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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's word you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 830 or 10:30 a.m. If you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison church, find [email protected] be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:35] Speaker A: You hard to believe we're here at the end of 2023. Looking forward to 2024. And what that means for all of us is we look back and we evaluate things in our past year and we think about the things that maybe we set out to and do, and I think about the goals that we set, the plans we put into place, and we try to pull those things together as much as we, you know, kind of David expressed know we get a little bit down the road and it's kind of more difficult. There are a lot of things that happen in our life that adjust things and change our course a little bit. And there's times where things happen that are outside of our control that shift our focus a little bit, and that's okay as well. And we have this time of year where we've been through Thanksgiving, we've been through Christmas, and that is sort of a chaotic, breakneck pace. And we're going and we're seeing different people and we're traveling all over the place. And everywhere we go, we feel like we have to have gifts in hand, and it's just sort of chaos. And then you get after Christmas and you get to this part that leads into the new year, where I think it just lends itself to contemplating, thinking about evaluating where you've been. And as we look to that flip of the calendar and we get to 2024, there's something to be said for, okay, let's have a fresh start and let's begin again. And I think that's important for us to do. And I really am excited about next week. And I want to say right now that I hope all of you will make it your priority to be here at 1030 next week in person. And in fact, I'll go ahead and say it. Please don't do it online. If you can be here, if you can physically be here and enjoy this fellowship and be a part of this. Come and be a part of that energy. If you were here this past week for a Sunday morning, you know how encouraging it was to see this room filled with people and to hear the songs and to be encouraged and inspired. But I'm excited about it because this is an opportunity for our shepherds to share with all of you the things that they've been talking about, been praying about, that those of us in ministry and the eldership have been looking forward to and putting into place, thinking about not just the budget and stuff that we'll be doing from a financial standpoint, but the things that we are hoping to do to help encourage us to grow spiritually. And so I'm pretty pumped about it. I hope you'll come and be a part of it and be a part of that enthusiasm and the joy of what's happening here. We've seen a lot of growth, we've seen a lot of new opportunities, and we are recognizing that there are even more opportunities out there than we have ever imagined. And it's up to us to begin to take hold of that and to look and see what we can do in a greater way. So I'm excited about that vision opportunity and for us to hear it and to be inspired by it next week. So definitely come and be a part of that. We're going to be talking about living the truth. And when you think about looking back at 2023 and even looking forward to 2024, our priorities are guided by what we do. Right. And when you look back, the things that we've done, that we've embodied, those are the things that make the difference and really define what we've done over this past year. And I was thinking about this and how we need to embody what God wants us to be. And I began thinking about the different people that I could think of that embodied, what it is they do. And you'll probably recognize some of these people. I thought about Michael Jordan and yeah, we can get into the debate of LeBron, Kobe or MJ, whichever you want. But I think when you think about basketball, okay, he is sort of that standard that we look to. He's the one with the logo, he's the one with the clothing line and the shoes and all those things. So we look at him and we think of him maybe as the one who embodies what basketball is all about, his excellence, his skill, his insight, his instincts on the court. All those things kind of give us an indication of that. Right. Well, this guy is pretty smart, too.
