The Village Church
Blessings of the Kingdom, Pt 4 - Audio
Father God, thank you for adoption. That is an after your free grace and that by it enemies have been made sons and daughters. You no longer see us as enemies. We're no longer hostile. There's no longer a gap between you and I, but Christ has bridged that gap with his own life, with his own life upon the cross. And so all of us who stand here this morning in saving faith are now child children of God, because of that. It's a great honor to be a child of the King. And Lord, as we come to the preaching of your Word, yes, your Word, we pray that your Spirit will prepare us for that. This is not Alice's Word. This is not my authority. It's your authority. It's your truth for your people, for your bride, for your sons and daughters. And I'm one of them, for I need your truth as well. So Spirit, speed through me in bringing glory to Christ in Christ in my play. Amen. So if you have your disciples, open them to Matthew chapter 5. You're going to be looking at verse 9, Matthew chapter 5 verse 9. Many people have what I call "I Am" statements about themselves, that they use to give themselves some sense of identity or importance or identification. We all have them. Either I am a teacher or I'm a pastor, I'm an employee or whatever company, I'm a parent, I'm a student, I'm a fan of Alabama football, Auburn football, which you're probably excited to say that today, they are a majority fan. So we have these statements, I am statements about who we are. I'm this, I'm that. What are your top five "I Am" statements that you use about yourself that give yourself some type of importance or identity? When you talk to other people, how do you introduce yourself? I am what? What are you? And as you mentally rank these "I Am" statements about yourself, let me ask you this question. Where does the "I Am" statement that says "I am a child of God" rank in your top five? Is it even in your top five? "I am a child of God." Where does that rank in your "I Am" statements about yourself? Is it even in your top 10, top 20? How far down are this is it? Of all the "I Am" statements you have about yourself that you tell other people, "I am a child of God" is about for the most important, the most significant. And this is just not my idea, this is what Jesus believed also. That is why he concluded the beatitudes with the blessing of being called children of God. Matthew 5.9 said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God." What does being called children of God mean? What is it referring to? I believe it's referring to our sonship, our daughtership in Christ. Now if you notice these, the other blessings of the kingdom, they wrote their way down to this one blessing. Well we started with the book and blessings of for theirs is the kingdom. Remember theirs is the kingdom? We started there. Then we went to the blessing of comfort, the blessing of provision, the blessing of satisfaction, the blessing of mercy, the blessing of relationship, and finally the blessing of sonship. Do you see what Jesus is doing here by mentioning our sonship last? One believer says it is a wonderful climax, for there is no higher privilege we could ever experience in this to see God as Father. This blessing implies that in the kingdom of God we are restored to what we were meant to be. This blessing implies that in the kingdom of God we are restored to what we were meant to be, children of God. This is what our sonship is all about, us being restored to what we were meant to be. When God created the world, we were He would create it to have sonship relationship with Him. What happened? The fall happened, that's what happened. We all know the Genesis 3 story, our first parents, Adam and Eve, fell from grace because of sin. And as a result all the descendants, all of us are descendants of Adam and Eve. And as a result we're all born into this world separated from God the Father because of sin. We are born into this world as orphans. We are living rebellious lives, independent lives from God the Father. Either by being unrighteous or immoral or being self righteous and moral. Does it matter your sin been here, both separates you from God, both the orphan lifestyles. Does it matter if you're unrighteous or immoral or if it's self righteous and you keep all the rules and you got good morality? Morality will send you to hell. Just as sinful to the eyes of God. Smells just as nasty to Him. Both separates you from Him. Both seek to find life apart from Him. We were orphans, God haters, enemies, slaves to sin. But thanks be to God for Christ. But through Him there's freedom. Freedom from sin, freedom from my sin been because why reconciliation to God comes through Christ. Christ has made us at peace with God. There's now peace with the holy God between holy God and sinful man through the death and resurrection of Christ. Like Richard just read while we were sinners, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. And not only that, not only that, but the blessing says you should be called sons, sons of God, children of God. Which means your name has changed. Your identity has changed. God possesses you as His own. You're no longer orphaned in Christ. No longer orphaned. This blessing have been called children of God. It has a present and future reality to it. And that's something we've been talking about all through these beatitudes. There's a present reality and a future reality already and not yet of the kingdom that we live in here. John 1 12 says, "But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, not of the will of flesh, not of the will of man, but