choose to eat Mexican food; you know those Dos Chiles enchiladas
with the sour cream and the cheese and the…oh, sorry Pop.
See, Pop is motivated to make the
right choice because he has seen the consequences of not making the right choice.
And now he is pursuing healthiness like his life depended on it. Now, the problem with this illustration is
that I’m comparing pursuing righteousness with going on a restrictive diet and
that diet sounds awful to me. The neat
thing about pursuing righteousness is that is the secret to living a full and
abundant life!
The story of Daniel is found, of
all places, in the Old Testament book of
Daniel. Daniel pursued righteousness
and I want us to look at his life just briefly.
Daniel, who knew a thing or two about a vegetarian diet, (remember?) is
known best for what story? He is known
best for being in the lion’s den.
You all know that story. I’m not going to read the whole thing. But I do want to read the very last verse in
that chapter, chapter 6, where
Daniel has been in the lion’s den. Daniel chapter 6, verse 28 says, “So Daniel prospered during the reign of
Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”
That’s how the story of the lion’s den ends. It says that for the rest of his life Daniel
prospered.
Why did Daniel prosper? Because he made the choice to pursue
righteousness. He made the choice to pursue
righteousness when the whole world said to do something else. And how did he pursue righteousness? Was it a big, loud, public spectacle? No. He
pursued righteousness by getting on his knees and being obedient to God in
humble prayer, just like he always did.
His path, his way of life was pursuing righteousness.
He pursued righteousness like his
very life depended on it! And in doing
so, he prospered. He had a full and
abundant life because he was motivated to make the right choices. How do you think Daniel’s friends described
him? I don’t know but I bet the word
“authentic” was used.
They didn’t see him as Hebrew,
Greek, Persian or Swedish. They saw him
as authentic because of his pursuit of righteousness. And that’s what I want. I don’t want to be known as that Southern
Baptist preacher or that Full Gospel preacher, that Methodist or that
Redneck. I want to be known as an
authentic preacher. Lord, help me to
make the right choices and to pursue righteousness like my life depends on it!
I’m not interested in a Southern
Baptist church either. I want to be part
of an authentic church where some of them are loud and some aren’t but it
doesn’t matter because all we are concerned with; all we have a passion for is
Jesus and other people. I don’t want a
big church or a small church.
To paraphrase John Wesley, give me two people who fear nothing but sin,
and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or
laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of
heaven on Earth.
And in doing so we will prosper, whatever that means,
however God chooses to bless -physically or spiritually or maybe both. Why?
Because the Lord loves those who pursue righteousness. I’m not talking about pursuing our
salvation. God gives that as a
gift. I’m talking about, as believers,
to live an authentic life that is attractive to non-believers, we need to quit
living a life of sin and start doing what God wants us to do.
Maybe this morning you have not accepted that free gift of
salvation. The good news is it doesn’t
have anything to do with your righteousness.
Isaiah 64:6 says our
righteousness is like filthy rags to God.
You can’t get to Heaven on your good works. And aren’t you glad? Aren’t you glad it is by grace and through
faith that we are saved and all we have to do is give God our sin and He is
faithful and just to forgive that sin and cleanse us from all
UNrighteousness. Amen!
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