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Luke 9:57-62 - Part 2 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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So not the tree's natural location, not where it once was, but by grace was rescued and moved and planted to where it can grow.
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It's a picture of what God has done for us by His grace and salvation.
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He's transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son.
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By His grace moved us when we were dwindling and dying.
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Picked us up by His grace and moved us and planted us where we could live and grow.
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So, it's a picture of studying God's Word and meditating on it day and night to remind ourselves of the truth and promises.
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We become like a spiritual tree that's planted by streams of water.
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And we won't grow dry and we won't blow over if we plant ourselves in by that stream.
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So, when we fail to realize that there are such rich treasures and found of God's Word,
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we tend to drift.
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We forget His promises.
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We forget His love.
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If you go to, I think it's Deuteronomy chapter 8.
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But in that chapter, I think God says almost six or seven times,
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remember, don't forget.
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Remember, don't forget.
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There's so many warnings.
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Sin causes us to forget.
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And we think, there's no way I'll ever forget this.
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Yes, you will.
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Like sin pulls on you.
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Right?
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And we need to look at God's Word with fresh eyes.
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It's almost to become dull and bored.
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Psalm 119, verse 18.
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Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
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That word wondrous means wonderful, far surpassing the ordinary, nearly unbelievable.
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That's like what that word means.
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I open my eyes to see that in your Word.
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Things that are just mind-blowing.
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Unbelievable.
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We learn from the prophet Jeremiah that God both listens, cares, and responds to the prayers of His people.
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And God calls out to him and He says, you know, call to me and I will answer you and I will show you great and unsearchable things that you do not know.
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And there's so much that God desires to give us if we would just come and drink from His Word and meditate on it day and night.
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Because some of you may have a desire, but you just lack the practicality of it.
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But you just need a time, a place, and a plan.
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And we can help you figure that out.
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Time and a place and a plan.
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You've got to fight for it.
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So that's the first way we learn how to worship God is that we've got to be in His Word.
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Secondly, and obviously, through prayer.
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Paul wrote in Colossians 4,
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Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
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In our translation, it means be devoted to prayer.
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And that language means like the way that you're devoted to eating.
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Be devoted the same way to prayer.
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Many of you will be devoted to eating in an hour.
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In the same way.
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Fully devote yourselves to prayer.
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This kind of devotion reflects a soul that knows that it needs God's grace.
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And longs for God's presence to sit alone at the feet of Christ.
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Remember, He is a person.
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He is living.
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And the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in us.
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And prayer is that medium through which we experience speak, connect to God,
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to speak to Him as a beloved Father, a gift that we have through prayer.
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One of my favorite verses on prayer is Mark 1, verse 35.
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You get a glimpse into the life of Jesus, but it says in Mark 1, 35,
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early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and left the house
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and went out to a secluded place of solitude and was praying there.
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Like this desire to want to be with God.
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And many people would ask, like, why would Jesus pray?
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You know?
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I mean, He longs to be with the Father is one simple answer to that.
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He wants to be with the one that He loves.
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And that He made Himself dependent on the Father when He was here.
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Needy.
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Going to the Father.
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And most of us don't pray because we just don't believe in prayer.
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We think that we have it figured out.
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And we're not aware of how dependent we truly are on God.
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Paul Miller in his book, Praying Life, wrote,
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we tell ourselves strong Christians pray a lot.
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If I were a stronger Christian, I'd pray more.
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Strong Christians don't pray more.
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But they pray more because they realize how weak they are.
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They don't try to hide it from themselves.
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Weakness is the channel that allows them to access grace.
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In fact, God wanted me depressed about myself and encouraged me about His Son.
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The Gospel uses my weakness for God's grace.
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And so, we pray sort of in proportion to the awareness of our need for God.
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And our longing to be with Him.
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When's the last time you prayed just because you wanted to be with God?
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And I'm not like, oh man, I've got this going on.
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Please help me.
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You know, I'll fix this problem.
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But a longing to actually just sit and be with Him.
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And from our Bible reading comes prayer.
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Almost there's an overflow of that time in reading His Word.
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Better move on.
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So that's number one.
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There's a lot here, sorry.
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Resolve to serve God's people.
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This is Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19 through 22.
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If you want to turn there.
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But Paul talking about the church.
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He says,
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So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but are fellow citizens with the saints
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and members of the household of God built on a foundation of the apostles and the prophets.
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Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone
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in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
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In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
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So again, remember who you were before Christ.
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You were a stranger and outsider.
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You were not a part of God's people.
