Sermon on the Mount X

Subtitle:  Correcting the Righteousness of the Hypocrites I

Matthew 6:1-4.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 11, 2024.

Chapter six of the Sermon on the Mount clearly moves on to another main point.  Jesus has been looking at the teaching of the Scribes and the Pharisees, the teachers of his day, and showing how it fails to fulfill the Law.

Now, Jesus moves to exposing the problem with the apparent “righteousness” of these “hypocrites.”  However, more than exposing their problem, Jesus shows his followers how to live out true Kingdom righteousness.  Whereas the previous point showed the lack of love for others in their teaching, this point will show the lack of a true heart for God in their righteousness.

In fact, what Jesus shows here is at the root of the common problem that religious institutions tend towards corruption.  If their teaching is superficial, i.e., has no heart, so their righteousness itself is also superficial.  It is generally not for the glory of God.

Jesus will look at three areas of spiritual matters: charity (acts of mercy), prayer, and fasting.  It is not by accident that prayer is at the center of this point, and at the center of the whole Sermon on the Mount.

Today we will focus on the acts of mercy that are often called charitable deeds.

Let’s look at our passage.

The way of righteousness (v. 1)

Though Jesus does not use the word “way” here, it an important theme throughout the Old Testament, and the work of Messiah.  John the Baptist details this when he comes forth as the voice in the wilderness that calls for the way of the LORD to be prepared.  At the end of this sermon, Jesus will point to the “narrow way.”  This is essentially following the teaching of the Messiah, Jesus.

We also know that Jesus is talking about their “righteousness” in this chapter because of his words back in Matthew 5:20.  There is a question in the manuscripts in verse 1 on whether it says, “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds…,” or if it read, “Take heed that you do not do your righteous deeds…”  The manuscripts that are older and more reliable actually split about 50/50 on which is original.  The difference is not significant, but if the proper word is “righteous deeds,” then this verse serves as an up front description of what is wrong in the following three areas of righteous deeds.  I believe that is most likely and it would also create a clear tie back to the earlier recognition that our righteousness needs to exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees.

In truth, deeds of righteousness is the larger category of which charitable deeds is a subset, just as prayer and fasting are other subsets of this larger category.  Historically, these were so close that “righteousness” was often used to refer to them as a synonym.

Let’s tie this into our role as imager of God.  If we will listen to Jesus on this point, we will be able to properly image God the Father to the world around us.

We should also recognize that charitable deeds is not just about money.  It literally means an act of mercy.  If we use the Good Samaritan as an example, you will see that the most important thing that he gave to the ambushed man was his careful attention.  Everything that he did from that man flowed from a heart of compassion, mercy.

Jesus gives us a command.  “Do not do your righteous deeds before men…”  However, instead of putting the imperative upon the verb, i.e., “do not do…,” he puts the imperative on the verb “take heed!”  The effect of this is to intensify the imperative.  Jesus commands us to take up this area of our life and pay close attention to it.  It can be translated as: “beware,” or “Be careful.”  We need to spend time thinking through this any time we go to do an act of righteousness.  In the book of Deuteronomy, this kind of language generally points to an area of sin that we need watch out for or we will fall.

Thus, we are told that our intention must never be about other people seeing us.  If you do that, then you will have no reward from God because He knows that you are not doing it for him, but for them.  We see this in the story of the widow’s mite.  The motive of the rich man will only be rewarded by the adulation of the crowd.  What about the widow?  Most people who saw her probably contemptuously looked down on what she was doing.  Even when she did it in public, she was not in danger of doing it for the praise of man.

Messiah corrects them in their charitable deeds (v. 2-4)

Let’s be clear up front that we are not talking about salvation as a reward for our “righteousness.”  Before we come to Christ, our righteousness is as filthy rags.  However, when we come to Christ in faith, we are now saved.  Yet, through his teaching and with the help of his Holy Spirit, we are enabled to walk out the righteousness of Christ, and even fulfill the Law.  We are enabled to better image God the Father to the world around us.

Of course, walking out the righteousness of Christ is wrapped up in our salvation.  Our salvation in Christ is the foundation upon which we walk forward.  If I don’t keep my eyes upon Christ, and worse, I begin to resist and rebel against the Holy Spirit, then I can harm my own faith in Christ, even to the point of walking away from him.  Thus, on one hand, we can never merit salvation through walking out the righteousness of Christ.  Yet, on the other hand, if I become discouraged and walk away from Jesus, then I can forfeit it.  So, the one is integral to the other.  He has saved me, and that stirs up the desire to image him to the world.

