Our sexuality is one of those topics that people don’t like to talk about. People will talk about it socially, medically, scientifically, but we tend not to talk about it in our marriages and especially in the church. As a result we are left with a completely negative connotation. If we avoid talking about it we will ultimately create our own conclusions and instead of creating our own conclusions we want to look to Scripture.
30 The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.
There are a couple of observations we can make about this passage. The first is how the Pharisees respond. The Pharisees are the religious leaders of the day and they respond how we might think Jesus would have responded. “Grumbling, complaining annoyed, eating and drinking with sinners.” They had just seen him heal the sick, cure the diseased, and then claim to forgive sins, which are all claims of His deity, and yet now Jesus is sitting with tax collectors. Who does Jesus think He is?
Jesus didn’t claim to be a good person, a good teacher, a prophet, or a religious leader, but God who comes and walks among the lowliest of low and brings a message of forgiveness and purpose. This was completely different than what the religious leaders expected. It was completely different than merely adding religious behavior.
Before we even start we need to do examine any task, challenge, or responsibility and be assured that it lines up with Scripture. If it doesn’t show up in Scripture then it doesn’t matter.
First Response: We pray. Most of the time we see something in scripture we are filled with a variety of feelings. We might feel excited, anxious, fearful, doubt, and we might feel our heart race a little faster. We start thinking, “What if I do it wrong, what if I mess up, what if other people do better than me?” Our mind and heart starts racing and that is why we need to pray. We take those thoughts and feelings to Jesus. Involve Jesus in the conversation as quick as possible. Go to Him with our fear, our anxiety, our doubts, maybe frustrations, or even anger.
Being involved in the lives of other people isn’t a new concept. It is something God has intended from the very beginning. In the Old Testament there is a an example of Nehemiah who has found himself living in a foreign land, working for a foreign king, and living a very comfortable lifestyle as a cupbearer.
This is written at a time in Israel’s history where their land, homes, and people have been devastated, destroyed, and in verse Hanani (vs. 2) returns from seeing the devastation and informs Nehemiah of their pain.
1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol, (the capital of Persia) 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.”
Nehemiah is just a regular guy and this letter is basically his journal and in verse 3 it tells us the physical condition of Jerusalem and the people. They are in distress, scared, they are in a crisis, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and gates burned with fire. There is a lack of safety and visually the gates are burned and it reminds them of the pain and loss they have experienced as a people. People have either died, been taken, or ran in fear and look at how Nehemiah responds in verse 4.
I have a 5 year old daughter and she is beautiful. This morning she put on one of her dresses that we got her for Christmas. It is a summer dress, but sometimes dresses are so pretty you just can’t wait until the summer. All you have to do to turn a summer dress into a winter dress is add a long sleeve turtle neck and thick leggings and lickety-split, your summer dress becomes a winter dress! And to be fair she is a girly girl who will do anything to wear dresses.
With her new dress on, turtle neck pulled up, and leggings tight she quickly asked me, “Daddy don’t I look pretty in my new dress?” Of course you do I replied. You are beautiful. I walked across the room to her, kneeled down beside her and said, “But it isn’t your dress that makes you pretty.” Do you know what it is? “My body”, she replied. A little caught of guard to hear a little 5 year old girl already so aware of her appearances I said, “No, not your body. Do you know what it is?” She said simply, “No.” I said it’s not your dress, your body, or your hair, but it is your sweet, sweet heart that makes you pretty.
Her face lit up with a smile and she wrapped her arms around my neck really tight. I asked her, “Do you know why its your heart that makes you pretty?”
When we show favoritism toward others it is evil
4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Showing favor toward others is placing ourselves as a judge over others and it is a position we don’t deserve and a position that scripture doesn’t desire.
First it is a position that we don’t deserve because in the end we are taking our achievements, our education, our appearances, our wealth, our intellect, and taking credit for it as though while we were in the wombs of our mothers we manipulated our DNA at the embryonic stage to give us a greater edge. Any talents, gifts, or abilities we might have are only because God made us this way. Some will push back and say that they worked harder, studied harder, tried harder, and yet still, the very tenacity that is within us to do those things are still attributes that were given to us through God. There is nothing in us innately that sets us apart from the rest of creation that qualifies us to be judges over one another. Therefore, when we step up to the table of humanity it isn’t with arrogance as though we made ourselves this way, but with humility because we are not in a position to judge and when we do it is evil.