of the will of God. Believers are God's children through adoption. And we just read what that meant. To act the God's free grace. We're receiving the number and we have a right to all the privileges of God, all the privileges of the sons of God. And when you receive the Spirit of adoption, you are heirs of God. Fellow heirs with Christ. Which means you are heirs to the promises of God in Christ. Which means He's going to bless you. And so let me ask you again what I am statements did you use to disrupt yourself as a believer? Is it I'm a follower of Christ? I'm a worshipper of Christ. I'm a servant of Christ. I'm a disciple of Christ. All those things true and for believers? Yes, they're all the truth. But there's one more that's more relational and a lot more intimate. And that is I'm a son and I'm a daughter. You see the difference? Those things are true, but they're not as intimate in relational as I'm a son. I'm a daughter. You are more than just a servant in God's kingdom. More than just a disciple, more than just a worshipper, more than just a follower. You are family. Family. You are God's child before you anything else. When you see yourself as a child of God, you approach God as father. More. If you only a father of Christ, if you only see yourself as a worshipper of Christ, do you approach God as father? Oftentimes that way? No, it's well, he's my God. So this is what I do. He's your father, your his son, your his daughter. And we approach him that way. That's the present reality of the blessing that we are already God's children, already a son, already have been adopted. And then there's a future reality that is still to come. Romans 8, 23 says, "We ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groaning inwardly as we eagerly wait for adoption and sons, the redemption of our bodies, to wait eagerly for our adoption." Now what is Paul talking about there? I thought we were already adopted. Now he says, "We wait for our adoption." He is speaking of a greater privilege of our adoption. You know that greater privilege is? Then the last day our physical bodies would be resurrected. That's what he says here in Romans 8, 23. "The redemption of our bodies." That's the future blessing of our adoption that comes in the last day. And until then, until then we live in this world legally adopted by God, but we're just inward groaning inside of us. You know what that's like. The constant tension that you feel as a believer, a living life in a falling world. Am I the only one who feels that tension? Am I the only one who gets frustrated that my life can always be the way I want it to be? I can always, I don't always do the things I know I need to do. I don't love my family like I do love my family. I fall short. Is it just me? Okay. That's the tension. That's the inner groaning that you feel. That's the already not yet. That's the reality. And it's gonna be that way until you die. You gotta earn that. You're gonna always have that tension. It's not gonna go away. I'm sorry. It's gonna be there. And what does this tension mean? What does this inner groaning mean? It means you will struggle to live as sons and daughters. Why? Because sometimes you're gonna live like orphans. That's the reality. Sometimes you're gonna go back to Egypt. Or is that just me too? Sometimes you're gonna want to go back to your vomit. That's the tension. Because things are not gonna always go your way. And you know what the good news is? You know what the best news of it all? That the father will never disinherit you when you want to go back. You know that right? He will not disinherit you when you return to your vomit. Because we all do. I did this week and so will you. He knows his kingdom is filled with sons and daughters who still live like orphans sometimes. He knows that. He's mindful of that. And that's why he sent Christ to do what we could not do. To reconcile us to himself. Because Christ's blood is for orphans. Not for those who have it all together. It's for those who know that sin. My favorite quote from the book Animal Farm. I don't know if you've read that book. But it's a good book. It's came from the pigs who are in authority. It says all animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others. And when you look at the world we live in. That quote is true of humans as well. Of people as well. Humans may be equal in this world. But some are more equal to equal than others. Do you believe that? They are haves and have nots in the world we live in. They are the resourceful and the under resourceful. They are the privilege and non-privilege. Do you agree with that? I can't hear you. Okay. For example, this week I read an article that says the National Institute of Literacy has found that 70% of presenters fall into the lowest levels of reading proficiency. And listen it is. And when stakes project how many present beds they would need? They factor into the number of children who reported in the fourth grade. When the many states project how many present beds they would need? They factor into the number of children who read poorly in the fourth grade. So if your child is reported now your states think they're going to end up in jail. All people are equal. Some are equal than others in the world we live in. But in God's Kingdom, is it that one? Every child in God's Kingdom is a have. Every child is fully resourced. Every child has privilege. Every child in his Kingdom, all his kids has issues. All of them. Every child is poor. Every child is needy. Every child is sinful. Every child is broken. And each of them are equally loved. Equally cherished. Equally cared for. Equally