We notice in verse 2 that Jesus describes a trumpet being blown when the hypocrites are going to do a charitable deed at the synagogue or on the streets.  It is unclear whether this was literally being done, or if it is an apt symbol of what they were doing.  Regardless, whether literal or metaphorical, it does serve as a great symbol of a person trying to draw attention to what they are about to do.  They do things that “trumpet” their deeds.  Of course, this doesn’t just happen in religious works among religious people.  The secular world is full of trumpeting one’s own goodness.  But, God’s people should be different.

The point is that they would not give, or do an act of mercy, without having a mechanism by which to draw attention to it.  Why?  It is because they want to be seen by men so that they will receive some kind of glory from them.  If we think of all the inner vices that Jesus referred to in working through the six case studies on the Law, they lust for the attention and glory that people will give them.

It is easy to despise those who give great sums of money in order to get their name on a building when we don’t have enough money to do the same.  The problem is not that they have money, and it is not that they even give it away.  The problem is the intention of the heart is all pointed towards people and not God.  In fact, not all people who give large donations do what we are seeing in these verses.

Essentially, Jesus is speaking to a crowd that most likely does not have much money.  He is telling them that these rich scribes, Sadducees, and Pharisees, might appear to be quite righteous, but most of their hearts are not right before God.  They simply lust for the glory of people.

We people are too quick to give glory to others.  Of course, we are not God and cannot see the motives of people’s hearts.  However, that is exactly why we should be careful glorifying the righteous deeds of others.  We are all too ready even to trumpet for them, and to continue to trumpet long after the deed has been done.  This is not about judging them, but recognizing that we do not know the true value of what they have done.

All of this is couched in a negative command.  We are not to draw attention to our charitable deeds.  More importantly, our motivation for giving must not be driven by the recognition we could get from other people for being so righteous.

This brings up the greater issue of why we should give charity.  Notice that Jesus just assumes they will do it.

As I said before, the word basically means “an act of mercy.”  It emphasizes that you do not owe a person anything, but you are touched in your heart (actually deep in your guts) for them.  You have compassion upon them.  In prayer before God, and with the knowledge of my resources, I determine in my heart what I am going to do. 

However, we need to be careful of thinking that God needs to give us a particular number- not that He can’t do that if He wants.  However, He actually wants you to become like Him.  That means your love and compassion needs to be expressed by you.  Perhaps, you could have done more, but what you did was good, if it was done for Him.  An act of love is and act of love. 

Imaging God is at stake here.  No one is more compassionate and giving than God.  Our charitable giving needs to be out of a desire to be like God in this world by helping others.  In fact, it shouldn’t even be about a desire to get God to bless you more in this life.  God is always blessing us.  Why do I crave more?  As God supplies in your life, respond compassionately to the world around you with your time, energy, help, and even giving. 

At the end of verse three, Jesus gives us the command in a proverbial form.  I believe this is all about counteracting our inner desire, even lust, to be recognized by people for our charitable deeds.  All proverbs can be abused.  I’ve heard some justify not telling another family member what they are doing because we are not to let our left hand know what the right hand is doing.  However, verse 4 clarifies exactly what Jesus means.  Do your deeds in secret.

The right hand was typically the hand of giving to others.  Yet, we should recognize that the left hand belongs to the same body.  So, this may actually be saying something that is going on internally within us.  When we give, we should not give a second thought to what a good thing we are doing.  We should not even judge our own works as too how good they are before God.  We should simply do them and move on.  Don’t get a big ego over it.  Don’t even internally trumpet your goodness.  This will only have a corrupting influence in your heart.

Of course, Jesus is not creating a law here, and if someone finds out that you gave a charitable donations, then God will be angry and punish you, or simply not give you a reward.  It is actually quite hard to give mercy to another person without at least them knowing.  Should you hide such things from your spouse?  I don’t think Jesus is trying to create an environment where we are hiding things from our spouse.  The point is to be taken simply, and at face value.  Make your aim to please God and to show His love to others.  Pay close attention to your motivation, the desire that is motivating you.  If you will do this then the details will become immaterial.

Let’s end with looking at the rewards for both the hypocrites and for the followers of Messiah.

