Christian Love (Part 1) - Pastor Mike Fabarez - Focal Point

well I think you would agree that love is a sloppy word these days in it it's just used in such sloppy way such a variety diverse set of ways people use the word love we say we love tacos or at least I do I say that and then we turn around say we love our children you know we say we love our favorite sports team and then we say we love Jesus Christ and we use this word in such a varied set of ways all the way from you know I I'm fond of that too I would do anything for them or from I think they're cool too I would die for him I mean to have a word with such a broad set of meanings we better be very clear when we run across this word in the Bible and Jesus says for instance that he loves us when God claims in the text that he is a loving God we better make sure that we understand what that means and certainly he spilled a lot of ink for us the prophets and apostles explain to us what that means God of course is not sloppy in his use of the word he goes to great lengths to define it for us then when he turns that around he says hey you guys ought to love me with all your heart soul strength and mind love me and he calls us to love his son Jesus Christ we better be very clear about what that means we can't afford to be sloppy in that regard because I know this as I stand here before you this morning Jesus loves his own perfectly does he not his love for his people is exactly what it ought to be but I think you could nod at me that our love for him is far from perfect our love for him is not what it ought to be and it's been why prayerful intent as I constructed this series through Luke chapter 17 for us to leave this chapter a couple months from now with a better love for Christ than we have right now my hope is that by the time we get to chapter 18 of Luke that we would have a kind of love that is more of what God wants us to have for him and for his son and that would be a kind of love that is defined not by a series of verses that uses the word because you're not going to find the word one time spelled out in this chat but I trust that as you study this with me verse-by-verse line by line you'll say okay this is what love for Christ means this is what love for Christ is and I need to tune that I need to fine-tune that so that I can love him the way I should because the worst thing that could happen is for you to live from now until the time you die thinking you love Jesus only to find out you were doing something else it wasn't love not biblical love you had no idea perhaps how far short your love for him fell because we didn't take the time to really study and define it and shape that by biblical truth so let's begin our study eight installments in this particular chapter let's just start with two verses today get the first two verses of Luke chapter 17 and see if we can't understand something about what it means to love Jesus Christ and now once I'm about to read this and as you follow along when I read this you're gonna see just one basic principle one basic truth there's one basic thing being said there and you're gonna said well you got three points in your outline so what's that about well we're gonna make that one point after we cover two assumptions two presuppositions that are found and hinted to by two words in the Greek text the first one translating the singular word disciples the second one in verse one that translates the phrase temptations to sin is the Greek word math itas and the Greek word skandalon in the original language of the New Testament and I'm gonna look at those two words and I want to unpack those words because those words we're going to have in the minds of those that heard this text who were there when Jesus would see we would know what those things mean and before we can get to the severity of what Jesus is about to say and process that we better understand what it means to be his disciple and what it means that there's something out there in this world that seems inevitable called temptations to sin skandalon so let's read this I'll read it from the English standard version verses 1 and 2 as we start our study of Luke 17 the text reads and he that is Jesus said to his disciples quote temptations to sin are sure to come but woe to the one through whom they come it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin and he said it was disciples temptations to sin are sure to come but woe to the one through whom they come it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than if he should cause one of these little ones to sin put some stern words some jarring words from Christ it's clear what he's saying I mean in essence I can just summarize we should not be the cause of anyone's sin we should not be the Avenue of temptation into anyone's life we should not be causing anyone to sin I mean that's clear what he's saying but let's take the first two important words in verse number one and see if we can't get some things in place in our minds to have this make sense and have the impact that it should have first of all he's saying this to his disciples now you remember in the last chapter we a lot of his discussion heading to the critics of Jesus he was talking to the Pharisees he was talking to his opponents he was talking to people that were hostile toward him now he's speaking to his disciples I said the word in Greek because I think it's somewhat important for us to make the connection where