And I think it's cool that I found pictures with these guys with their tongues out. I don't know why that's funny to me, but e equals Mc squared, nobody knows what that means, but it's a really cool thought. And he's a brilliant physicist. We look at him and he sort of embodies the idea of nutty professor, does he not? On some level. And then you got this guy, Tiger woods. He's like the very best that golf has ever seen, probably. And while there is dispute about who that greatest may be, but you can see the enthusiasm and the way he brought a lot of people to the game. Like, watching him was just inspiring to see his skill level and those kinds of things. Think about this guy, and you could put Steve jobs up there as well. But when you think about technology, you think about this guy, Bill Gates, and what he's done to kind of shape our world a little bit. And he's definitely one of those that embodies, like, Nerdville, you know what I mean? He's just that kind of guy. And then you got people like Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon, top of his field. When I look at him, I think, okay, yeah, that's a neurosurgeon. He embodies that attention to detail. Kind of a quieter guy, a guy who's really good. And he's the one who took conjoined twins and separated them and helped them live a good life and those kinds of things. So he's a very impressive guy. And then you got people like this guy. I don't even know what category to put him in. I mean, he's like an imagineer. He's like space Geek. He's electric car guy. He's formerly known as Twitter. I mean, he's a lot of different things, and it's hard to know exactly what Elon Musk is. He's almost like Tony Stark of our time, right? I mean, he does everything, but he epitomizes that cutting edge moving forward and doing a lot of unusual and unique things right. In this life. And of course, this guy right here, if you know who that is, it's Lloyd Christmas. And he embodies the very essence of. He is not. He's clueless. Like, this guy epitomizes that. And so I know he's a fictitious character. I get that. This next one that I'm going to share with you is not a fictitious character. And I would say that he's probably really good at what he does. But when you see him, he really embodies composure. That's the thing that jumps out to me as I think about what he's good at. Anyway, so I'm saying all that to say, we know of people that sort of embody what it is they do and who they are, right? We see that they're not just good at what they do, but they kind of embody that very thing that they are meant to do. Well, I want to take us this morning to John, chapter one. And I want us to look at the scriptures and see what God did and how he embodied the truth of God through Jesus. Look at John, chapter one, verse one says this. In the beginning was the word. The word was God, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through him. And without him was not anything made that was made. If I just stop for a moment and I read this, I mean, it almost sounds Dr. Suitsical, doesn't it? In the beginning was the word. It's almost like an equation. Like I think, okay, God. In the beginning, there was the word and the word was with God. So next to God. But then the word was God. And in my mind, it's kind of hard to grasp this. And so I look into this, and I see later in verse 14, we find out who this word was, that it was Jesus himself. But I wanted to take just a moment to look into this text. And what I did is I looked at the word logos. And this is the greek word that means a word, but in this context it means the word. And in doing so, as I looked into it, one of the things that as I dug into the definition is this concept, the embodying of an idea.
Now that's pretty amazing to me that in this language we would see not just a word in the sense of embodying an idea, but when we think about the word, how Jesus was the very essence of the word of God. He was the very picture of it. He was the embodiment of it. And that is amazing to me when you think about the book of Hebrews as it opens up and it says, God, who at various times in sundry ways has spoken to the fathers through the prophets, has now, in these final days, spoken to us through Jesus.
Looking at Jesus, he was not just the radiance of the glory of God, but he was the exact imprint of the character of God. That's pretty amazing to me. Think about it. Before this time, they had instructions, they had guidelines they had precepts, they had the psalms, they had the commandments. They had all of these things that we could look at and know exactly what the truth was. But it wasn't until Jesus showed up on the scene that we began to see it really the embodiment of that and what it really looks like. And that's amazing to me because we would say things, well, God's word says to do this, but how do I apply that to this situation and these people who are very difficult? How do I do that? I mean, it sounds like the right thing to do, but everything in me says, don't do that because of my human nature and because I want to do things that maybe that aren't God honoring. How do I apply that principle to this situation? And so for the first time, we get to see the beauty of God in the flesh. So it says that Jesus didn't come just to preach the truth, but he came to model it for us. And we move into John, chapter one, verse 14, and it says the word put on flesh, and he dwelt among us, and we beheld him as the only son of the father. And I want you to catch what it says about him, that it wasn't just that he was the son of God, but that we could behold him, look at him and see him, and understand that this is God in the flesh. But listen to the two things that it says. He bore with him. He was full of grace and he was full of truth. And I like to see balance in things. And this to me is a picture of balance, because we like grace, right? And he was embodied grace. When I think about what Jesus did for us, it's amazing, right?