The hypocrites are rewarded.  However, it is not by God.  God allows them to have whatever glory people are giving for such things.  They simply get what they were looking for.  God doesn’t owe them anything because it wasn’t done for Him.

Yet, there is a trap in their giving.  The corrupting influence of the glory of the people will continue working in our hearts.  It will continue to corrupt until no good thing remains.  The word here for “rewards” can be used for positive or negative things.  Thus, it can take on the idea of punishment.  Perhaps, the glory of men is a punishment that God gives to the wicked.

How much charity is given out of wrong motives?  How much charity is given from hearts that hunger for something other than God?  Whatever you are hungering for (whether as a giver, or even as a receiver) becomes an idol, and to worship an idol is to become a worthless, vain thing ourselves.

We were not designed to hold up well under the glory of people (just look at the lives over time of those who have it). 

There is nothing wrong with giving honor where honor is due, but we need to be really careful.  We are a people who love to idolize others.  Perhaps, it has something to do with living vicariously through them, even being a part of the group that they came from.  Yet, the adulation of a crowd can never satisfy a heart that was designed to be satisfied by the One True God.  All other things fall short of His glory.

This brings us to the righteous who do their charitable deeds for the right motives and in secret (as best can be done).  Giving secretly leads to a reward from God.  The word “openly” is in question and is not found in the oldest manuscripts.  We should be careful of overemphasizing a reward in this life.  God is constantly blessing us in this life.  But, later in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will emphasize laying up treasure in heaven.  Peter speaks to this in 1 Peter 1:4.  There, he calls it an inheritance reserved in the heavens.  If we live for Christ in this life, then He has a great reward for us in the life to come.  Our great reward is to be resurrected and inherit the whole earth with Jesus.  We will serve as the glorified, righteous administration of King Jesus.  It is not yet manifest what we will be, but when Jesus comes, we will appear with Him clothed in His glory!  Now, that is much better than screaming crowds of fallen people shouting our name!

Correcting Hypocrites audio

Such Love-Part 1

Subtitle: He Became One of Us

John 1:14-18; Philippians 2:5-11.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Palm Sunday, April 2, 2023.

Today we begin a 6-part series about God's love, and how we should respond to it.

Love is a matter of call and response, or action and response.  In a way, God is always the initiator of love because of His eternal nature.  We are always the responders.

I want to refresh our memories of just how much God loved us in the coming of the one we know as Jesus, or in Hebrew, Yeshua.  On top of His love 2,000 years ago, we have His great love for us today, for you, and for others.  Do you not realize that God's amazing love will be embracing you even unto your last breath?  His amazing love will even be with humanity to the end of this age, and into eternity.

Let's look at our passage today, and remind ourselves of God's great love.

The Word became flesh (John 1:14)

In this chapter, John speaks of the One called "the Word" who is identified in verse 17 as Jesus Christ.  The Word becoming flesh points back to that moment in time when Mary first conceived.

The miracle of the incarnation is often doubted.  It is believed that Mary clearly made up the story.  However, does this square with all of the evidence?

Let's just go with the cynic on this one and assume that Mary did make it up.  Her pregnancy would have either been by Joseph, or some other man that she is unwilling to name.  Modern man may scoff that they didn't know science like we do today.  Thus, the people of Nazareth were easily duped.

Of course, this is not what happened and is very snobbish towards that generation.  They knew exactly how a woman became pregnant.  No one believed Mary's story at first, not even Joseph.  He was going to put her away silently.  However, Joseph changed his mind and married Mary.  They lived their lives with the stigma hanging over their heads that they had not waited for the proper moment to be intimate.  No one would have bought their story.

Here is the rub.  If Mary was lying, then Jesus should have fallen within the range of the Judeans of his day.  He might be a little smarter or not, but we would not expect him to stick out among the greats of Israel, much less all mankind.  The miracles of Jesus, his death and resurrection, are not explainable by a natural conception.  Of course, the skeptic continues to deny everything.  None of the miracles happened.  The resurrection didn't happen.  Over the top of all the eye witness testimony, the skeptic's biases reign supreme.   There is just too much evidence that something strange was going on with this Jesus of Nazareth.