we transliterate that word into English the rege word matha toss if you were to transliterate the first four letters of that ma th we get the word mathematics from that math math itas it translates the word somewhat 240 times in Matthew through John the Gospels it translates into the word disciple or disciples that word mathematics is something that they named mathematics from the Greek language because to know math is to study math to be able to get a grasp on math you better be a student of math you better put your brain to work and you better sit down as a pupil and learn those principles so that you can know math mathematics requires study and when he uses the word 200 plus times in the Gospels to represent his followers and they're described as as math itas as disciples it's clear the implication is they were learning of him they were studying if they were studying him they were pupils of his so not only is he a rabbi that means teacher teaching the students the pupils the learners the math itas but clearly they had a kind of informed knowledge of who he was and the whole relationship was based on learning about Jesus Christ so when we talk about loving Christ and some things that we do and should never do if we love Christ it should start with that simple word and let's just make this our first point this morning that we like the disciples in the first century we ought to cultivate let's call it this an informed love for Christ let us cultivate an informed love for Christ because they knew him so well in the earthly ministry after three years Jesus could say to them now you go make disciples of me I'm gonna go away you make disciples of me and teach them to observe everything that I commanded you so you learned all the things that I'm about all the things that I stand for all the things that I think are right and true and righteous I want you to go teach those things to other people and they were able to do that they were good students of Christ now they became teachers of Christ and they made more students of Christ they were informed about who Christ was now I say that in a day when a lot of people on your Facebook page or your Twitter or whatever are gonna say they love Jesus a lot of people that you may meet at work I love Christ I'm a follower of God or whatever but really when they say they love Christ it's not an informed love for Christ it's really a love for Christ it's not based on much in terms of information not the information that we would go to if we're gonna find out what Jesus really stood for what he believed what he was all about what he opposed what he promoted my daughter had her last open house for junior high this week she's usually not excited about those things but I guess because she can't wait to get at a junior high just like I couldn't wait to get out of you just like you couldn't wait to get out of junior high she said dad why don't you come to open houses but he said sure honey I'll come to open house and so I just happen to be busy that night no meetings no teaching and so I went off to the junior high campus with a chill up my spine I was back on the junior high cans and she said I want you to meet all my teachers now I feel like I kind of know her teachers because you know I feel to be an informed parent sit down at dinner talk about how was your day sweetheart tell me about your classes and your teachers well from the very beginning I remember taking her out just daddy date night just talking about her teachers at the beginning of the semester well this is my teacher here and here's her name here's what she's like and here's what she here's the thing she doesn't like and here's this guy here's what he's about and he teaches this way here's his hobbies he always does this in class so I had this picture of who they were but I'd never met them so I go to back to Mexico it's the open house at the end of the semester here and I start meeting them and in my mind I'm starting to recall things that my daughter said oh yeah yeah that's right she said that to the extent that I listened well to my daughter's faithful faithful report of these teachers I went from one teacher to the next teacher and I thought that's it I understand that the extent that I didn't listen or asked that the dinner table tell me more about that third period teacher and you know I owned out and didn't think about it well then I was kind of ignorant and there was a distance between what I imagined the teacher to be and then what I discovered but to the extent that I have those faithful reports from my daughter izing can go into the classroom at least with an informed in you know uninformed mind of familiarity with that teacher before I meet them see the problem with a lot of people that say they love Christ is they've had none of that kind of information doesn't come through a person because Jesus is not here you can't walk around and follow him in South Orange County you can only go to the historical accounts you can open up your Bible and you can read about him and the problem is a lot of people are saying I know all about that teacher in third period but they never have had any reliable information except what they feel in their gut and what they feel in their own minds and imaginations about who this Jesus should be Psalm 50 is a passage I'll have you turn to as you meet for your small groups this week it's on the back of your worksheet there when you have your discussion question dialog