Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Faith, Hope & Love P24 (06-10-20)
Synopsis
We have a lot of disturbing news recently, of riots and murder in our streets. We wonder if there will ever be peace on earth. But by faith, we know what God has said, That in this world you will have trials and tribulations while this earth remains as it is with sinful man. But we also know in the end there will be a new heaven and a new earth and God will make all things new. But we know what God has said so we do not have unrealistic expectations at this current state. It is unrealistic to expect that we can do something to reclaim America for God, to make God do what we want Him to do, or to think we can do something that will bring about peace. The peace that God gives is something the world knows nothing about. God’s peace does not depend on circumstances. Peace is what God gives when we place our trust in Him, when we act in faith in what God has promised. Why then did Jesus say, “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.”.
Even though we learn to not have unrealistic expectations, we also learn to have realistic expectations. We can truly experience peace that surpasses understanding as we learn to trust Him. We can experience joy in the midst of difficult circumstances. For even Jesus said that for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame. These are things of the Spirit, learned by living a life of dependency on Christ living in us, letting our roots go deeper in our knowledge of Him, of His sovereignty, unconditional love and acceptance, mercy, and grace. When you learn to be of single focus of mind, to acknowledge God, to love God by trusting Him in all things, relying not on your own understanding, but resting in Him, that is when you experience the fruit of the Spirit.
Faith is believing what God says and then acting on it. We know that whatever God has promised He will carry it out. So what has He promised? He says He will never leave you or forsake you. So if you pass through the fire, like Daniel, who else was in the fire with him? God Himself. How much closer is He to us now that He has sealed His Spirit in us? What else has God promised? He has promised that He will cause all things to happen for the good for those who love Him and are called according to His good purpose. So we can take God at His word. Does that mean that things will always turn out how we would like things to turn out? No, not according to the desire of our flesh or to our own natural understanding. Some men are appointed to martyrdom, but no man will die before what God intends to accomplish through him, to those whose minds are perfectly set on Him.
One thing we know is that God will cause things to work together for our good. We can trust God that is true. We can trust God to keep His word. What does God produce in us, that He has promised us? He will complete the work He began in us, to be conformed to the image of His Son. How do we learn to be merciful and compassionate to others? When God was merciful and compassionate to us through the things we suffered, from either our doing, a heinous sin even, and we came to our senses, or someone else’s doing. God gives grace to the humble and resists the proud. So whatever the circumstance, we are more able to identify with others who have gone through similar things. So God uses circumstances to build strength of character, to build perseverance, to mold us into the image of His Son. He has promised to complete the good work He began in us. We learn to walk by faith and not by sight. This is how faith grows and we are built up in the Lord. It is like the pure diamond that is produced through the fire, and is now of greater use. Or, it is like the trimming down of shrubs so that beautiful flowers can be on display.
So, in all things, give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. A person who is always thankful is one clear indicator of a person who has learned to walk by faith. How much more evident is that when you see a person who is thankful when undergoing the most difficult circumstances of life. That is what God produces by His Spirit as we have learned to put our trust in Him. There is this peace and joy that the world knows nothing about, but is evident to all, so that all praise and glory be to our God.
But let us put this in perspective. There is no phantom Christian, that walks perfectly every moment of every day. Our minds are being renewed day by day, so do not be hard on yourself. If you fell short one day and got upset with your Christian brother or sister, what do you do when that happens? If at all possible, make peace with everyone. Straighten it out with him, as God would want you too and would certainly ask you to. You might be amazed at how gracious God is to you, for God is certainly gracious to the humble. So be humble for why would you want God to be in a position to resist you, if you are proud. And even that resistance is for our good, so we will be humbled. In the process of this, what does God do. He causes everything to happen for the good for those who love Him. You just learned something about yourself. You are capable of giving into the flesh like all of us. What have you learned from this? Is it not to be more patient and compassionate to those who fall short from how God intended us to function? That is why we can rejoice in all things. God is for us. He truly wants the best for us. We are His child and He delights in our growth in Him.
Transcript
How many times do you hear Christian’s say, “I want to know God’s will for my life”. I can tell you one thing, to give thanks in all things is God’s will for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
“Well, I do not want to know that. I want to know God’s will”. But that is God’s will to give thanks in all things. Why is that important? It is important because thanksgiving is an indicator of your faith. If you have faith in God, you are going to have a thankful heart.
Ephesians 5:18-20
Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians 5:20, Paul says to always be giving thanks for everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, not some things, but in everything.
So, a thankful heart is a heart that can rest by faith in the fact that God has everything in control. God is your God. He loves you perfectly. He accepts you exactly where you are. There is no condemnation awaiting those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1-4
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
So you are not thinking about condemnation from God. You are able to walk into his presence at any time calling him, “daddy, Father” because He is. That is why we can call him “daddy”, the most intimate Hebrew of terms.