We are supposed to pay the penalty for our sin. And all throughout time, there had to be sacrifices that were made for people's sins. And Jesus came to be the one time sacrifice, offering for our sins for all time. And that is a beautiful thing. So me, in my sinfulness, I'm separated from him. And Jesus is the very thing that brings me back to him. He is the picture. He is the embodiment of grace. In fact, romans five, six through eight says this. While we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare to die. But God shows his love for us and that while we were sinners, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You look around in this room, I would venture to say that where you're sitting you've probably already spoken to some people around, you know, the folks that you're surrounded by. You love them. You have a relationship with them. When you think about all the friends that you hang out with and that you spend time with, think about the joy that you have being with them. And if one of them had a desperate need and you had to sacrifice something for them because of your love for them, that would be kind of an easy thing to do, right? We would find it in our heart to do that, make that sacrifice. It would be kind of a way to say, I love you. And yes, we're close, and you deserve that. And I want to make sure that that is for you.
But when you think about what Jesus did, it's right. The opposite. Not only does he love us and those who love him back, but he's also looking toward the person who rejected him, the person who crucified him, the person who is running away in rebellion, the person who is working against him.
It's in that circumstance that it says, jesus died for us in our sins, separated from him in our most rebellious state. Think of the worst thing you've ever done in your life.
And in that moment, Jesus showing up and saying, hey, I'm right here. I know you're desperate. I know you need something right now, and you're looking so hard and you're running in the opposite direction. But I am here for you. That is grace. When I think about him embodying grace, verse 16 of this same text in John, chapter one, says, he gives us grace upon grace. Well, what does that mean? Well, he came to die for us. He provided us a savior, but because of our relationship with him. And first, John gives us a little insight into this. Says, because we have this relationship with him, we have his continual blood that washes our sins away over and over. When we walk in the light as he is in the light, so we have that special blessing. It's grace in that we're saved and rescued from our sin. It's grace upon grace in the sense that he keeps on forgiving us over and over, even though we perpetually turn our back on him. So that's grace upon grace. He came and embodied the truth of God, and he did it with grace, and he did it with truth. Jesus said these words, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but by me. Interesting thing that he says in verse seven. And following, he says, if you had known me, you would have known my father also.
From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Go to John, chapter one, verse 18, where it says that we have now seen God in the flesh. What a powerful thing. And I love the balance. We all love grace. We all love forgiveness. We all love pardon. We love for people to look past our mistakes and love us in spite of those things. And that's wonderful. We all want that.
But sometimes we're not as easily swayed by the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts us. Sometimes it convicts us and forces our hand a little bit and challenges us to make some decisions differently. Well, here's the thing.
The next verse says that in him was life and that life was light. And then it goes on to say that there was darkness around and he was the light that took away the darkness. And the darkness could not overcome it. It could not comprehend that kind of light. Jesus was the divine illumination to bring us to an awareness of what living a life of truth would be like in Christ Jesus. So when I see that he has that grace, he has the truth, he has that balance of love and mercy. But also the reality that the thing that is going to bring you to this great relationship with God is the fact that I love you enough to give you the words that will lead you closer to him. And we have to find that right balance where we are a better representation of Jesus. So it says, light defeats darkness.
And, you know, when I think about Jesus dying on the cross, he was buried and then he was raised. And if you remember, he gave this great commission to his followers. He said, go into all the world. Preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. And he says, teaching them and to observe all the things that I've commanded you, and I'm going to be with you through the end of the age. Remember, he says that. And he passes that on. And then in two Timothy, chapter two, it says, paul is talking to Timothy, said, the things that you've heard and seen in me, those same things, commit to other people who will be able to teach others. Also, there's a certain part of this that reminds us that we have an obligation to pass along the gospel torch to someone else. So here's Jesus. He is the light.
But I want us to be reminded that we are now the light bearers. It was Jesus who said in Matthew chapter five, says, you're the light of the world. And he says, this, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. What does he mean by that? Folks, I want to challenge us for a moment. It's real easy in our life. To think, I need to control all the influences and all the surroundings of my family. I need to isolate us. I need to insulate us from the rest of the world because there's a lot of evil out there. And I want to tell you there is a lot of evil out there.
