Transformative Struggles: Embracing God's Call to Love
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Jesus begins to lay out what you and I know as those famous biatitudes that he's talking to his disciples and he's sharing with the world but he also used here it is great metaphors in his homalytical speech what he does around about verse 13 you still got your Bibles open yes sir around about verse 13 he says that a true follower of Jesus Christ should be and we should be and do what you and I mean to the world here it is we ought to be salt of the earth we ought to be light of the world that verb are in verses 13 and 14 it provides us an understanding it talks about what the followers of Jesus Christ not what we should be doing but what we are this is our being this is our essence it's not something that we should be performing or striving to perform it's what we be. [00:38:13]
As believers we are the salt as believers we are the light and if you have lost your taste that's on you if you're no longer shining that's on you because the reality of it is God has made us both salt and light and if we have allowed including myself the world to dimmer our light or to take away our preservative aspect to represent Christ on this side that's not on the world it's on us. [00:39:22]
And then Jesus said something about the religious religious leaders he he he he kept on the religious leaders and how did he do it cuz he says "Your righteousness ought to exceed the religious leaders or the Pharisees." He said "Y'all think that they got it going on but their hearts are literally far from me just because they looked apart don't mean that their heart is right with me," which brings us to two nuggets of understanding that is important for us today first thing first here it is number one we need a social paradigm shift okay we need a social paradigm shift here in our text. [00:40:15]
This is the first of six statements that Jesus is making in challenging certain aspects of the understanding of the Mosaic law he does this by placing himself as the authoritative interpreter of the law literally what he is calling for is an uh an antithesis of understanding of what the law they thought the law was and what Jesus is actually saying that the law is we know this by the statement that he makes in verse 21 look at your Bible he says "You have heard it was said." Yeah but then he uses a conjunction and says "But I say to you," which provides us there is a contrast between what they were hearing and actually what Jesus is saying because Jesus is the one who wrote the law. [00:41:04]
He tells them that he's going to challenge their historical interpretation and understanding that they were getting from the religious folk namely the Pharisees he interpret the law and he does it in such a way that he's changing the paradigm of thinking and he's shifting it in terms of thought he's shifting it in terms of response for those Jews who was listening to his message watch what he says there is an understanding in verse 21 he says "You have heard that it was said of those old you shall not murder and whoever murders will be liable to judgment but I say verse 22 that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment uh whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council and whoever say you fool will be liable to the hell of fire." [00:42:09]
We know church when you read Exodus chapter uh 20 around about verse 13 that the Bible is clear it says you should not murder or it tells us do not murder but Jesus provides a new understanding for them of what God truly meant he was not just talking about physical murder he says everyone who is here it is angry with his brother or sister will be liable to the same judgment as if you had killed somebody y'all better buckle up today in other words you are guilty before the law and I know some of us have been talking and and telling everybody we on a new level because we got hooked up with the Lord Jesus Christ listen you must don't understand that the new level is a new standard that God requires for all believers and for you and I we need to level up in our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and the great test is how you treat people. [00:43:18]
Which means church uh we need to think through God's view of our attitude God's view of our actions and how we treat one another yes sir the text tells us that God is not only considering our actions but he's also here it is looking at our attitudes all right he's looking at our behavior and he's looking at our motives of our heart and church anytime we get to the point where we have allowed anger to assume a position of superiority over somebody else that we think we are better than them and then we begin to treat them and call him or her a derogatory name treating people with no love no dignity no respect and then have a litigator called to call them fools in actuality we are the fool because of our attitudes and our actions. [00:44:48]
That literally watch the text says demonstrates our sinful heart that the ultimate judgment is for us to end up in Gehenna yes sir that's what the text says it says fiery hell that that word fiery hell is is gehenna it was the name of the valley south of Jerusalem where there will be a constant fire cuz it was burning human waste yes sir it was always burning it became a picture of what hell would look like for those who die without Christ who have a sinful heart that they have litigated and made their heart of sin exalted over everybody else they are selfish sir and their actions and attitude represent their father who is the prince of the power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. [00:45:52]
Which helps us to understand that some of us might be on our way to hell regardless of what we proclaim wow because of our attitudes and actions of anger against somebody else you may not be hooked up with God like you think you are. [00:47:07]
One writer says it this way he says "Anger is an asset that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured anger is damaging you cuz you holding on to it you think that it's it's going out on people but because you are holding on to anger it's doing more damage to you the only one can't sleep you're the only one that's walking around sick folk listen they don't care about what you think about them why you holding on to anger it's killing you from the inside out yes sir." [00:47:28]