in your small group Psalm 50 is going to describe a classic problem that is still so prevalent today and that is people assuming they're in with God and they have a vision and an idea of God and because they do things and they don't immediately have any kind of repercussions for them God doesn't zap them immediately there's no judgment immediately they do things they think well surely God likes this they avoid things they don't do things they should God doesn't happen well surely then God doesn't mind if I neglect that then they come to this conclusion that I God says you think I'm altogether like you you start to assume I am like you you think the things that you like I like that you think the things that I don't really mind that you don't really mind I don't really mind you start to cast me in your image all because you didn't read what I said that's a very stinging passage if you do get to the context of Psalm 50 there he says I'm gonna judge you guys even though I told you who I was and what I favored what I proposed what I promote and what I despise you did your own thing and because I kept silent I had already given you information you ended up worshiping worshiping a god of your own imagination the fear that I have is that you'll spend from now until the time you meet Christ you you you will spend all of that time worshiping following loving being devoted to a Christ that doesn't even exist a Christ of your own imagination that's a problem that is problematic and we should care greatly about that honing our view of who Christ is there was a cheeseball romance song that Dolly Parton sang called to know him is to love him old-timers remember that know young young people you think oh those old fun know Amy Winehouse also recorded that song to know him is a cheeseball romantic song to know mr. Lovett and and when I thought about those lyrics this week and I said you know with Christ some people think it's that way but in reality it's not that way at all in the Bible it's matter of fact in our depravity and in our fallen world to know more of Christ often produces the exact opposite response when Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3 here's the problem with people the more light they get the more information about me they get when it comes down to it they don't like it they're repelled by it because men love darkness rather than light and so to know Christ more of the real Christ means you're gonna have to adjust because my expectations my presumptions about Christ are probably wrong because I tend to do what most people do and that is to cast my vision of God in my own image I want to imagine him to be what I am maybe a better version of me but if I don't like it he doesn't like it if I think it's okay he thinks it's okay if I don't think it's a big deal he doesn't think it's a big deal see to know him though is not to love him necessarily until I had just my view of him and say I'm willing to choose to love that kind of Christ but I can't tell you to take those cheese balls lyrics and turn it on its head you certainly can't love him if you don't know him you won't be loving him so to really love Christ you better know Christ than to know Christ you're gonna have to get down to the information about Christ now I know what people are saying hey that would be great if I had the advantage that Peter James John Nicodemus Thomas all those guys had because they had Jesus living their lives right in front of them talk about knowing the historical Christ wouldn't it be great to be someone in history sitting there hearing him say these things being a disciple well then I'd know the real Christ I'm all this Bible study stuff cuz that's what it's gonna get down to I can already feel it coming pastors gonna say more time in the Bible more Bible study more memorizing I you know I wish I could just see him face to face I wish I could have lived when he lived I wish they could have been a front row disciple then I wouldn't need all this Bible study stuff I'm setting you up if that's what you're thinking that's a dumb thought let me show you turn to Matthew chapter 16 here is a encounter Peter has with Jesus do you think Peter number one knows Jesus well of course he does he's been living with it do you think he knows his teaching well of course he knows his teaching do you think he would say he loves him well of course he says matter of fact he says he loves him more than all the other disciples so you got Peter walking with Jesus living with Jesus listening to Jesus studying with Jesus loving Jesus I'm glad he doesn't need to study the Bible let me show you how desperately he needs to study his Bible drop down to verse 21 Matthew chapter 16 verse 21 from that time Jesus began to show his disciples this is Matthew 16:21 that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised now Peter was raised in Galilee northern Israel he certainly knew enough Scripture he wasn't a scribe or a Pharisee or anything but clearly he'd been to Sabbath school he had been to the synagogue there's plenty of them there in Galilee I'm sure he had been taught the stories of the Old Testament I'm sure he memorized chunks of the Torah I'm sure he was well familiar with the prophets the writing of prophets and if you see something like this coming from the mouths of the one that you are claiming is the Christ that's what he says you're the Christ of God and he says the Christ of God has got to go to