How Do We Deny Jesus?
This week, we will see that despite Jesus’ example of servant leadership by washing the disciples feet and being prepared to die for them, there is one who is plotting to betray Him. And if that weren’t bad enough, Jesus predicts that even His lead disciple will deny that he knows Him! We can look back at these accounts and criticize the disciples, but we should instead reflect on ways that we may be betraying or denying Jesus in our everyday lives.
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Do We Deny Jesus?Sun, Jul 30, 2023 10AM • 51:43SUMMARY KEYWORDSJesus, people, god, lord, disciples, talk, judas, deny, peter, betray, church, love, Christians, interesting, sin, remember, week, live, day
Good morning. Welcome. If you're new here among us, my name is Gene I serve here at C3 church as your pastor. What did I do? Oh, I talked about judgment last week. So that's what happened here. We got a lot of people away traveling. It is season here in southwest Florida. So it's something that every pastor has to wrap his mind around every year. Where did they go? And what did I say? Well, so, okay, well open with a question this morning. If, if you are walking along, and you're by yourself, you're on the sidewalk where you should be. You're on the sidewalk taking a walk, there's absolutely no one around and you see a $100 bill on the ground? No one I'm going to ask if you take it. Is it stealing? Yes, it's not yours. It doesn't belong to you. Right? So age old question. No, right. So you got to repent of that. So he made me think of a story about a guy similar scenario, classic kind of sir. He's walking through the park. And he decided to take arrest at a park bench. He sits down, park bench looks down and notice is a black leather briefcase. All the cliches are coming about here. So he picks up the briefcase is not locked, he opens it up. And sure enough, there's a lot of money in it. So you close the briefcase. Nobody bought the squirrels and the birds, right. So there's no one around. So he figures, I'm going to take the money. I'm going to take it home. So he takes it home. And he starts thinking, well, this is great counted $100,000 100. Wow. $100,000 could be a life changing amount of money. But then he realizes I can't do a whole bunch of life changing things with this money, because then it's traceable, Someone's probably going to come looking for $100,000. So what will I do? Well, he decides to go to another town, take the cash with him, and just buy a lot of stuff that you wouldn't normally buy like things. He's wanted his whole life like a new watch. And they set a golf club, stuff like that. And you'd be really surprised or maybe not how quickly you can go through $100,000. So he manages to spend all the money. He's at the last store. And he asked the clerk something interesting. Do you have a garbage dumpster here? Yes, he says, Okay, what time do they collect the garbage? When did they do that? It's like, pretty soon, actually, it's nearing the end of the day. Thanks. So he decides to take the briefcase and throw it in the dumpster. Now the evidence has gone. What good is this briefcase, right? So he waits, watches the garbage truck, take the garbage out, crushes the crushes the briefcase done. Sure enough, about a week later, and he's prepared for this. The police come. So they're looking around the neighborhood for the briefcase trying to find it. And he decides to deny it. He's already. So have you seen a black leather briefcase? No, I have not. Well, the detective says okay, well, here's my card. If you happen to find it, call us. Because there's a million dollar reward for the briefcase. What? Well, as soon as in question, well, what was in it? And the guy says $100,000 and $5 million worth of diamonds in the liner of the briefcase. We can shortchange ourselves sometimes, right? So when we do the wrong thing, we're going to shortchange ourselves. And so we'll talk about that a little bit today. So the joke was very real. At the beginning, we did talk about judgment. So I've said this in the past, I'll say it again, the Bible doesn't read like most people preach. So it sounds surprising. And what we've been doing is chronologically going through the whole Bible, we've been doing this for a while now. We're in the Gospels. And we're starting to see something if we faithfully preach like Jesus did, or we just simply I've just been reading you large portions of the Bible sometimes really doesn't sound like modern Christianity, does it? Not at all. We went through some tough, tough subjects, right, like marriage, death, death, death, right? Your judgment. Jesus is getting us ready for these things. This is what's important, right? So this is what real faith is all about, not about the things of this world. So, you know, Jesus kind of knew how to clear out a room too, right? So it happens sometimes. But all joking aside, I make charts if you're new here, this is where you can go, it's in our app and you can see the chart in there. You can see it on the screen. And we're going through chronologically, so it's going to jump around just a little bit. You kind of cut a copy and paste it around. If you're observant. You'll notice there's a little gap here. If you remember that anointing at Bethany, it's not that we're skipping it, it's that we've already done it. Jesus has already anointed at Bethany, just the way it appears in the text, the Gospel writers are not trying to make sure that they're doing everything chronological. That's not the point there in this style of writing, okay, kind of like our TV show is kind of zoom in and out of time, as well. So we should be kind of used to that. So where are we left off? Jesus was indeed talking about judgment with the sheep and the goats, right? You don't want to be a goat. You want to be a sheep. So he right after he does that