And church if I can transform that uh and translate that process of metamorphosis of a butterfly into what you and I know as a spiritual transformation for every bloodbought bornagain believer in the Lord Jesus Christ those that are in the building and those that are watching online because we too as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ has been transformed in our position but that does not preclude that we should not have to struggle to get out of this cocoon of what you and I know as this old sinful nature which means church we got to shed some of those old thoughts we got to shed some of those old attitudes we got to shed some of those old actions that does not represent who we claim to be hooked up with that holy one Jesus Christ. [00:32:36]
In other words church we cannot keep deceiving ourselves to suggest that we love God with all of our heart with all of our mind with all of our strength but then in the same breath have a litigated gall to treat and talk about our brothers and sisters in Christ as if they are not made in the image of God as if they don't have no value as if God did not die for them matter of fact the Bible is clear in 1 John 4 round about verse 20 he says "If you say you love God and hate your brother you know what you are?" The Bible says you are a liar because how can you say you hate your brother whom you have seen and love God whom you have not seen. [00:33:56]
And baby many of us this morning need to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves because God is expecting that those who say they have a relationship with him that those who say they know him in a real and personal way that those who say that they are being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and being transformed by his word God is expecting for you to act like you are saved yeah god is expecting that you exhibit a behavior that you are saved god is expecting that you and I begin to love others with dignity love respect that demonstrates that we are saved amen and even through the struggle the practical struggle of living out this new transformation in our lives we need to remind ourselves as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ of what his sacrifice and resurrection has meant it has freed you from the power of sin yes sir. [00:34:54]
And so when you choose to talk about people All right when you choose to have this attitude towards others you can't say the devil made you do it you can't use the excuse of Flip Wilson the reality of it is you are capitulating to your flesh and is not bringing glory unto God but when you find yourself in the obedience of God's word there is a struggle that you and I have in dealing with other people and the struggle is designed for us to grow strengthening ourselves as disciples of Jesus Christ so that there will be unity in the body of Christ. [00:36:12]
Couple of weeks ago I told the elders as we embark upon this new impossible thing but not but it's always possible for God that we were going to enter into spiritual warfare yes yes i know some of us kind of hear those kinds of terminology uh through other uh Christian groups but the reality of it is it is biblicalbased because Ephesians chapter 6 helps us to understand that we wrestle not against flesh and blood in other words if I can see you you are not my enemy yes sir yeah and yet we treat each other sometimes as if they are our enemy and yet not recognize that maybe God is trying to strengthen us through the struggle to strengthen our character to strengthen our faith to strengthen our ability to forgive to strengthen our ability to admit that we were the one that was wrong to strengthen our ability to love to strengthen our ability to change and to have the character of Christ so that we can be a beautiful Christian and fly what God where God wants us to fly. [00:36:54]
And therefore the question we have to ask this morning what do we need to know about first things first well church I want to tell you and I want to be honest in this chapter of Matthew 5 through 7 this is the greatest sermon that has ever been preached on this side of glory it provided us a understanding when Jesus begins to lay out what you and I know as those famous biatitudes that he's talking to his disciples and he's sharing with the world but he also used here it is great metaphors in his homalytical speech. [00:37:55]
But that does not preclude that we should not have to struggle to get out of this cocoon of what you and I know as this old sinful nature which means church we got to shed some of those old thoughts we got to shed some of those old attitudes we got to shed some of those old actions that does not represent who we claim to be hooked up with that holy one Jesus Christ in other words church we cannot keep deceiving ourselves to suggest that we love God with all of our heart with all of our mind with all of our strength but then in the same breath have a litigated gall to treat and talk about our brothers and sisters in Christ as if they are not made in the image of God. [00:32:56]
God is not only considering our actions but he's also here it is looking at our attitudes all right he's looking at our behavior and he's looking at our motives of our heart and church anytime we get to the point where we have allowed anger to assume a position of superiority over somebody else that we think we are better than them and then we begin to treat them and call him or her a derogatory name treating people with no love no dignity no respect and then have a litigator called to call them fools in actuality we are the fool because of our attitudes and our actions that literally watch the text says demonstrates our sinful heart that the ultimate judgment is for us to end up in Gehenna yes sir that's what the text says it says fiery hell. [00:45:05]
It was always burning it became a picture of what hell would look like for those who die without Christ who have a sinful heart that they have litigated and made their heart of sin exalted over everybody else they are selfish sir and their actions and attitude represent their father who is the prince of the power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience sir it's quiet right there which helps us to understand that some of us might be on our way to hell regardless of what we proclaim wow because of our attitudes and actions of anger against somebody else you may not be hooked up with God like you think you are. [00:46:30]
Anger is damaging you cuz you holding on to it you think that it's it's going out on people but because you are holding on to anger it's doing more damage to you the only one can't sleep you're the only one that's walking around sick folk listen they don't care about what you think about them why you holding on to anger it's killing you from the inside out yes sir. [00:47:54]
