Love Trumps Liberty 11-26-23

Overview: Salvation is not based on our own efforts or good deeds, but on the grace and love of Jesus Christ. Trying to be good enough or following religious rules will only lead to a burden that we were never meant to carry. Instead, our salvation is based on Jesus and His sacrifice for us. There is a balance between freedom in Christ and a Christian's responsibility to not hinder or hurt others. It is important to live righteously, peacefully, and joyfully in order to be acceptable to God and approved by others. Helping and serving others is a way to honor God and share the message of Jesus. Transcription: John 3.17 follows John 3.16, obviously. And we all know John 3.16. John 3.17 says, For the Son of Man did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Now for those who may not have grown up in church, those who may not have been around the church long, the question might be, saved from what? The answer is simply this. A good church answer. Sin. Saved from sin. Well, what is sin? Anything that falls short of the glory of God. Of God's instruction, God's direction, God's commands. And for centuries, man has been trying to find his way out from under the curse of sin. Well, if I'm good enough, if I give enough to charity, if I follow enough religious rules, if I come to church enough, if I'm a good person, if my good outweighs my bad, and what we have found is under that kind of strenuous work-based salvation, we find a great weight and burden that must be carried. How much is good enough? How much money is enough to that charity, to that church, to that non-profit? How much works are enough to outweigh my bad? How much is enough? And it is exactly that kind of weight that Jesus makes that statement, come unto Me, you who are weak and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And my yoke is easy and my burden is light. How can He make such claims? Because He is trying to get us to see that our salvation is not based on us, it's based on Him. And when our salvation is based on Him, what that allows us to do is to release ourselves from that burden and that weight of having to be good enough. Because then we can come to Him and say simply this, I'm not good enough. I'll never be good enough. Enough will never be enough, even on my best days. Our righteous deeds are what? Filthy rags in His sight. And so nothing is good enough. And so because our salvation is based on Him and His love and His grace and His forgiveness, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When we come to Him, it is this great release, this great freedom of coming to Christ. And as we journey in that freedom in our relationship with the Lord, oftentimes we find ourselves picking up that mantle again, don't we? Oh man, I've been saved, I've been forgiven, I've been set free in Christ, but you know what? I've got to be good enough. I've got to do all the right things. I've got to say all the right things. I've got to go all the right places. I've got to be this person. I've got to put this front. I can't let anybody see who I really am, the struggles and the strides and the hurts and the heartaches and the doubts and the depressions. I can't let that be seen. So what we put on ourselves is this weight again. And we become weak and heavy laden because we're carrying a burden that we were never meant to carry. That's what Christ carried to the cross. That's what Christ offers us is that freedom. And that's what Paul is talking about here in Romans 14 and 15. We've talked to this point on this topic, Love Trumps Liberty. Because we begin to put on this freedom, this liberty in Christ. And another Scripture says that we are saved by grace. And if we're saved by grace, and where sin abounds, grace does much more abound should we go on sinning. So there's this idea of because I'm saved by grace, you've got the two sides of the coin, right? Those that pick up that burden, that weight, and try to carry it on their own. And then you've got the other side that say, hey, I can do anything that I want because I'm saved by grace, not by works. And so I can live any way I want to because my salvation is based on Christ, not on me. And since He's already saved me, then there's nothing left for Him to do. I'm saved. I'm going to heaven. I'm not going to hell. So I can live any way I want to here on out. And that Scripture says where sin abounds, grace does much more abound, does that mean that I should go on sinning so that grace may be all the more pleasant? Should I go on sinning so that others can make sure that they see grace in me? And Scripture says absolutely not. Because even though we are set free in Christ, there are certain things that we should not do as believers. There are certain things that we should do as believers. And this is where Paul is pressing in right here. He's saying, as a child of God, yes, you are free. He says that in chapter 14. He says, I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself. Nothing unclean of itself. But he goes on, but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Yet, if a brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. And so he begins this section of Scripture on love trumps liberty. Yes, there are certain things as believers we can do. There are certain things that we shouldn't do. And