Jerusalem suffer many things at the hands of the chief priests and elders and be killed on the third day be raised from the dead I just want to ask the question would that be a surprise to you not if you know the Bible it wouldn't be a surprise to you because in the Bible there's constant refrain of this prophet who was the ultimate prophet the anointed prophet the anointed king the anointed High Priest the one who would take this role of mediator between man and God and he would be one before he got the crown of gold would have a crown of thorns and become despised and rejected of men be chastised for our forgiveness to have his life be crushed by the Father and be made a guilt offering and then be counted as dead but then raised from the we learned these things from the prophets we learned this from the Bible now notice this here's someone who lived with Christ sat at the front row listening to him teach came away from the partial information about Jesus because he lacked this information from the Bible over here in the Old Testament and he said well killed rejected strung strung out by the chief priests never not gonna happen to you here is a guy who knew the historical Jesus but he didn't know enough of the biblical Jesus because he's gonna get in Jesus's face and say no verse 22 he began to rebuke him far be it from you lord this shall never happen to you you know he's just said something that you said the Messiah is going to experience that the Bible says this the Messiah is going to experience I reject it because in my mind that doesn't make sense you're healing people people are cheering you when you come into town they're lining up to hear you teach you've just taken a whole swath of dib local truth and thrown it in the trash because it doesn't fit what you have just been learning because you don't have the whole counsel of God in view you don't have a good grip or grasp on the Bible's that says we all should have as workman who rightly handle the word of truth you've just got a partial view although it's a very first-hand historical true view it's just part of the view of Christ and the Christ says this verse 23 Jesus turns and says to Peter get behind me now this isn't the nickname you want to gain from Christ Satan get behind me Satan Satan by the way obviously is the word the title that is used at the adversary of Christ but what does it mean Sunday school grads adversary opponent you're my opponent right now you're opposing me you are a no underline this hindrance remember the next word we're about to look at in verse number 1 of Luke 17 I said the word skandalon is very important it's translated temptations to sin it's the same exact word right here translated this time hindrance you are a scandal on to me you are a hindrance to me I'm trying to do the right thing and you're a hinders me you are a temptation to sin why because I'm about to go to the garden and struggle over the most important decisions of my life to drink the cup of God's wrath I'm thinking about doing that and and and obedience to Christ and yet I'm tempted not to do it I'd much rather drink the cup of blessing because I've earned it and not give that to you and just say the hell with the sinners they've earned it I'm gonna drink the cup of God's blessing forget the cup of God's cursing and I'm gonna be there struggling and sweating like crazy in that garden over this and you just said no you don't need to go to the cross oh don't go get behind me adversary get behind me Satan why for you are not setting your mind on the things of God where would you get the things of God in your mind how would you get the things of God in your brain well not from sitting there and listening to everything you've heard Jesus just say at least up until this point having the crowds cheer him saying listen he raised my kid from the dead he opened the eyes of the blind he does all things well they were saying those things of Christ no you get it from opening Isaiah 53 and learning about the fact that he would be rejected by men and they wouldn't even want to look at it like one from whom men hide their faces they would account they'd caught they'd consider him despised and stricken by God you'd get that picture which is in the mind of God from the scripture you're ignoring parts of scripture therefore your view of Christ is an imaginary view of Christ one who gets the crown without the cross and your mind is on the things of man that little phrase there in verse 23 your mind on the things of God I think if you've not thought about scripture when you've read that verse the only way to get your mind on the things of God is scripture sitting on a beach watching a sunset and trying to viscerally come up with your theology is not the way you're gonna get accurate information about God you have to crack open a Bible it's gonna be filled with things that are gonna tempt you to say I don't think God shouldn't think that I don't think Christ should do that I don't think God should should prohibit that but you have to open the word cuz that is the God who is whose self disclosed his nature on the pages of Scripture when he says to know me is to love it wait a minute sometimes the things I know about you immediately I have a hard time loving but I'm committed and devoted to the God who is the true God the God who has revealed himself I choose to love that God and to choose to love that God it's to take my cues from who he actually is in space and