Dressed to Kill

Transcript

Most of us know that Christianity is not just a philosophy, right? But Christianity is a call into a personal relationship with God that Jesus shed His blood for us to experience. But still, for many people, they don't realize that the way they approach that relationship with God has caused a blessing to be blocked in their life instead of blessing to be released in their life. And that's the reason for a phrase that we're going to study as we start this message today. The Bible says that the apostle Peter was speaking to a great crowd of people. And we don't know how many people were in that crowd. Here's all we know is before Peter spoke to this crowd, there were about 3,000 people in the church. And when Peter got done speaking to the crowd, there were 5,000 men and their families in the church. And that's because they had seen this amazing miracle. There was this guy who was forty years old. He had been paralyzed, laying by the temple every single day, and God healed him. And when God healed him, people were listening to the Word of God, and they were hearing God's Word differently. And I want to read Peter's words to us this morning. Peter said, I want you to repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out. so times of refreshing may come to you from the Lord. Now, that word wiped out is the word exolopho, and it means this, that God wants to erase or God wants to obliterate our sins. Anybody in the house today grateful God's wiped out all your sins and He's taken them away? Can you say, Amen? But here's the challenge. Listen, that isn't all that Peter said, but he said, After your sins are wiped out, I want to talk to you about something really important. important, and that is you learn to be refreshed every single day in the presence of God. And we have a challenge in American Christianity, and this is what it is. According to the Barna Research Group, about two-thirds of Americans have said their faith in Jesus Christ is really important to them. But whenever we look around, we can see that two-thirds of Americans aren't walking in the fullness of the blessings of Jesus. And this is why that's true. It's because for a lot of people, they receive Jesus as Savior, but then they think they can run their lives better than God can run their lives. And so their sins are wiped out, but they don't come to Him every day to let Him refresh their lives as Lord and Savior. And Peter's saying that if you want regrets to go because of poor choices you've made, and if you want rewards to come because of the things God's doing in your life, here's the secret. You've got to turn to the Lord and not just have your sins wiped out, but let the Lord refresh you, and then the Lord will bless you. You know, we all have bad memories, don't we? I'll tell you one of my worst ones, whenever Tamara finished homeschooling all four of our children, Michael finished the fifth grade, and so we had kids four to 11. And I told them as a reward for their accomplishments, I was gonna take them to Disney World. So we got there, and I don't know if you ever spent a day in Disney World with four kids who are four to seven, but I'm gonna tell you, I felt like I ran a marathon whenever that day was over. over. And then the worst part was, well, no, the second worst part was whenever I started looking for our car and I forgot where I parked it. It's one thing to do that at Faith Family Church, it's another thing to do that at Disney World. And I spent an hour looking for the car with very grumpy kids following at my heels, and finally I found the car and I turned the key, and when I flipped the switch, the battery wasn't working. One of our children had left a light on that they had turned on in the car. So then I walked another hour looking for a security guard to jump the battery to our car, and I'll never forget that I was so exasperated that Judgmental Jimmy arose in my heart. And I thought, whenever I turn this switch, I'm going to look and see whose light comes on, and I'm going to realize who it was that put me in this situation. And so I flipped the switch, and I couldn't tell which kid did it. But I was so tired, I just threw the car in reverse, backed out, and I smashed right into the security guard's vehicle. And I'm telling you, I was so embarrassed. There's a reason we're so nice to our kids. How many of you know they have way too many stories they could tell if they ever started talking about all of our bad memories? But this morning, I want to encourage you that what sin has caused in your life can be wiped out of your life, and it's God's will to create wonderful memories in your life. But the secret is we can't just have Jesus as our Savior without allowing Jesus to be the Lord of our life, and that's Paul's main point in the text that we're going to study today, Paul's going to tell us that foolish thinking produces foolish actions, and they bring regret into our life. But here's what God wants to do. God wants to bring wise thinking into our life that produces wise actions that causes God to reward us in life. So Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:22, he said, Now remember, you were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. You know what's horrible about deceit? Deceit