Romans 8:15
15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
To know we have the right to call God that is because of His love for us and His provision to us. Faith enables us to do that. Otherwise would I not be presumptuous, for I am but a little person in comparison to Him, to think I can go into the presence of God who created this universe. If I did not know God who created this universe, yet small enough to live in my heart, and if I did not know His love for me and that He wants to be my daddy and He wants me to see me that way as His child, how presumptuous would it be for me to walk into the presence of the living God? People will have hesitation to walk into the white house or to go into the presence of the president of the United States or a king or a queen of England or a ruler or even a celebrity of some kind. People get nervous going to some person just because they are well known. What presumption will there be to go into the presence of God if I did not know He wanted me to come into His presence to call Him, “daddy, Father”.
Hebrews 4:15-16
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
So when we know that then thanksgiving is merely an indicator of your knowledge of that truth. A person who is a thankful person is a person you know is a person who is walking in faith by Christ Jesus. He has learned the secret of trusting Christ and being able to say “thank you” in all things.
Sometimes it is very difficult to give thanks in all things. Here is the reason why we can do that.
Romans 8:28-32
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
So we know something that God has promised me regardless of what happens to you. He said, “I will cause it to work together for your good”. Many times we run through problems in life. We do not know how they are going to work together for good. We keep thinking circumstances are going to change. No, your heart is going to change.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
You are going to go through some trials and tribulations in your life that I am not going to change. Trials and tribulations are going to come but by going through those trials and tribulations, you are going to gain compassion. If you do not have compassion, what do you have? You certainly do not have the heart of Christ who was merciful to us and demonstrating that mercy while we were yet a sinner, he died for us.
Romans 5:8-9
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God ’ s wrath through him!
He wants us to have a merciful heart. Until you have been through something, until you have been down that road or walked in those shoes, you are not going to have mercy. God says, “In my lovingkindness, I am going to allow you to go through the trials and tribulations of life so when you come out of that experience you are going to have a heart I can use, a heart of compassion and mercy, of getting rid of those judgmental attitudes which so many people possess.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
So many are pointing fingers at each other. But Jesus said, “I did not come to condemn the world. I came to save the world”.
John 3:16-17
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Here many people are, supposedly as born again people, proclaiming to be in Christ, out condemning the world. That is all you hear is condemnation to the world. It is not that the world is not worthy of condemnation, but that is not our role. God said, “I did not come to condemn the world. I came to save the world”. So we, who have Christ living in us, why should we be condemning people when Jesus said, “I did not come to condemn”. What gives you that kind of a heart? I will tell you what gives you that kind of a heart. That is when you fall flat on your face and you experience the love of God in the midst of it. It is not the blowing of it. Like David, committing adultery with Bathsheba, killing her husband. He was a man after God’s own heart. He obviously gained some compassion from that. He saw his flesh as capable of doing anything. It humbled him.
James 4:6
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
It is only those people who think they have gone through life never doing anything wrong, and are trying hard not to do anything wrong. You see this look on their face and it is totally self righteous in action. They just do not understand what it is to fall on their face. They have fallen on their face in their heart but hiding it in some way and making people think they are okay. It is only when you realize you can fail just like anyone else that you will have a heart to those who do.
1 Corinthians 10:11-13
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Galatians 6:1-3
1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.
We are talking about thanksgiving and having a heart of thankfulness. What is the other option to that? In other words, God says to give thanks in all things for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Paul also says, “I will cause all things to happen for their good who love Him and are called to His good purpose”, if we believe that. Again, what does faith say? How do you respond in faith to what God has revealed? If God has revealed to you, “I will cause it to work together for good”. I know it is painful. I know you do not like trials and tribulations, but you will have them anyway. You will have this in the world but God says, “Fear not. I have overcome the world”. Faith says, “thank you”. I do not need to lose hope even though circumstances may seem hopeless now. It is not hopeless because you, Lord, said “I will take it and turn it for good”. So if I know that I am not in a hopeless situation, even though it seems so now, I am not in a hopeless situation.
A lot of times people use the expression, “There is light at the end of the tunnel”, but some say, “Yes, but there is a train coming at me”. When dealing with God and He says something then He is going to carry it out for us. What is the option to that? If I am not going to trust the Lord in trials and tribulations we run into in life, not looking at the problems as opportunities to trust the Lord, what is my option? Worry, anxiety, fear and those emotions coem, do they not? That is the only option. All worry is is an indicator that you are refusing to say “thank you” or refusing to believe that God is big enough to cause all those things to work together for good.
