Hope Church LV Sermons
The Real Thing :: authentic faith
I will now predict the exact moment in time when every single one of you will enjoy the best tasting Coca-Cola ever it will be the very moment that you pick up this can because inside this can is the new taste of Coca-Cola the best tasting Coca-Cola ever you will taste the new taste immediately and you will like a lot now if you're a cold drinker wait till you taste this one if you're a Pepsi drinker well I predict we're going to be real friendly from here on in for a long long time one of the things that they did which no one knew at the time was they conducted their own blind taste tests and they were horrified to find that Pepsi actually did beat Coke a little bit more than half the time and these blind taste tests and they thought this can't be I mean for a company like Coca-Cola which has this huge pride we are the best you know there's no question that Coca-Cola is superior to this upstart this Pipsqueak Pepsi for them to find that these blind taste tests reveal this was really shocking and so they started to play around with the formula as Coca-Cola enters its 100th year we know no better way to thank the billions of consumers who have made Coca-Cola what it is then to give them a Coca-Cola that is better than ever introducing the new taste of Coca-Cola in this country the best have a way of getting better and Coke just did from today there's a new taste a new standard against which colors will be judged management of this company honestly and truly reveres our consumers more than we revere a century old formula I've never been as confident about a decision as I am about the one we're announcing today well today Coke announced a new real thing a change in his formula and as Mike Jensen reports Pepsi said baloney Pepsi is giving its employees the day off to celebrate Pepsi says by today's action Coke has admitted that it's not the real thing Coca-Cola bring them to America thank you for participating please don't change the days to Coke they can't do it that's un-American because we fought wars to have a choice to have freedom they changed my coke some raw and all they should change it could have asked but could have I stuck with them through three wars and a couple of dust arms but this is too much guess something big made them change right be right big let me read you a few letters here's one from Michigan and nurse writes my history with Coke covers a lifetime I cut my teeth drinking Coke I went to the drive-in restaurants and ordered Coke I drank Coke for morning sickness while pregnant I drank Coke not coffee studying for the final exams in nursing school I still drink Coke for pickups and enjoyment of taste we have brought Coke at our home by by three cases at a time to be sure we don't run out and here's another changing Coke is like God making the grass purple or putting toes on our ears or teeth on our knees here's one that starts dear Chief Dodo well I passed that along to Roberto on open but he told me what it said quote what ignoramus decided to change the formula of Coke the new formula is unexciting and it's as bad as Pepsi burn it now there's one consumer that we'd like to single out he's mr. gay Mullins of Seattle Washington and I want him to know that the first case of Coca-Cola classic will be hand delivered to him in appreciation for his message what a treasure thank you Mr. Gar from the red is of that red white and you are across the U.S. say red stocks and Boston jazz and cholese saying across the Christmas when you're all losing there's a feeling in this contract the real things come true called the Cola classic red white and so how many of you remember the Coca-Cola scandal of 1985 right can you believe it has been 25 years this summer since the Coca-Cola scandal happened I remember being a teenager when they changed the formula of Coca-Cola and being completely devastated thinking I'm gonna have to live the rest of my life without the original formula of Coca-Cola I wasn't by myself if you were alive and remember that time period and I can't believe there's some people that don't we actually have some people in our staff that were like Coke changed the formula they had no idea that Coca changed the formula and it was like the major news story of the time you know it was a big deal and people literally were protesting by the thousands all across the United States they were gathering in cities it was a major and so in honor of that 25th anniversary today when you leave you get a free Coke we're gonna have Coca-Cola's outside as you leave and and and the reason for that is the sad reality is that although people refuse to settle for less than the real thing when it comes to their soda unfortunately people are very content to settle for less than the real thing when it comes to their faith we are studying together as a church family through the Sermon on the Mount we've spent the last year or so just going verse by verse through that wonderful sermon that Jesus delivered this morning we begin a new series in the context of the Sermon on the Mount we begin chapter six and in chapter six Jesus is talking about the real thing authentic faith and what it looks like for you and I to live out our faith in our everyday lives now what's gonna happen this morning is we're gonna look just at verse number one in chapter six verse one Jesus lays a general principle about what it looks like what the real thing authentic faith a genuine relationship with God he begins to describe what it looks like generally and then over the next 16 or 18 verses Jesus gives three examples you'll as you read on through this chapter you'll hear him say now when you give here's what it looks like and then kind of in the middle of the chapter he says and when you pray here's what it looks like and in the context of talking about prayer is when we're given that wonderful gift that we call the Lord's prayer it's in the context of Jesus describing what real