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But through Christ, you have now become a fellow citizen with God's people
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and a partaker of His kingdom.
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You were once strangers.
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But now in Christ, you are a member of God's own household.
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Adopted as a child by His grace.
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With all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of being a child of God.
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We are a spiritual house.
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A temple.
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Where God meets with us.
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Indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
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So much here in this passage.
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And God is now building us, not just me or you, but us,
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together as the church, as the new spiritual temple.
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God gives us so many beautiful metaphors in the Scripture.
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Pictures of what the church is.
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There are so many.
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And every one of them implies like a communal aspect.
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Right?
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Biblical metaphors.
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The body.
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That's 1 Corinthians 12.
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To be a part of a body means to belong to a living, functioning, serving community.
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The flock.
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Means that.
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That's in Acts 20, verse 28.
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Means belonging to a community dependent on God for food, protection, and direction.
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And like we just said, there's the temple in Ephesians 2.
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A stone in God's temple means to belong to a worshiping community.
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And likewise, a household.
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To be a member of a family is to belong to the community bound by a common fatherhood.
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There's so much here.
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Maybe going on.
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The bride of Christ.
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So many analogies that God gives us.
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It's a picture of the church.
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But they are corporate.
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They're not just me and Jesus.
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I don't want to de-emphasize your personal relationship with Christ.
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That's vital.
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In fact, you can't be a part of the church unless that is actually there.
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But we need each other.
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Our ultimate need is for God.
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Period.
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The end.
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At the same time, for some reason, God has designed, ordained,
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that much of what we need in this life comes through the fellowship of being with the church.
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That's just how He's ordained it.
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Much of what we need in everyday life comes from the body of Christ.
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And Christ has come to dwell in each one of us.
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So, if we want to know our Lord better, we must get to know each other better.
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However, we need the Scripture.
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We need the church.
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And God designed it this way.
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That much of what I need in this life and what you need will come through the encouragement,
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the prayers, the service, the accountability, the counsel, the discipline,
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the love and service of other believers.
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That's just what He's designed to do.
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God's children are the apple of His eye.
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And if we touch His children, we touch Him.
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As we draw near to them, we draw nearer to Him.
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Right?
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So, Scripture says that Jesus didn't just die for you alone.
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He died for His people.
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It says in Acts 20, verse 18,
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that Jesus suffered and died for the church of God,
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which He obtained or He bought with His own blood.
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So, give your lives to your brothers and sisters.
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And two, practical applications with this is like, yeah, gather with the church.
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This is why online church doesn't work.
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Because there's a command to gather, to be together.
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We need the physical presence of other believers to see them, to touch them, to hear them.
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And this Sunday gathering that we're here at now is a wonderful privilege we have to worship God together
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as those who have been redeemed.
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Like, this is a sacred time.
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I know that noises and kids and snacks and all that can make it kind of just feel like an ordinary time.
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But it's not.
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It is a sacred time.
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That we've come together to engage in the worship of God with other believers around the world today.
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All over, worshiping God today.
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And then to join in with the voices that are also in heaven that never stop praising God.
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We come together to do that as a body through the preaching of God's Word,
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the singing of truthful songs to God and to each other.
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To worship God.
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Now, I'm not nitpicking on this, but we have this concept of like, music is worship.
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Preaching is not.
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If you spoke that way to people of old, they'd be confused.
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Because worship actually just meant sort of a lifestyle of all that we do
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that magnifies the greatness and worth of God.
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So all that we do today is geared towards that.
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But we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession.
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A beautiful thing to be a part of the church.
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That we were once not God's people, and now we are the people of God.
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Once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy.
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1 Peter 2, 9-10.
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And outside of this, we must fight.
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And I mean, it's work.
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You have to find it.
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Like, find times to gather with other believers.
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We've been talking about kind of pumping community groups again.
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Find one.
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Be involved.
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Come around.
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Men, gather with other men.
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Women, gather with other women.
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Be around the body.
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Eat meals together.
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Go to the park.
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Whatever it is.
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Serve alongside each other.
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As Hebrews says,
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Consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.
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Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.
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But encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.
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And pray for one another.
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It talks about how in Acts 2, verse 42,
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that they came together continually and faithfully,
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devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship,
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breaking of bread, and prayers.
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Praying for holiness.
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Praying for the mission of God.
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So, resolve to meet with the church regularly.
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Fight to be here on time.
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Fight to spend time with them.
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When I know the temptation is just to want to check out.
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Right?