Do we do that? Of course we do. We have to realize, folks, that God called us sheep. That is about the dumbest animal on the face of the earth. We have to realize we have the tendency to be dumb when it comes to trusting the Lord, believing the Lord when he says something. We have the tendency to say the problem with that is it is out of my control and I am not able to control this thing that appears. I am not willing to relinquish those. I would rather worry and handle it myself. That is the tendency. Is there anything unusual about that? Of course not. There is not anything unusual about being anxious or fearful? Of course not. It is not a syndrome. You do not have to go back and dig up your past to see if your mother potty trained you too early or whatever dumb thing someone comes up with. It is the most natural thing people experience in this world. People are anxious. People worry. People are fearful. We have self pity. I know I am feeling sorry for myself. Who does not? It is just as natural as anything in the world. If it was not natural for us to do, why would Jesus have to continually remind us to not worry or to not be afraid, or Paul to say, “Again I say rejoice.”
John 14:27
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Hebrews 13:6
6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
Philippians 4:4-5
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
All of these ingredients that make up depression are the most natural things in the world to the flesh. That is what we are up against all the time. The desires of the flesh are in conflict with the desires of the spirit. The desires of the flesh always want to worry, to be anxious, or to feel sorry for yourself. The desires of the flesh are this need for pampering. All of that kind of stuff is natural as anything in the world to our flesh.
Galatians 5:16-8
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
So we develop this kind of phantom image of what a Christian is. The perfect phantom Christian we envision is someone who is never anxious, never squirmy, and always pays attention. What child do you know that always pays attention? So your child does not pay attention. So someone comes up and says to call him ADD, for Attention Deficit Disorder. So off we go. If I can make it sound like a disease then I have pills to calm him down as if there is something wrong with a child who is squirmy and not paying attention. That is a child and that has to be trained out of him. That is like saying to a child who lies is a compulsive liar. It is natural for a child to lie. They lie before they learn to talk. You have to teach a child to be honest. You do not need to teach a child how to lie. That is natural for a child. There is no instruction on how to lie or cheat. That comes natural. You have to train a child how to be honest and not to steal, how not to use bad language. You have to train a child on that. Why? All that is flesh. You call that a syndrome and medicate the daylights out of people because you have bought the lie that all those things are not normal.
Now, folks, if worrying was not normal, then why would Jesus say this?
Luke 12:24-26
24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
Jesus did not say, “You have got a worry complex. You have got a syndrome that needs cured over there. Man, you must have had a bad past of some kind”. Jesus is saying, “I am going to tell you something about worrying. All of you are doing it. I am just going to ask you a question? Can worrying add a single hour to your life?” What do you suppose the answer to that would be if you had a logical ounce of a brain in your head? No. It cannot add a single hour to his life. He did not say, “quit worrying. I know you are worrying. I am just going to ask you a question. Since you cannot do this little thing, then why do you worry about the rest? If worry cannot add a single hour to your life, then why do it? What is the big deal. And you sit there and you listen to it.” You know what? That makes some sense. I cannot add anything to this. My worrying about this is not going to change the circumstances. My worrying is not going to add an hour to my life. So, I do not need to do that. Then the voice comes in and says, “Why do you not need to do that?” Well, I have an answer. My God told me that He will cause all things to work together for my good. So then, the more I worry, the more I get in His way to cause all things to work together for my good.
So again, is it unusual to be anxious? If it was unusual to be anxious, why would Philippians say to not be anxious about anything? Did He say, “Oh, this anxiety. Oh, you have got an anxiety syndrome. Oh, you have panic attacks?” Unusual? No, it is not unusual at all folks. If you got situations out there that you think are out of your control and you think you need to be in control, you are going to have a panic attack. You are going to be anxious about everything that you think that you cannot control or that you think you do not have any control over. God never called you to control anything. As a matter of fact, you are not out of control nor are you in control, but you are just under control. What God wants you to be under control of is not the evil but the Spirit.
So He is saying there is nothing unusual about being anxious. But He is saying that you do not need to be. There is a solution to being anxious. What is it? Trust the Lord.
Philippians 4:6-7
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
There again, is that an attitude of thanksgiving? Now, if I have an attitude of thanksgiving, that means I have got a reason for being thankful. What is my reason for being thankful? Because God said I will cause all things to work together for your good. So whatever you are going through, He says He will cause that to work together for your good. If that is true, then you can respond in thanksgiving. You can also respond with prayer and petition, presenting your requests to God. What are you doing on that? You are saying, “Lord, you know my heart, and you know as far as I am concerned, this is the way I want this thing to work out. But I can remember your prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, ‘Father, if there is any way to take this away from me, if there is any way to save these people on the face of the earth apart from me having to go to a cross to take their sins away, do it. On the other hand, it is not my will but your will be done.’” So what Jesus Christ did is represent his requests to God, knowing full well there is no other way for that to occur. Yet, he was still expressing his heart to God saying, “if there is any other way to accomplish this Lord, do it, but it is not my will.” That is what all God is saying is what faith is. What faith is saying is, “I do not have to be anxious. I can present my requests to God and turn this over into His hands. I get it out of my hands and put it where it belongs into His.” There is a by-product of that, the peace of God.
