Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] My son Isaac, his first car was a Ford Focus.
[00:00:05] Now my kids have to pay for their own cars.
[00:00:09] They have to pay for their own insurance.
[00:00:12] And so usually their first car is a real piece of junk. I mean, you've seen them drive cars with mufflers hanging off in the parking lot.
[00:00:23] You've had to jump them off in the parking lot, make sure their cars get started. You've seen them on the side of the road. That's just the way the kids in my house start out driving. They don't deserve a nice car. They haven't earned one yet. They haven't even proven they can drive, and they don't need one. And so that's just our philosophy in our home. You may not have that philosophy. It's going to cost you a lot of time and money and all those things and frustration, but that's kind of the way that we do it.
[00:00:50] But we didn't realize Isaac's first car was such a piece of junk.
[00:00:56] Looking at the car from the outside, it looked somewhat nice for a first car. We were excited about it. We were excited about the price.
[00:01:05] After he paid for it, though, a few months later, plenty of issues started to surface on this car, and really big issues.
[00:01:16] First of all, we realized very quickly that the car, it seemed to need new tires very quickly after we had bought it. When we bought it, the tires looked fine, and now it needs new tires.
[00:01:29] And so we bought a new set of tires. And after several weeks, we realized the tires had worn out.
[00:01:37] And so at that time, what the problem was wasn't clicking in my mind, because I didn't think it could possibly be that problem.
[00:01:47] And so I said, well, let's get it aligned. Maybe this thing just keeps coming out of alignment and tires are wearing out. And then the tires just continue to wear on the inside of the tire. Now, if some of you know about cars, you probably know what you already know what was happening.
[00:02:04] And the car was just driving weird. And so I finally got up under the car, and what I had feared was going on was the problem.
[00:02:14] At some point, the frame of the car had just broken, and it probably when we went to get the car and looked at it, inspected, it probably couldn't see this. It could have been hidden, maybe a small crack. But over a few months of him driving the car, the whole frame had broken. And I didn't realize that my son was driving up and down the interstate to and from school with a car and its frame was broken. And this is why the tires were wearing out. And I got in the car and was like, this can't be the problem.
[00:02:48] And I tried to drive it down the street and it was like the front tires were just on skates.
[00:02:55] It was just, you could not control the car. Now he had been driving this car all week long.
[00:03:02] And I looked at him and said, what? You know, what is going on?
[00:03:05] I know it was driving weird. I said, isaac, this car will barely go forward. You're going to run off the road. And all of. I laid awake at night for several nights just thinking about all the worst case scenarios that could have happened with him in this car.
[00:03:23] But with the frame broken, the underneath, what anchors the car, with it broken, we could have changed the tires over and over.
[00:03:32] We could have done all kinds of work on this car, but it would have never driven straight and it would continue to wear out, it would continue to break down in other ways. Because what anchored the car, the frame had broken.
[00:03:48] And it's always crucial for a church to go back and inspect the frame.
[00:03:53] What we're about, what anchors us as a church.
[00:03:58] Because if our frame is broken, if the anchor, the foundation, what undergirds this whole thing is broken.
[00:04:07] It doesn't matter what we do.
[00:04:10] We can change programs, we can change ministries, we can see problems in the church and we can begin to address those problems in different, different ways. But if our foundation, our anchor is broken, the tires are just going to keep wearing out.
[00:04:26] There's just going to keep being more and more problems and we're not going to be driving straight on our mission together.
[00:04:35] It's always going to break down at some point.
[00:04:38] And in the church, Christ must be the center.
[00:04:43] We must be a Christ centered church. First and foremost, Jesus as king, as Savior must anchor everything that we do. Our programs, our ministry, the practices we're involved in here, the rhythms, the worship, everything we do must be anchored to Christ or we're going to wear out, we're going to break down, we're going to get tired of what's going on and it's just not going to work. No matter how much we try to change things, we try to do differently, Christ must be holding it all together.
[00:05:25] And so the question for us today is how do we keep Christ at the center?