there are certain things that the religious crowd, certain rules and regulations that the religious crowd would like to put on to all believers that simply should not be put on all believers. However, in our freedom, what we have to be careful of not doing is hindering or hurting or destroying a young believer. And Paul says, love trumps liberty by refocusing us. By getting our focus off of ourselves. Well, I'm free in Christ, so I can do whatever I want. And it's what I believe and how I feel and what my preferences are. And Paul says, no, love trumps that liberty. It's not I, I, I. However, it is how can I help others? It goes from I to them. Love trumps liberty by refocusing us and by reminding us of what's important. Look at Romans 14, verses 17-18. He says, for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For He who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. I don't think there's that many on the face of the earth that to at least a very small degree wants to be accepted by others. They want to be part of the crowd. We have this desire for community. Even if we're one of those people and maybe you're this, I find myself to be this on any given day. You're one of these people, I just don't like people. I'd just rather be in my house by myself and not have to deal with people. You know what the hardest part about dealing with people is? People. That's the hardest part. Because look, we're all different, right? We all have our own preferences. We have our own personalities. We're stubborn. We're hard-headed. We like what we like. And if you don't like it, then you're wrong and I'm right. That's how we get sometimes. And so maybe you're one of those for the most part, but there's at least a glimmer within you that says, I just want them to accept me. I just want them to approve. That's oftentimes why we surround ourselves with people who like the things we like and do the things we do so we can be part of that community. Paul says here, for he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God, what? And approved by men. So I'm going to give you certain things that you can do to be approved by men. You want to belong? You want to be accepted? Here's what you do. Verse 17, the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. You want to be accepted or approved by God or acceptable to God and approved by men? Then live righteous, live peaceful, and live joyful. Live righteous. What does that mean? It means you honor God. You say, now wait a minute, if I honor God, people are not really going to accept me. If you honor God by the way that you live, then you will be known as someone who is honest. You will be known by someone who is loving. You will be known by being someone who is caring. You will be known by someone who is helpful. You will be known to be someone who are these things. So if you honor God with your... Who's not going to love someone who is helpful? Now listen, I had the great joy yesterday of decorating my house for Christmas. One of my favorite things to do in the whole wide world. No, no. You know me well enough to know that's not true. I don't like decorating. I think it's pointless. My idea of decorating is let me do a centerpiece with a dewalt drill, some drill bits, a tape measure, and a bullet level right there in the center of my table. That way if I ever need it, I know where to find it. Right? My idea of decorating is something that's useful. It says, like, we're going to decorate for Christmas. I was like, okay. So we walk into the living room. I want the tree right there. Well, guess what? It's right where the tree is supposed to be. Pictures that we didn't hang up from when we moved in. Glory be! Well, if we're going to move them pictures, we might as well hang up. So we start hanging up pictures. My third least favorite thing to do. But here's what made it better. I'm on that ladder. I don't know, maybe y'all men are like I am. I'm hanging on a wall. I've got my tape measure. I've got to find the center. I've got to measure from the top and the bottom and the sides and make sure it's level. Put my screws up. Okay, it's level. Check. I mean, I'm doing all this, right? I'm on the ladder. If I get up and down off that ladder five times for that one picture, I'm getting one picture hung. But if I'm standing on the ladder, tape measure, hammer, screw. Boom, boom, boom. And I have somebody there to help me accomplish what I'm trying to do. Makes the job easier. And I'm going to be thankful for that person. That's how we should be in life. We should help the people get their pictures hung. We should help people get their Christmas decorations hung. We should be a helpful people honoring God because we care, because we love Him, because we want the opportunity to tell them about Jesus. The world finds a problem with the church because what we like to do is stand up here on a podium and go, you ain't right. You ain't right. You need to get right. You're wrong. And I don't like you and you don't like me and this is just the way it's going to be. Instead of getting down there at the base of their ladder. How can I help you? How can I serve you? How can I minister to you? Right where they are. Beloved, if the church wants to be accepted by men, and listen, we want to be accepted, don't we? We don't want them to reject