WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE?
On a new day for the nation of Iraq, its citizens will be
allowed to vote today for their leaders.
In the past, there has been no room for diversity, no room for
pluralism, no room for the distinct groupings of citizens of which the nation
is composed.
The fear of anarchy still clouds the days
ahead as the people are not sure what will happen when a government emerges
which represents the interests of all the people. Many in our own country have been so intent
on creating a ‘melting pot’ that we have all but obliterated those things which
set us apart as distinctive—regional distinctions, religious distinctions,
political distinctions as well as a host of other factors that we have
sometimes lost in our effort to make everyone the same.
We do not have to be the same in
everything to succeed in forging a unity for national cooperation and common
interests. Our prayer for Iraq is that
they can find a way to embrace their cultural, tribal and religious differences
in a positive manner and learn to allow differences to enrich rather than
enrage!
Here in our own country, churches have
fallen victim to a spirit of accommodation and being overly conciliatory in
trying to blend into the culture rather than transforming it for good. Even the definition of a Christian has
become so inclusive that it requires all kinds of qualifying information before
we know what a person means by the name—evangelical, Bible-believing,
born-again, conservative, liberal and so on.
What kind of people are
Christians—really? With so many
embracing the title while holding strangely divergent ideas, what marks a
genuine Christian among the pretenders?
THESIS: Genuine
Christians must seek to know what kind of people are calling themselves the
people of God and begin to measure ourselves only by God standards so that we
mean what He means when He identifies His own.
I. WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE WE TEND TO BE
--In
this letter to the Corinthian believers, Paul expresses concerns on his heart
about the kind of Christians who are able to plow blindly along without giving
proper consideration to the condition of their own hearts.
--Therefore, we want to look at a few passages and do a
survey of what kinds of attitudes and characteristics appear among those who
call themselves followers of Jesus Christ.
A. A PEOPLE CONSUMED IN SELFISH PURSUITS
--The bottom line problem for each of us, the issue we
confront more than any other is simple: We are selfish!
1. Our Self-Confidence leads us to think we need no one else…including God!
2. Our Self-Righteousness leads us to think we are better than everyone else…or
at least someone else!
--We set our own standards
for what we want to be measured by.
3. Our Self-Seeking leads us to walk over anyone who gets in the way of
what we want!
--All these things are consistent with what the Bible
says about a person living apart from Christ:
James 3:14-16
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be
arrogant and so lie against the truth. 15
This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural,
demonic. 16 For where
jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.
--God’s plan is very different for His people:
Phil. 2:3-4
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let
each of you regard one another as more important than himself;
4 do not merely look out for your own
personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
u Which Plan? God’s Servanthood or Man’s
Selfishness?
B. A PEOPLE
CHASING AFTER SHAMELESS WORLDLINESS
1. The Race for bigger and better gets more intense every day!
--The world
tells us what is acceptable about…weight, clothes, cars, leisure, beauty,
music, houses, etc.
2. The Chase is on to please the world.
--Why? Because
we’re selfish and want what the world has to offer for our very own!
James 4:4
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred
toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of
God.
--Does that describe the people you know, or even you?
C. A PEOPLE VOID OF SPIRITUAL PRACTICALITY
--For all the talk of religion, for all the
pervasiveness of the church buildings, for the invocations prayed over godless
activities, for all the pretensions made about staying in touch with our
“spiritual side” – we are still
surrounded by a spiritually dead and spiritually uninformed people!
--Granted, there have been other such periods in
history when the world has been just as spiritually empty and uninformed, but
we take little comfort from that fact!
2 Tim. 3:1-5 But mark this: There will be terrible times
in the last days. 2 People
will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive,
disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving,
slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God —
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have
nothing to do with them.
--Have
we as a people, as a nation, denied the power?
Yes!
--Has
the church often denied the power?
Yes! And you…?
We have compartmentalized our religious existence so that
it is effectively stripped of impact on the rest of our lives!!
D. A PEOPLE FAR FROM SORROWFUL REPENTANCE
2 Cor. 7:9 I
now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful
to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will
of God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.
1. Sorrowful to the Point of Repentance
a. Foundations of Sin must be Broken Up
--They will harden your hearts toward God and make you
grow cold toward spiritual things…even toward your love for the Lord.
Hosea 10:12b
Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord
b. Shame of Sin must Produce Sorrow
--Are you really sorry you sinned against God or only
sorry for the mess it made in your life?
c. Conviction of Sin must be Overwhelming
--True conviction of sin will always lead to repentance
and a complete turning away from sin.
--What then has been happening?
--We cannot find too many who will even agree on what
sin is anymore…even though for most, their consciences and their hearts know it
is a clear issue!