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And then thirdly, just for five or six minutes here,
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resolve to adopt God's mission.
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You don't need to turn here,
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but just be reminded in Matthew 28, verse 19,
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that we are told to go and make disciples of all nations,
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baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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And I've heard people explain this away by saying,
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that was just for the apostles.
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I'm like, well, did the world get reached to the apostles?
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It did not.
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Most of them didn't even make it out of that area.
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So, that's the very clear intended idea
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that it was meant to be carried on by future disciples
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to the ends of the earth.
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In another place, Acts 1, verse 8,
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Jesus says, you will be my witnesses.
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In Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.
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Not really sure any disciple made it to the ends of the earth.
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Right?
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So, we know this command to make disciples and be witnesses for Christ
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wasn't just for them, but for every believer and disciple.
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And I know that most of us have different capacities.
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You have responsibilities.
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God ordained responsibilities to work for your family,
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to take care of your kids, to be at home.
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You have different capacities.
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Moms, like talk to other moms at the park.
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Talk to your neighbors, coworkers, whatever it may be.
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They're all around us.
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But most of us, it's our homes, our neighborhoods, our places of work
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that God has sovereignly placed us to go and be witnesses for Christ.
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To talk of Him.
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To weave Him into our conversation.
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And to give Him the glory for things.
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And the opportunities are all around us.
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Like, I just, I humbly just don't understand
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when people will say,
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well, I just don't know who to talk to.
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I'm like, they're all around you.
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Like, they're all around you.
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Just open your eyes.
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Like, going about your daily business.
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We can just grow dull to this.
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It's your neighbor down the street
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who's just going through the normal rat race
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trying to keep up with things.
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It's your coworker who complains about life
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and complains about his marriage and his kids
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and looking for the new rainbow to chase.
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It's a friend who's killing herself at the gym
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because she wants to find her value
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and what people think about her body.
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It's that outspoken mom
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that's hard to get along with sometimes.
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And we need to love them
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and bring them into the fold.
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It's that person who tries to find their joy
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and acceptance in the party scene.
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Someone who seeks to find their value
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in the dating and sex world
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all around us.
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College students.
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It's your roommate
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or your friend in the dorm or in your hall.
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It's that guy who never leaves his room
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and just plays video games
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because he's really depressed
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and hides from the reality of the world
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that's around him.
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A command in Proverbs 24, verse 11,
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rescue those who are being taken away to death.
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Hold back those who are stumbling to slaughter.
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So application, like just ask God
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to give you fresh eyes
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to see those people who are around you.
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Write their names down
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and begin praying
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that you'd be able to show them
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the love of Christ through service,
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acts of kindness,
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that you'd be able to speak
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the words of the gospel.
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I hate to tell you like that old saying,
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you know, preach the gospel
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and use words as necessary.
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It's nonsense.
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Like the gospel is a verbal message.
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It's not gestures.
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It's not just doing good things.
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It is a message that must be proclaimed.
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So share that with them.
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It doesn't mean just sit down
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and walk through five or six points.
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It just means talk about the gospel
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where there may be multiple conversations.
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Pray about those specific individuals
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that He would give you the heart
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to reach out and rescue them
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from being taken away to death.
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With all these things,
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all these resolutions for
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to worship God alone,
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to serve the church,
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to adopt God's mission,
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all these things,
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we're going to fail at them
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many ways over this coming year.
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And it's okay
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because we're not striving
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to earn God's love.
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We're striving in the midst.
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We need His help.
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I mean, I know some pretty strong,
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disciplined people like me.
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And they can almost do anything,
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I think.
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And I've seen them just brought low
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and humbled
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by different trials
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and circumstances in their life.
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we need God's help
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dependent on Him.
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And so,
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in a moment,
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the band's going to come up
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and we're going to sing
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a song
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that's based on
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a tune,
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a rendition
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of
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the old Scotsman
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Robert Burns.
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1788,
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he wrote a song
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called
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Odd La Insane.
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And it's traditionally sung
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around New Year's
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to like,
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welcome in the new year.
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And
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at the stroke of midnight,
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people typically sing it,
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but
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the words have been rewritten
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to focus on
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the glory of Christ
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with the tune
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is from that
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of the 1780s.
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But it's written
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for the glory of Christ.
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So,
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may you declare
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when we sing that song
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in a moment
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a fresh resolve,
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a fresh desire
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to live this new year
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one day at a time,
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one week,
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one month at a time
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for the glory of Christ
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to take up your cross
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and follow Him.
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May you pray for us
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when the band comes up.