05.22.2011 Let's Get Real
26th May 2011
05.22.2011 Grace Summit Sermon from Grace Summit on Vimeo.
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Lord, we thank You today that You are here in our midst – rejoicing over us with shouts of joy. We are amazed at Your love for us – it is never-ending and not held back. Help us to hear You speak to us – in Your name we pray.
When I was a kid, I was told to never use extremes – like words like never. But Jesus can get away with it - All have sinned. That means all. The wages of sin is death – that is extreme – but that is what He says.
I was chatting with an old friend of mine – actually, I am the old friend – we were talking about our younger days – comparing notes as to who was the worse sinner. I held my own… -
When I was younger, much younger, I wasn’t convinced that I was a sinner – I did some things that I viewed as maybe, questionable - I saw myself as a pretty good guy. I thought sin was something that really bad people did – like mass murder and raping and pillaging villages, because that is what pirates did – really bad people. I hadn’t done those things – and that is how I had defined sin. But I’d like to give us a better view of what sin is.
I wasn’t really aware of what sin was – you’ve heard of the Ten Commandments? There are hundreds of commandments and they were whittled down to ten – and we still can’t get those right.
When I was about ten, I took a pair of gloves from a store. My friend said he would like a pair too – so I went down to the five and dime – and stuck a couple pairs into my coat… and just as I got to the front door, one of the gloves fell out – right in front of the cashier. She told me to put that pair of gloves back and not to come into the store again.
It’s not a cute story – God views it much differently.
Matt. 5: 28 but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
1 John 3: 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Sin is not even DOING bad things; sometimes it is just thinking bad things.
God is perfectly pure and holy – there isn’t much in this world that is pure. There was an ad for Ivory soap – it was 99.44% pure. My dad worked in a water plant – and he told me that if he gave water that was 99.44% pure, it would probably kill you.
Ferrari Enzo – 651 horsepower – 0 to 60 in 3.14 seconds (it can go from zero to 60 in pi!). If I had a car like that, I’d make sure it was spotless.
Volvo 940 – 114 HP, I doubt it could go from 0 to 60 at all – and if it was hit by a rock, I wouldn’t even think of fixing it.
If you think of God as a pure spotless Ferrari Enzo – and us like the flawed Volvo - We have flaws – like the Volvo – each of us responds to this differently – some minimize – some maximize – some think they are the worst sinner ever, others think about being forgiven. Too often, we try to cover up sin – like Adam and Eve. When we have a sin – we try to cover it. Some of the responses/excuses – Not my fault – I couldn’t help it… - I had no choice – He made me do it – It’s not a big deal – The Devil made me do it – Everybody else is doing it – No one got hurt – we try to justify our weaknesses – avoiding the real issues.
We live in a fallen world – where the deceiver seeks about to devour – the lusts of the world are not from the father – we are bound to fail – so why do we pretend that we are better than we are – and instead be honest –
God provided the solution – Offering Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins. When we come to that point – God fills us with His Spirit. We are in Jesus –
Hinds Feet on High Places – Hannah Hurnard – Love is beautiful, but it is also terrible, terrible in its determination to allow nothing blemished or unworthy to remain in the beloved.
This is confession day. I stole a Bible once. I wish I could say I was a kid when it happened. And I stole it from a pastor. True story. This was after I had become a believer – and people may have considered me grown up. I found this pocket Bible on the ground. I took it home – and it had a pastor’s name in it. I kept it for about a week. It was like the Ark of the Covenant – and while I didn’t get hemorrhoids, the words on the pages weren’t speaking to me. I had to humble myself and return the Bible. It was like the burden was lifted and the veil removed – the importance of walking cleanly before God. We think of it as a little thing, but it is a separation and a hurt.
John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper… 3 [Jesus,] knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God, 4 ^rose from supper, and ^laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself about. 5 Then He ^poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 And so He ^came to Simon Peter. He ^said to Him, "Lord, do You wash my feet?" 7 Jesus answered and said to him, "What I do you do not realize now, but you shall understand hereafter." 8 Peter ^said to Him, "Never shall You wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." 9 Simon Peter ^said to Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." 10 Jesus ^said to him, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean,
I am often amazed at how patient Jesus is with Peter. When I think of this – Jesus knew who He was, where He came from, and where He was going. He could stoop to doing menial tasks – like washing feet. You are clean – those who are clean have been forgiven.
We stand before God pure, not because we’ve never sinned, but because we have been cleansed.
Sometimes a kid will get a thorn in his foot. A mom will tell him, I need to remove the thorn – “But it will hurt!” “It will hurt worse if you leave it… And it might get infected, and gangrenous, and infected, and you’ll die!” As a parent, you rush to help your kids – And God rushes to help us – it is not a little thorn, it is a life and death issue.
John 13: 12 And so when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments, and reclined [at the table] again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? 13 "You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for [so] I am. 14 "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 "For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16 "Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master; neither [is] one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17 "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. 18 "I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but [it is] that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.' 19 "From now on I am telling you before [it] comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am [He.] 20 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me."
Sin is the blemish that can’t be tolerated. My friend was telling me about the sins he had overcome – and one of them was smoking. He didn’t give it up because he thought it was a sin – Some say it is against God’s temple – while eating a Big Mac and fries… - the reason he gave up smoking because it was like lying – because he was hiding things from his wife. She said, I can live with the smoking – but not the lying – it destroys trust.
Don’t think that you are the only one – we’ve probably all done them all – if not physically – then mentally. We tend to think if we sin, someone won’t like us – but we should be willing to share our failures.
“Peter, not knowing what to say, spoke…”
All the time, it seemed like Peter was missing the point – but Jesus knew how to help him. It doesn’t hurt to be open.
I’m not saying that we should go broadcast that we are sinners – but when we are with a close friend, we should be able to be open about what we are struggling with.
We have all sinned – let’s just admit it and get on with it.
God has made us into Ferrari Enzos – but we can occasionally get dirty and need to be cleaned.