[00:05:30] There's talk about what it means to be a Christ centered church. What does that look like?
[00:05:38] Well, we are Christ centered when we are proclaiming the gospel of Christ.
[00:05:43] The gospel is what exalts Christ as the only one who has defeated sin and death, the only perfect one, the only righteous One, it is the gospel that exalts him. And so we are Christ centered to the extent we are committed to proclaiming the gospel.
[00:06:02] And as we proclaim the gospel, it begins to affect our practice. It keeps our tires in line, it keeps our hearts in line with Christ. It is the gospel that keeps us in check and pulls us back to that anchor who is Christ. And we begin to practice the gospel and live in the gospel. And as we do, we exalt Christ.
[00:06:27] So we want to be Christ centered through the proclamation of the gospel of Christ. And this is what we see in chapter three of Second Thessalonians.
[00:06:36] Notice first our Christ centered mission through proclaiming the Gospel. Notice verse one.
[00:06:43] Finally, brothers, pray for us. Paul has instructed them on what it means to live in light of Christ, who's coming to rule, reign, judge, what it means to live in light of the second coming of Christ. And he says, finally, pray for us that the word of the Lord made speed.
[00:07:02] Now this means to run, that the gospel may spread, that it may get out of control. It's running so fast we can't catch it. That's the imagery here. That the word of God would continue to reproduce and multiply in the lives of those who hear and believe. But notice what he also says, that it may speed ahead and be honored.
[00:07:26] It is as if folks would stand at attention to, to the gospel.
[00:07:32] When the gospel is being preached, folks honor it. Remember when the gospel came to Thessalonica, Paul says, you received it for what it really is, the word of God, not the word of men. You stood at attention, oh, this is a word from God. And he says, we want the gospel to be honored in that way. We want it to be. We want it to spread and we want it to be honored. Why would you want the gospel to be honored? Again, this is what honors Christ.
[00:08:03] The message of the gospel is what exalts Christ.
[00:08:07] He is exalted as the only one who's defeated sin and death. He is exalted as the only righteous one. He is exalted as the one who will rescue us from sin and death forever. And we will live with him in eternal kingdom. It is this good news that exalts Christ. So we want that good news to spread. We want it to go forward. We want it to get out of control and run ahead of us. We want more worshipers and followers of Christ because that honors Christ through the gospel. And he says, as happened among you, the same thing that happened in Thessalonica. And Paul is mindful of this Church. And it is as if the gospel got out of control. He spent three weeks there, and the gospel keeps moving, even through suffering and persecution. He says, we want to see that happen over and over and over again. The Gospel spread because that's what exalts Christ.
[00:09:00] And then in verse two, we want to see the Gospel triumph over its enemies.
[00:09:06] Notice, he says, pray also that we would be delivered from wicked, pervert, wicked and evil men.
[00:09:13] Word wicked means perverse. They're twisted, they're evil, they're degenerate. And he says, for not all have faith. There are enemies of the gospel out there who are twisted. Why would you reject Christ, your creator, King? Because you're evil. You're wicked.
[00:09:31] And these men oppose not just Christ, but the ministry, the proclamation of the gospel. So we want Jesus exalted through the proclamation of the gospel, even triumphing over the enemies of the gospel.
[00:09:49] We want Jesus to rule and reign over everything.
[00:09:53] But we also want to see the Gospel rule and reign over those who oppose it, to move ahead despite opposition even though there's suffering, even though there's persecution. We want to see the gospel continue to move forward because that declares the glory of Christ.
[00:10:10] We want to see Christ exalted through the spread and triumph of the gospel.
[00:10:15] And I want to ask you, as Paul calls this church, to pray for this as he's out preaching the gospel. Is that your prayer for this church?
[00:10:25] When you pray for your church, what do you pray for?
[00:10:31] Me? Centered prayers.
[00:10:33] Maybe what only affects you?
[00:10:39] Or do you think about the mission of the church which will keep us all in line, which is that Jesus would be exalted. How's that? Through the proclamation of the gospel.