we're going to jump right in Matthew 26. One When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, as you know, Passover begins in two days and the Son of Man, Jesus, who he's talking about himself, will be handed over to be crucified. At that time, the leading priests and the elders were meeting at the residence of Kaya fest, the high priest, plotting how to capture Jesus secretly and kill him. But not during the Passover celebration, they agreed, or the people may riot. Now, here's where that gap is. But it's kind of cool when you do it chronologically. You skip right over that we've done it before, and it goes right into this. So we're going to hop to Luke just for a second. So you see something very clearly we have this plot to kill Jesus, Luke 22, three, then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the 12 disciples. If we hop over to Matthew, similar type of thing chronologically, Matthew 2614. Then Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 disciples, went to the leading priests and asked, How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you? And they gave him 30 pieces of silver. From that time on Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus, a measly 30 pieces of silver, so it was equivalent to about 120 days pay back then. So not a lot, the price of a slave and Exodus 21 We saw this predicted, and Zechariah and Jeremiah so this is fulfilling a prophecy. So here we see this is where it gets kind of confusing. If you're doing a chronology, the Lord's Supper is initiated, then we'll see some other things happen in the meantime. So Mark 1412, on the first day of the festival of unleavened bread, when the Passover lamb a sacrifice, Jesus's disciples asked him, Where do you want us to go and prepare the Passover meal for you. So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem with these instructions. As you go into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you follow him. At the house, he enters, say to the owner, the teacher asks, Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples, He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal. So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal. John 13, one, before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave this world and returned to his father. He had loved his disciples during His ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end, it was time for sunburn. And the devil had already prompted Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray Jesus, Jesus knew that the Father had given authority over everything, and they had come from God, and he would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples feet, drying them with a towel he had around him. When Jesus comes to Simon Peter says, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? Protest the idea, Jesus replied, You don't understand what I'm doing now. But someday, you will know, Peter protested, you'll never wash my feet, Jesus replied, Unless I wash you. You don't belong to me, Peter exclaims, and wash my hands. My head is Well, Lord, not just my feet. Jesus replied, A person who was bathed all over, it does not need to wash, except for the feet to be entirely clean.
And your disciples are all clean, but not all of you. Here's the explanation for Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, not all of you are clean, explains it here. John 1312. After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked to understand what I was doing. You call me Teacher and Lord, and you were right, because that's what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you ought to watch each other's feet, I have given you an example to follow, do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master, nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them. But what will they do? Well, here is probably where the Lord's Supper is. We're going to just read straight through John, but this is probably where ish it's happening. And then John would pick up but I just want you to, because as John 1318, right, I'm not saying all of these things to all of you, right? So he's referring to what he had just said. So if I put it in there, it might have gotten a little confusing or topic. I know the ones I've chosen but this fulfills the scriptures that says the one who eats My food is turned against me. I tell you this beforehand so that when it happens, you will believe that I'm the Messiah. I tell you the truth, anyone who welcomes My Messenger is welcoming me. And anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father has sent Me. Now Jesus was deeply troubled, he explained, they tell you the truth, one of you will be training, the disciples begin looking at one another. What could he mean? Now the disciple Jesus loved when John writes that he's referring to himself, most likely, he was sitting next to Jesus. So Simon Peter motions to him and he says, Who is he talking about? So John leans over. So Lord, who is it wants to know, Jesus responds, it is the one to whom I give the bread that I dip in the bowl does that and he gives it to Judas, Judas rabbis Am I the one he says, You have said it. So now this is amidst the Lord's Supper is happening all during, so you have to see it in the scene here. So then we see that the Lord's Supper is initiated as they're eating, Jesus took some of the bread, he broke it into pieces, gave it to the disciples saying, Take this, eat it, this is my body, in Luke, Do this in remembrance of me, if you go back to Matthew, He took the cup of wine, gave thanks to God for it, gave it to them and said, each of you drink for from this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and His people is poured out as a sacrifice of forgive the sins of many, mark my words, I will not drink wine or the fruit of the vine, it says literally, again until the day when I