When you are full of anxiety, do you experience peace? No. Is there any peace in anxiety? Is there any peace in worry? There is none. You cannot have peace with that mindset. The only way to experience peace is when you say, “Lord, I relinquish this to you. I am turning this over to you. I am expressing what I would like done, but I am giving this to you. Whatever your will is, I am willing to accept that.” When you do, the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your minds and hearts in Christ Jesus. Guarded from what? Guard from the attack of the enemy. That comes to you, in your mind. In your mind and in your heart is where the enemy attacks you. The enemy is saying, “You do not need to turn that over to God. What does He know? You need to be worrying about that. You need to take this thing into your own hands. You need to control this. You need to be the solution to this thing. Don’t be silly. That is flippant stuff to say, ‘Oh, let God do it. Oh, come on. You do it.’, God helps those who help themselves. You know the verse.” And we live our lives like that. That is the voice that is there, folks. It is not that it might be there. That voice is always there when you have a problem. When you are anxious about it that voice is always there. God says your heart needs guarded. Your mind needs guarded. The way you guard your heart is the peace of God that transcends all understanding. It will guard your heart as you are feeble to say in thanksgiving, “Lord, this is your deal and not mine.”
We are right back to your minds, guarding your heart and minds in Christ Jesus is a promise of God. God will do that and give you the peace of God that transcends all understanding. That peace is what will guard your hearts and minds against the voices of the flesh that are continually coming in to say, “worry about everything. Be anxious. Try to put things in your own hands. Go control the circumstance.”
We are dealing with the mind. We are told in Romans 8:6 about this battle in the mind.
Romans 8:6
6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
Again, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. It is all a part of being controlled by the Spirit of God. That control comes upon our dependency upon the Spirit of God to do what? To function to us in absolute love.
It is back to this area of faith. What is faith? It is trusting Jesus in what He has said. It is not causing Him to do something. It is realizing He is there to do this. Now enter into it. The mind of sinful man is death and the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.
I find out in life that circumstances do not cause your nature. They just reveal your nature. No one puts mad in you. They just draw mad out of you. If you did not have mad in you, they could not get any out. This is a disgusting thought. I realize that. But it is true. A woman scantily dressed does not put lust in a man. It just draws the lust out of a man that is there. We have to understand that. Circumstances of life will reveal where we are walking. When our flesh is revealed, we need to recognize that, that this is flesh, and it has just been revealed. At that time, we are able to recognize the source of that, and it is Satan. It is the desire of the flesh. It is in conflict with the desires of the Spirit. So recognize that is flesh thinking these things. At that moment say, “flesh, I have nothing to do with you. I am a spiritual being and I am going to walk by faith in the Spirit”. What do you do? You discount the lies that are being put in your mind there by Satan through the flesh and replacing those things with truth that lies in you through your spirit by Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 10:5
5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
We learn how to live this faith out. We have something against our brother, we go to him. We straighten it out. We realize that is probably not our first response. That is the real one. Or another person’s response is not real. I usually find out my first response is fleshly then the spiritual. God gets a hold of you and says, “Is that response mine or is that flesh.” You say, “Lord, that was flesh.” Then He says, “go take care of that.” So when people are willing to straighten out things where they have been offended by somebody then God does a miraculous thing in our heart. But we have to realize that regardless of what has happened to you, God will always work things together for your good. That all comes from just trusting Him. We can trust Jesus with the results of all things. All He asks is to do what He said. When we walk by faith, our relationships are restored. When we walk by faith, we realize that we do not need to keep camping on the bad, but we can dwell on the good and realize that God is going to work it out for our good.
Romans 12:17-21
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[Deuteronomy 32:35] says the Lord.
That is such an important lesson for us to learn. Some of us had to learn that in a hard way. When you go out and try to repay evil for evil, and you go out and say, “I am going to take revenge. I am going to take this thing in my own hands”, you end up in trouble. If you have been offended in some way, what the Lord says to you is, “Let me handle this”. As far as you are concerned, you be at peace with all people. That does not mean all people are going to be at peace with you. Jesus was at peace with all people but certainly not all people were at peace with Him. You do not go out to be at peace with all people, thinking that will cause them to be at peace with me. It is a thing for us to do, as a child of God to have the Spirit of peace within us, that we want to be at peace with everyone. People have offended you. Do not take revenge but leave room for God’s wrath for He says, “It is mine to revenge”. “I will repay”, says the Lord. We have to get that into our minds. We have all had things done to us that were bad. I hardly know anyone who has not had something done to him that was bad. Our tendency is to lash out. To take care of it in the energy of our flesh is our tendency. God says, “No. Leave it up to me”.
Romans 12:17-21
20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[Proverbs 25:21-22]21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
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