[00:10:50] How often do you pray that the word of God would spread and multiply and reproduce from this place? If you want Jesus exalted, that should be foremost on your heart as you pray for your church, that keeps us in line. That makes everything else make sense.
[00:11:09] God help us exalt Christ, keep Christ central through the proclamation of the gospel in this church.
[00:11:17] And prayer reveals where your heart is right?
[00:11:21] Is your heart there?
[00:11:24] How often do you take this prayer calendar and pray for the mission work of our church, church plants that we're a part of.
[00:11:35] How often do you pray that God would send out more folks from our church to plant more churches? Why? Because we want the gospel to run forward in places like New Orleans and Peru and Kentucky and around the world. We want to see that today as you pray for Michael Cox at Durbin Memorial, pray that the word of God would Run from that place as he proclaims the gospel. Why?
[00:12:01] That exalts Christ. And if your heart is to exalt Christ, that's what you're going to pray for.
[00:12:07] We don't generically give, go and plant just to do it. Because the Bible says so. No, our heart is. We want Jesus adored and worshiped. Why? Because we adore and worship Jesus and we want more and more people to exalt him. We want his glory known. You will share the gospel more if that's your motive.
[00:12:27] A lot of times we want to work up motives to be better evangelists. And we think, I just love this person and I just want more people to come to faith in Christ. I want to change the world. All of those are great motives. But if it doesn't, it's not rooted. And I want Jesus exalted. As I look at this person I love, I want their life to change. Well, you know who will change their life? Jesus. So I want Jesus exalted in their life as the life changer.
[00:12:53] And that's going to motivate me to proclaim Christ, to lift Christ up, to draw others to him. That is our motive. That Jesus would be exalted, that that Christ would be central through the proclamation of the Gospel and the gospel would just move forward because that's what honors Jesus. But notice next Christ centered obedience in the gospel. So we have a Christ centered mission, proclaiming the gospel. And then our obedience is Christ centered in the Gospel. Notice he says, the Lord is faithful. He will establish you. And he said that throughout these two letters. God is going to establish you. He's going to keep you notice. He will guard you against the evil one. When it comes to time where you might possibly turn away, Paul says, I've seen too much in your life. You're going to remain faithful. Verse 4. And we have confidence in the Lord.
[00:13:48] Literally, he says, it is settled.
[00:13:50] There's no wavering in Paul's mind. These believers are going to make it. He's seen too much they've endured through persecution. I've seen it settled in my mind.
[00:14:01] Notice it's settled about you, that you are doing and will do the things we command, the things that we have called you to do, instructed you to do with our authority.
[00:14:12] We know you're going to continue to obey.
[00:14:15] But verse five, as you obey, what must your motivation be? Paul says, I know you're going to make it. You're going to obey.
[00:14:23] But I don't want you to lose focus on one thing. As you obey and what is that thing?
[00:14:29] May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God as you obey.
[00:14:36] This is a beautiful phrase here.
[00:14:38] It means make your path straight to God's love.
[00:14:43] So as you obey, don't get out of line.
[00:14:47] As you obey, don't get distracted.
[00:14:51] In your obedience, may God continue to direct you to the love of God. Because that's what you need to obey.
[00:14:59] That's what you're going to need to be strengthened.
[00:15:02] That nothing would get in the way of you experiencing God's love. As you continue to obey and persevere, the things that we command you, the hope that you have as you continue to move forward in all of these ways, don't forget the love of God.
[00:15:20] May God continue to direct your hearts to the love of God and notice into the steadfastness of Christ, the commitment of Christ to your good that was sealed at the cross.
[00:15:34] Jesus is committed to you.
[00:15:36] How do you know? He died for my sins.
[00:15:39] And so, as you obey Jesus, I don't want you to forget that. Do not forget Jesus commitment to you. Because as we obey, we can begin to think, first of all, I'm earning God's love through my obedience. He says, no, no, no. God loves you in Christ. Don't forget that. As you obey. And as you obey, you can begin to think, Jesus commitment is dependent on my obedience. No, no, no, Christ.
[00:16:06] God loves you.