sons and daughters. Never does he say because you're like this. I'm going to withhold lessons. He doesn't give up. He doesn't show favoritism to his own. I mean he doesn't show favoritism to one child over the other. But he treats us the same. God does not love or care for Billy Graham more than he loves and cares for you. Think about that because Billy Graham has done a lot more than any of us have done for the Kingdom. But God doesn't love him more because of that. He doesn't. He loves you both the same. See what kind of love the Father has given us that we shall be called children of God. And that is what we are in this place. Where's what we are? The unbeliever cannot say that. God's creation, but not a son. Now our daughter like believers are special relationship. We approach him as father. As father. Children of God are at peace with him. And it calls their at peace with him. They are also to be peacemakers in the world that we live in. It says blessed with other peacemakers for they shall be called children of God. We've seen here throughout working our way through these Beatitudes you have the blessings of the Kingdom over here. Then you also have these character marks that are produced in all believers. And as I've been saying throughout this series so far you don't pick and choose which mark you want. Every believer will have these marks in their life. And it's produced in us by grace the spirit. You don't produce them in yourself. Can't go out and make a checklist and say I'm gonna produce this to myself today. No you pray that this spirit would do it. So here we see a lifestyle of a peacemaker. Believers have peace with God because they have been made right with God and reconciled to God through Christ. And that's reconciliation. It means peace has become between two parties that are that once hostile toward one another. Peace between a holy God has sent for man through Christ. You will as a believer have it made right with God. There's no more hostility. You're no longer an enemy as we read. One Christian said making peace as part of God's gracious character. And to those who have become a member of his family they were shared in his family likeness. His children would be peacemakers. In other words because you are at peace with the Father you would be a peacemaker and want to see other people become at peace with them as well. What does it mean to be a peacemaker? It means you'd be an agent of reconciliation in this world. Second Corinthians 5 says through Christ God reconciled the world to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is in Christ Jesus God was reconciled the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. All believers are to be peacemakers who have been given this ministry of reconciliation and entrusted with the message of reconciliation and the message of reconciliation that has been entrusted to us is the gospel. Are you ashamed of the gospel? Are you ashamed of it? We're not ashamed of the gospel. Why? For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. And as God's peacemakers we have been entrusted with this message for the purpose of sharing it. Peacemakers are active in evangelism. You will share your faith. You will share the gospel. When was the last time you shared the gospel with someone and hey I asked myself this question because I was convicted as I was preparing this sermon because I don't share the gospel enough either. We all have reasons why we don't share fear rejection like a passion. No relationships with non-believers. No intent to do so. It's uncomfortable. I don't have the time or energy. It's the passive responsibility. What's your reason? What's my reason? Fear or lack of intent on my part. Those are my issues when it comes to sharing the gospel. Fear or lack of intent. I know evangelism is not a strength for every believer but every believer is still called to participate in it. None of us are excused from sharing the gospel. And one of the things that gets us in the trouble is that we approach evangelism as if it's a church program that's optional. Well that's just a church program which means no that's just optional. I can choose not to participate. It's not a church program. It's not optional. Evangelism is part of our kingdom lifestyle in this world because we are ambassadors for Christ. Ambassadors for Christ here. We are the Jesus that non-believers are ever going to see on this out of heaven. It's you. The non-believers you work with, the non-believers you live around in your neighborhood, the non-believers that's on your child's soccer team. You're the Jesus they are. Jesus in you is all they're going to see on this out of glory. And if you're not sharing it, who will? As Christ ambassadors we implore others to be reconciled to God. And the content of evangelism is never us. It's always the gospel all day long because the purpose is not to try to get people saved because we don't save anybody. We're just God's mouthpiece in evangelism. That's all you are. A mouthpiece. And evangelism is you planning gospel seeds into a person's life. Every time you share it, I'll seek this planet. I see this planet every time. And God causes the growth every time. So do you have a desire? Do I have a desire to see lost friends and family members and coworkers and neighbors come to saving faith in Jesus? Does your heart break for them? Does mine? Does it? Should? Because we know where to waste them in the end for those who don't know Jesus. I challenge you and even myself to start praying for those that we know that don't have a relationship with Christ, that we will pray for them after Spirit to