Kennystix's podcast
Boiling for Christ
I invite you to open up your Bibles with me to read our scripture text for this evening's sermon. It's in the book of Romans chapter 12 verses 9 through 13. And if you don't have your own copy of the scriptures with you, you can find a pew Bible either underneath your pew or the pew in front of you. And in those it's in page 9, 48. Reading in Romans 12 verses 9 through 13. Let love be genuine, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant and prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Let's pray together. Father, some love to you is more than no love to you. And so I pray for some love to you in hearts where there's no love for you. May this service be the instrument in your gracious hands to awaken love to Christ where there's none. And for those who have some and it's an embattled love, like a little spark with wind blowing against it or a wave breaking over it. Protect that spark tonight. Protect that spark this morning. Father, I ask that your name would be magnified in the conflagration of love that you produce in this people. Father, help me now to be faithful to the Word of God and not to preach myself, but to preach Jesus Christ as Lord and myself as the servant of this people and the servant of Christ. Use your word to establish us and empower us so that in this year we are free from the love of money and are able to give lavishly to calamities in the world and to the ongoing ministry of this church and other good things. Grant that we would be deeply satisfied in Jesus Christ so that our delight in him would not be compromised by any appetite. So come and guard me from error and guard me from pride and guard me from the fear of man and be alive and powerful and gracious in and through me. Now I pray over your word in Jesus name, amen. So here we are now at verse 11 you remember we skipped it back in December because I said I thought the Christmas text worked better from verse 12 and then after we did that for Christmas we took two weeks, prayer week before, prayer week after to talk about well how is it that verse 12 happens rejoicing in hope, enduring or being patient in tribulation and being constant in prayer and we said prayer is the way you rejoice in hope and being in the word is the way you rejoice in hope and now we're back to the verse we skipped. Do not be slothful in zeal be fervent in spirit serve the Lord. Paul's already addressed the issue of zeal in verse 8. Remember that part, let the one who leads lead with zeal. Now he's saying don't be slothful in zeal be fervent in spirit serve the Lord. The way I would describe the relationship between verse 11 and the other verses around it especially 12 is that verse 11 gives the intensity and the focus of our joy and our hope and our endurance and our prayer and our service. So I want to talk about those two things intensity and focus and the intensity is in the first two phrases of verse 11 and the focus is in the last phrase of verse 11. So first intensity do not be slothful in zeal be fervent in spirit. I think those are a negative and a positive way of saying the same thing. Don't negatively don't be lazy in zeal positively be fervent in spirit. So if you collapse the two statements negative and positive into one statement I think it would go something like do lots of work for Christ passionately. Do lots of work for Christ passionately. Let's think about these two statements the negative and the positive. I think when Paul does that one of the effects it has is that each each statement protects the other from a misuse each sheds light on the other so that if you take this one a little bit too far this one grabs it and pulls it back and if you take this one a little bit too far this one grabs it and pulls it back so let's look at them one at a time. First do not be slothful in zeal. So that's an address to those who should be very pragmatic not lazy. The word is lazy slothful means lazy. This is a summons to work and not be lazy to be zealous and not lazy be eager and earnest and zealous to get things done. A great virtue in that phrase is efficiency get it done make it happen don't be lazy get up early go to bed late work hard don't be slothful in your zeal for God which could be very lopsided I think you might you might say yeah right that's exactly the way I think it should be get things done be efficient it's it's doing that matters and then of course the next phrase comes in to protect people against you you efficiency types you type A get everything done and feel nothing types so this comes in and says now be fervent in spirit and and the word fervent comes from the Latin furvins boil and that's exactly what the Greek word means boil in the spirit this is a this is a statement okay all of us efficiency get it done no nonsense business men type feel something boil boil in your spirit for Christ so we have a balance against the pragmatic bent which is in the Bible so just a personality type it's a biblical bent it's a good thing to want to get things done and not be lazy and then it works the other way around if you would linger over the second verse be fervent in spirit and you were certain personality you'd say yes that's what the Christian life is it's all about passion it's all about feeling it's all about loving it's all about zeal yes that's what Christianity is it's a heart religion which is absolutely true and then the church needs to be protected from you and so it brings in the other side namely the pragmatic side and says no it's not just about feeling it's about doing it's about not being lazy it's about getting things done it's not being slothful first Corinthians 1558 is a great paraphrase maybe Paul has just finished a chapter on the resurrection of Christ and how it becomes the foundation and hope of our resurrection and he concludes I mean where would you end after 57 verses 57 verses on the resurrection of Jesus and our resurrection hope with him where would you end and here's his here's his ending here's his last verse therefore my beloved brothers be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain we ought to be doing lots of work I don't know any other way to say abounding in the work of the Lord means doing lots of it lots and lots and lots of work that's what ought to be happening in the church and in the saints of God but not to the neglect of our hearts and not to the