drink it new with you in My Father's Kingdom. And you go to Luke something interesting here, a lot of people don't catch it, Luke. After supper, he took another cup of the fruit of the vine or wine and said, This cup is the new covenant between God and His people and agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you. And then it goes back into but here at this table, when sitting among us will be training for has been determined that the Son of Man was die, but what sorrow awaits the one who does the betrayal, disciples begin to ask each other, which would ever do such a thing, but it's interesting and Luke, He points out that they begin arguing among themselves about who would be the greatest among them. So this is a common argument among the disciples. Jesus told them in this world, the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they're called Friends of the people, but among you, it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank. And the leader should be like a servant. And remember, Jesus had just washed their feet, who is more important, the one who sits at the table, or the one who serves the one who sits at the table, of course, but not here. For I am, among you is one who serves Jesus says, Now in Martin, if we go back to John, when Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him, then Jesus told him, hurry, do what you're going to do. None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant. Since Judas was their treasure, some thought he was telling him to go and pay for the food or give some money to the poor. So Jesus, Judas went out at once, in the night now after supper, they sing a hymn remember that they sing a hymn or a psalm, and they go out to the Mount of Olives, Matthew 2630, way 31. On the way, Jesus told them, tonight, all of you will desert me. For the scripture say God will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I've been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there. Fear declared, Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you. Jesus replied, I tell you the truth theater, this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me. Know, Peter insisted, even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you. And all the disciples vowed the same. But we know what happens. So we see a contrast the theme here the contrast between Jesus and His servant leadership, and the disciples. They're empty promises. So we see a plot to kill Jesus. Judas is happy to agree and betray him for money. The Last Supper, Jesus washes their feet, tells them that he's going to die for them. My blood will be poured out for you. And then Jesus predicts his betrayal and denial. You're going to deny me, Peter. So we see here, the two faces of Judas and Peter. It's amazing. Because Jesus is washing their feet, knowing that they will betray and deny him. Interesting. It's also worth noting that this thing of him thing, well, it's called the Hillel. They do that during Passover, that sort of tradition. It's usually at Psalm 113 through 118. It's a Hillel. And so they're singing the Psalms. Here's a part of what if they're doing it, they would have been singing Psalm 116. One, I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen, I'll pray as long as I have breath, death, wrapped its ropes around me, the tears of the grave overtook me, I saw only trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord, please, Lord saved me. How kind the Lord is how good he is so merciful, this God of ours, Lord protects those of childlike faith. I was facing death, and he saved me, that my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me. And he saved me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. And so I walked in the Lord's presence as I live here on Earth. I believed in you. So I said, I'm deeply troubled, Lord, in my anxiety, I cried out to you, these people are all liars. What can I offer the Lord for all he has done for me, I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Lord's name for saving me. Now keep my promises to the Lord in the presence of all his people. These people are all liars. And indeed, Jesus kept his promise in the face of betrayal, and deny denial, he took the cup of wrath, so that we could drink from the cup of salvation. This week, we'll see that despite Jesus's example of servant leadership, by washing the disciples feet, and being prepared to die for them, there's one there who's plotting to betray him. And if that's not bad enough, his lead apostle as lead disciple will deny that he even knows him. Now, we can look back at these accounts, and we can point to the disciples. Okay. But what we really should do, if we read the Bible, was calling us to do is look at ourselves, see how we might be doing that, as well. So we talked about a little bit of a problem last week. The procrastination Christians, right, that's like a really big problem in church, everybody's putting it off. Like, I know, I have this thing I got to take care of. But Jesus can't be coming back today. So I'll just do that tomorrow. And then they say the same thing tomorrow, right? And they said, so procrastination Christians is what I call it, like, we're just like, we're good. We're set. And I told you guys about the man with the barns, right? He's coming back. And we don't know when. And additionally, we don't really want to be caught gaming the system doing. So. There's another problem and it kind of goes hand in hand with this stuff. And it's the problem if I'm being really blunt with you guys. And I think I can do that. Too Faced Christians. That's a big problem. And the church directed at no one right here, but to face Christians, what we do we come to church, right. And we profess one thing, we profess to believe one thing, that we are one way reduce thing, and then usually, right after we leave church, we are not.