[00:16:08] And through the cross of Christ, he has declared he's committed to you who believe.
[00:16:13] So don't lose track of that. As you stand firm and as you obey, it's settled. Paul says that you will be obedient, but don't forget the gospel.
[00:16:25] Obey. Live remembering the gospel. It's so important that we do not move from the gospel. The Gospel isn't just the thing that gets you into heaven.
[00:16:37] I believe Jesus died for my sin. He lived a perfect life. He rose from the dead. I'm in.
[00:16:43] No. The Gospel is what keeps you anchored to Christ at all times. So you always have to go back to the gospel. And so daily. There must be a realignment in your life to the gospel.
[00:16:57] When you wake up in the morning, the first thing you should do is remember the Gospel. And by the way, that should be how you read your Bible.
[00:17:06] Jesus is the hero of the story.
[00:17:09] If you leave Bible study in the morning, you think, I got to do a bunch of good things. You miss the point.
[00:17:14] It's about Jesus, who's done all the good things. And you look to him as the king and as the hero every day. And you Remember, through the gospel, you are invited to come and live with this king.
[00:17:29] And so you remember the God. You listen. You run straight to the love of God in the steadfastness of Christ every morning.
[00:17:38] May nothing distract you from that. When you wake up, may nothing get in the way of, first and foremost, you running to the gospel. And you read the word of God in light of the gospel. And you pray in light of the gospel. When you pray, you're not just going through some perfunctory ritual.
[00:17:57] You're reminding yourself you are a child of God and you're speaking to your father through the gospel, through Christ. You are exalting Christ in your prayers. I'm only able to speak to you, Father, because of the blood of Christ. He interceded for me. And you're reminding yourself of the gospel. And so how does that affect obedience?
[00:18:18] Oh, then you begin to live your day in light of security and love of God. And there's great joy and freedom in the way that you live your life. I'm secure in the love of God. I'm not earning my father's favor today.
[00:18:31] I'm secure in the steadfastness of Christ. He's not a harsh taskmaster. He's not a tyrant who's gonna abandon me if I. If I trip up. No, he's committed to me. He's cheering me on.
[00:18:45] You're only going to live that way if you latch your life to the gospel. And if obedience is driven by the gospel.
[00:18:54] Don't let legalism get in the way of the love of God in your life every day.
[00:19:00] Don't let it push it out of the way.
[00:19:03] Don't let fear get in the way of the love of God, the steadfastness of Christ in your life every day. Don't begin to live your life every day that if I mess up Jesus, who claims to be my friend, who claims to walk, he's going to abandon me.
[00:19:20] No, he's proven he'll never abandon you. Through the cross.
[00:19:24] He staked his glory on the fact that you're going to make it to the end if you continue to cling to him.
[00:19:30] And don't let yourself get in the way of the gospel.
[00:19:33] Not evaluating yourself how good or bad you're doing. Look to the cross, but also what you want out of your day.
[00:19:41] Your glory can get in the way of the gospel.
[00:19:45] No, your commitment every day is to make much of Jesus cross. His life, his resurrection and his promises to you.
[00:19:53] Run straight to that gospel every morning and live secure and Knowing what the Father wants is good. So then when you're latched to the gospel, one of the things that happens is when you hear a command, there are commands.
[00:20:07] You know, it's out of the Father's love and goodness for you. And so if he tells me to do something that's going to be good, because he loves me more than anybody else, so if he tells me to do something that's good and you begin to serve in light of the steadfastness of Christ, you begin to sacrifice more. Why? Because there's joy there. Every time I've served Jesus by proclaiming the gospel and making him central, he's providing. We just sung the song.
[00:20:35] He's always provided. God's always provided.
[00:20:38] Why? Because he's for me. And when I proclaim him, he's for me.
[00:20:44] And he's always going to provide. And so you know what I do? I step out and I risk and I sacrifice and I do a lot of things just so I can see him provide more and more, and I serve him in light of his steadfastness, in light of the gospel, commitment to my good.
[00:20:59] And as a church, we must make clear the path to the Gospel.