In the opening verses of this chapter, it is clear that John is using language from Genesis chapter 1, "In the beginning..."  The apostles of Jesus had come to see the reality of who Jesus really was.  He is the Son of the Most High God, but not in the way that humans would understand sonship.  Even before anything was created, the eternal Son existed as the eternal Word of God.  How does John come up with the idea that there was a "Word" of God in the Genesis 1?  Well, primarily he doesn't "come up with it."  He understands it by the revelation of Jesus and the Spirit of God.  However, it is important to see that Genesis 1 describes the Father saying, "Let there be light,"  When we speak, words go forth from us.  Of course, God is not flesh and blood and there is no air around Him to propagate sound waves.  However, something greater is being revealed.  The One who created man, with the ability to speak and send powerful ideas out into the world around him, is able to "speak" and send forth "word" in a greater way.  What is not made clear in the text of Genesis 1 is explained in John 1.  The eternal Word was the eternal Son who went forth to accomplish what the Father desired.  John is also probably looking at Proverbs 8, in which wisdom is personified and depicted as working with God at Creation.  In a sense, John is saying that Proverbs 8 is not just poetry.  It is revelation that is not clear until the Wisdom of God, the Word of God, took on flesh.

This is the amazing part.  This One who has eternally existed not only with God, but as divine, became human.  This speaks to the depths that God was willing to go in order to save us, to show His love for us.  Yes, God is good and therefore He will do good things, but He doesn't have to be that good!  This call and response of love cannot be broken down into "laws."  Anyone who says, "This is what you have to do in order to love me," has something wrong in their heart.  They are not speaking with love themselves.  Love must be free to act and to respond.  Love must not be controlled and manipulated; true love will not dictate to other how they "must" show love.

This brings us to Philippians 2:5-11.  It uses language from Genesis 1 as well (verse 26).  In Genesis, man is made in the "likeness" of God.  He is not God, but is like Him enough that a personal relationship can develop between them.  We see this in Genesis 3 when it tells us that God would come down in the cool of the day to meet with Adam and Eve.  In Philippians, something is happening in the opposite direction.  Though man is made in God's likeness, through Jesus, God has taken on the nature and form of a man.  The Word didn't just become like a man.  Rather, He became a man.

This begs the question, "What was He thinking?"  The context of Philippians 2 is the kind of mind that Christians need to have.  Thus, Paul points back to the incarnation, taking on of flesh, of the Word of God in Jesus.  We need the same kind of mind that Jesus had when he agreed to such a plan.

Of course, becoming human is nothing to us because we are human.  Jesus was divine and the creator of all mankind.  Taking on the nature of a human is a big deal.  In fact, Paul parallels the act of Jesus taking on the likeness of humans with him taking on the form of a slave.  He didn't just become human.  He became a human slave for God the Father. 

Again, what was the eternal Son thinking?  What is this love of God that would go to such lengths, to such depths, in order to save us?  As humbling as becoming human is for God, this was not the depths of his love.

The Philippians passage uses three verbal phrases to describe the depths of God's love for us.

First, he "emptied himself."  It doesn't say exactly what he emptied himself of.  In the context, the mind of Christ is in view.  Thus, we might ask ourselves this question.  What would I have to empty myself of in order to do something like that?  Of course, Jesus is not proud and arrogant.  However, he did create all things, and has dwelled in eternal glory with the Father.  He would have to empty himself of all the reasons and thinking that would object to such a plan of salvation.  It would be an attitude that says, "I am this (a glorious God); I shouldn't have to do that (become human, etc.). 

As humans, we are altogether too familiar with that attitude.  It is not an attitude of love.  This is why Paul is pointing us back to the incarnation.  We need to first understand just how amazing it is that the Word would do this for us, and then make the leap to the fact that we should do the same for others.

Second, Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus "humbled himself."  At its root this word speaks of a lowering of position.  The eternal Son abased himself in taking on human flesh.  Yet, as a man, we see him washing the feet of his disciples.  He wasn't just becoming a great king of the earth that everyone would serve.  Instead, he was a slave of God to serve us.  He lived without purpose and will of his own, and instead, lived out only the will and purpose of the Father in heaven.  Since the men whose feet he washed were his disciples, they would then have to figure out how to lower themselves even lower than their master.  How is that possible?  Only by the grace and help of God's Holy Spirit; that's how.

Palm Sunday is all about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  It represents all that we want in the natural.  Jesus presents himself to Jerusalem as her awaited Anointed King from God.  We do not object to God coming down and becoming human in order to conquer our foes and lay them at our feet.  However, we do balk because we do not know what our true enemy is.  One day we are saying yeah for team Jesus, and then he does something we don't understand and we are ready to crucify him.