give us opportunities to share the gospel with them. I like relational evangelism, relationships which requires you to be personally involved in person's life and earn an opportunity to speak truth into their life. Are you friends with non-believers? Do you have relationships with non-believers? And if you do, who's impacting who? Who is influencing who? If you are a believer, you're supposed to be influencing them with the gospel, not the other way around. Then not should you be making you more worldly. You should be looking for opportunities for the gospel to go forth in their life as a peacemaker. You should want to see them have that same peace with the Father that you have. You should want that and pray for that. Over top pastor I know from Birmingham told me a story about the power of prayer for evangelism that he saw in his church. And at one of the church meetings he told his congregation to take out a piece of paper and I think I shared this with a group of folks in that press service. He told I want you to draw three circles. One, two, three. And in those circles I want you to write family, friends, co-workers or people you just regularly meet on a daily basis that you really don't have a relationship with. He said I want you to write the names in those circles. Now I want you to begin praying for each of these individuals every day. Praying that God give you opportunity to be able to share the gospel with a family member who is in the believer, with a friend who's not a believer, a neighbor who's not a believer. And you be intentional about it. Praying that God give you opportunity. In this pastor he participated in this and in one of his circles he wrote down the name of a cousin that he hadn't spoken to in years. That he's been disconnected from for years and he knew she wasn't a believer so he just started praying for her. Every day he prayed for her. And then somehow they got reconnected. God gave him opportunity to share the gospel with her and yes eventually she became a believer. But it started because he prayed for her. Prayer. Prayer is powerful. Do you pray for those that you don't know Jesus? I mean really pray for them. And ask the Spirit, "Traw them into your kingdom." Give me opportunity to speak truth into their lives. And prayer has to be the power behind your evangelism. Praying for them and looking for opportunity to share with them. Prayer has to be a power behind our ministry as well. What we do in this community, what we do amongst ourselves. Again I challenge you to write down the names of those relatives and friends and co-workers and neighbors that you know that they don't know Christ. If we get praying for them by name some of us don't believe prayer is that powerful. That's why we don't pray hard. But we think it's a waste of time. It's not a waste of time. Remember you're not praying to a statue. You're praying to a father who hears you. There's a difference. You're not praying to a idol or a piece of wood. You're praying to a God who is living and active, who's personal, who's holy, who's good, who never turned the deaf ear to his kids. So he's listening. Be in your heart and pray. And he's listening. So peacemakers evangelize and share the gospel. Secondly peacemakers keep unity. Unity within the church. You see Jesus, he not only reconciled us to God but he reconciled us to one another. What does that mean Alex? It means you can't ever say you don't need the church. You can't ever say it is you and Jesus on our own holding hands walking on the beach together apart from all other Christians. No, he has connected you to the body of Christ through his death. You need one another. You need the church. It's a family. It's a body of Christ for a reason. Christianity is not individualistic like our culture. It's not. If that's your view of Christianity and Christianity and you have a huge misunderstanding of it, we're part of a body of Christ. In this local church we are a body and we need one other. And so, are you quick to break fellowship with other believers? A brother? A sister? And if so, how quick are you to seek reconciliation with that brother sister? Jesus loves reconciliation and unity within his church, not dishing in discord. He's not honored by that. I don't care how right your theology is. He's not satisfied when his church breaks fellowship. When Jesus looks down upon his people, he doesn't see labels. Know what I mean by labels? He doesn't say, "Oh, that's my little Baptist child. That's my little non-denominational child. Oh, look at my little smart Presbyterian child who's so arrogant." He doesn't do that. He doesn't say, "That's my church of Christ child, my Methodist child, or my seven-day Adventist child. All he sees is my little chickens, my sons, my daughters." We do all the labels and we use the labels to break fellowship. We have break fellowship with our labels like that and thank God it's honored by that. I'm telling you, he's not. What is he? He said, "By your love for one another, people would know what you are my disciples, by your love you have for one another." To be a peacemaker means you will make every effort to keep a union to the spirit and the bond of peace. See, there's going to be conflicts in the church, local church, the non-denominational conflict. There's going to be issues that come up and when they do, they make every effort to keep unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Now, I know you don't believe me because we still need a newlywed phase here at our church. Everybody's still like one another, but I'm telling you, it's gonna come. A time when you have a conflict with another