[00:21:04] None of our programs, none of the things that we do should get in the way of the gospel.
[00:21:10] And as leaders, we always have to ask the question, how is this for the supremacy of Christ and the joy of all people? Specifically, starting with the people here, how are we lifting up Christ so that you find joy in Christ?
[00:21:24] And if any of our programs and the things that we do get in the way of Christ, it's going to wear you out. There's going to be no joy in that.
[00:21:32] You get tired of that. It's not going to last very long.
[00:21:35] And so leaders always go back. Is this about the supremacy of Christ and the proclamation of the gospel? Is this helping folks in our church practice the gospel more and more? If not, we're going to get out of line. We're going to wear out. It's going to be really dangerous.
[00:21:49] You see, a lot of times we hear this phrase, burnout.
[00:21:54] And a lot of times in the church, it's not burnout.
[00:21:58] We forgot why we're doing what we're doing.
[00:22:02] And we're in this endless cycle of just trying to work up some grit and discipline and energy, and it's not coming. Why we're out of line with the gospel.
[00:22:13] Because when I'm latched through the gospel to Christ and he's centered, guess what? That brings me joy.
[00:22:21] I believe what The Bible says when it says if you want to find your life, let it go.
[00:22:31] So I don't believe anyone who is really serving Christ for the glory of Christ will get tired of that.
[00:22:40] Sometimes we get tired when we forget why we're doing what we're doing and we have to step back and sometimes we have to reflect and there may be times of rest, but often it is to get back in line with with what we are doing. And so as a church we want to be in line with exalting Christ and that comes through the gospel. And so do not move from the gospel in your daily life. Begin every day with a realignment to the gospel. Check the frame.
[00:23:09] What is holding my life and ministry together?
[00:23:12] And then we see Christ centered discipline for the sake of the gospel. And this section of scripture is given over to church discipline, which the Bible says a lot about. This is going to be one aspect of it.
[00:23:25] But notice verse 6, church centered discipline for the sake of the gospel. Now we command you brothers, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the authority here. Keep away.
[00:23:36] Now this is an intense command and it means to distant from any brother who is walking in idleness. This would be laziness.
[00:23:44] There's a false teaching going on that says Jesus is coming back. We don't have to work.
[00:23:49] So people aren't paying their bills and not showing up at work. And Paul says get away from those people, distant yourself from them. Why notice the text by the way.
[00:24:00] Subjects like this, we're going to try to work through the Bible.
[00:24:03] So look at your Bible notice. Why would you distant from that person walking in idleness and not in accord? It means to be out of rank with the tradition you receive from us, the folks who aren't working, saying it's because Jesus is coming back and we don't have to work. They're not in line with our teaching doctrine. The word of God that we deliver to you and them living this way is out of line with the witness of the church.
[00:24:35] You see, when we begin to talk about church discipline, we have to understand that it is for sin that is detrimental to the witness and health of the church.
[00:24:48] It's for unrepentant public sin. In that way when there is witness of the church that is being hindered and the person will not repent of that sin. And that's what's going on here.
[00:25:01] It's not for every sin. It's not for immaturity and it's not for sin that is repented of it is the person in the church, who continues to walk in unrepentant sin and the community is being lied to about the glory of Christ in the gospel. And so you care about that. And so what does he say? Paul says this. Keep away, disassociate.
[00:25:28] Make sure the witness of the church is not connected to that person. And everyone knows that is not what we teach and believe. And that is not the witness of the church. Again, the goal is that Christ should be central to the gospel. And this person is putting that in jeopardy.
[00:25:46] And we see church discipline practiced in the New Testament. Go read Matthew 18, where the person is confronted. If they're unrepentant, you bring in two or three more. If they're still unrepentant, you bring in the pastors. Eventually the church acts and says, they're not with us and they're disfellowshipped. Matthew 18. They're treated as tax collectors and Gentiles. What does that mean? They're treated as unbelievers. It means you share the gospel with them because they're proving they don't believe the gospel. You believe in First Corinthians, the person is turned over to Satan in hopes that they would gain a brother.