neglect of passion or feeling or boiling or fervency we should be both so if you're the pragmatic type you should not say I'm practical not passionate you should say Lord I'm practical make me more passionate and if you're the passionate type you should not say I'm passionate not practical or pragmatic you shouldn't say that you should say I'm passionate Lord make me more practical so that I get things done and don't just dink around with my emotions all day so let's just get the Bible together let's pull the whole Bible together and if we feel yes oh this feels so good let's be bumped into by the other text and pray over it and read the Bible and ask God to do the balancing work in our life and I know we'll always be one or the other mainly that's the way most people are and that's okay as long as you're not content to be only the one or the other because the Bible says don't be slothful in zeal and the Bible says boil in the spirit so we should make it our aim to be businessmen and poets business women and lovers that's your goal Jonathan Edwards when he was 20 wrote 70 resolutions and they're very famous for those who love Edwards I mean that's a very small fame number six I read these a long time ago and they had a profound effect on me I go back to them periodically and I love this one so simple he wrote resolved to live with all my might while I live do you aim to live with all your might while you live whatever my hand finds to do I will do it with all my heart that the way you live you boil you boil in the spirit in the service of Christ or are you just flagmatic if you are then ask God to make you live with all your might while you live there's a warning revelation 315 I know your works Jesus says you are neither cold nor hot you're not boiling or freezing wood that you were either cold or hot so because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spit you out of my mouth that's really scary and so don't take this lightly don't say oh we're just talking about personality types here we're not we're talking about a longing a praying a yearning a questing for being passionately pragmatic poetically businesslike the great commandment is you shall love the Lord your God with some no all your heart all your soul all your strength and all your mind how are you doing with the all of your life c plus b minus d move forward in 2005 with the all of the great commandment so that's my first focus and this verse is about intensity about working hard not being slothful in zeal and about feeling deeply boiling in the spirit this verse pulls together the two sides and says let's be whole healthy people for each other and now secondly and the only other part is focus intensity and focus intensity and focus and the focus is in the last phrase serve the Lord don't be slothful in zeal be fervent in spirit serve the Lord it's the Lord the Lord we're not we're not talking about general personality traits here like if I quit the sermon here and just said oh let's all be businesslike and pragmatic and let's balance that with poetry and love and passion and zeal we'd all go out that'd be a pagan sermon is it be a pagan sermon you know how to win friends and influence people and succeed in business and make a good marriage and we'd all be Christless and so the sermon is not ending here this has got to focus this has got to focus this this boiling and this pragmatism has a focus and the focus is serve the Lord Jesus is the focus here the greatest thing in the world is to be saved i like that sentence i didn't make it up i heard it on the deathbed of dr wyden the statesman who was at this church as the main man when i came he died i think in 82 and when i went to visit him i think it was in united in st paul don't know if it's called that then um he was honest bad when i walked in he looked at me and the first thing he said hello pastor piper the greatest thing in the world is to be saved i made a profound impact as you can tell now 23 years later i'm quoting it to you it's true christ has given us eternal life christ cannot die we cannot die overwhelming joy is offered to us forever and ever and ever everything works together for you're good if you are in him an eternal weight of glory is being wrought by all the troubles right now you're in trouble tonight awful things are happening in your life i hope that god will awaken you to the truth this slight momentary affliction is working for me an eternal weight of glory the greatest thing in the world in this trouble is to be saved therefore we should not be slothful but passionate and boiling and serving this christ serving this christ the highest privilege in the world is to serve jesus christ so let's do this let's take that biblical call serve christ serve the lord and let's compare it with three other things you can serve which are in the bible they're all not to be served but they're mentioned as possible objects of your service in the bible i think that's the best way that i can think of to unpack what's the nature of this service different from all these other services okay so that's where we're going number one serve jesus not your belly that's a literal translation of roman 6 17 i'll read it to you 16 17 roman 16 17 i appeal to you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught avoid them for such persons do not serve our lord christ but their own appetites there it is here's a group of people who have a service everybody serves something and this people do not serve the lord christ they're in the church they're causing problems because they serve their own appetites the literal translation is they serve their belly serving christ is contrasted with serving your appetites so what does it mean to serve your appetites you serve your appetites when you treat them as the most compelling offer of pleasure you serve your appetites when you treat them as the most compelling offer of pleasure if christ calls you to self-control and chastity and purity of mind and your appetites call you to self-indulgence and sexual license and impure thoughts and you follow those appetites then you are saying they are more compelling in their offer of pleasure than christ and the service of christ is serving christ doesn't measure up to what these appetites offer me he doesn't measure up to what they offer now that's very dangerous to say it's called idolatry so the contrast here between serving the belly the