And this happens, you know, you see this, you know, restaurants, right? So Christians will go out, and then they'll go to a restaurant afterwards. And they'll complain about the service bla bla bla bla bla, you know, I'm telling you, Jesus was feet, and they'll go to the restaurant anyway. And I'd be like, my food didn't come out fast enough. You know, it's like, really, you know, like, Peter imagine him saying, like, this kind of gross, we're about to eat here. Jesus Don't touch my feet, you know, but complaining, complaining and instead of like having the heart of Christ and thinking then you okay, the service, maybe there's the restaurant issue. I don't know why this is happening doesn't really matter. I have friends here, I'll just talk to like, my friends. It's fine. Oh, just on my phone, you know, and it's like, the waitress comes out, she did a bad job. So I'm going to tip her less. It's like, oh, my gosh, you know, imagine if, like God's grace work like that. You know, and it's just a different person. But of course, they prayed before the meal. So now everybody there knows you're Christians. Correct? You know, just this happens. And it's a problem because we're supposed to attract people to the faith for their love. We're supposed to blow people's minds, like just give them 40% it and so that it prompts the question why? Ah, let me tell you about Jesus. So the question is, how do we betray or deny Jesus? Well, the simplest one is by sinning, right? So that's what everybody will talk about when they get to this. I've seen people do the teaching, like on a Good Friday the 30 pieces of silver and so you know, the clink with the silver and they list the sin and, you know, so that's like the typical place I'll spend a little time there but just linking it to what Jesus just talked about, think about what just happened. The sheep and the goats right so before this was the parable what was the premise? Right? So to the good ones first to the sheep, it's like, ah, you know, when I was hungry, or you fed me, I was thirsty. You gave me something to drink when I need to clothing you gave me that when I need shelter you gave me that when I was sick. And in prison, he visited me, right? When did we see you like that? Jesus? Ah, when you did it to the least of these right? So then he goes to the goats. You didn't do all those things for me? What? When did we see you like that? That what you did to the least of these, you did it to me. And so that's the simplest way you betrayed Jesus. When you do that, when you sinned against someone else, you are sinning against Jesus. And it doesn't matter who it is everybody. That's how so when we do something, someone else, it's a betrayal of Jesus. And that's harsh. It sounds harsh, but it's just true. Right? We're here for the truth. So when we think of that, though, usually think of what Judas did, right? But it can be done in even more subtle and seemingly innocent ways. And that's kind of where I want to stay today. So first, have you ever heard the phrase, silence is consent? Silence is consent. Now, a lot of people will go down, I'll talk about it in a minute. They're going to say that's right, I need to shout it from the rooftops. And what they do is they'll twist it, and I'll go there in a second. And they'll make it about something that shouldn't be about. But the first obvious question is just to cover this. Are we embarrassed of Jesus? Are we afraid? It seemed like that was like Peters problem, right? Oh, if I say no, Jesus is going to cost me something. And we do this in a lot of different areas in our life. But this wasn't the first time Peter messed up. If you go to Mark eight, for example. So Jesus is predicting his death. And Peter tries to rebuke Him right, that will never happen, you Lord, and he's like, Get behind Me, Satan, get the world's interests on your mind. We're not gods. But it says this Mark 834, then calling the crowd to join his disciples. He said, If any of you notice that the crowd, not just saying like, Oh, all the disciples are all going to get like killed for me, but nobody else know, then calling the crowd to his disciples. He said, If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way. Take up your cross and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life, for my sake, and for the sake of the Gospel, or the good news, you'll save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone's ashamed of me, and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man, Jesus will be ashamed of that person, when He returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Are we ashamed of Jesus? Like the sheep and the goats, Jesus gives a really stern warning here, like this is serious. Now, what I was talking about before, and this is kind of interesting, in an effort to prove that they're not ashamed of Jesus, some Christians will kind of go way out of their way. It'll actually ironically, they'll end up betraying Jesus in the very process. So a lot of witnessing is done under the guise