[00:26:23] And so the goal is always restoration and repentance. But restoration and repentance doesn't come if you don't draw a line and says, say that's not what we believe, that dishonors Christ. A person cannot repent from dishonoring Christ if you don't tell them they're dishonoring Christ.
[00:26:40] And then if they're unrepentant for the witness and health of the church, you disfellowship from them. Notice verse seven. He says, you know this was out of line with the witness because you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it. But with toil and labor, we worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you. Paul says, when we got there, we worked hard.
[00:27:07] Paul was a tent maker, so he did not have to ask for support from the church. Why would he do that? He didn't want to to be seen as someone asking for money because he didn't want that to get in way of them believing the Gospel. Paul's in it for the money. He doesn't like manual labor. No. Paul says, we worked hard for the witness of the Gospel. And so this is an issue of witness.
[00:27:31] Verse 9. It's not because we do not have the right. Paul says, as apostles we could have asked for support. You could have taken up a love offering for us.
[00:27:39] That would not have been out of line. But for the sake of the gospel, we worked hard.
[00:27:45] Notice. To give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command. If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
[00:27:56] So able bodied folks who will not work must. You must discipline or distance from them. You don't prop up laziness. There's all kinds of reasons for why the church has to step in and benevolently help others.
[00:28:14] It can never be because of laziness.
[00:28:17] It gives us a vision even for benevolence. Able bodied folks who will not work, you must disassociate from them. Now remember specifically here, because it's hindering the witness of the gospel. They're standing up and saying, Jesus is coming back. I don't have to show up at work today.
[00:28:36] Now as a side note, your work ethic must never hinder the gospel. Your work ethic must be a platform for the gospel.
[00:28:46] Co workers don't need to be picking up your slack.
[00:28:49] Parents don't. Unbelieving parents specifically should never be stepping in to bail you out.
[00:28:56] No, you display the gospel by working hard.
[00:28:59] Co workers, bosses, teachers, coaches, they must see that you're willing to work. And they must say why? And you say, for the glory of Christ. It's a witness of the gospel issue.
[00:29:10] But notice this is also, this sin is also a hindrance to the church and the health of the body. Notice verse 11.
[00:29:18] For we hear that some among you walk in idleness. Not busy at work, but busy bodies. Now that is to be a humorous play on words. These folks who are idle, they're busy, but it's not working.
[00:29:32] What are they busy at? And the word means the affairs of others.
[00:29:36] The folks who aren't working, they got plenty of time to care about everybody else's issues.
[00:29:43] And so what are they doing? They're meddling, they're gossiping. Verse 12.
[00:29:48] Now such a person we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and earn their living. Now remember this letter. These letters are to be read to the church. And so Paul steps in and, and says here, this is not just the church, your leaders who are stepping in and trying to micromanage or nitpick you. By the authority of Christ as an apostle, he says, get to work, pay your bills and shut your mouth.
[00:30:17] Why? For the glory of Christ. In the gospel, if you were working, you would not have time to stir up such drama.
[00:30:26] In a side note, and you know this, wherever you work on a daily basis, whatever organizations you're a part of, and even in the church, most of the unsolicited opinions and critiques come from those who do nothing.
[00:30:40] It's humorous to me when we are, we are working so hard at times in the life of this church and folks who aren't connected to that will step in and go, now why don't we do this and this and this and this?
[00:30:53] Like, man, do you see how much this church is doing?
[00:30:57] And if you're plugged in and you're working even for the sake of the gospel, you are content in what you're doing and you don't have time to yammer and be bored and distract it and cause drama.
[00:31:12] So it's for the health of the church.
[00:31:14] Verse 13, he says, as for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. You do what's right, okay? You distant from them and you keep doing what's right. If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person and have nothing to do with him. Again, there is a distancing for the sake of the gospel and the health of the church. Notice what, he might be ashamed.
[00:31:37] Now this means he might understand his guilt after the admonishment and after the consequences of discipline, that he might be ashamed and he might repent. And he says in verse 15, do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Again, the goal is repentance. This shame he's talking about here is the shame that leads to repentance and restoration.