doesn't just deceive you, but when somebody is deceitful, it means they had the intention to harm you through the deception. And Paul's telling us that there are evil spirits in this world that we have to deal with. And he said, I want to wake you up to the fact that they'll throw you, then they'll kill you. They'll fascinate you, and then they're going to assassinate you in life. And he said, You have to learn to put off those deceitful desires where you think nothing bad's going to happen, but somehow the enemy gets in the middle of that part of your life. And then Paul says, I want you to put on the new self. And he said, I want you to be made new in the attitude of your mind. And He said, If you'll be made new in your attitude and you'll put on the new self and act differently, He said, You're going to be created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. In other words, God can get rid of the bad memories and God can create wonderful memories in our life, but the secret is we have to think differently about life first, and then we have to start doing the right things in our life that God can reward. Now I want to share something with you that really helped me years ago, and the speaker talked about how some people hurt enough that they have to change, other people see enough that they're inspired to change, other people learn enough that they want to change, but he said really we have to receive enough if we're going to be able to change. So if you go back to my story about wrecking into that poor security guard's car, you know After that, for about a month, I did everything my driver's ed teacher told me to do. I would get in the car and I would make sure my seatbelt was on. I would check every single mirror before I started driving. But you know what happened? About a month later, I was right back to jumping in the car, putting on the seatbelt, and putting it in reverse at the same time. And I learned that's why God gave me another gift. He gave me a wife to help me with that. Can you Amen. And I learned that, listen, I may hurt enough to want to change, and I may learn what I need to change, but something has to change in my heart before God can change my life. And that's what we're going to learn to do today. But before I take you through the text, I want to tell you one more story, and this story is going to explain to you why I love being a pastor. Because when I was young, first of all, I couldn't have been a pastor because I wasn't raised in church. And I didn't know church people well enough to be a pastor. But I was a pretty good evangelist. So when I was, you know, in my early 20s, I started preaching as an evangelist. And I didn't know how long I'd do it, but doors kept opening. And before you knew it, I'd preached three years as an evangelist. And I was a decent leader because my parents trained me to be a decent leader. And because of that, whenever I started getting moving, I got opportunities to be a leader in mission organizations and other organizations. But there was something in my heart that caused me to do what I've done now for 37 years. And it's that the people I grew up with didn't know how to walk with God. And I knew that God was calling me to teach them the Bible so they could love Jesus as much as I love Jesus. And I want to talk to you about one girl who inspired this message this morning. Her name is Valerie Volz. And she was so cute, so kind, so fun, so caring, but she had an issue in her life. She was an approval addict. And because she was an approval addict, she would constantly give her heart to people who ended up hurting her. And when I went to the high school reunion, after 40 years of being in high school, I was talking to Valerie, and I'm telling you, I went in the car and I wept because I thought about how what I'm talking about this morning played out in her life. And I'll never forget whenever it was the night of our senior prom, Valerie came, man, she was dressed to kill y'all. And everybody said, Valerie, man, you look amazing. And we all knew she came from a poor family and they didn't have a lot of money. And she looked back at us and she said, Yeah, but she said, I kept the tags. She said, I'm wearing this tonight and then I'm going to take it back to the store tomorrow morning. And she didn't think twice about it, but that's what Paul's talking about. He's saying, Listen, if you're not careful, those deceitful desires that you have are going to catch up with you in life. And you didn't think you were to get hurt. You didn't think whenever you were being angry at people and you were controlling people that you were going to regret that one day. But down the road, whenever the very people you wanted to be close to didn't like you anymore because of how you were controlling them, you realized something has to change in my heart. Or you didn't think that lying was going to destroy your life the way that it did. You just thought you were putting a positive spin on things and somehow, you know, getting by with some stuff. But in the end, your lack of telling the truth caused people not to trust you. And now you've lost things that are so dear to your life. And God doesn't want that for us. He wants to destroy the bad memories of our life, and He wants to establish memories