Just as Israel was looking for Messiah to show up and conquer the Romans, so we do today.  The Ukrainians hope for God to show up and crush the Russians.  Americans may complain that if God would just show up and destroy those who are taxing us to death, then we would be good.  Really?  The truth is that Israel's problem was not actually the Romans, and the problem for American's is not your tax-happy State capital, or Washington D.C.  Our problem is sin that is entrenched in our own hearts.  We will point out every sin, but our own.  This is our greatest problem: we are in bondage to sin.

The Word dwelt among us

Back in John 1:14, we are told that the Word became flesh and then dwelt among us.  John again uses language from the Old Testament, this time from Exodus 25-40.  The word for "dwelt" connects back to the animal skins of the tent, or tabernacle, God had Israel build in the desert.  This verb could be translated as "and tented among us."

Yeshua is literally God,  Yahweh, tenting among us.  Remember, the whole purpose of the tabernacle was to create a place that God could dwell in among the people of Israel.  As they camped in the wilderness, the tabernacle was there in the center of their camp.  The presence of God was visible in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

This visible presence of the Lord had become a thing of the past by the first century.  However, it is important to understand this picture of God dwelling among His people within a structure of animal skins.

This brings up the age old contention between Christians and Judaism, the idea of the Messiah being divine.  Is this just a Christian perversion?  Are Christians teaching things that are not in the Old Testament, either because they don't understand Hebrew, or they are purposefully twisting the Scriptures?

The presence of God was always understood to be a mystery in ancient Israelite worship.  If one pays careful attention to the text, you might accuse the writer of contradicting themselves.  On one hand, the Scriptures pound home the idea that mortal humans cannot see God without dying, and yet God is able to reveal Himself in lesser, or mediated forms.  The bush that Moses sees is somehow Yahweh, and yet it is not fully Yahweh.  The fire and smoke on Mt. Sinai is somehow Yahweh, and yet not fully Yahweh.  The same scary manifestation of fire and smoke on the mountain, then moves to the tabernacle as a less scary pillar of cloud (a somewhat different manifestation, yet of the same).  We see Moses speaking with God in the tabernacle, but at the same time he asks God to look down from heaven (Deuteronomy 26:15).  Moses was not contradicting himself.  He simply knew that God was capable of manifesting in a mediated form on the earth, while still being God in heaven.

This is the mystery of the presence of God.  It is never fully explained.  It is simply revealed and discovered by Moses and Israel.  Even the New Testament does not completely demystify this mystery of the person and presence of God.  Yet, Moses had no problem accepting that God could be "tenting" among His people within animal skins (the tabernacle) while still being resident in heaven.  Thus, before the first century, rabbis would speak of the Invisible Yahweh and the Visible Yahweh (a mediated form of the invisible God).  God is One, and yet He can somehow localize without leaving heaven.

This comes to a head in Exodus 33 to 34.  There Moses is talking with God.  He is asking God to go with them, even though Israel has been sinful and rebellious.  God promises to send His Presence with them.  At this point, Moses asks God to see His glory.  God agrees to let him see His receding glory, that is, not its fullness, because Moses could not handle it. 

The even is described in chapter 33, but happens in chapter 34.  God tells Moses to stand on a certain rock.  God would then come down and pass before Moses.  God's hand would simultaneously place Moses in a cleft of the rock, and shield him from seeing God's face.  Yet, as God passes by, He removes His hand so that Moses can see His back as He goes away from him.  Meanwhile, God is "declaring" the name of the Lord.  I will come back to this declaration of the name of the Lord in a moment.

Notice that in this passage God is spoken of in human terms: face, hand, and back.  This is a mediated human form, yet not a human.  Thus, we can see that there is no great leap to understand that just as Yahweh could tent among His people in animal skins, appear to Moses in human form, all while being resident in the heavens, so in Jesus, Yahweh could tent among His people in human skin, while still being resident in the heavens.

Why would He do this?  What love is this?

We beheld His glory

Finally, John 1:14 tells us that they beheld his glory.  Just as Israel saw God's glory come down upon the mountain, then onto the tabernacle, so God's glory was made visible in the person and work of Jesus.