appetites and serving christ draws our attention to the fact that christ is superior serving christ is more valuable than serving the appetites serving christ is better than eating food serving christ is better than sex sexual intercourse pornography sexual fantasies and masturbation christ is better than what those appetites offer faith embraces that christ is better than what your appetites so one thing we can say about serving christ in is that it means experiencing his worth and beauty and fellowship as more compelling than what our appetites offer to us as desirable serving christ means experiencing the risen christ who died for us lives who reigns experiencing christ as more compelling than our appetites are compelling when they lure us to what he disapproves of second not only serve jesus not appetites but secondly serve jesus not people well yes you're supposed to serve people in one way but not another way the bible says both so let's clarify here so you really know what serving jesus is yes we serve people in the sense that we put ourselves at the disposal of people's needs and help them and lift them and meet their needs Galatians 513 do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but through love through love serve one another serve one another so what do i mean when i say serve jesus not people i mean if he's in six six Paul tells servants to do this work not by the way of i service as men pleasers but as servants of christ doing the will of god from the heart rendering service with all good will as to the lord not not to man so there it is real clear serve the lord not man and the meaning is also clear don't serve their approval don't make yourself the slave of other people's approval don't need other people's approval don't always be looking over your shoulder when you consult with jesus as to what to do to wonder what so and so will think about this and touching your words carefully like the pastor i heard of last sunday who said on sunday morning god has nothing to do with calamities when somebody asked him really what about acts four and he said well that's for wednesday night i lie on sunday morning i tell the truth on wednesday night that is pure people pleasing that's pure slavery that's a service you ought not to engage in serve jesus care about one approval christ's let the chips fall where they will don't serve man in that way oh what a liberty in life comes from playing to one audience alone how freeing it is you don't have to be looking around all the time wondering who heard what you're just always saying what he wants you to say and doing what he wants you to do and his approval matters and nobody else ultimately matters and that ultimately is important i could give a whole sermon here on text like seek to please your neighbor for his good i know life is complex and that you don't want to run rough shot over everybody on your way to obey jesus you know to hell with you in your opinions it's me and jesus right that's not the way you want to be but mainly mainly you want to say ultimately one audience matters and that's jesus and if it costs me disapproval i won't serve i won't serve the ears of different audiences third and lastly don't serve the law serve jesus so serve jesus not your appetites and serve jesus not people and their approval serve jesus and not the law now this is going to get right at the heart of the gospel listen carefully for another few minutes this is the best news that i've had for you all night long to understand the difference between serving the law and serving jesus is the most wonderful thing about the christian life so listen very carefully it's the heart of the book of romans so we're going back to some of the heart of the book of romans here's where i'm getting this idea chapter seven verse six of romans but now we are released from the law that's a good news now we are released from the law having died so don't think you're released from the law if you haven't died having died with christ having died to that which held us captive made of slaves so that we serve that's what i'm looking for how paul so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the spirit so paul contrasts serving the law serving the do's and don'ts of the mosaic covenant or any other covenant serving the do's and don'ts focusing focusing on the demands of the bible with a view to doing them to get right with god and thus being enslaved in misery and guilt and hopelessness deadly it's deadly deadly deadly to try to serve the law rather we are to serve in the new life of the spirit which is a focus on christ it's a focus on christ not the law serving christ is not mainly a new law let's get this real clear now we don't replace sini and the mosaic law with the sermon on the mount that's jesus law that's mose's law we got a new law here and you just basically deal with it in the same way that's not the point the new thing is not new law the new thing is person in place of law i'm not focusing any longer on the list i shall not kill not not committed adultery i'm focusing on the person of jesus christ why does this make a massive difference that divine person that i'm focusing on is first and foremost a law-fulfiller not a law-demander he's not like mose's he's radically different from mose's nobody looked at mose's in his law as a law-fulfiller first and then a law-demander he was just a law-demander but when you stop focusing on the do's and don'ts of the mosaic law and start focusing on this glorious divine person the person you meet is first and foremost a law-fulfiller and curse-bearer and that changes everything if you're burdened down tonight trying to fulfill the law got good news for you christianity is not a new law it's not replacing the old law with a new law it's replacing law with person and the first thing you encounter and you're encountering him right now if you have years to hear the first thing you encounter is you meet jesus as one who says Matthew 3 15 it is fitting that we should fulfill all righteousness and he does comes right into the human role and he's baptized and at every point he does what we could not do perfectly perfectly every place the first Adam fell he did not fall every failure to trust he trusted every disobedience he obeyed and as the second Adam I now by faith alone and united to him and all of his righteousness is mine and that's not all that he did but when