us. Why? Because if they reject us, who's going to tell them about Jesus? Now, I'm not saying we get down here and do what they're doing. And we don't get down here looking so much like them that we forget who we are. But we live a life of righteousness, honoring God and helping others. Live a life of righteousness. Live a life of peace with God. Now, I've often said this and I will never change from this truth. If we could ever get a glimpse into the awesomeness and the majesty and the glory of God, just a twinkling of a glimpse, if we could ever see that, then it would completely change who we are. See, in our finite minds, we can't understand the infinite God that we serve. In our limited judgment and our sinful state, we can't fully understand the perfection of a holy God. We can't understand... In fact, God told Moses, no, you can't see Me face to face because you'll die. So instead, I'm going to hide you in the cleft of the rock. And if I walk by, then you can take a peek as I pass. And when he got that glimpse, he came down off the mountain and had to wear a veil because his face shone with the glory of God. So we painted God into a picture of us, right? Scripture says that God created man in His image. What we have done is created God in our image. We've painted Him in this little picture of this is what God looks like. If we could ever step into a realm of the holiness of God, it should scare us to death. Because how sinful we are. And how broken we are. So how can we, as a sinful, broken people, stand in the presence of a perfect, holy God? There's only one way. Through the blood of Jesus Who became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. We stand in the presence of God not based on our righteousness, based on His righteousness applied to us. That's the only way. And so maybe you're here this morning, and you're like, man, these people, man, they look nice. And y'all do. Y'all look nice. Y'all look good this morning. You look around, you say, man, they've got it all figured out. We don't. We're a bunch of broken, sinful people. We're messed up. We fail God daily. We sin against Him. We have doubts. We have concerns. We have worries and anxieties. We're just like you. We've just stepped into the righteousness of God by acknowledging Christ as our Lord and Savior. And the same opportunity that we had to be able to do that, you have this morning as well. That you can step into that grace, step into that forgiveness, be cleansed from all unrighteousness, and be made into the righteousness of God so that you can have peace with God. Because even in my brokenness, you know what? I know I have peace because of what Jesus did on the cross. When I sin against Him, you say, preacher, not you. Yes, absolutely. I've got three kids. I'm not saying it's their fault. I choose to do it because of them. Any parent under here understands what I'm saying, right? But even when I sin against God, and I don't feel like praying to Him, and I don't feel like coming into His presence, and I don't feel like diving into His Word, guess what? I have peace with God because of what Jesus did for me and for you on the cross. And you can step into that peace this morning reminding us of what important righteousness and peace with God is, and peace with people. I can have peace with you and you can have peace with me when we understand this, that none of us are perfect. When I stop expecting others to be perfect, I can allow some grace and mercy to move into that space. But oftentimes, my problem comes with people when I expect them to do a certain thing, act a certain way, say a certain thing, serve me in a certain way, and they don't live up to my expectations. Then the problem comes in. When that person cuts me off on the highway, how dare they cut me off? Don't they know I'm the number one driver on the road? Everybody should be looking out for me. I'm calling, get out of the way! But when I understand that it's not about me, maybe they didn't see me. Maybe they're in a hurry. Maybe they're going to see somebody at the hospital at the point of death. And I begin to remove myself and allow grace and mercy to move in. Then I can be at peace with men. Righteousness and peace and joy. Joy. Joy is something that can't be taken away. It can only be given away. See, I've had some people in the past that try to do something for me. And I'm a little bit of a prideful man. I like to do things myself. I like to handle business, if that makes sense. So somebody will come up and say, hey, I did this for you. I got this for you. I'm like, man, I really wish you wouldn't have done that. They'll say something like this, but I'm not trying to steal my joy. And so I've learned to try to graciously accept it, right? But in the back of my mind, I'm going, I'm not trying to steal your joy. If you find joy by me accepting what you have done, then you're going to be in a world for hurt because not everybody's going to accept what you do. Listen, those of us who are a little more mature and a little more experienced and lived before the ages of Instagram and Facebook and all of those things, we don't understand this struggle as much as these younger generations do. Listen, so much of who they are is driven by being accepted on that little app. So much of who they are is being pushed and pulled. And