But we can get so caught up in that that we forget that we have an obligation. We are the light of the world. Them. In the same way that Jesus embodied the truth of God by his example, by his light, he told us that we have an obligation to go do it as well. And so he know, no one takes a light and lights it up and then puts a basket over the top of no, no, that's not what we do. But we put it on a lampstand so it can shine light to all those who are in the house. In other words, what God is saying to all of us is we as christians need to be that light in the midst of darkness, and we need to be visible, and we can't do that if we just stay to ourselves. So, like, this is wonderful in this room. We love this. We love this kind of fellowship and this battery recharge that we get every time we come together. And we're challenged to grow in our faith and our love for one another. That's wonderful. And in this environment, it's so comfortable and safe to be around these people in this room. But God is calling us out of this room and into the world so we can be an influence on the world. And he says this, you do that so it gives light to all that are in the house. And he says, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and do what?
Glorify your father who is in heaven. So another warning for us in this text is that we don't get caught up in our light, that we don't think about how great we are and what good things we're doing. That we don't pat ourselves on the back or think that we're something because we are shining our lights. No, we are shining lights in an opportunity to share with them the truth of God. We begin to embody this truth by the light that we shine. But then Ephesians chapter five talks about us walking in the light, and it says that when we do this, when we walk in the light, we expose the darkness. And when you think about expose, I mean, a lot of times we may think about that means to go to somebody and really challenge them. And I would say, if you look at this greek word, you're going to find out that it is. There is something to this. So that we approach people with falsehoods and we expose the darkness by sharing with them the truth, the light of the truth. And that is a very good thing for us to do. Right.
But I think more so what God is trying to say here is if we're walking in the light, as we are supposed to do, there is a huge contrast between living in the light and living in darkness. And that contrast is so great that it points to people that this stuff, this worldly thing that we're about, is, in fact, darkness. The light brings to focus on the darkness. So there's a certain aspect of this that we have to embody this. So how does love defeat darkness? How does light defeat darkness? Well, first of all, one example of this is we love rather than hate. Now, I want to be clear that I don't mean we love everything that's out there, that we don't embrace everything, that we don't accept everything, that love is different. Okay? The love we're talking about is the reality that I see the value in every soul. I see everyone in the same way God does, that I look past their sin, I look past their mistakes, I look past their lifestyle, I look past all the things that I may say, hey, that takes them out of the light.
But it says I love them in spite of that. It says that I will reach out to them, that I care for them in the same way that God views them and sees them. I'm reminded of this thing that happened about four years ago, and a lot of you are close to this person, so I want to be sensitive as I share the story, and I may miss some of the details, so please be patient with me. But you remember there was a student named Botham. Botham Jean, I think is his name, from Harding. And several of the people in here are close with him.
From what I gather, he was just a fantastic guy, inspirational, great worship leader, enthusiastic about his faith. He interned at different churches, and he was just known as a good Christian leader on Harding's campus. And everybody loved him very dearly. He was in his apartment one night, and an officer who was off duty but had her gun mistook his room for her room. She saw that the door was a jar, pulled her gun out, saw him and shot him and killed him because she mistook him for a burglar in her home. Well, in the middle of all this, there was all kinds of uprising about police brutality and a lot of different things about black men being targeted. And all of these things were at a heightened awareness. So this became something that really took on a life of itself. And it was very, very difficult for a time. And there was lots of bad news, and there were a lot of people getting up at arms, and there was righteous indignation and all that, too, because this person had been killed wrongly.
And yet, in the midst of all that darkness, and there was darkness around, there was a bright light that shined.
One was his example and his influence.
The second thing was his brother at the hearing where this officer was going to be sentenced for ten years in prison for the wrongful death of Botham Jean.
The family could come in and express their frustrations. They could come in and say, what you took from me. They could come in and really berate her if they wanted to. They could come in and say whatever they would be put on the stand, and they could just give their testimony about what they felt, how they felt about what this person deserved and all those things it was right there for them to do.