Are you beating someone up with your anger for them not being somebody that hurt you or are you on the other end someone is beating you up and with with your anger and tongue because you are not somebody we get angry at our children because they not their daddy or their mama we get angry at our siblings because what they saw something happened to me and they didn't speak up. [00:50:14]
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As believers we are the salt as believers we are the light and if you have lost your taste that's on you if you're no longer shining that's on you because the reality of it is God has made us both salt and light and if we have allowed including myself the world to dimmer our light or to take away our preservative aspect to represent Christ on this side that's not on the world it's on us. [00:39:22]
And then Jesus said something about the religious religious leaders he he he he kept on the religious leaders and how did he do it cuz he says "Your righteousness ought to exceed the religious leaders or the Pharisees." He said "Y'all think that they got it going on but their hearts are literally far from me just because they looked apart don't mean that their heart is right with me," which brings us to two nuggets of understanding that is important for us today first thing first here it is number one we need a social paradigm shift okay we need a social paradigm shift here in our text. [00:40:15]
This is the first of six statements that Jesus is making in challenging certain aspects of the understanding of the Mosaic law he does this by placing himself as the authoritative interpreter of the law literally what he is calling for is an uh an antithesis of understanding of what the law they thought the law was and what Jesus is actually saying that the law is we know this by the statement that he makes in verse 21 look at your Bible he says "You have heard it was said." Yeah but then he uses a conjunction and says "But I say to you," which provides us there is a contrast between what they were hearing and actually what Jesus is saying because Jesus is the one who wrote the law. [00:41:04]
He tells them that he's going to challenge their historical interpretation and understanding that they were getting from the religious folk namely the Pharisees he interpret the law and he does it in such a way that he's changing the paradigm of thinking and he's shifting it in terms of thought he's shifting it in terms of response for those Jews who was listening to his message watch what he says there is an understanding in verse 21 he says "You have heard that it was said of those old you shall not murder and whoever murders will be liable to judgment but I say verse 22 that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment uh whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council and whoever say you fool will be liable to the hell of fire." [00:42:09]
We know church when you read Exodus chapter uh 20 around about verse 13 that the Bible is clear it says you should not murder or it tells us do not murder but Jesus provides a new understanding for them of what God truly meant he was not just talking about physical murder he says everyone who is here it is angry with his brother or sister will be liable to the same judgment as if you had killed somebody y'all better buckle up today in other words you are guilty before the law and I know some of us have been talking and and telling everybody we on a new level because we got hooked up with the Lord Jesus Christ listen you must don't understand that the new level is a new standard that God requires for all believers and for you and I we need to level up in our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and the great test is how you treat people. [00:43:18]
Which means church uh we need to think through God's view of our attitude God's view of our actions and how we treat one another yes sir the text tells us that God is not only considering our actions but he's also here it is looking at our attitudes all right he's looking at our behavior and he's looking at our motives of our heart and church anytime we get to the point where we have allowed anger to assume a position of superiority over somebody else that we think we are better than them and then we begin to treat them and call him or her a derogatory name treating people with no love no dignity no respect and then have a litigator called to call them fools in actuality we are the fool because of our attitudes and our actions. [00:44:48]
That literally watch the text says demonstrates our sinful heart that the ultimate judgment is for us to end up in Gehenna yes sir that's what the text says it says fiery hell that that word fiery hell is is gehenna it was the name of the valley south of Jerusalem where there will be a constant fire cuz it was burning human waste yes sir it was always burning it became a picture of what hell would look like for those who die without Christ who have a sinful heart that they have litigated and made their heart of sin exalted over everybody else they are selfish sir and their actions and attitude represent their father who is the prince of the power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. [00:45:52]
Which helps us to understand that some of us might be on our way to hell regardless of what we proclaim wow because of our attitudes and actions of anger against somebody else you may not be hooked up with God like you think you are. [00:47:07]
One writer says it this way he says "Anger is an asset that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured anger is damaging you cuz you holding on to it you think that it's it's going out on people but because you are holding on to anger it's doing more damage to you the only one can't sleep you're the only one that's walking around sick folk listen they don't care about what you think about them why you holding on to anger it's killing you from the inside out yes sir." [00:47:28]
And church if I can transform that uh and translate that process of metamorphosis of a butterfly into what you and I know as a spiritual transformation for every bloodbought bornagain believer in the Lord Jesus Christ those that are in the building and those that are watching online because we too as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ has been transformed in our position but that does not preclude that we should not have to struggle to get out of this cocoon of what you and I know as this old sinful nature which means church we got to shed some of those old thoughts we got to shed some of those old attitudes we got to shed some of those old actions that does not represent who we claim to be hooked up with that holy one Jesus Christ. [00:32:36]