he died Galatians 3 13 he became a curse for us as it is written curse it is everyone who hangs on the tree so now he's done two massive things for me this christ that i meet first on my way to some do's and don'ts in the bible the first thing he has done is fulfill all the demands of the law that i cannot fulfill and the second thing he's done is bear the curse for all my failures so that a righteousness is provided and a substitute curse is endured and i am the freest of all people in the holy spirit now and i will care with all my heart about this christ's being known in the world for who he is i can't steal anymore that wouldn't tell the truth about Jesus i can't commit adultery against noel who wouldn't tell the truth about Jesus life becomes a focus on a person and we meet that person first and foremost as a law fulfiller not a law demandor so let me sum up where we've been and illustrate we've seen three features of serving christ by comparing it to what we ought not to serve number one serving christ is seeing the lord as worth more than what our appetites offer two serving the lord is seeing the lord's approval as worth more than the approval of people we will not serve or be enslaved to the approval of other people and third serving the lord is believing believing who he is divine son of god and what he's done become our righteousness died in our place and then longing striving being pragmatically passionate about becoming what we are in christ perfect now what's left to do what's left to do is draw out this amazing implication from that last point this means now we'd love this to be in the common vocabulary of this church and in the common mindset this means that all of our serving is receiving service from christ which he bought for us when he died all of our serving others and him is a receiving of his service enabling us to do our service moment by moment by moment as i put my foot down in a pathway of service i am being enabled to put my foot down by the service of christ the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many if you are not served moment by moment by christ you don't serve christ to his glory you serve him to your glory the giver gets the glory now let me read you the texts where that is made so clear there at least four of them i think i'll mention three i'll just read them and we'll be finished Romans 15 18 Paul says i will not venture to speak of anything except what christ has accomplished through me to bring about obedience among the Gentiles by word indeed anything that i can talk about that ought to be talked about in my ministry christ has done through me so my serving of christ is christ's doing it through me that means that when you think about serving you think first about this person who loved you and gave himself for you and bought all the blessings of eternity for you that you don't deserve including the enabling of your service and so serving is a constant trusting a constant leaning a constant depending and a constant receiving second text on that point Colossians 128 and 29 Colossians 128 Christ we proclaim warning everyone teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone maturing Christ for this i toil i'm a businessman i'm not lazy i get things done i'm a type a for this i toil struggling with with what with all the energy that he powerfully works within me you think i'm struggling i'm not struggling he's struggling in and through me i'm leaning i'm trusting i'm a little baby in the arms of Jesus enabling me to get things done that's an amazing view of service run john run the law requires the law demands remember that one run john run the law demands but gives him neither feet nor hands far better news the gospel brings it bids him fly and gives him wings yeah you got to flap him but he's in there working these things one more text this is a whole world view i'm giving you here on what it means to be a christian first Corinthians 15 10 by the grace of god i am what i am so i'm passionate or i'm pragmatic by the grace of god i am what i am and his grace toward me was not in vain but on the contrary i worked harder than any of them oh he was not slothful in zeal i worked harder than any of them though it was not i but the grace of god that is with me and the fourth text that i could recite is and i will first peter four eleven let him who serves serve in the strength that god supplies so that in everything god may get the glory through jesus christ to whom belongs the dominion forever that's an amazing verse the whole of christianities in that verse you want to serve jesus oh may you serve jesus serve him in the strength that he supplies that is he must serve you in order for you to serve him and therefore serving jesus is first and foremost trust in being served like a helpless cripple baby unless you turn become like a little child you can't even enter the kingdom of heaven serving jesus is not first mustering up a lot of self will and a lot of energy and a lot of willpower and i'm going to get it done for jesus it's not the way you serve jesus you serve jesus by hearing all those texts say he's mightily working in me he stirring me up his grace is working with me in the power that he supplies serving jesus is first trusting jesus that's what i would like to be a given in this church's mental life can we all think together serving jesus is first trusting jesus to serve me the son of man came not to be served but to serve can we feel that first i pray that we can i said earlier serving jesus is the greatest privilege in the world i'll sum up in one sentence now why i believe that's the case serving jesus christ the lord is the greatest privilege in the world because the greatest person in the universe has not just called me into his service but has become our servant so that all of our serving is trusting and depending and receiving that's why it's the greatest thing in the world to serve jesus the giver gets the glory the greatest life is life of serving jesus we get the help he gets the praise and that's the way it ought to be we get the joy he gets the honor so don't be slothful don't be slothful in zeal boil in the spirit as you serve the lord that is as you trust the lord's enabling and forgiveness and righteousness and help [BLANK_AUDIO]
When it comes to serving Christ, half-heartedness, lukewarmness, laziness, sluggishness, and slothfulness are utterly inappropriate.