And Botham's brother, I think his name was Brant, looked at her straight in the eyes and said, I want you to know that I don't wish any evil on you.
In fact, I want what's very best for you.
And I haven't talked to my family about this, but I want you to know that I love you in the same way I love everybody else.
And I want you to know Jesus Christ and to have a relationship with him. And I want you to approach God, if you haven't already, to go to him and ask for his forgiveness, because I know he will give it to you. And I forgive you.
And not only that, but I want to see you in heaven someday. And so he begins talking, and people in the audience are crying. Everybody's crying. And in the midst of all that, as this woman is crying as well, he from the stand says, I just want to give her a hug. Can I just please give her, can I have permission to give her a hug? And he gets off of the stand and he walks over, and for a long time, he hugs this woman, and they cry together. And the courtroom is crying. And the whole scene plays out so beautifully.
That light exposed the darkness. And in the midst of all that turmoil, here was a christian light that shined, that pushed out the darkness. It was immediately after that that some other people had said, and I saw these quotes in some of the articles about it, that what this person needs to do is find that relationship with Jesus. Because the first one to welcome her into heaven will be both them. He'll be so excited to see her there.
That's how we expose the darkness. Matthew five says this. You have heard that it has been said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, do the unthinkable. That's my words. But it says this, pray for those that love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. And it goes on to say, you therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect. So I'm blown away in that I'm supposed to be a light bearer. And yet I know my own imperfections.
I know my limits. I know my weaknesses. And it's beyond me that God would trust someone like me or someone like all of us in our imperfections and weaknesses, that we would be the one to bear that light and to share. But what he's saying here is that if you want to be a son of mine, and if you read in this text, it says, so that you can be a son of God, if you want to be his child, then the very next thing is for us to be perfect. I can't be perfect. But if you understand that term, what it means is that I am pushing myself to grow in spiritual maturity, that I myself am challenging myself to do the unthinkable for the sake of living out that truth in my life. If we believe this, if this passage that we're reading says to us we need to love our enemies, then we, in fact, if we want to bear the light, if we want to live the truth out, then we also must love our enemy and pray for those who persecute you. And in doing that, we push ourselves to grow spiritually. Church, I want to ask all of us, are we ready to push ourselves to that end?
Another way light defeats darkness is purity over immorality.
Hear these words, especially teens, young adults, and really anybody run from sexual sin.
No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you and was given to you by God? You don't belong to yourself, for God bought you with a price.
Therefore, honor God with your body.
Folks, you want to be light in the midst of darkness when we're surrounded by all of these things in this life that are pushing us to sexual immorality, whether it be a computer screen or whether it be a person or whether it be some idea that we're chasing anything that takes us away from God is pushing us away, and those things pushing us away are taking us out of this great relationship with God, and we are putting ourselves out there and are using our bodies in ways that are not holy. If you've been guilty of this, I want to let you know this.
God loves you.
And while the sin may be wrong, I want you to understand that he loves you and that he will forgive you, that you can ask for that forgiveness, and he will wipe the slate clean.
Bible tells us that his forgiveness is so certain and so pure and so fantastic when we come to him in sincerity. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. So I'm asking you, if you've done these things, repent. And that just means turn back to God. That's all it means. We use big church words sometimes, but it just means turn back to God and relinquish that control over to him and trust him with your life. And when you do that, you're going to feel that forgiveness, and you're going to know that you got a fresh start. We need to make sure that we shine our light in the midst of darkness. Another way to do it is mercy over judgment.