Second it is a position that scripture doesn’t desire:
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
Verse 10 is teaching us if we stumble at just one point we are guilty of breaking all of the law because the law is the reflection of the character and holiness of God and if we are going to dwell in an eternal relationship with Him then we need to be perfect in character as well. We need to be holy.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds
Notice in verse 2 it says “whenever” we face trials. It isn’t if, or might, but whenever we face trials. Trials are going to come. Life is hard. Some of us will push back and think that is a real negative way to look at life because Jesus brings joy, and He does, but it is important to get it in the right order. He doesn’t bring joy by the absence of trials, but He brings joy in the midst of trials. It is why verse 2 starts off with “consider it pure joy”.
For some of us when we are in the midst of trials and someone said this to us it would make us want to punch them in the face, but lets be clear that it isn’t teaching us to find joy in the trial as though we should experience smiles and dancing in the midst of pain like a bunch of masochist. It isn’t that we are to take joy after the trial which is what most of us want to do right? However, it teaches us to consider it.
What does it mean to consider? To reflect, to contemplate, to think carefully about “it” about the trial. This reflection will shape our attitude toward the trial and below is a simple way to help us move in that direction:
When I was 18 a friend of mine began to talk to me about Jesus and to be honest it was really annoying. I saw Jesus as a crutch for people who couldn’t make it in life. A cosmic kill-joy. A list of rules and there was nothing about Jesus that created any curiosity or interests. My only exposure to Jesus or church were the people who came on television and asked me to put my hand on the TV screen and they would say that tingly sensation you feel is the Holy Spirit. I remembered thinking, “That’s just static from the TV!”
As a kid my grandfather would always tell me there are two types of people, those who are given money and those who earn it. That has always stuck with me since I was kid….not the money part but the two types of people. I personally think there are two types of people, those who enjoy NASCAR and those who don’t get it. I would be the person who doesn’t get it!
In Luke 15 Jesus walks through this story of a family that has two brothers that represent two types of people. One is the risk taker and one is the responsible one. The risk taker has offended his father by seeking after his inheritance entirely too early. The responsible has offended his father by not wanting to join the rest of the family.
I personally grew up in a family of risk takers. I was raised in Dallas where my mom and dad met, married, and divorced before I was 5. My mom raised my brother and I, my father was an alcoholic, and as a result I grew up really fast, really skeptical, really independent.
Throughout the spiritual journey we have been praying through a partnership in the gospel. Sometimes we might think our partnership in the gospel ends when we meet Jesus for the first time, but really it is just beginning. We are meeting this Sunday to enter into a time of prayer and reflection as we head into our last week.
Gospel
1:3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Take a moment to reflect on your salvation and pray through your gratitude of what Jesus accomplished at the cross.
Isaiah 53: But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Our church is going through a spiritual journey for the next 35 days and the theme is “Partnership” from Philippians when the Apostle Paul admonishes them for their partnership in the gospel. This week our focus is on prayer.
Have you ever felt like asking God why you should pray? What is the point? Does it make a difference? When life seems unbearable, when emotionally we feel empty, and the future doesn’t look so bright; how could prayer help our situation? It is in prayer that we find a hope and a solution for every problem we face:
• Prayer readjusts the focus of our hearts and minds. In times of crisis, it is natural to focus on the darkness of the prevailing situation. But prayer moves us to look to a source of help that will never fail us. When we focus our minds on Christ and His ability to move mightily in our situation, our hearts will cease to be anxious. Peace will reign.
The depths of the cross are overwhelming to take in, it leaves me in awe continually that the blood of Christ that was poured out on my behalf. Below are a few truths to reflect on:
• Redemption: All Christ-followers have been redeemed and forgiven. Our salvation has been purchased, as a ransom, through the blood of Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God who died as a payment for our sins and took upon Himself our guilt and punishment for those sins (Ephesians 1:7).
Over the next 35 days we will enter a spiritual journey with Jesus and with one another. It will be a time to read through scripture together and fast from areas of our life that are distractions. Not only remove distractions but replace them with spiritual disciplines. Some of us will fast from food and some will fast from technology. It will be different from everyone, but the focus is to draw close to Jesus and one another.
We do this because we believe all of us at our core are spiritual beings, but we have so many distractions that we are able to connect with Jesus and hear from him and see what he is doing. This morning we read from Colossians 2 and were reminded that when we place our faith in Jesus we are made alive. Made alive to his purpose and through him we have been given a new identity.
Not only does God have a plan but he also has a purpose. Notice the progression in verse 12.
12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Serving North Central Austin 