I would like to point out that God's glory is not just one thing in the Old Testament.  There are many different expressions, forms, and even layers to the manifest glory of God.  No human has ever seen the unmitigated glory of God.  We cannot handle it.  Then, we see the powerful glory that scares people like at Mt. Sinai: smoking fire, Loud voice, trumpet blasts, shakings, etcetera. 

Then, there is the kind of glory that Moses saw that is a human like figure.  This connects with the Angel of Yahweh passages as well.  This Angel is more than a created spiritual messenger for God.  God's Name is somehow in Him, and he forgives sins (Exodus 23:21).  Moses saw this human form of God's glory declaring the "Name of the Lord."  What was the declaration?  Exodus 34:6-7, "And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”  God's glory is displayed in God allowing Moses to glimpse what He could of Him, but it is also wrapped up in the truth about God's nature.  He is Mercy, Grace, Patience, Goodness, Truth, Forgiveness, and the fear of the guilty.  Thus, John alludes to this passage as well when he says of Jesus in John 1:14 that Jesus is full of grace and truth.  In Jesus, Israel receives a greater glimpse of what Moses saw on the mountain. 

Of course, some of Israel saw a greater glory in Jesus than the others similar to Moses seeing God's glory greater than Israel did.  The disciples saw Jesus do things that others didn't, like walk on water and calm a storm with just the words, "Peace, be still."  However, James, John, and Peter saw the Lord's face transfigured into a glorious brightness that the other nine did not see.

Yet, the miracles and such demonstrations were probably not the greatest glory that Jesus expressed.  A case can be made that his death on the cross was the greatest display of the glory of God.  On that day, he fully revealed the heart and nature of God the Father, not only to Israel, but also to the Gentiles.  The heart of God is full of Grace, and yet also full of Truth.  He will bend over backwards to save us, even to the point of dying for us, but we must turn to Him in truth.

Today, I want us to understand what it says about the love of God that He would even come down and take on the nature of a human.  The heart of God has always been about relationship with us, and to dwell with us.  Revelation ends with us dwelling with God and the statement, "They shall see His face."  We will have been fitted to not only dwell in His presence, but also to look into the face of the full glory of God without dying!  This relationship has always been His goal.  It was there in the Garden of Eden until the serpent and sin broke that fellowship.  It was there with Israel in the wilderness, until sin and rebellion broke it.

All humanity is full of rebellion against God, and against His Anointed King, Jesus.  Yet, even now He holds out His hand in an offer of peace.  He offers the joy of dwelling with Him throughout eternity.  This is the love of God.  How can I say no to such love?

Such Love 1 audio

What Does God Really Want from Me? Part 6

1 Peter 4:10-11.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, February 20, 2022.

We continue today looking at the third purpose of serving one another selflessly through the natural and spiritual gifts that God has given us.  We are going to go back to 1 Peter 4, which we looked at during the purpose of spiritual growth.  You might read verses 7-9 just to refresh yourself on the context.

God gives gifts among us

Peter has been teaching us that a follower of Jesus will live in the light of the truth that all things are under the judgment of God.  Instead of looking at the things of this world and this life with the eyes of flesh, we look at them for the purposes of Christ. 

Part of that is loving one another.  In verse 10, Peter points each one of us to the gifts that we have received from God, and he tells us to use them to serve one another.  This is his main point.  It reminds us that we have the gifts we have in our life for God’s purpose and not just to bless ourselves.

Before we get into serving one another, notice at the end of verse 10 the phrase that Peter uses to describe how we should serve, “as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

Everything started and will end with the grace of God.  Peter tells us that it is a manifold grace.  The word manifold means that there are different kinds of God’s grace and lots of them.  They are spread all over the world and some of those are gifts are within ourselves.  We have received them from God.  Imagine all of the things that are the grace of God that are all around us, and which we often take for granted.  This great diversity of God’s grace comes to all of us.  However, part of this sea of grace in which we swim is a particular gift that God gives to each one of us.

The word that is used for gift is where we get the word charisma.  Now, there is a Greek word for a gift that emphasizes that it is something that has been given.  However, the word used for gift here emphasizes that it is a result of grace.  It is literally the word grace and a suffix that tells us it is a result of grace, a gracious thing, thus a gift that has been given to us.

This word is used by Paul in the context of spiritual gifts, but it doesn’t only mean spiritual gifts like: healing, prophecy, a word of wisdom, and all the others.  It is a general term that speaks to both the natural and the spiritual gifts that God has given us.  The gifts that He has spread out among us are just a small part of His provision of a smorgasbord of grace.