[00:32:00] We do see in other texts of scripture, if they will not repent, you remove them from church membership. This is why meaningful church membership is important.
[00:32:11] And this is a biblical concept.
[00:32:14] And why is it? It's for the glory of Christ.
[00:32:18] We want Christ exalted and so we do not want hypocrites to that gospel.
[00:32:24] And so if there's unrepentant sin that brings shame on the gospel, you confront it, whether it's laziness, sexual immorality or false teaching. And if the person is repentant, they're restored.
[00:32:37] Sometimes it never moves beyond the first confrontation.
[00:32:41] The circle never widens.
[00:32:44] But for the glory of Christ and the sake of the gospel, this is something the church practices.
[00:32:49] It is Christ centered discipline for the glory of the gospel. And a side note on idleness. God designed you to work.
[00:32:57] He created you in his image. He gave you gifts and talents is to not do so is to waste what God has given you. And that is sin against God.
[00:33:07] He calls us to work for the glory of Christ. Now to subdue the chaos around us, Jesus will resurrect us to work in the end. Why is that sin?
[00:33:16] Why is that sin? Maybe with your children, why is that sin with your friends? Why is that sin with your co workers? Why is that sin with others that you know? Because they are wasting what God has equipped them with and they are not glorifying God with their lives.
[00:33:35] And so it's sin that you deal with.
[00:33:38] And in light of this, there's going to be times in our life as a church where we say to people, we absolutely love you and we want you to repent and we will do whatever it takes for you to repent.
[00:33:50] At the end of the day, we will be the ones who do not give up on you. You might give up on yourself, but we will stick it out.
[00:33:57] And we love you, but we also love Jesus more.
[00:34:01] And if you are not going to repent, we distance ourselves from your behavior because it brings shame to the gospel. And so this is a part of the church. But why do we do it? To exalt Christ through the gospel that we preach. And notice how it ends. Even after that sort of harsh command instruction. Notice how it ends.
[00:34:23] Christ centered unity through the gospel. Notice verse 16.
[00:34:27] Now may the Lord of peace.
[00:34:29] Isn't that a beautiful title for Jesus? He is the Lord of peace.
[00:34:35] He is the one who pursues peace with you. He is the one who has made peace available to you. It's in his nature to be peaceful with you.
[00:34:44] He sealed it at the cross.
[00:34:47] And he says, as you live together in all of these ways, I pray that the Lord would give you peace. Notice the Lord of Peace himself.
[00:34:55] It points to the personal presence and work of Jesus in the church. Jesus isn't distant from the church.
[00:35:05] He prays that Jesus would be present in the church through peace.
[00:35:10] I want you to know Jesus in the church. How do I want you to know Jesus? Through peace. The word peace means rest.
[00:35:18] It means the war is over.
[00:35:21] And so I want you to understand Jesus by not fighting with God, with one another.
[00:35:30] I want there to be shalom in the church through Jesus. And notice. He says at all times, in every way, meaning every circumstance. Think about the two letters. There's suffering, there's issues of holiness. We've talked about even issues of discipline. Today there's the living together in fellowship, admonishment, correction, all of those things.
[00:35:52] And he says, in all of these ways, at all times, I want you to understand peace. I want you as a church to move through these things with rest together.
[00:36:02] Because Jesus, the Lord of peace, is with you. And he emphasizes it. Again, the Lord be with you all. How are you going to have peace in the church? Jesus must be there. Verse 17.
[00:36:12] He says, I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is a sign of genuineness in every letter of mine. It is the way I write Paul. It's almost like Paul was about to end the letter and he said, oh, whoa, I forgot about the deep fake letters that people are writing. You trying to convince you that I don't believe in the second coming. Real quick, look at the handwriting of this letter. I wrote this.
[00:36:36] I, Paul.
[00:36:39] And then he gets in this beautiful idea of grace.
[00:36:44] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. How are you going to do all this? How are you going to live this way? How are you going to be. Last day witnesses the unmerited favor of God. But notice how this works out.