that we're grateful for because of how Jesus is the Lord of our life. And if we just want to get saved, but we don't want Jesus to be Lord of our life, chances are you're going to continue having bad memories. But if He truly becomes Lord of our life, He starts saving us, and we're so grateful for all God does. Now, how does that happen? Three things Paul's going to tell us in Scripture, and I call this letting God begin to fix the wardrobe of my soul so that God can bless my life, because remember, Paul said we've got put off some things. Everybody say, Put off some things. We've got to put on some things. That's what we do with wardrobes, right? And here's the first thing Paul says. He said, We need to allow God to call out wrong habits in our life. He says in verse 17, So I tell you this, and I insist on it in the Lord. So listen to those words. He said, I insist on this in the Lord. Now why can we insist on somebody doing something, because if Jesus Christ Christ is truly the Lord of our life, that means He has the final say, and we don't have the final say anymore. Can you give me a good amen? So Paul said, I'm going to insist on the fact that you do something, you no longer live as the Gentiles do, who live in the futility of their thinking. Now, we talked about the fact that foolish thinking produces foolish action which produces regrets. And in the same way, we can see wise thinking lead to wise action that to God's reward. So I thought it would be fun this morning to go through some parts of American life where people are struggling and let's test what Paul said. Let's see if this is really true. First of all, let's talk about our relationships for just a second. What are some bad choices? Well, people make bad choices about who to date, who to marry, who to partner with. What's the result of those foolish choices? They have drama, they have emotional chaos, and they have broken trust in their life. What does God insist on? Because that's happening all around us. Well, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:33, Don't be misled because bad company is going to corrupt good morals. So if you think, Well, he thinks I'm cute, she thinks I'm nice, and so you compromise, God says, I want you to know I insist on these things, not because I want to keep fun from you, but because I want fun and fulfillment to be kept for you. Say, Amen, now here's the... Good news, and that is, if you marry the wrong person, aren't you guys glad Jesus can change hearts and He can make us all the right person? Come on, give Him some praise for that this morning, church, right? And so I'm not saying this to put anybody down. I'm saying this so we all see that we have to pay attention to our heart. Like Paul says, we need to pay attention to our heart. Here's the second area, finances. What are some of the bad choices we make? Well, we overspend, and that brings debt into our life. Or we have a lack of generosity with our finances, and that limits favor. And the result is stress, anxiety, nobody being willing to help help us. And it's why God insists in Proverbs 21:5 that the plans of the diligent are going to lead to profit as surely as haste is going to lead us to poverty. So can we see how whenever we put off the wrong choices that the enemy tries to get us to make and we start putting on the right choices, things are going to change. And before I read you another one of these or two, I just want to share with you what my hope is in this message this morning. And my hope is that as you hear this, you're going to say, This is why God calls me to be regular in church. This is why I want to learn to read my Bible and pray. This is why I want to keep the right friends around me, because if my heart gets right, God's going to reward me in beautiful ways. And that's what Paul is calling this church But habits don't change overnight, do they? And so some of us struggle in these areas. Let's talk for just a minute about our time and priorities. You know, there are some people who are always busy, have no margin in their life. They think they're really too busy to spend time with God. They have no rest. And what's the result? We have spiritual dryness, we have burnout, and we have a short temper. And that's why Jesus said, I want you to seek first my kingdom. kingdom and my righteousness. And he said, You're going to realize that whenever I have more control of your heart, I can make the other things that you're concerned about work out in your life. Now let's talk about why we get to this place, because Paul is so clear. He says in verse 17 that we have futile thinking. And he said, we have futile thinking because our understanding has been darkened. And he said, what happens because of that is, he said, people's hearts get hard. And he said, they lose all sensitivity to other people. Did you know that pain will make you narcissistic in life? You'll think because I'm hurting so bad, I don't need to think about the people around me. I just need to think about me. But can I tell you this, doing that isn't going to make you happy, because when you put boundaries to keep people out, the best people can't get into your heart now, right? So Paul said, here's the other thing people do, is he said, not only do they lose sensitivity, but he