Now, Peter gives two examples of gifts in verse 11: the gift of speaking, and the gift of serving.  These gifts are not a badge of honor to distinguish us from one another, but as an empowerment to do a service for God among one another.  This empowerment, or enabling, is two-fold.

First, there is the giving of the gift into our life.  Peter tells us to be good stewards, good managers, of this gift that God has given us, and to use it to serve others.  This is a way in which we love one another as he told us in verse 8.  However, it takes time to discover the gift that God has put in you.  Am I a stingy manager, or am I a manager who is using all of the stock for my own pleasure?  Am I a faithful manager who is serving others on behalf of Jesus?

Second, there is an enabling that comes from God as we step forward in faith to exercise our gift.  He enables us in the moment of serving and speaking.  In verse 11, Peter says that we should do so with the strength, and ability, which God supplies. 

It can be easy to be intimidated and shrink away from trying to bless others, but God is calling us to step out in faith out of a motivation of loving one another, and a motivation of faith in God’s enabling.

We must always keep this ultimate purpose in mind.  Serving others is God’s purpose in my life, but it serves a greater purpose too.  It brings glory to God the Father through Jesus Christ.  As Christians, we are representatives of Jesus.  It is important that we are connected to him, growing to be like him, and serving like him.

Just as the only way to the Father is through Jesus, so the only way to bring glory to Him is through Jesus.  Jesus is the solid ground (foundation) upon which we stand, and He is the strength and empowerment by which we do so.  Also, He is the one that we will be like when He is finished working on us in this life.  He is the one to whom belongs all the glory, and all the power of ruling, in this universe. 

Always remember that when you serve others, you enter into this holy act of bringing glory to God and take your place beside the Lord Jesus Christ.  May God help us to selflessly serve one another and bring glory to God the Father!

Serve part 6 audio

What Does God Really Want from Me? Part 3

Grow Spiritually through Intentionally Becoming Like Jesus

John 15:1-8.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, January 30, 2022.

What does God really want from me?  We are answering this question in a series of sermons of which this is the third.

Our last two sermons focused on God’s desire for us to connect to Jesus through whole life Worship and to connect to his people through authentic relationships.  Everything starts there.  Without a real connection to Jesus, we will not be able to connect to His people.  These other purposes then become a lifeless exercise of a moral do-gooder, as they say.

So now, we move to the next purpose that God has for us, spiritual growth.  God wants us to grow spiritually through intentionally becoming like Jesus.

Similar to how connecting had an individual aspect and a corporate aspect to it, so too, there is a personal and group dynamic to our spiritual growth.

Also, don’t forget that at the heart of each of these purposes is the demonstration that Jesus is worthy of our whole life.  The way I connect spiritually and grow spiritually either tells God that He is worthy, or it tells Him that I’m only interested in doing it my way.  Thus, it is not merely a box to check off of a list. 

We are going to see in our passage that a true living connection will always create true growth.  Let’s look at John 15:1-8.

The Analogy of Spiritual Growth

Jesus shared this analogy with his disciples depicting spiritual growth.  This vine imagery is used of Israel by the prophets, so it would have been very familiar to the disciples.  Here are some examples: Psalm 80:15; Isaiah 5; Jeremiah 12:10f; and Malachi 4:1-2.  In this analogy, Jesus explains what the important elements are portraying right up front.

First of all, Jesus is the true vine.  The use of the adjective “true” should not be overlooked.  There is a true vine, but there are also false fines in this world.  Those false vines beckon for us to connect to them.  Deuteronomy 32:32-33 calls it a Vine of Sodom.

³² For their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter.
³³ Their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of cobras.

This is the vine that we were tied into before we came to Jesus.  It promises life, but, in the end, it sucks the life out of you.  There is no vine like Jesus.  He gives true life, and enables us to bear true fruit.

This vine imagery is mixed with another agricultural metaphor, the fruit tree.  God warned with the prophets that the fruit tree of Israel would be chopped down, but out of the stump a branch from the root of Jesse would grow up and become bigger than the original tree.  This is true also of the vineyard.  God spoke of Israel as His vineyard.  The vineyard has gone bad and sour, but a branch or a vine will grow up from the Lord to rebuild the vineyard.