--We have become a shameless people!
· We have
forgotten how and when to blush!
· We have
forgotten when to be appalled at sin!
--If we are not sorry for our sin, we won’t repent…if
we won’t repent, we won’t be converted…if we don’t get converted, our judgment
clearly rests on ourselves!
--Christ stands ready to take our guilt, our shame and
our judgment upon Himself!
2. Repentance without Regret
2 Cor. 7:10
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance
without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces
death.
--You will not want to renege when God has led you to
repent and turn to Him!
--Once we have seen our sin and understood what He has
called us to do, we cannot afford to harden our hearts.
--If we do, our hearts grow colder and colder as we
drift farther and farther from the light that penetrates our hearts and warms
us with tears of brokenness!
E. A PEOPLE ENGAGED IN SUBTLE DECEPTION
--Sometimes you can be in a crowd and feel all alone.
--Sometimes a room can be filled up but still seem
empty because it is filled with empty people.
--Churches can be full of empty people because those
who come have yet to realize the fullness of life in Jesus Christ!
--How does that emptiness become apparent to our own
hearts when we are the ones who are empty?
1. Empty Conversations
· No sound witness to non-believers
· No sound testimonies of God’s faithfulness
· No substantive topics from God’s Word
· No significant priorities reflected in what we say
Col. 4:6
Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that
you may know how you should respond to each person.
2. Empty Confidences
· No certainty of eternal life
· No certainty of answered prayer
· No certainty of forgiven sin
· No certainty of a living Savior and Lord!
3. Empty Convictions
· True convictions end up in action!
· Conviction without actions results in hardening hearts!
--What happens when God convicts you of sin?
4. Empty Closets
--The prayer closets can be empty…
When we are not there because we fail to make it a priority or lack any
genuine conviction that it makes a difference.
When we are there but the time is…
…Empty of meaning
…Empty of richness
…Empty of vitality
--If we deceive ourselves into thinking that emptiness
is normal, we will continue to allow ourselves to settle for a spiritual life
that is a poor substitute for all that God intends!
5. Empty Confessions
--Eventually we end by pretending to be what we are
not…offering words without meaning
and defending doctrines without power!
--Others might be impressed…we might even be
impressed…but God will not!
u This all leads to
a crisis point for us to be…
F. A PEOPLE PRIMED FOR SOUL-STIRRING REVIVAL!
OR
A PEOPLE PRIMED FOR SOUL-SEARING
REJECTION!
1. Soul-Searing Rejection
Is.
65:13-15
Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, My servants shall eat, but you
shall be hungry. Behold, My servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty.
Behold, My servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame. 14 “Behold, My servants shall
shout joyfully with a glad heart, But you shall cry out with a heavy heart, And
you shall wail with a broken spirit. 15
“And you will leave your name for a curse to My chosen ones, And the Lord GOD
will slay you. But My servants will be called by another name.
2. Soul-Stirring Revival
Ezek. 37:11-14 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones
are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and
our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’ 12 “Therefore prophesy, and say to
them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you
to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of
Israel. 13 “Then you will
know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come
up out of your graves, My people. 14
“And I will put My Spirit within you, and you will come to life, and I will
place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken
and done it,” declares the LORD.’”
II. WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE WE NEED TO BE
· PEOPLE WHO ARE…
A. FREED FROM SELF-CENTERED LIVES
Gal. 6:14 But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I
to the world.
Rom. 6:6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our
body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin;
B. BROKEN AND HUMBLED
Psa. 51:1-4, 16-17 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Thy
lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Thy compassion blot out my
transgressions. 2 Wash me
thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me. 4
Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, And done what is evil in Thy sight, So
that Thou art justified when Thou dost speak, And blameless when Thou dost
judge…
16 For Thou dost not delight
in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; Thou art not pleased with burnt
offering. 17 The sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not
despise.
C. TURNED BACK TO HIM
Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away,
in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
As the world watches to see what will happen in Iraq, we
have a mandate from the Lord. We are to
watch over our own hearts and as we detect anything there which contends
against the sovereign rule of Jesus Christ, we must be ready to confess our
failures and sins and turn all things over to Him.
Before we can enjoy the peaceful fruit of
an undivided heart, we have to yield ourselves to Him at every point. He wants to set us apart as a people separate
from the rest of the world who can then influence that world and impact that
world for His glory. If we are just like
them, we can do nothing to lead them out of their darkness into the light of
new life in Christ.
So for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of
those yet to know Him, allow the Lord to show you your heart and then turn it
over to Him so that He can make us the genuine Christian men and women He wants
us to be!
January 30, 2005
Providence Baptist Church
© David Horner 2005
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