We can be guilty of judging other people and placing a value on them that makes them not as significant in our lives. And that is not at all the way God sees us. And this passage in James chapter two reminds us that mercy is that thing that triumphs over judgment. And that we need to be people who, yes, make good decisions and are discerning and those kinds of things. But we also need to be people who see the value in everyone and are willing to love them and to work with them and to be patient with them and have compassion on them. And that will help us in our lives to shine the light, to live the truth and have that balance of grace and truth. But also light defeats darkness with faith over fear. And I think you could probably think of ten different examples of this in the scriptures. You can think of David and Goliath, how he had faith over the fear that was there in front of him. You could think about Daniel and the lions. Then you could think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. There's probably a million different ways that you could look at this and see how people overcame fear in their lives with faith in God. But I want to give you this quick example, and just to let you know, I won't get into all the details, but as the Thessalonians were being converted. They left idolatry. And because of that, there was some persecution that came as a result of it. They were under affliction, as the Bible says. And so Paul is writing to them to encourage them to keep going on. But what's happening is he's getting word back to him that they are doing even better than he imagined. And so he looks to them and he's wanting to encourage them. But what's happening is word is coming back to him so fast that not only are they doing well, but they have embraced the truth. They have embraced the persecution and the affliction that they're going through. And not only that, but their reputation is growing, so much so that it looks like their reputation spreads to Macedonia and to Achaea and to all these different parts of the world. Like, people look at Thessalonica and go, those guys have given their all to God, and they are allowing their faith to help them overcome the fears that are all around them as they turn away from cultural pressures and idolatry. And they embrace the one true God. What a great example for us. But also light defeats darkness with sharing over withholding. There is something to this, that God has made us ambassadors. In fact, he says in two corinthians, chapter five, verse 20, that we are ambassadors of Christ, and we are making the appeal with other people on behalf of God. We are talking to them and saying, please be reconciled back to God. And that just means that any hostility that stands between us and God, that he wipes that away and he brings us back into unity together through Jesus. This passage in Hebrews 13 reminds us that we are to offer up the fruit of our lips. That is our praise to God. And I highlighted this term acknowledging his name. That just means that no matter what's going on in life, whether it's good or it's bad, whether things are great, and God is blessing us, that we praise God for those things. And it means when we're going through difficult times, we praise God and we say, hey, he's helping guide me through this. We have this blessing of, this message of reconciliation inside of us, this message of truth and love and hope. And it's for us to share that with other people. But it also talks about us sharing the things that we have, the good things that we have been blessed with, and how we as a church and as a family of God, need to be benevolent, watching out for people. So it's not only what we say, but it's that our actions are also mirroring that as well. And that we do not withhold those things from people when we have the power to do that. And then light defeats darkness with good over evil.
Give you just a quick illustration. Two families at ods with one another. They can't stand each other. One has coals of fire in their home, and they're able to take care of their family with the warmth that they need through the cold nights. The other family does not have that.
What God is saying to us through romans chapter twelve is the idea that the family who has those coals, recognizing their enemy, a person that they don't even care for, is going through a tough time. They take those hot coals of fire and they take them over and provide them to their enemy, to the person that they are at odds with. And so he says, that's how you overcome evil. You do it by good things. You don't do it by other things. In our culture, when someone claps at us, we clap back harder. If someone says something hurtful to us, then we try to sting them a little bit more than what they did for us. We at least have to level the playing field, right? That's the way we think about things. It's kind of like a win or a loss. Like we have to answer back, and we see this back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, and somehow in our mind, in the way we think about things, if I just set them straight, then all of a sudden we have peace among us.
But that is not the case. In fact, it just accelerates all those things. But God is saying here that the way you overcome this is by doing good and not doing by evil.
So we've got to embody the truth in our lives.
Listen to these passages. Two Timothy 215. Do your best to be the kind of person God will accept and give yourself to him. Be a worker who has no reason to be ashamed of his work, one who applies the true teaching in the right way. Again, it's that balance of there's truth, but there's love, there's that grace, and there's truth. And then James chapter one, verse 22, reminds us that we don't just listen to God's word, but that we put those things into practice. And then one, John three, verse 18, talks about how our actions will show that we belong to truth. My question for all of us is, are we believing the truth, and are we allowing it to dictate the way we live our lives?