of social justice. Right? It's under the guise of social, but really, I've talked about this in the past, I'll do it quickly. It's really self righteousness. Social justice, a lot of it's just like, deflection, like Look over there. Look over there. So fine. You want to pick it or protest something? I wouldn't advise it. And any the best way to win people over so what you're going to do is you're going to have not you, but the person can have one sin on there, somebody else is committing who's not a Christian, go to church doesn't even know. Right? I don't know the rules. They haven't signed up for this. Okay, fine. If you want to do that, just make sure the other side has the list of all of your sins on it with an arrow pointing down to you. Do that. Good job. All right. So we can talk about the one sin that you're committing. But let's acknowledge the fact that like, I got a whole bunch of them. And the difference between me and you is I'm a hypocrite. I pretend like I'm not guilty of all these sins. Right. So it was really funny. I had the opportunity to travel abroad, and hadn't done it 20 years. And it's been a long time. I'm from New York, and we live just north of New York City. So we used to go down to the city a lot in New York City, an awful lot, or old playground. And so it had been a long time. This isn't like a proper city. It's kind of weird. You know, it is a city but it's just different, like, in a lot of ways. And so it was really interesting because I got to go to New York, London and Paris. All right. So three big cities, three major, major cities. And I was reminded of something that we don't really see a lot of here it doesn't, but there's like a lot of like street evangelists and things like that and not any embarrassment. But your church is different there. But you know, like New York, London and you see them operate. And you know, it was pretty classic in London, it kind of made me laugh because like the guy was actually wearing what you think like if you draw, you know, street evangelists he had like the signboard on and everything. I was like, Oh, wow. You know, but it was funny to, like, now be a pastor and see it because it's been so long. And like, it was just it was very interesting. So at first you're thinking, Yes, like the pastor, and means, like, gay people are talking about you. So I kind of observed their operation, like how they operate. One was a lady. And her tactic was reminding everyone that Jesus is coming back, and he's going to judge everybody, and you're going to hell, like, if you don't believe in Jesus, that was her thing. And the guy had some variation on that on the sign, he was a little bit nicer. But still, like something kind of harsh. I can't remember what it was. And, you know, I was just thinking, I'm like, wait a minute, like, as I kind of observed what was going on, I was like, This is not good at all. Because first of all, no one was taking her tracks or his tracks, right. And they just wasted money on that. Like, it's just not like, everyone's kind of like, you know, like looking like they're crazy. They're attracting no one of the faith. No one's asking any questions, except one person who is obviously a Muslim who began screaming and yelling at the guy hears it, blasphemy, blasphemy, and then they're going back and forth. And if I'm watching this, I'm not a part of any religion, or like an ex Catholic, like I was, first of all, I'm going to say, that's why I don't believe in Jesus anymore. Subscribe to any of this nonsense, these religious fanatics, right? Or that's what everyone's going to say, anyway. I don't want to be a part of either one of these groups. You're ruining my vacation. It was right outside Big Ben, right. So that's appropriate. It's just a mess. It was a mess. She did nothing to win, she probably chased more people away from the faith making my job harder than anything else. I was kind of like, Thanks, lady. I'm glad you're not here in Naples. But it makes my job hard. Because that's not the point like we want. But we talked about judgment last week, right? That's not where you want to begin. On Jesus talking to the Jewish people. There's a context. And I'll show you as we read the New Testament more kind of clarifies like how you should be talking to Gentiles, or non believers, it's very clear. And it's not like that. You're not supposed to start with judgment like that. All right, we're yelling, and we'll see the Bible clearly teaches we're not supposed to be argumentative. That's actually like the rotten fruit of the flesh, being argumentative, or Galatians. Five, and not supposed to be like that. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self control. Goodness, there's no law against things like these Galatians five that were supposed to be like. So if we promote the gospel, it shouldn't be with accusations through megaphones or bull horns, right doesn't work, or protest signs. It should be by the way we live. Because the Bible teaches we can deny him by the way we live.