time in the person of Christ in the revelatory record that's in the pages of Scripture that's an informed love the disciples had an informed love for Christ but not always as informed as it should be because they neglected the Scriptures at times we need to be in the Bible study please study your Bibles it sounds arcane archaic it sounds old-school I say that all the time but it's what we need if your Bible is neglected if you don't spend time personally studying the Bible then you are heresy waiting to happen you are you're compromised that's just a matter of time until it happens because your view of Christ is going to be informed somehow and if it's not informed from the pages of Scripture it's going to be informed by your own imagination which a lot of churches are doing culture does people that still want to embrace Christ and they haven't rejected them all together only embrace Christ in their love for darkness because they've made that Christ a Christ of darkness not the Christ of Scripture sinful people need to realize we have a lot of information we need to get a full orbed picture of who this Christ is so please work at cultivating an informed love for Christ I always try to give you some resources in the back maybe I can just start our logoff Bible software there's lots of software out there you can have invest some money in good Bible study tools you live in a technological age that has some great advantages I can't believe the way my libraries have have been pared down into the ease of carrying around an iPad or a laptop and having hundreds of commentaries or Bible study aids or lexicons at my touch I mean that that's the kind of thing you know pastors from from from 200 years ago would long to have and you can have it right if you just invest a little bit of your resource in becoming a student of the Bible with the tools that are available to you also some books there on studying the Bible that might be helpful math itas learners informed view of Christ he then brings up the word that should if you know what Christ was teaching send a chill up your spine he's always talking about righteousness and then he says the opposite of that are sure to come temptations to sin are sure to come the stumbling and the skandalon is sure to come now this is a point that I worded that I know many of you aren't gonna like it's too I don't know in congruence with what I think Christianity ought to be but understand this even before I say it if you love someone you understand that that love adapts your own proclivities your interest your preferences to that person because you love them as a matter of fact it starts to define only what you love because they love it think of the blended family you love this this person they have children you better love those Chum you can't love that person that loving their children we see that image in the Bible as you come into the adopted family of God you know what that's like you better love what they love if you're gonna love them but also if you invert that the things that they hate man you better not like those things as a matter of fact you better learn to disdain and think less and even despise the things they despise particularly they have good reason for despising them you understand there are things in your life that I trust right now in your human relationships and your relations with your kids you don't like them simply because they're injurious to the people that you love when he says temptations to sin are sure to come that was based on the learning they already had that sin is bad from the very beginning here's John saying he comes to die as a lamb to take away the sin of the world he'd been teaching I'm gonna I'm gonna come and give my life as a ransom that's a picture of payment for sin for many people if you don't see the word scandal on and think oh that's the thing Jesus hates see then you don't understand what's come before in the last 16 chapters of Luke God hates sin Jesus hates sin number two in our land then it would follow that we ought to learn to truly hate sin not just avoid it truly hate it if you don't hate sin that I'm not sure you love Christ if you don't hate what is evil then you can't see their day and say well I really love Jesus if you think Jesus loving is all about butterflies and balloons and cool posts on Twitter and things that have whiskers and all the fluffiness and happiness that never involves a belligerent feeling in your heart then you don't know the God of the Bible there are things I hope that you hate because you love people who are being injured by things in their lives I hope if you have someone who's being attacked by people you don't have in your heart a tolerance for the things that are attacking them if your spouse is suffering from cancer I hope you don't have a tolerance for cancer cells I hope you hate those things because they're injurious to the one that you love God hates sin does he you need verses on that proverbs 6 first passage I think about I think about God hating sin proverbs 6 verse 16 there are six things that the Lord hates now that's not an exhaustive list matter of fact he says in the next phrase seven that are an abomination he's just making a complete list and I say complete not in the sense of exhaustive but complete in terms of the number seven giving you a sense that God has a perfect hatred for some things and here here's his list right off the top haughty eyes he hates pride he