Next in verse 1, we are told that the Father is the pruner.  There is a contrast between the word for “takes away” in verse 2 and “prune” in that same verse.  They both involve cutting, but one is a lopping off of the whole branch, whereas the second, is to cut out smaller parts of the branch so that it can be fruitful.  God is not quick on the trigger of lopping people off of the true vine, but He will if He has to do so for the sake of the other branches.

Another important point is that the word for “prune” in verse 2 and “clean” in verse 3 is the same word.  It essentially means to clean.  Thus, pruning was seen as cleaning a branch.  You remove the dead stuff, and make room for growth by also getting rid of perfectly good parts of the branch so that oxygen and sunlight can reach the fruit well.

This shows us a distinction in the work of the Son and the Father.  The Son’s job is to make a connection with us so life can flow into us.  The Father’s job is to maintenance the vine and everything connected to it.

The disciples of Jesus are, of course, the branches in this analogy.  In fact, anyone who believes today is a branch on the true vine of Jesus.  The analogy is showing that we are intended to be fruitful for The One who owns the vineyard.  Now, can you see why connection is so important?  It is what enables us to grow.

Now that we have all of the important elements of this analogy, let’s look at the teaching that Jesus gives us about spiritual growth.

The Truth about Spiritual Growth

There are many people who become disciples of Jesus, but that doesn’t mean that they are truly disciples of Jesus.  The truth is that there are fruitful and unfruitful disciples of Jesus.

We can be tempted to think of this as being about people who are strong and can “get it done,” versus people who are weak and don’t.  However, Jesus points to something more fundamental that just production.

Perhaps first, we should ask ourselves what is meant by “fruitful.”  It would be easy to only think of this as bringing other people to Christ.  This would be fruitful.  However, it is far more likely that Jesus sees fruitfulness here as being transformed by our living connection to him.  Over time a believer that has a living connection to Jesus will become more like Jesus.  Of course, this is not a mystical thing.  Jesus explains to us exactly why some disciples fail to become like him, and others do.

Twice in a row, in verses 4 and 5, Jesus tells them that they must “abide” in him, or “remain” in him in order to be fruitful.  At first, it just looks like God is getting rid of dead wood.  However, Jesus then explains that if you are really connected to him, you will bear fruit.  Thus, we are left with only one reason why the “lopped off” branches were unfruitful.  They lacked a real living connection to Jesus.

We can try and blame things on God, but that is a no-win game.  Jesus really is life, and if you really connect to him, his life will really flow into you.  The life that is within Jesus will flow into your life and it cannot help but make a change.

Jesus tells them that they are “clean,” or pruned, because of the word that he has spoken to them.  Of course, for us, it is the Bible, which is their accurate account of all that Jesus taught.  I must stay connected to the life of Jesus by daily taking in his word, and listening to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  As we hear the Word, and then do it, we are pruning off things like sin, and lazy habits, that keep us from being fruitful.  These for sure have to be cut out.  However, sometimes God prunes off things in our life that aren’t necessarily bad.  Just like a pruner removes good branches so that oxygen and sunlight can reach the fruit, so God calls us to remove things that are getting in the way of good growth. 

Sometimes people act like they don’t have time to read the Bible, or join a Bible Study.  Most likely, they have things in their life that are crowding out God’s word. 

Ask yourself, what is more important?  Nothing is more important than the word of God.  It is eternal life.

Let’s close by looking at verse 8.  Those who maintain a living connection to Jesus will glorify the Father.  Bearing fruit becomes another litmus test in the will of God.  Jesus is the first litmus test to those who claim to love God.  The real One True God sent Jesus.  If you really love God, then you will love Jesus.  Similarly, spiritual growth is the litmus test of whether or not I am truly connected to Christ.  You can try and fake it by making surface changes, but those changes will not be living changes, nor will they last.

The greatest way to show God the Father that He is the most important thing to you in the universe is to become like His Son, Jesus.  It is to say, “Yes,” to a life of discipleship.  If you are going to become like Jesus it will take a lot of repenting, a lot of studying God’s Word, a lot of introspection concerning what needs to change, and lastly perseverance, that is, not giving up.

The alternative is nothing to desire.  God is not playing games.  It is not enough to be in the right place and say the right things.  We must have a real living connection to Jesus by the Spirit of God and The Word.  Our life must really be that courageous life of fighting those battles, one by one.  Perhaps, we may lose one here or there.  Yet, always we will be helped by the God who loves us.

Grow 3 audio