authentic genuine faith looks like that he gives us this prayer we call the Lord's prayer and then he'll describe when you fast and it was not by coincidence that Jesus picked alms giving to the poor and praying and fasting those would have been the three defining practices of every Jew that would have been in his audience so Jesus selected the very essence of the practice of their faith and begin to describe what it looks like for us to live it out so if you have your Bible open them at you chapter six and I want to just read verse one this morning listen what it says Jesus says beware beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them otherwise you have no reward with your Father who's in heaven Jesus begins with a word that should grab our attention it's the word beware it means literally in the Greek language to pay careful attention to be very observant and I grew up I've told you many times I didn't grow up in in the West I didn't grow up in a major metropolitan area I grew up in a small town in Alabama called Mussel Shoals Alabama and in in my town we didn't have the sophistication of lease laws and fenced in yards and all the things that we have here in Las Vegas where you've got your little posted stamp and you live on that posted stamp and it's blocked in from everybody else's posted stamp that's not the way it was where I grew up and it wasn't uncommon where I grew up for you to walk up towards somebody's place their home and on their mailbox would be a sign that said beware of the dog now in our culture out here in Las Vegas there's some people put up the sign beware of the dog but who cares right it's either on a lease it's in the fence you don't have to be aware of nothing unless you get in their backyard you don't have to be afraid but where I grew up if you if that's if that sign said beware of the dog let me tell you what you did as soon as you got anywhere near that house you were paying very careful attention because that dog could be anywhere and you knew that at any moment you could turn and be looking eyeball the eyeball with a rottweiler that thought you were gonna be dinner but Jesus here doesn't say just beware at certain times the tense of this word that Jesus uses literally could be translated be constantly aware he's talking about something not that just at certain times of our week maybe when I'm at church on Sunday no no he's talking about something that moment by moment day by day week by week month by month I'm to live as a follower of Jesus Christ with a constant awareness of this thing well what is this thing that he's talking about what he says beware of practicing your righteousness and that phrase practicing your righteousness could literally be said this way beware pay attention to the outward expression of your relationship with God Jesus here is saying that you and I as followers of Christ should always be aware of the manner in which we live out our faith now why is that well let me give you two ways kind of an introduction that people attempt to live out their faith and understand the context here when Jesus is preaching this sermon he's talking specifically to believers he's talking to his followers so here Jesus is not talking to people that don't know him Jesus is really speaking to people that do know him so there are two ways that even followers of Jesus we attempt to live out our faith and Jesus says we need to be careful to make sure that it's the real thing first of all is what I call the outside-in method and I define it this way focusing on the external activities in an attempt to cover up or justify the darkness on the inside you see if we're not careful if we're not paying attention living out our faith we focus on the outside and we try to do all the right things and not do all the wrong things and in many ways we're doing that as an attempt to cover up so that nobody knows how dark it really is on the inside Jesus wrote about this to the Pharisees listen what he said whoa do you scribes and Pharisees Matthew 23 verse 27 it's on the screen what do you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you are like white wash teams which on the outside appear beautiful but inside they're full of dead men's bones and all unclean so you too outwardly appear righteous to men but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness if we're not careful even as followers of Jesus Christ we can so focus on the outside thinking if I can just change the outside then maybe it'll cover up or just maybe maybe if I'll just do all the right things then God will be happy with who I am on the inside he'll just forget about all the rest of that stuff but then there's a second way it's what I call the inside out and here's the way I define that focusing on intimacy with God on the inside that produces a changed life on the outside now that's what Jesus is talking about here that's the real thing this is pursuing a relationship with God one approach puts all the focus on the activities the other approach puts all the focus on intimacy with God and as I focus on intimacy with God then God begins to change me on the inside so that what comes out of me is not a better me it's Christ in me it's the inside out now why does Jesus tell us to be constantly aware of this well there are several reasons I want to give you kind of a foundation that I want to give you two reasons I think one of the reasons that Jesus tells us to be constantly aware of this is because he knows the natural tendency of our flesh is to drift towards focus on the outside you know why hey give me the list of five do's and don'ts and I can hit that don't start messing with my attitudes and you know my motivations and my bitterness and those things let's just keep it out here the natural tendency of the flesh is to drift towards religion not relationship let me give you two reasons Jesus says to be constantly aware here's the first one the real thing is the only life that pleases the father I