“Becoming Like Christ-Removing Life’s Distractions”

“Because Being Like Me Just Aint Gonna Cut It”

Pastor Matt.  October 30, 2005

Intro

11:1

“put up with a little of my foolishness”

-         I should not have to argue my cause but I will

-         False prophets are teaching

11:2

“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy”

-         to be heated or to boil with envy, hatred, anger.

-         in a good sense, to be zealous in the pursuit of good.

-         to desire earnestly, pursue.^[1]

“with a godly jealousy”

-         zeal (fanaticism) in embracing, pursuing, defending anything.

-         zeal in behalf of, for a person or thing.

-         an envious and contentious rivalry, jealousy.^[2]

Paul is upset with the church and desires to get them back on the right track

Why is Paul upset?

He is as a father to the church who desires to present the church to Jesus as a “pure virgin” (figuratively)

Jesus is the bridegroom and we as Christians are the brides.  When we get to heaven, there will be a great feast, a wedding banquet, to celebrate our final and complete union with Jesus.

…but something has dirtied the bride (in ancient days if the bride was found to not be a virgin, the husband could send her back.)

What has dirtied the bride?

11:3

Just as Eve was deceived and led astray, he is afraid the church is being deceived and led astray. 

-         The church is legally married to Jesus but is still in the time of waiting for His return

-         As a bride looks forward to her wedding day, has a single focus on her wedding day, so the church should have a single focus on their relationship with Jesus

o       However, In their time of waiting, the church wanders, the church begins to change and look elsewhere, to grow apart from her bride to be

-         The false prophets have led them astray from their “sincere and pure devotion to Christ”

-         The false prophets were teaching a different gospel from what Paul taught them and they were letting it take them away from the original “sincere and pure devotion to Christ”

What is a sincere and pure devotion to Christ?

Listen to this passage from the Message:

          “And now I’m afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ.”

Remember our goal is to become koinonia/ intimate with Jesus

Philippians 3:8-

⁸”…I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. ¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

As engaged couples, as newlyweds (of which we are as new Christians) there is a high level of intimacy.

A new bride and groom primarily focus on each other.  There is little time or desire for anything other than each other.

(In the context of a Jewish marriage, they would get legally married, but not unite sexually or live together until the husband had spent time preparing his home and finances for his bride and then they would usually spend the first year of their lives doing nothing but spend time together.  No work or war.)

Paul is saying that the simple intimacy of the bride and groom has been lost.

For the Church in Corinth, they were led away from intimacy with Jesus by false teachings…… teachings that distracted them away from the simple Gospel. 

The simple Gospel: Jesus died for your sins and wants a personal relationship with you.

What is distracting you from the intimacy that you knew at first?

When there are too many distractions in our lives, we are unable to spend time with and focus on our bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

The second half of this sermon we are going to focus on some common things that distract us and lead us away from our intimate relationship with Jesus.

If we are going to become like Christ, we must clear the way so we can spend time with Him.

Two common distractions and their cures:

Distraction #1.  Saying yes to too many things.

-         Some of us stay busy because we do not want to face the emptiness inside us.

o       If we sit still and try to spend time with God, we realize we really don’t have that much in common, so we keep ourselves busy

-         Some of us are so busy that we want to spend time with Jesus but we can’t (like in a marriage where the husband works so much providing for the wife and family that the wife eventually leaves him)

o       There is not enough of you to go around

o       You are getting a D- in every area of your life

The cures:

-         Back out of some things to which you originally said yes to

o       If God did not tell you to do it in the first place, then why are you?

o       God expects us to fulfill our obligations, so if you can fulfill it, do so, just don’t renew it commitment

o       If it is a long term obligation and it is too much, ask God to show you a good point to back out.  Ask him to remove you from an “unbreakable” situation

o       Getting rid of some things may mean radical changes in your life, but that is the point

-         Before doing everything, ask yourself, what is the best thing to do?

o       Sometimes we have two good things to choose from, but only one of them is better

o       Don’t hold on to something good at the risk of forfeiting God’s best for you

-         don’t do anything outside of faith

o       Romans 14:23.  “everything that does not come from faith is sin.

o       If you are not sure it is what God wants you to do, don’t do it

Distraction #2: Allowing money to control us

-         Most of us owe more money than we could ever hope to repay

-         We work our rear-ends off trying our best to pay our bills that we have created

-         The more money we have the less money we have.

-         You can never really enjoy what you have because you are constantly reminded that you don’t really own it

-         Proverbs 22:7.  “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”

-         Because we want what we can’t afford or we spent what we should not have, we find ourselves forming our lives around paying our bills. 

-         The flip side of this is that maybe we have plenty of money but the things we have bought with our money suck up all our time.

o       A big house with too big of a yard

o       The more stuff you have, the more time it takes to take care of that stuff

§        I am not saying you can’t have nice things, what I am talking about is when those nice things stretch us too far…they stretch us so far that we don’t have time for Jesus or family, or ourselves.

Cure:  Allow God to provide for your needs

-         Matthew 6:25-33.  ³¹So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

o       before using a credit card or barrowing money, ask God to provide

§        Sometimes it is in God’s will to lend and borrow but often times we do it for the sake of personal survival

·        We live in a society that says we do not have to trust in God for our everyday needs.  Instead, we can trust in the plastic

Once you have time…

-         spend some time in the closet

o       Matthew 6:6.  “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father…”

§        Get alone with God.  Intimacy is created in times of one on one

-         Spend time resting with Jesus

o       Exodus 20:8-11.   ⁸ "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

§        Just being in His presence, enjoying His company

-         Spend some time in the Word

o       Psalm 1:2.  tells us we are to… “delight…in the law of the LORD,
       and meditates on it day and night”.

§        As a cow chews it cud

§        Spend some time reading, re-reading and thinking it through

-         Spend time in Prayer

o       1 Thessalonians 5:17.  “pray continually”

§        Not once in a while

At first, spending time with Jesus may mean 15 minutes at lunch, a Christian CD or preaching on your way to work, coming to Sunday School or Wednesday night instead of sleeping in.

Either way, God wants you to spend more time with Him.  Has God convicted you of some things in your life that are keeping you from spending time with Jesus?

What are you going to do?

Who or what is more important?