If a church is going to impact the world for Christ it must strive to be pure.  If our message is that God has sent His Son to die for our sins and to make us new, than it better be visible in our churches and in our lives.  I’m not talking about being perfect because there is no perfect church.  I am talking about being a church that hates sin and is striving to be like Christ.  When we go around and share the message of how one can have new life in Christ and we live like the world we kill the message.

There are many churches today who do not like to talk about sin and judgment because they are afraid it will turn people away.  That was not the approach of the early church.  They focused on the seriousness of sin and sin was seriously dealt with.  They did not just focus on having the right message, but living a righteous life.  They understood that what made their testimony believable was that they lived a holy and righteous and transformed life. 

They did not water down the message of the Gospel, they were honest about the fact that giving your life to Christ means turning away from—forsaking your sin.  They taught that the life of a Christian is a self-denying, cross bearing life. 

That message has not changed.  That is the message of the Scriptures and that is the message we must share today.  Though I agree the church is the place where sinners are to come who are in need, it is also a place where non-believers are to be encouraged to repent and turn from their sin and give their life to Christ and where believers are to sharpen one another and push one another to grow in godliness.

The church will not impact the world if it looks like the world and adopts the message of the world.  A church like that fades into the background of the culture it is trying to mimic.  The church impacts the world for Christ when it looks like Christ and functions as a light to the world exposing sin and leading people to Him.  

"QUOTE" OF THE WEEK

"You don't impact the world by looking like the world, you impact to world by looking like Christ."  -from sermon notes on 4/26/15

SIN IS SERIOUS

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet.  But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?  While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”  When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.  The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.  And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.  And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.  Acts 5:1-11

Many of us, if we are honest, do not like this story—we do not know how to make sense of it and the reason why is because we don’t view sin properly and we fail to take it as seriously as God does. 

God is serious about sin—especially sin in the church.  He does not want us to be okay with it.  He does not want us to tolerate it.  He wants us to take it seriously personally, and in our world and in His church.  That’s one of the main reasons the majority of His epistles were written.  They were written to address various issues in church.  They were written to teach us how we are to handle these issues and to call for those who are struggling to repent and turn back to God.    

Scripture is clear that those who do not will be faced with some serious consequences.  At the very beginning of 1 Corinthians, Paul is writing to one messed up church in Corinth and He begins this book by calling them saints—he refers to them as those who are sanctified in Christ.  So he is writing to believers, but believers who have had some major issues.  And in 1 Corinthians 11 we learn that many were not taking the Lord Supper in a worthy manner and Paul tells them in v. 28 that when they do that—when they abuse that ordinance, he says, “they drink judgement on themselves.”  He says, That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 

Here we learn that God had taken some of the Corinthians out because of their wickedness and he does that here in Acts 5 with Ananias and Sapphira.  God is serious about sin—especially sin in the church.  He did not save us and set us apart for us to just drift back to where we were and live like the world and make a mockery of His church.  He saved us and set us apart to be a light in this dark and dead world.  

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

...sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.  James 1:15 

God really has spoken. And this Word is living and active. It is not a dead Word. He really speaks today through the inspired Scriptures. Not just with information, but with himself by his Spirit.

The Word in the Bible is more sure than anything you can hear outside the Bible. I base that on 1 Corinthians 14:37.

If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.

Paul is saying you can call yourself a prophet and get messages from God. You can call yourself spiritual and be tuned in to God, but if anything you say doesn’t accord with what I say, you are not recognized, which means that outside the Bible we have fallible, uncertain impressions and messages. Inside the Bible we have rock solid dependable messages.

There are treasures and wonders and glories and dimensions of God to be seen in the Bible that we have scarcely seen.  It seems to me to be folly to crave the lesser authority and the lesser riches outside the Bible than the riches and the greater authority that we have barely tasted, let alone digested inside the Bible.

http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/does-god-verbally-speak-to-me

"QUOTE" OF THE WEEK

Beware of craving the sensations of a voice. Jesus warned against those who seek a sign. So here he is. He is standing there in front of the Pharisees and scribes speaking and they say: Give us a sign. What does that mean? It means that the voice of Jesus Christ the Son of God wasn't adequate. They needed something more. They needed to feel more, touch more, see more. They wanted more. And Jesus wouldn't give it to them. And I think we are in a situation today not unlike that. We hear more of the Son of God than anybody in Jesus’ day ever heard, because we have all four gospels and those people got it in snatches. Therefore we have the wholeness of the revelation that Jesus meant to communicate and it is speaking to us every time we read the Bible. And if we turn away from that and say: But I need a sign. I need a voice. I need a tree to fall down in the woods when I am talking. I need something. We are putting ourselves in the position of those who demanded a sign.

When discussing the evidences for Jesus’ resurrection, many often make mention of the empty tomb and the various appearances of the Lord Jesus, but very few if any make mention of the future church.  In John 20:29, after appearing to a skeptical Thomas, Jesus says there is going to be a future group of believers who are going to believe in Him without seeing.  He tells Thomas,

Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

And this group of future believers give strong evidence for Jesus’ resurrection.  Scripture is clear that those who have been saved—those who have taken a stand for Christ and continue standing for Him—those who are in Christ and live as Christ give strong evidence for His resurrection.

"QUOTE" OF THE WEEK

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  Galatians 2:20