want to read you a passage of scripture that was written by a man named David David in the Bible is one of my favorite characters in the Old Testament I love David I think one of the reasons I love David is because if you're going to make a list of the five big don'ts I think David broke them all if the scorecard was activities David's grade would have been what an F but the Bible says of David he was a man after God's own heart how can that be if David blew all the big five I mean if David failed on the score how could David have been a man after God's own heart because David knew that the real thing was not about my performance but it was about my relationship with God listen to what David said in Psalm 51 look at it on the screen and I want to give it to you out of Eugene Peterson's paraphrase the message but listen the way he says it this is David's cry David says going through the motions doesn't please you a flawless performance is nothing to you I learned God worship when my pride was shattered heart shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice I want to I want to break your box a little bit this morning all right now this may shock you so get ready there are no perfect attendance awards given out in heaven now I know we're big on them down here I grew up in church where people like to wear their pants man got my perfect attendance God's not in heaven going Vance Red is Bible every day this week well that's great there's not a check anybody in this building can write that impresses God there's no amount that we can give and God goes wow boy they mean business I don't misunderstand what I'm saying it's not that those activities aren't important but they're only important to the degree that they are being lived out of the overflow of my intimate fellowship with God you see if I'm coming to church because I believe I'm checking off my list of dues to somehow make God happy then I've missed the very essence of what gathering together for worship is all about but if I've come in here this morning because I know there's a God in heaven who set me free from my sin and he's brought me into relationship with himself and he desires for me to know him and to love him and to live in fellowship with him now this has meaning and significance and value listen if I get up every day to read my Bible because I believe I got to read my Bible because I'm a Christian I've missed the very essence of why God gave me his word God gave me his word that I could know him and love him and spend intimate moments in fellowship with him the only life that pleases the Father is the real thing let me take it a step further and this hurts it hurts me but the only thing in me that pleases God is not me at all it's Christ in me there's not one thing about me it's not one thing about me that pleases God but Christ in me and the degree to which I allow myself to die to self and Christ to live in me then God finds glory in me it's the only life that pleases the Father number two the real thing is the only life that impacts the world listen the world knows religion they don't need a Christian brand of it the world knows man's system of do's and don'ts and right they don't need our brand of morality let me tell you what they need they need the real thing genuine authentic faith I came across a quote by a man named Robert Lewis listen what Robert Lewis said put it on the screen I read it a long time ago but it just so captures this is what he said the world is tired of the church impersonally talking it down and chewing it up what the world waits to see is whether what we have is better than what they have just think what bridges we could build if we truly followed the example of the New Testament church we would go beyond being seeker sensitive to a new frontier of being community admired we would be known not just by the corner we inhabit but by the city with which we interact and we and people listen to this I love this people would be drawn to God not because of the weekly show in our churches but by the irrefutable lives we incarnate I never cease to be amazed you get in circles of church planters or you talk to people inside the church and everybody wants to talk about contemporary verse traditional say we were suits and ties or blue jeans and our tales tucked out of our shirts well how should we dress and what style of music should we do to attract well listen the world could care less there's nobody out there in the bars of the streets of our city going hmm I'm wondering should I go contemporary or traditional this weekend when they come in our church let me see what they care about is it real is it genuine is it putting families back together is it changing people's lives is it redeeming people out of the way that they are giving them a relationship with God they want to know if it's authentic the only life the only thing that impacts the world is the real thing there's never been a greater example of that to me that I know of personally than Dr. Martha Myers as the church we partner and are part of the denomination called the Southern Baptist Convention because one of the things that we believe is that we can do more together than we can do by ourselves and in partnering with the Southern Baptist Convention we have the International Mission Board that now has 5,000 missionaries serving in over 180 countries around the world Dr. Martha Myers was one of those missionaries she served for 24 years at the Baptist Hospital in Jibla Yemen Yemen is a country that is unreached it's a country that in many ways has no access to the gospel there are people groups inside of that country that run up into the millions that have no access to the gospel at all in their language for 24 years Dr. Martha Myers served an obscurity in that hospital in her 24 years there that hospital served over one million Yemeni people want to put a picture of Dr. Martha Myers on the screen Dr. Jerry Rankin who was president of our International Mission