The Marks of True Devotion – Stories from the battle front
| Sunday, August 16, 2009 | ||
| 10:00 am |
Introduction:
I. The Ones Who Masquerade, 2 Corinthians 11:13-15
Not just about boasting.
Not just about exaggerated claims.
It is about protecting the truth of the gospel.
Paul’s opponents are masquerading as Apostles of Christ but they are not. Paul is not going to given in to them. He is going to stand his ground: message and credentials.
False apostles – used nowhere else, bogus, untrue
Deceitful workers – how does Paul know? Deceitful! Dishonest.
Deliberate! Not result of self-deception or careless exaggera
Not sure on what level they know, but some is deliberate.
They don’t come clean!
Their conversations are scripted. Difficult to get them out of their game. Ultimately, they are all deceived! Masquerading as apostles!
Satan -
His servants –
They are not serving Christ.
Surprisingly harsh! Smiling faces, good stories, interesting speakers. Nonetheless – false deceivers.
Saying it like it is.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”
John 8:44 “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Examples:
1. Brat stand at Festival – Masonic Lodge fund raiser
2. Head of the Episcopal Church in America
3. Short look at 6 of the world’s religions
4. Scientology
Whom Can You Trust?
John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””
John 14:6 “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Ultimately Our Leader is Christ
The church in the world is a lot like the story of the missionary in the jungle. He got lost with nothing around him but bush and a few cleared places. He finally found a small village and asked one of the natives if he could lead him out of the jungle. The native said he could. “All right,” the missionary said, “Show me the way.” They walked for hours through dense brush hacking their way through unmarked jungle. The missionary began to worry and said, “Are you quite sure this is the way? Where is the path?” The native said. “Bwana, in this place there is no path. I am the path.” Our path out of the jungle of this world is God in Christ. We may have some brothers and sisters and teachers in Christ but we are all like the missionary. We rely not upon men but
Christ who is our path.
Your Best Protection – Know the Word!
John 17:17 “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
Matthew 5:17-20 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The true nature of their ministry:
2 Corinthians 11:20 “In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face.”
Do you see Paul’s driving concerns?
1. The purity of the gospel message
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”
2. Pastoral Care
2 Corinthians 11:28-29 “Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?”
II. Paul has the authentic marks Christian commitment
2 Corinthians 11:22-27 “Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.”
Do you see the authentic marks of Christian commitment?
Self-sacrifice and suffering.
Paul is saying that it is one thing to boast about who you are and what your title should be. It is quite another to bear the marks of authenticity.
Put up or shut up.
The proof is in the pudding.
Talk is cheap.
You can tell the level of your own personal commitment to Christ by the degree to which you sacrifice self interests for Christ and are willing to suffer for him.
Believer in Iraq
”I have a big burden to reach others around us. God gave us a vision to do that…We will never stop, whatever the circumstances.”
Vietnamese Pastor Tran Mai
”We have learned that suffering is not the worst thing that can happen to you. Disobedience to God is the worst thing.”
1 Peter 4:1-6 “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
Being will to suffer verbal abuse by those around you for your commitment to Christ and standards of conduct is one form of suffering and is an indication of authenticity.
Story of Shi Weihan
Personal Applications:
1. How much of God do I want?
Wilbur Rees
”I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of God to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
2. Have I stopped to evaluate the messages I am listening to and receiving looking for consistency with the message of Christ? Am I open to hearing the voice of God? How safe is it for the Christians around me to express a different point of view?
Have I taken a stand against the false messages I am hearing?
And let me be more specific. You can’t be in a constant state of uproar in your mind and emotions. You must learn to pick your fights well.
Culture – How it affects us “A medical doctor suffered a serious heart attack while still in his thirties. He described the pain of that event as different from any other pain he had ever felt. He had always experienced every prior injury or hurt, whether a broken arm or a sore knee, as a hurt to a part of his body. In some measure he could separate himself from the pain. “But during my heart attack,” he said, “I was in the pain. There is no other way to describe it.” The very organ that should have been pumping life was instead disseminating pain. Culture is like that. It has an all-consuming hold on us. It becomes the source of thinking and feeling in its members. So engulfing is this power that we cannot discuss the essential theme of our culture at its crossroads without being locked into it ourselves. We are in the culture, and we are hard pressed to find a fulcrum outside of it with which to leverage a shift…Bearing in mind that we are…in it is the first step of diagnosis.” Ravi Zacharias, Deliver Us From Evil, .18, 21
Culture – gaining a perspective “An old Chinese proverb says if you want to know what water is don’t ask the fish. The fish does not know any other kind of life because it is submerged in the monotony and single vision of a watery existence. To the fish, no other existence is possible; hence, it can conceive of nothing by which to measure its own existence. Similarly, it is important for those immersed in a culture to recognize that proximity does not necessarily guarantee an accurate perspective. Proximity does not guarantee understanding. Sometimes a culture can so imperceptibly absorb and transmit ideas into its consciousness that it is hard for those within it to be objective about its practices…” Ravi Zacharias, Deliver Us From Evil, .18-19 Culture – Definition “Culture is the effort to provide a coherent set of answers to the existentialist situations that confront all human beings in the passage of their lives.” Sociologist Daniel Bell “Culture is the glue that holds our common values together.” Ravi Zacharias
3. What sacrifice is Christ nudging me to make for his sake and the cause of the gospel?