oh no, I didn't get liked, and I didn't get accepted, and the anxiety and the stress comes from that little app. I can't imagine living life that way. I'm not saying, again, we all have this little twinkling of a glimmer of, I want to be accepted. And Satan's done a great job of telling this younger generation, hey, this is what it's all about. He's done a great job of that. And what that does is that pulls their attention away from who God says they are. Pulls their attention away from, hey, this is who you really are. This is where your identity comes from. This is who I've created you to be. I've given you a purpose. I've accepted you. I've loved you to the point I was willing to die for you. I've created you as who I wanted you to be, and I've got great things in store for you if you'll get your attention off of that and on this. Guess whose job that is to teach them that? Mine as their parents. Yours as their parents. Yours as their grandparents. Oh now, I'm getting in sick of it right now. Parents, oftentimes we can't do that because we're too busy with our nose stuck in it too. Yeah, honey, that's great. Oh, that's wonderful. Good job. What you doing? Okay, okay. Watch this. Watch this. I'm alright. I'm okay. Let me show you something. I know and I am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself. There's nothing unclean about that in and of itself. But how it's used. How it's taken advantage of. And how we allow it to pull us away from God's Word. We are losing the joy of fellowship because we're stuck in those things. Because we're stuck right here instead of right here. Because we're stuck right here instead of right here. That little twinkling of a desire to be accepted by men is God has created us for fellowship. If we squash it and squander it, the only thing that's left to replace it is self. And when we rely on self, we become burdened and heavy laden. How do we live to be acceptable by God and approved by men? We live in righteousness. We live in joy. And we live in peace. He gives us the key to that. In the Holy Spirit. In the Holy Spirit. It doesn't come from a checklist. I just need to pray more. I need to read more. I need to go to church more. I need to do this more. Again, going back to what I said, that's heavy laden and burdensome. How do I live righteous? How do I live at peace? How do I live in joy? In the Holy Spirit. And if we're going to do that, we have to first and foremost get honest. We've got to get honest to where we are. We have to stop walking around with this front of I'm alright. I'm good. I'm okay. We need to get honest with ourselves. No, I'm struggling. I'm hurting. I'm heavy laden. I'm tired. I'm broken. I question here. I doubt this. I don't know why this. I need help. We've got to get honest. Where are you this morning? Are you willing to get honest with yourself? Are you willing to allow the Spirit of God to press in on you a little bit? Are you willing to empty out your pockets and say here it is? Reach down deep. Get that sin that you've been holding on to, that struggle that you've been hiding, that heartache that's running so deep. Reach all the way down there deep. Let it out. And lay it before God. And say God, here it is. There's a song that I believe it's Casting Crowns Sings or something like that. It's called Jesus at a Distance. And it talks about worshiping Jesus at a distance. Keeping that safety net between you and Him because you don't want Him to get real with you. And the chorus of that song is this phrase, no more Jesus at a distance. I'm going to pull Him in close. I'm going to let Him have it all. I'm going to lay it before Him. Would you be willing to do that this morning? Our musicians come. We'll call it a time of invitation. And that's just what it is. I'm inviting you at this moment to get real. I'm inviting you at this moment to lay it all. You don't have to lay it all before me. But will you get honest with the Lord this morning? Jesus, this is where I'm at. I've been coming to this church for 20 years. I look good. I know the right words to say. I know the right places to go. I know the right things to do. But in reality, I've never acknowledged You as my personal Lord and Savior. And I need to be honest and I need to get that right this morning. Are you willing to be honest with Jesus? Jesus, I've been keeping You at a distance, but this morning, no more. I'm going to get as close to You as I can. Are you willing to be honest and just lay it all out before Him and begin to live in the power of the Holy Spirit of God? A spirit that the Bible says is not of fear, but of love and of power and of a sound mind. How do we live in righteousness? How do we live in peace? How do we live in joy? Only by living in the Spirit of God. I invite you this morning to step in to that relationship, either by way of salvation you need to come and acknowledge Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, by repentance saying, God, I've been holding on to this sin. I've been holding on to this thing and I want to lay it before You for forgiveness this morning, or simply by prayer saying, God, help me. Help me to live in righteousness and peace and joy. You come. This altar is open. I'd love to pray with you, pray for you. I'll be right down front. You come as this time of invitation is extended.