said they start giving themselves to sensuality. They start taking drugs, they start taking alcohol, they start getting in the wrong relationships, because those things become stress relievers to the bad memories that we have. So first, Paul says, we need to allow God to call out the wrong behavior in our life. Here's the second thing Paul says, and he said, Then ask God to create a new heart on the inside of you. He said, That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in Him. in accordance with the truth in Jesus, but you were taught to do what we already read about, which is put off the old life and put on the new life. Now, Jesus told a story that's so powerful in this regard. He was speaking to the Pharisees, and He was talking to them about what was wrong with their worship services and His opinion. And this was Jesus' summary statement I want to read to you in Matthew 15, verse 8 and 9. He said, The people are honoring God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him, and because of that their worship is in vain. Can we see this clearly? The problem was that they wanted God to save them, and they came to church, but He can't be Savior unless He's Lord. If our lips are close to Him, but our heart is far from Him, then we're blocking the blessing that God so desperately wants to bring into our life. And it was funny afterwards that the disciples said to Jesus later in the chapter, they said, Lord, didn't You know, man, the Pharisees were upset with You? You offended them. And Jesus replied, listen closely, He said, Every plant that my heavenly Father hasn't planted needs to get pulled up by the roots. In other words, Jesus loved people, but Jesus didn't just let anything grow in people's hearts because He knew that what was growing in their heart was going to manifest itself in their life. And so if you come to Faith Family Church, you're never going to have to wonder if I'm going to speak the truth to you. Because listen, sentimentality without truth It's terrible because sentimentality without truth, what it does is it produces a bunch of people who feel good, but life doesn't go good for them. Can you say amen? But you also never have to be concerned that I'll preach truth at you and make you feel like something in your life is worse than anybody else. Because when I'm speaking the truth, I'm gonna love you and I'm gonna tell you the only reason I'm telling you the truth is because I love you so much and I want the rest of your life to be the very best years of your life. Can you say amen? That's what Jesus said. He said, We gotta pay attention to what's growing in hearts because it ends up determining what happens in life. Now I'm gonna tell you a funny story before I finish this message that'll make you feel good. I was in India getting ready to speak to a lot of missionaries who were serving in a remote place. And where I was in the hotel, they had just installed a traffic light to control traffic better. And so I was in my room and I was watching this traffic light go from red to yellow to green, from red to yellow to green, and it totally had the power to control the traffic in India. But if you've ever seen Slumdog Millionaire, you can see how people are trained to drive in India, and that is they just beep, beep, beep, and it looks like a bunch of five-year-olds playing soccer around a soccer ball. They just keep beeping until people move out of their way, and they all keep going. So I'm in my hotel room, and I'm watching this traffic light go red, yellow, green, red, yellow, green, and then I'm watching these people beep, beep, beep, as if the traffic light doesn't exist, and I'm thinking, How crazy they're not living in the blessing of that traffic light. Now, fortunately, a year later I was in the same place and they learned. But listen, isn't it time we learn as Americans that lust is not good for us, greed is not good for us, lying isn't good for us? Isn't it time we come back to the God who knows how to bless His people? Can you say, Amen? Let's be people who obey God's Word and we say, God, listen. I allow you to change anything in me because I know nobody loves me more than you and nobody can lead me better than you. God, I ask you to create a pure heart in me. Think about David. He did some horrible things that he paid for dearly. But thank God he came to God and he said, God, create a pure heart in me. He realized that was the key to the rest of his life, being the best of his life. So this morning, I want to encourage you, let's all allow God to change whatever He wants to in us. Number two, let's ask Him to create an even better heart inside of us. And then here's how Paul closes the text. He said, What we really need to do is we need to act differently when we're in the same circumstances. If we want God to change our life, we have to act different. See, whenever I plowed into that poor security guy, I hope he watches us somewhere in the world and says, I know that guy, right? But whenever I did that, didn't I owe it to him to look in my mirror, put on the seatbelt, then put it in reverse, right? And what I love about these closing verses that we're going to read is Paul doesn't just tell us what God wants us to do, but he tells us why God wants us to do it. So he gives us seven