As we look back on 2023 and we think about the things that maybe we didn't do as well, as we could have done. I hope, as we're moving forward to 2024, that you're not just thinking in terms of what I can do physically for my body or financially, goals or those kinds of things. I hope what you're seeing is that there's a need for all of us to embrace the truth and to embody that and to live it out and we share it through ourselves. These are the words of Paul as he's talking about the Thessalonians, and he's talking about how much he was willing to share the gospel with them. But one of the things that he says is that we didn't just share the gospel. We didn't just teach you the truth, but we also gave you our very selves. We gave you our lives. We committed ourselves to you. And I think about that, how important it is for all of us to recognize that we need to do that as well, that we need to be about giving ourselves to each other.
And so these Thessalonians, having received the blessing of Paul's teaching and Silas and Timothy, but also having their lives invested in them, what did it do for them? Well, they became the model for Christianity in these times. And listen to what it says. There are three things that Paul focuses on that says that they were really good at. And I want us to just contemplate whether we ourselves are doing these things today in our lives. And it's this. He said, we remember you in prayer and all those things, and thank God for you for your work of faith, your labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's talk about work of faith.
One of the things that they did to be successful, to navigate the challenges that were right there in front of them, is they trusted in the truth of God. Whatever God said, they did, whatever they were taught, they lived it. But not only that, they turned away from the cultural pressures that they were going through. And isn't that something that maybe all of us need to be thinking about? What are cultural things that we find ourselves absorbed in, that maybe take us from a true appreciation for what we could do in Christ? I'm not getting on to everybody and saying, hey, don't have social media and those kinds of things, but what kind of things are we holding on to that become our source of information? They become our lifestyle. They become the things that we chase every day and that we look for every day, that we're not looking to be fed with anything. We're just looking to be entertained. And those kinds of things. And I just want us to know that those kinds of things can be a distraction. They can also be used as a tool for good.
But they turned away from the cultural expectations and the pressures of idolatry to trust in God. But then also they had this labor of love. And what did this mean? Well, it talked about the kind reception that they gave people. It talked about how they were so willing to go out and find people, to study the Bible with people that they could share the gospel message, the reality that you're lost in your sins. But here's the good news. Jesus came to take away those sins, and he died for you. And if you give your heart to him and you have your sins washed away, then you can have this new life in Christ. And all those old things are passed away, and you have this new life together, and you have this freedom and this joy of serving him. And we are there to help guide you along the way and to be there along your side, and so you can come and be a part of something special man. Are we that excited about what's happening here, that we're ready to share that with other people?
I hope so. But that's something for us to contemplate as we move forward in 2024. And then finally, this. They had a steadfast hope in Jesus. And what that means is while they were living out the truth, while they were being gracious and kind and all of those things in the middle of that, they also recognized that things could get better in eternity. And so they placed their hope and their trust in Jesus Christ, and they anticipated his return. In other words, they didn't live every day in fear of his return. They lived every day in excitement that he may come and deliver them from all the persecutions they're going through and to take them to a place where they would have none of those things for the rest of all time, they look forward to his arrival. Where are we this morning?
Are we excited about Jesus'return?
I pray that everyone in here, your conscience is clear and that you're living for God and that you're doing the right things and that you are hopeful for his return and that you are longing for it.
I pray that is where we are today. But there could be some that are struggling with all these things that, yes, we recognize that God's word is truth. Hebrews chapter four tells us that it's living and active and stronger than any two edged sword. And it goes in and it pierces us and it challenges us. It shows us the things that are right in our life. The things that are not so right in our life. And the next verse says that God is aware of all, that nothing is hidden from his sight. It's all going to be laid bare and open for him, to whom we will give an account to ourselves. And I love that because it reminds me that while I am being convicted, I may think to myself that it's just me. But no, God is aware of those convictions. And what I'm saying to you is, you don't need to be afraid.
You need to embrace the truth and know that God is so ready to forgive and to give you that fresh start. So this morning, if you have any need whatsoever, there'll be people at the exits. There'll be some of us up here at the front. If there's anyone who needs prayers or encouragement or one needs to put Christ on in baptism. I hope that all of us are willing to live this truth out this coming year. And if you need anything this morning, please come while we stand and sing.