So if you read through the Bible, all the letters have different contexts. And so you get to First Timothy, Second Timothy, Titus, and probably find Lehmann, we can put in that category to certain people and their church leaders. So he's giving instructions. This is Paul the Apostle to these church leaders, right. So this is after Jesus's resurrection. You're walking through x and everything. The church is just developing. It says, Guy Titus, he leaves him on the island of Crete, specifically stated your mission is to appoint notice not let the sheep vote in, but appoint elders in every town. Some of you caught that I've been in church for a long time. appoint elders in every town, right? So each generation would, because they're good, godly, holy people, appointing leaders. And so he's supposed to go to all these different towns and create cities, and appoint the leaders building up the church. He's like a church planter. So Paul, naturally is going to give him instructions. And so this is kind of what happens. He starts out with the requirements for we're calling up pastors, because we're weird, but it's really elders. But then again, I'm not wearing a pointy hat and a beard, growing a long white beard to church. So elder sounds weird in our culture, and we just call it pastor but really what they are is elders. That's this, what appropriately the Bible calls them. Requirements for elders read them sometimes. Inside it's kind of interesting, how we shouldn't be me shouldn't be living different. Then he gives some warnings that are kind of funny about the people in general, on Crete hoping a little hyperbole there, and he talks about false teachers right out the gate. They're always warning about the false teachers, the false teachers, right. He says this of them Titus 115. Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure, but nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted. Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything that we can deny Jesus simply by the way we live. We don't have to say a thing. And so Paul goes on to give instructions to the Christians there. So this is all people don't understand this when they plug verses they don't understand, Paul, this is the context of the letter. Paul's like, listen, we don't want to be like the ones. So remember this, denying people or denying Jesus by the way we live. Titus two one. As for you, Titus promote the kind of living that reflects wholesome teaching, the kind of living, teach the older men to exercise self control, to be worthy of respect and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience. Does this sound like the fruit of the Spirit? Yup. Similarly, teach the older women to live in a way that honors God they must not slander others, or be heavy drinkers. Instead, they should teach others what is good. These older women should train the younger women to love their husbands and their children to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes and do good and to be submissive to their husbands, then they will not bring shame on the Word of God. And a lot of people don't see this. If you don't read Greek you might not in the Greek it says blaspheme the Word of God? Did you know that our actions can slander the gospel? Interesting. Why? Because actions speak louder than words. Titus two, six. In the same way, encourage the young men to live wisely. And you yourself must be an example to them by doing what good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching. So not just talk, talk, talk, teach the truth so that your teaching can't be criticized, then those who oppose us will be ashamed and have nothing bad to say about us slaves. In today's context, you can just say like employees must always obey their masters and do their best to please them. They must not talk back, or steal, but my show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good, then they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way. What we do, says more about what we believe than anything we could ever say. It's about attraction, not arguments and bullhorn promotion. This is why it says this Titus Three, two, they must not slander. Anyone must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle, and show true humility to everyone just like Jesus did. There are more subtle ways in which we deny Jesus simply by the way we live. And so some examples speak of things we promote, right? What do we take a stance on in our everyday lives? What's like really important for us to talk about? When we get you know, up on that pulpit there? Whatever it is, or so bucks. What do we what are we talking to people about? What's worth arguing about to us that the Bible just told us not to do? Is it politics? This is a really interesting one. Do we promote our political affiliation more than we promote? Jesus? So if we're talking on the Facebook, or whatever it is, every social media platform I have left, done, right. But what are we what are we? What are we stepping in the comment section on? Is it a political issue? Right? Or, you know, did someone say something about Jesus? Do we get in the comment section then? Is that what we're going to get in on? Or do we ever? You know, I'm not joking. I had to get off of Facebook, because drives me crazy. Right? I see these Christians never posting a word about Jesus. Now, one thing you'd never know, they were Christians. Are we ashamed of Jesus? You know, so, but politics who, you know, someone on the other side of the aisle sneezes, right, and then it's just like, Oh, is that what's important? Do you want to blow it up over that? And let me tell you something very clear about whatever there is no, do not have well, there's no Republican or Democrat Party. There's no party. That is a Christian denomination. I think people sometimes they think like Republicans a Christian Domine. It's not. There are things on both sides of the aisle that are anti Christian. And be very clear about that against the teachings of Jesus. Very clear. Be of a political affiliation, it's fine vote one way or the other Fine. Fine, but be very careful about saying that that is a real good representation of Christianity. ever be really honest here. These people are all liars. It doesn't matter what side of the aisle you're on. And so yeah, that's the first thing. Remember that? Never put your political affiliation over your allegiance with Christ. Never. And then the other thing, are we maybe making these affiliations so important that we slander other people or the gospel in the process? I mean, just from here, preaching anything political, it's just stupid. Because I alienate 50% of the people for whom Jesus died in the process.
Why would I do something like that? Again, where am I real affiliations? Are we making a political leader on Messiah? An act of idolatry, this person is going to come and solve all my problems, what? Help you keep all your stuff?