things we'll close with. Number one, he said, therefore each of you must put off false and speak truthfully to your neighbor, because we're members of one body. In other words, if you keep spinning the truth, people aren't going to trust you, and you're not going to have the long-term relationships that are a great blessing to you in life. The second thing He says is, In your anger, don't sin. Don't let the sun go down while you're angry, and don't give the devil a foothold. Now let me ask you, who here has been angry? Would you lift your hand, right? You've been angry before. But what's wrong with anger is that we need people to accomplish things. And people who accomplish great things want to enjoy the affection of the people around them as they accomplish those things. And if you give yourself the anger, I promise you, the devil's going to steal your accomplishment and the devil's going to steal your relationships in life. Here's the third thing that Paul said, as he said, And anyone who's been stealing must steal no longer, but they must work with their hands and do something useful so they have something to share. You know, my dad taught me when I was a little lazy kid. He said, Jimmy, you should wanna be paid less than your worth in every job that you ever take. And he said, The reason for that is it's gonna make you show up, and it's gonna make you think about everybody else on the team instead of yourself when you show up that way. And I watched my dad have a heart attack. He was a researcher with PPG Industries. And they could have easily let him go in his 50s because of that heart attack. But because my dad so blessed the company, whenever he was in his time of need, the company was very, very good to my dad. Now you say, well, you don't know my boss. He wouldn't be good. You might be right. And then you got to go back to the first step and realize bad company corrupts good morals. And you got to commit yourself to the right people, right? But can we see how this is playing out in our lives maybe more than we know? You know, we may think it's not a big deal to get angry. I'm controlling everything better when I'm angry. And those people need to listen to me. And you know, it's just a little white lie. Yeah, but that white little white lie, trust me, I've seen people, they've lost their whole family because they were spinning things instead of being honest about things. Well, you know, Pastor, is it really that big a deal if I'm late to work? Well, it all depends down the road. If you wanna have favor or if you wanna get fired, you can choose whichever one you want. And then the next thing he says is this, he said, And don't let any unwholesome word come out of your mouth. but only what's helpful for building other people up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. In other words, how beautiful to have a home and a church home where every time someone uses their words, it's because they love us and they want to help us so much. How many of you want to build a church where everybody's benefited because of how we speak the words out of our mouth that should be spoken? I read a testimony that, man, it's just made me so happy recently. It was about a couple who comes here, and I'm not gonna tell you their names because you wouldn't look at them and know they fought addictions. You wouldn't look at them and know that they were thinking about divorce when they came to Faith Family for the first time. But that's where they were when they came to our church. They were fighting addictions and thinking about whether they even wanted to stay together. And they laughed and said, Pastor, we can't even believe that anymore. We each other so much. You see, whenever you started dating, it's because there was a mutual attraction. And if you don't like each other, what happened was the devil got in and he stole that part of your life. And they said, Pastor, you know where we sit? They said, and they told me the section. I'm not going to point at because all of y'all start looking, trying to figure out who they are, right? But I'm telling you, they sit in a section you wouldn't choose if, you know, just naturally. It's not like the best seats in the house. But you know why they sit there? They sit there because there's a section host in that section who notices them, who appreciates them fighting for their best in God. They pray for them. They ask them how they're doing. Come on, somebody, how many of you know you get a good God and good people on your side? are going to happen. Amen? And I'm not going to read you the final of the seven things because I preached overtime and you need to study your Bible anyway. Can you give me a good amen? But here's what I'm going to do as I close this message this morning. I'm going to ask you, how many of you don't don't want the enemy to steal your best life anymore. You want to delight in the Lord and watch God start fulfilling the desires of your heart, amen? We don't want blessings to be blocked. Listen, blessings can come to all of us. If Jesus is not just our Savior, everybody say Savior. How many of you are glad Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life and that's why God is saving so many parts of your life, amen? Come on, let's all give Him a good hand clap together.