Board said of her only those who saw her take a sick Arab child in her arms could understand what a servant is every day she lived there she died to self many compared her to a Southern Baptist version of Mother Teresa in 2002 an Islamic extremist armed with an automatic weapon walked into that Baptist Hospital in Jibla Yemen and he shot and killed Dr. Martha along with two of her colleagues this gunman's wife had been treated by Dr. Martha and here's what he said her love was so powerful that if I did not stop her everyone would become a Christian they'd never been a Christian funeral in Yemen before they decided to do her funeral there in the compound that was that hospital 40,000 Yemenis gathered for a half mile down the fence to pay their respect to Dr. Martha during the funeral the missionaries began to cry those tears of grief and tears of joy and as they were crying one Yemeni woman from the other side of the fence shouted do not cry do not cry she is with the Father in heaven when her father was asked why would you bury her in Yemen instead of her home state of Alabama listen what he said in Alabama her grave would be just a grave in Yemen her grave is a testimony in a country where Christian tombs are often desecrated I want to show you a picture where they wrote in Arabic and in English on her tomb she loved God that is the real thing the world is not interested in our religion but they are drawn to Christ as he is seen in us so in closing let me give you quickly three defining statements about the real thing here's the first one the real thing is not my living for him but his living through me Jesus said beware of practicing your righteousness the word practice there in the Greek is literally the word to do so you could translate it this way beware of righteous doing pay attention to your doing if you ask the average Christian in America I'm afraid today if you ask them what is the goal of the Christian life here's the response I believe most Christians in America would give you the goal of the Christian life is to live for God to obey God now doesn't that sound spiritual I mean the goal is to live for God but let me tell you what that subtly does it puts all the emphasis on doing I've even heard people with good intentions say man God's done so much for me God's been so great to me now I want to listen do something great for God God didn't bring me into relationship with him so that I could do something great for him listen God brought me into relationship with him so he could do something great through me listen that's not just semantics that's the difference in freedom and bondage it's the difference in focusing on the activity and focusing on intimacy with God Jesus did not bring you into relationship with himself so that you could live for him he brought you into relationship with himself so that he might live through you there's no greater example of this in the New Testament than in John chapter 15 you need to turn there look on the screen John 15 verse 4 Jesus uses a great illustration listen what he says I love these verses abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine so neither can you unless you abide in me now I want you to read the rest of it out loud with me here we go I am divine you are the branches he who abides in me and I in him he bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing now I don't want you to give me your Jesus answer right now okay I want me to give me your agricultural answer I want you to think like you're in the field don't don't think like we're at church all right what is fruit think about it what is fruit listen fruit fruit is the life of the vine being pressed out through the branches as fruit you got a grapevine you're gonna get grapes you got a apple tree you're gonna get apples it's the life of the vine being pressed out to anybody ever been out in the field and seen the branches of an apple tree working hard to make those apples what can a branch do what can a branch do to bear fruit let me tell you what a branch can do there's only one thing hang on to the vine for all it's worth who's the vine say it now let me give you Jesus answer who's the vine who's the branch you and me right what are we supposed to do I heard somebody say here's the way we answer that we we say bear fruit no you studied John 15 there's not one single command in John 15 for you and out of bear fruit but over and over again Jesus says here's your role you abide you hang on to the vine for all it's worth and he will press his life through you the only hope that's why Jesus went on to say apart from me you can do what it's actually in the Greek a double negative not good English but it's good Greek it literally means absolutely nothing you know what that means right there's nothing I can do to please God it's only to the degree that I'm hanging on to the vine and allowing Christ to press his life through me that his life brings glory and honor to the Father the real thing is not me living for him it's his living through me y'all got it all right let's move to the next one I wish we have more time number two the real thing it's not about me it's all about him well listen what he says beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them the word noticed this is another great Greek word we get an English word from it guess what word we get the word theatrical we know what that is right that's putting on a show if we're not careful our living out of our faith is really all about what people think about me and not what people think about him let me give you a stinging reality and this hurts I read it in K author's book this week listen what she said the flesh wants to be seen it wants to be noticed and if I'm not careful if I don't pay attention my attendance at church my prayers my giving my serving even my quiet time can be driven by the motive of what others think about me I can stand up to preach the word of God and it not please God at all because I can