[00:36:57] He prays for peace that comes through the presence of Jesus in the church.
[00:37:02] How is that peace possible?
[00:37:04] The Lord be with you all. Now ask the question, how might the Lord be with us?
[00:37:10] How might the Lord be with you all? And it's in that last phrase. Grace, grace. May the Lord be with you all through grace. He's literally saying, may the Lord Jesus Christ be central. Be with you all through the gospel, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is what comes from the gospel. The gospel is God's grace to us, those of us who were enemies and, and rebels against God. The grace of God has come to us through the cross, through Jesus. And that's how we have peace with God. And so he wants Christ to be present and exalted through the preaching and practicing of grace. Through the preaching and practicing of the gospel in the church. Do you see that? I want Christ to be present with you. That's how you're going to have peace. How is Christ present?
[00:37:58] Through the grace of God in the gospel. You can't have peace without the gospel in the church. You can't have peace as an individual. Apart from the gospel, all other forms of peace are cheap imitations.
[00:38:12] The supplements, the therapy, the counsel, the alcohol, the stuff that you try to buy. I'm going to have peace. The season in life. If I get there, I'll have peace.
[00:38:24] That's just addressing symptoms at the heart through the gospel of grace. When you're latched to the reality that you were once an enemy and now you're a friend.
[00:38:36] Your son who gets the kingdom and you live there.
[00:38:40] Oh, that's glorious peace that sustains you from now and through eternity, not temporary peace.
[00:38:46] So you got to get that right to have peace yourself. And then that permeates the church.
[00:38:51] Making Christ Central through the gospel is what will bring us peace as a church.
[00:38:58] You want to know what's going to keep us united?
[00:39:02] 10, 20, 50.
[00:39:04] And those are here after. Long after we're gone. You know what's going to keep us united?
[00:39:09] The gospel of grace that exalts Christ. That's going to give us peace. Why is that?
[00:39:15] Because if I'm at peace with God, I can always be at peace with you.
[00:39:20] Especially my brothers and sisters in Christ who believe in the same peace. That's why we live with the gospel and we breathe with the gospel so we would have peace with one another. And we always go back to the gospel. Churches that move Christ from the center, forget the gospel. You'll notice the will start wearing out. Everybody gets irritated. It's like that long trip of vacation. You're tired of being in that car together. Not a lot of room. You're irritated. Oh, we broke down. We had to change a tire. This is the worst trip ever.
[00:39:56] You don't want to be with one another.
[00:39:59] Why? Because you're out of line and you're worn out.
[00:40:03] And then there's harsh infighting in the back seat. That's mine. No, that's mine. I want to hear this. Are we there yet?
[00:40:12] And you wear out.
[00:40:14] But a church that keeps Christ central understands the peace we have with God.
[00:40:21] Anytime there's a conflict, you go, what's my goal?
[00:40:24] Well, it's not to win.
[00:40:26] My goal is to have peace.
[00:40:29] And so what do I do in this conflict? I remember the peace that I have in Christ through the gospel, and I keep Jesus at the center. And so I work really hard to figure out how I need to forgive, how I must be forgiven, how to reconcile. And I show grace and love and mercy because of the gospel. And you can apply that to any relationship that you have right now. What conflict do you have right now? Is Christ at the center of it?
[00:40:56] Are you working through the conflict in light of the gospel, or is it just what you want? Have you gotten out of sorts? Are you out of line?
[00:41:05] We must be Christ centered through in for the sake of the gospel in a way that exalts Jesus. The gospel exalts Jesus as savior, king, who's defeated sin and death. He is the hero.
[00:41:22] And if that frame is cracked, we'll all be worn out.
[00:41:26] I have good news for you.
[00:41:28] Those of us here today who may have forgotten that, who may have gotten distracted from that, well, Jesus is good and he's solid. And while you've moved and you're all over the road, he has it come to him today.
[00:41:45] Look to the Gospel today. Exalt Christ through clinging to the Gospel again today.