In other words church we cannot keep deceiving ourselves to suggest that we love God with all of our heart with all of our mind with all of our strength but then in the same breath have a litigated gall to treat and talk about our brothers and sisters in Christ as if they are not made in the image of God as if they don't have no value as if God did not die for them matter of fact the Bible is clear in 1 John 4 round about verse 20 he says "If you say you love God and hate your brother you know what you are?" The Bible says you are a liar because how can you say you hate your brother whom you have seen and love God whom you have not seen. [00:33:56]
And baby many of us this morning need to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves because God is expecting that those who say they have a relationship with him that those who say they know him in a real and personal way that those who say that they are being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and being transformed by his word God is expecting for you to act like you are saved yeah god is expecting that you exhibit a behavior that you are saved god is expecting that you and I begin to love others with dignity love respect that demonstrates that we are saved amen and even through the struggle the practical struggle of living out this new transformation in our lives we need to remind ourselves as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ of what his sacrifice and resurrection has meant it has freed you from the power of sin yes sir. [00:34:54]
And so when you choose to talk about people All right when you choose to have this attitude towards others you can't say the devil made you do it you can't use the excuse of Flip Wilson the reality of it is you are capitulating to your flesh and is not bringing glory unto God but when you find yourself in the obedience of God's word there is a struggle that you and I have in dealing with other people and the struggle is designed for us to grow strengthening ourselves as disciples of Jesus Christ so that there will be unity in the body of Christ. [00:36:12]
Couple of weeks ago I told the elders as we embark upon this new impossible thing but not but it's always possible for God that we were going to enter into spiritual warfare yes yes i know some of us kind of hear those kinds of terminology uh through other uh Christian groups but the reality of it is it is biblicalbased because Ephesians chapter 6 helps us to understand that we wrestle not against flesh and blood in other words if I can see you you are not my enemy yes sir yeah and yet we treat each other sometimes as if they are our enemy and yet not recognize that maybe God is trying to strengthen us through the struggle to strengthen our character to strengthen our faith to strengthen our ability to forgive to strengthen our ability to admit that we were the one that was wrong to strengthen our ability to love to strengthen our ability to change and to have the character of Christ so that we can be a beautiful Christian and fly what God where God wants us to fly. [00:36:54]
And therefore the question we have to ask this morning what do we need to know about first things first well church I want to tell you and I want to be honest in this chapter of Matthew 5 through 7 this is the greatest sermon that has ever been preached on this side of glory it provided us a understanding when Jesus begins to lay out what you and I know as those famous biatitudes that he's talking to his disciples and he's sharing with the world but he also used here it is great metaphors in his homalytical speech. [00:37:55]
But that does not preclude that we should not have to struggle to get out of this cocoon of what you and I know as this old sinful nature which means church we got to shed some of those old thoughts we got to shed some of those old attitudes we got to shed some of those old actions that does not represent who we claim to be hooked up with that holy one Jesus Christ in other words church we cannot keep deceiving ourselves to suggest that we love God with all of our heart with all of our mind with all of our strength but then in the same breath have a litigated gall to treat and talk about our brothers and sisters in Christ as if they are not made in the image of God. [00:32:56]
God is not only considering our actions but he's also here it is looking at our attitudes all right he's looking at our behavior and he's looking at our motives of our heart and church anytime we get to the point where we have allowed anger to assume a position of superiority over somebody else that we think we are better than them and then we begin to treat them and call him or her a derogatory name treating people with no love no dignity no respect and then have a litigator called to call them fools in actuality we are the fool because of our attitudes and our actions that literally watch the text says demonstrates our sinful heart that the ultimate judgment is for us to end up in Gehenna yes sir that's what the text says it says fiery hell. [00:45:05]
It was always burning it became a picture of what hell would look like for those who die without Christ who have a sinful heart that they have litigated and made their heart of sin exalted over everybody else they are selfish sir and their actions and attitude represent their father who is the prince of the power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience sir it's quiet right there which helps us to understand that some of us might be on our way to hell regardless of what we proclaim wow because of our attitudes and actions of anger against somebody else you may not be hooked up with God like you think you are. [00:46:30]
Anger is damaging you cuz you holding on to it you think that it's it's going out on people but because you are holding on to anger it's doing more damage to you the only one can't sleep you're the only one that's walking around sick folk listen they don't care about what you think about them why you holding on to anger it's killing you from the inside out yes sir. [00:47:54]
Are you beating someone up with your anger for them not being somebody that hurt you or are you on the other end someone is beating you up and with with your anger and tongue because you are not somebody we get angry at our children because they not their daddy or their mama we get angry at our siblings because what they saw something happened to me and they didn't speak up. [00:50:14]
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