be consumed with what what you think about me when you leave and not what you think about him let me ask you a few questions when I pray and my focus on God or what others think about the eloquent words that I'm using as I pray hey I'm not up here today 10 yeah I got this thing lit all right this stuff I live with every day come on let's get let's get honest we we in the group when it's time to pray listen somebody else praying we think that's good I think I hear a few sniffles man I got a bring one when I give and my content if nobody knows but God isn't it amazing how when we give a big sacrificial gift it somehow immediately always finds itself in the middle of every conversation we're having when I serve do I get disappointed if nobody recognizes me for what I've done nobody even said a word all the time and energy and effort I who were you in it for we've worshiped this morning when I worship and my focus on God or my focus on what the people around me think about how I sound or how I look or I can't raise my hand pastor they don't think I'm charismatic the real thing it doesn't focus on me it's on him hey if we're not careful even our quiet time can be driven not to spend time with the father but just because I know I've got to answer the accountability question in my small group and I don't want to be that guy that's the guy we get around and pray over a team to the group I don't want to be that guy the great relief I get say six out of seven days this week so I get the pass right I get the out of the way authentic faith is not consumed with what others think about me it's consumed with what others think about him remember what Jesus said in John chapter 8 in verse 50 he said listen I do not seek my own glory he lived for the glory of the father so here's what that means when it's about me it's not him is me third defining statement we're done the real thing is not just about this life it's about the life to come be aware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them otherwise you have no reward with your father who's in heaven you see the Bible teaches us who follow Christ that one day we will be rewarded for the activities of this life three times in these verses verse 4 verse 6 and verse 18 same phrase your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you it's not just taught here another places in the scriptures 1 Corinthians 3 8 now who plants and who waters are one but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor but listen what an unbelievable picture of grace did you hear what is happening here what if we just say it the only activities that please the Father it's not me it's you Christ and me so to the degree that I died itself and allow Christ to live in me you hear what's gonna happen I'm gonna be given rewards in heaven for what he's done no wonder our response will be to take those rewards and lay them at his feet in awe of his grace because in that moment you know what will realize the only thing of value in our lives was Christ in us and how humbling of a reality that he would reward us for being simply a vessel through which he can manifest his life and our response will be to take those rewards and lay them at his feet and sing worthy is the lamb who was slain no wonder they call it amazing grace but here's the point if I missed the real thing I can dot every I and cross every team and on that day stand empty handed because all the while I was making apple pies I didn't realize God didn't like apple pie I believe some of the most rewarded people in heaven will be names that you and I've never heard of it's not going to be the names that we see up in lights at the conferences it's not going to be the names on the bestseller list out of New York Times it's gonna be people like Dr. Martha the only reason we know her name is because somebody shot and killed her for 24 years she gave her life to a people for 24 years listen that guy didn't take her life that day she gave it the day she got on the plane that is the real thing him in me for his glory in light of eternity let's pray Oh God what we're talking about today Lord it is rubber meets the road kind of stuff ordinary Christians in this room will get honest this is stuff every one of us deals with every day of our lives our flesh is wicked it wants to be noticed it wants to be stroked it wants to be seen it wants to be appreciated as you sit in the quiet of this moment before we stand and saying a song of worship that I think really expresses the heart of the message today I want to ask you a few questions and I want you to ponder these in your heart and here's the first one are you settling for less than the real thing are you focused on living for him or on him living through you are you focused on the doing or the being the activity or the intimacy are you more concerned with what others think of you than you are what others think of him are you living each day in light of eternity that moment when you get to lay those rewards at the feet of Jesus maybe you're here today and you're not a follower of Christ at all you've never given your life to Jesus in just a moment when we stand and sing we're gonna have some of our pastors here at the front prayer volunteers along the side and at the back if God is spoken to you and you need someone to talk with you this morning you need to give your life to Christ you can go to one of these pastors or prayer volunteers and say to them I need to give my life to Christ and they'll talk with you maybe this morning God's spoken to you about something else in your heart or you just have a burden and you need somebody to pray with you that's why these people are here you go to one of them and say I just need to pray with someone today for the rest of us this is a time to take the words of this song and really think about it and sing it as an offering of praise to God don't worry about the people around you you just focus on him God have your way it's in the name of Jesus