believer. And the question is, "Are you going to be an agent of destruction, an agent of this unity, an agent of divisiveness, an agent of gossip, an agent of slander, an agent of indifference, or an agent of silence?" Which role are you going to play when the conflict comes up? You're going to play a role. What's going to be your role? Be an agent of reconciliation. Not want a destruction. Not want a discord. Not want a divisiveness. Not want a silence. Speak up when you need to speak up. You see, knowing your sin bit here is half the battle. The other half is sinning and repenting of it and then moving on. Letting it go. Here at the village church, we're going to deal with conflict in a healthy way. We're going from pastor Elvis all the way down. And that starts by keeping shorter counts. Yeah, I've said it before. I'm going to keep reminding you, because you're going to forget. Keeping shorter counts with one another. I don't care how small the issue is, deal with it. Don't let stuff pile up. Because they pile up and then eventually get mad, leave the church. Keep shorter counts of one another. Be mindful of your own brokenness when you go and gently restore another brother or sister. Don't come at one another as if you got no junk in your life. As if you hold it in now, as if you're perfect, you come as a mutually broken person to gently restore another brother or sister. Be quick to reconcile. Fight for reconciliation. Fight for a fellowship. Make every effort to keep the union to the spirit in the bond of peace. Be quick to reconcile. I had a couple weeks ago, me and I get up with me and Thor. Thor came in and talked to me at the church about some stuff. And he was telling me some stuff. I thought he should have told me personally, not in front of people. And so after that meeting, y'all, I left that meeting, I was like, hmm, I'm feeling some tension here between me and Thor, but how that conversation went. And I'm starting to feel resentment, building up. And I was, I was feeling that the enemy was coming. See how he don't respect you. He has no value for you. He doesn't, he doesn't respect what you do. So the enemy was on me. I had the decision to make. Will I go deal with that or will I let it sit now? I know me the longer that sits there, the more resentful I was going to become. The more I was going to distance myself from my brother. So I talked to my kid about it. I prayed about it and I called through up and said, brother, we need to talk. Can we meet Monday? He said, sure. So we met in the back. I told him when you did that, it hurt me. When you said that, I felt like we should have been in person. It should have been in private. You should put me to the side. And you know what? We hug, reconcile. I said, I love you, brother. We're good. If she's gone. That's what I'm talking about. I don't care how small it is. That stuff we eat at you. And you will break fellowship if you don't deal with any of the conflict that comes between you and another brother's suspect. It will. The enemy will use it. The same applies in your marriage. If you don't deal with your conflict in your marriage, okay, how small is the enemy is going to use it? He's going to gnaw at it. Going gnaw at you. Going gnaw at you. Unless you deal with it and bring it into the open. Then he has nothing to hold against you. Because you reconcile. Me and my brother, though I haven't even thought about the conversation since him and I reconciled. It's gone. We're good. It's gone. I love that, man. That's what we got to practice. And if we can practice that, you would get through whatever conflicts come our way if we practice those things. And where they are all some illustration about this Barn of Peace that Christ has in the church. There's something that John Oran said illustration that he used. He says, imagine a man collecting wood for his fireplace. He finds a good supply of branches. There are varied incisors and shapes, some long, some thin, other short, other stick, some straight, some other twisted. He binds them together with the rope. In one bundle, he easily carries them home. Think about that. Imagine a man collecting wood for his fireplace. He finds a good supply of branches. There are varied and shaping sizes, some long, some thin, some other short, other stick, some straight, others twisted. He binds them together with a rope. In one bundle and easily carries them home. So it is in the church. We are a varied bunch. A varied bunch. But Christ easily carries us home. Why? Because he has taught us together in the Barn of Peace, which is himself. That's our peace that we have together. Our relationship with Christ. Jesus is our Barn. Let us pray. Jesus, I thank you that you are the Barn of Peace that ties us together as a body of Christ. We are a varied bunch with many, many issues, many, many struggles. Come from different backgrounds, different places in life. But Lord, you have bounded us together. What a wonderful thing a gospel is that you bring people together who otherwise would not come together. We would not be here together if it was not for the gospel. Let us think about that. The gospel brings people together who otherwise would not come together. That's the power of the gospel. That we can fellowship across the nomination lines, cultural lines, race lines, whatever the cost of the gospel. Because Jesus is our peace. Jesus is the bond that ties us together. So Jesus, I pray that you will be the main thing here at the Village Church all day long. You will be the focus all day long. I pray for all this in Christ's name. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]