Does Jesus care about that? No, you store your treasures in heaven. Remember the parable, the barns, you fool. He says, you'll die this very night, then who's going to get all the stuff you work for? Jesus says don't worry about that stuff. But are we making someone like that promising us this stuff? These worldly promises a messiah? I see a lot of people doing it, thereby betraying him. Where do our true affiliations lie? Our jobs? Like where have we been compromised? They're so simple thing. Not trying to. It's really funny because a lot of people are missing church. So I'm going to get it on you guys. But, you know, I've asked this question. Does your boss know you're a Christian? Are you looking for an opportunity to tell your boss you're a Christian? Because I mean, pretty much Jesus says, like, we should be doing that. Right. What did we just read about the masters or employers? Does he know? I told you about that Supreme Court case, right? Where the guy was like, Nope, I don't work on the Sabbath as opposed to work or something like that. I don't work on the Sabbath. That's I have a standing date with Jesus that day. That's it. I don't work that day. It's just no, you can't Well not sell out for that. All right. Oh, you're fired. Okay, took it the Supreme Court. Unanimous either side of the aisle, it didn't matter unanimously. They were like, yeah, he has a right to have a Sabbath. And he's been doing that so good for you. What a surprise didn't shortchange himself, did he? Good. But what do we do? How do we shortchange ourselves in a relationship? Can you imagine like, and actually, I shouldn't even say some people do it. But I just can't imagine like, you know, having a date or something. Let's, let's say it was before the honeymoon was over. But having a date, you know, with somebody and saying, You know what, you know, I have an opportunity to make some money while we're supposed to be together. So I don't think so. All right. Now, in this way, I said, I shouldn't say it, because people do in their marriages, too. But that's another sermon. Got to be very careful with that one. But how are we shortchanging ourselves for money? The workplace culture are engaging in some things we know Jesus wouldn't be too happy about in our workplace culture. Is that happening? Do we deny Jesus by keeping silent about our faith in the face of sin? Around friends, I told you that I had to get rid of a whole bunch of friends when they came into Christian and I cannot come back along and like talk to them again. Now it's like, okay, now I'm strong enough within myself not to engage in those things. But do we say like, Hey, guys, enough? Do we deny Him or betray him? In the process? And while we're to be loving, loving, and is where people cross the line again, in all circumstances, Jesus, remember Matthew 10. He calls us to draw a line in the sand. There's a place where, no, whether that's family, whether that's friends, whether it's your employer, there's a point at which you know, my relationship with Jesus is my priority. That's it. Within that, the Holy Spirit will always compel us to look for a way to do this lovingly. Again, I said, I stopped hanging out with some of my best friends. But I'm still friends with them today, right? I didn't go and like list their sins and I was like, I just can't do that anymore, guys. No, you do what you're going to do, but not me. It's about attraction, not promotion. And what's kind of funny, just worth saying, every time one of these guys is going through something bad. Who do they call? All right, let me tell you about Jesus, you want to get over this, you want to stop.
Like, I'm not having these problems right now. It's an opportunity. And it's like this in family. So I want to go to First Peter. First Peter is talking about relationships between people and how we should interact with one another. So Peter is concerned with this to First Peter three, one in the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands, then even if some refuse to obey the good news, your godly lives will speak to them. Without any words, they will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives now, hold on. Alright, so look, listen, guys, guys, just let's hear the rest of the sermon. Right? So he goes on to say, and if you remember this, I just did this recently. He goes on to say, right, treat your wives, well, paraphrasing, so your prayers won't be hindered. So it goes both ways, right? So don't run with that. But first Corinthians seven. Paul says the same thing people get confused about it. But this is what Paul is saying, as well. In first Corinthians seven, don't you know that like your wives will be saved by your husbands? Or vice versa? Husbands wives, what do you mean saved? Like, how does that happen? clarifies. And Peter, right, there'll be one over to Christianity by observing your behavior. Well, to say anything. Amazing, our loving example will make the faith attractive. And so there's that so that? Why, so that everyone can be saved. But you get my point, so that they can be saved. So we talked about judgment last week. And to those who don't know the gospel outside of church context, that's not the place you want to start. Don't start there. But remember, we were talking about over the last couple of weeks, you can't take it with you. You know, that was one of the things we were talking about, when we talked about this concept of being temporary residence, aliens, or foreigners here. In our time on Earth, we're just passing through. So I'll just read that to you. And then the rest of you on the screen. Dear friends, I warn you as temporary residents and foreigners to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors, then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when He judges the world. If we continue, First Peter to 13, for the Lord's sake, submit to all human authority, where the king is out of state, or the officials he has appointed for the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and honor those who do right is God's will, that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people will make foolish accusations against you. Or you're free, yet you're God's slaves. So don't use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Respect everyone. And love the family of believers, Fear God, and respect the king, you are slaves and your employees there must submit to your masters or employers, employee relationship with all respect to what they tell you, not only of their kind and reasonable, but even if they're cruel, for God is pleased when conscious of his will you patiently endure unjust treatment. Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you're beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you, for God called you to do good, even if it means suffering. Just as Christ suffered for you, he is your example. And you must follow his steps. Now, a couple of disclaimers because a few of these texts, people are going to kind of like run with a few things here. And in history, they've run with a few things here. But I hope you're seeing the point, the last line that right? That's the point. And they argue about all this other stupid stuff. And miss the point, this is the point. And even in the arguing the other point, they miss this point and disobey the Word of God. Right? So look, draw a line in the sand. So this is not about your employer or something like that asking you to miss church or something like that. Not what this is about, right? So there is a line in the sand that you have to draw lovingly with. Everyone already said that. And so Peter is not asking you to cross that line. It's not what he's saying. And again, you can see a lot of equity in the husband and wife relationships if you read the Bible correctly. The point is that Jesus is our example. While Judas was betraying Peter right, he's going to deny Him Jesus is washing their feet. We must not betray or deny his work by deviating from his example. That's where we need to be. We must follow through by remembering what Jesus did not Just so we can be saved, so that everyone can be saved. Jesus died for those who betrayed him. We're supposed to follow his example, if we keep reading in First Peter says that Jesus never sinned, never deceived anyone, nor did he retaliate, when insulted, threatened revenge when he suffered, he left his case in the hands of God, who always was a God, the Father, always judges fairly. That's what we're supposed to do. If we're being just like, Jesus never is good. Now, Peter talks about Jesus coming again. And it seems like it's taking a while. So what the people are saying who are Christians, right? They're saying, When will we get that justice, Lord? Because we have that feeling? We're humans? When will the Justice come? Okay, so we get that now Jesus is going to bring it. Okay. So that's the natural kind of feeling the question, we feel that to come back. So the last week, I hope he goes back before the next election, please, come back. Right. So this is what's going on. So Peter needs to address this as their elder right there, their leader, and he says, You must not forget, dear friends a day is like 1000 years to the Lord 1000 years, like a day. Second, Peter, three, nine, the Lord isn't really slow about this promise as some people think, no, he's being patient for your sick. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly talked about that last week as a thief, the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise and the very elements themselves will disappear and fire and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment, since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and the new earth. He has promised a world filled with God's righteousness. If you want righteousness here, it's not going to happen. That's where we're going to get it. And so dear friends, while you're waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. And remember, our Lord's patience gives people time to be safe. Make every effort to live peaceful lives, the Lord's patience, right, gives people time to be saved. So as we go out this week, and every week, we must remember that our actions as Christians speak far louder than words, and we must be loving and kind with the words we are using. So that everyone can be saved. This was Jesus's work on the cross, he died not so that just I could be saved for you say that, right? Jesus died. So it was true. But he died so that everyone could be saved, who believes in Him. So when we look at those people we interact with, we must see someone that Jesus died for, and don't betray his work on the cross. We need to think about that. very conscious of that. It's all about our passion for Jesus, and our compassion for those for whom he died. So that's really my encouragement for you this week. That's really what's on my heart. What I try to do just see every person out there, as you interact with them, as someone that Jesus died for you did that work for that person, there's no one excluded from that. exclude themselves, that's their choice. But imagine that person imagine Jesus right behind them dying on the cross. Because that's what he did. So as we go out this week, and that's going to be my prayer for everyone is that we submit to God, we love the Holy Spirit. And that's who really does this guy's like, I That's it. I can't do this on my own. But you must surrender to His power, so that you can bear the fruit of the Spirit, that love that joy, that peace, that patience, that kindness, that goodness, that self control. That's the key.
I can give you a step by step but simple submission to the will of God over ours. We pray for you, Lord, pray for everyone in the hearing in my voice, those who couldn't be here today. I pray for them as well whatever they're going through their circumstances. We have a lot of people traveling an awful lot of people traveling so traveling Mercy's Lord, we pray for those people, bring them back home safe we love them they are essential components of the Body of Christ here at sea three church or can continue to fill us with your grace or mercy, your peace and your love so that we can be effective vehicles for the sake of your gospel. I asked these things in Jesus name