hates a lying tongue he hates deception is there any that in your neighborhood this week in your office you seem to me that on television people hands that shed innocent blood have you read the news and seen any of that this week he hates that a heart that devises wicked plans there are people that you see you hear on the news doesn't think I mean have you seen that happening maybe in your work in your office in your in your extended family you've seen people devising evil and hurt to others hates that feet that are running in haste to do evil he hates people that is quick to do the wrong thing a false witness who breathes out lies someone who goes in an in a matter that really has significance and then deceives and twists the truth he hates that one who's swords discord among brothers people that should be together someone comes in and wedges between them causes that Frick he hates that well he didn't want me to hate cuz it's about being a loving Christian yeah you supposed to be loving Christian I understand you supposed to love people love God absolutely but you cannot love the God of the Bible and then love people the way you ought to unless you hate what is evil let me prove it to you ready Psalm 97 10 I'll give you a few verses here if you're note-takers Psalm 97 10 listen them o you who love the Lord to word command hate evil o you that love the Lord if you love the Lord your heart is filled with love for God hate evil Psalm 97 10 I think you know talk about things that aren't ever in the book story on the plaques you know we should put that one on a plaque that's a good one yeah you'll love God better hate evil well that's the Old Testament that's when God was grumpy you know took a nap for 400 years came back really okay great New Testament Romans chapter 12 verse 9 let love be genuine there you go see there thanks for getting back to the New Testament let love be genuine not done with the verse up what is evil that's even stronger than the word hate up it hate it to the core of your being proverbs 8:13 hey the fear of the Lord if you really have a respect and a rightful authority in your mind for God and you think of him the way you want that is the hatred of evil the fear of the Lord is a tree of pride and arrogance in the way of evil and perverted speech solomon says i hate Amos chapter 5 verse 15 here it is to word command hate evil and love good hate evil love good is that simple if you love God you're gonna hate the things that are injurious team if my wife if I said to you and you need to know what a offense sin is to God if I said this is stupid I know but maybe just for the sake of illustration if I said she hates orange the color orange hates it so much that she has a visceral reaction she gets a sick she vomits when she sees orange okay oh this is gross picture of my wife vomiting I'm sorry sorry honey orange hates it she came to my house do you think you'd see any orange in my house but it's my house too half the house would be orange no even if I lights orange I'm not gonna have orange in my house well just the garage a lot of orange in the garage nope none not even in the garage why because I love my wife if my wife has a negative reaction to orange and I love her I'm gonna learn to live without it and by the way as these verses depict I'm not just gonna shrug my shoulders that's how most Christians view it today don't be filled with any hatred listen you better hate evil if you love the Lord does that mean we sin in our anger no of course fusions 4 be angry don't sin I understand that but when it comes to me looking at sin it ought to make me angry there's a lot of stores in the mall for instance I would never go in I have no interest in going to you know the stores like with I don't know thousands of dollars like soaps and goopy things they sell that smell guys like there's no reason for a man to walk into one of those stores I don't understand why you do that so when I walk through the mall and I see that store and I can smell it like three stores away all right and if my wife and my daughter want to duck into that store whatever right I'm just kind of yeah not for me Oh coming in now I'll wait out here there's a bench you know that's how I'll be or if I got a store down the way I'm just gonna go over here just let me know when you're done that's how a lot of people think we ought to be about sin in the world oh it's not for you that's fine it's not for you you but you know I don't don't get all hot and bothered about the problems of this I mean some people orinda that doesn't matter matter of fact you should be chill you should be tolerant see you understand that you should be walking by places when it comes to this world and the things that they do in celebrating sin in an autumn a human what's gonna make my life a little I mean all the tranquility and peace gonna go away there's a sense in which of the Christian life is going to be one of torment in this world Bible says that even a guy there is Sodom lot was not known as you know he didn't win the godly man of the century award and it says his soul was tormented because of the sin in his culture think about that if you think you can somehow put your feet up on the dashboard of life and go through life and pass by storefronts if you will proverbially speaking and they're filled with all kinds of rebellion against the holy God that pinned his son to a cross and think oh well whatever that's just not for me I'm heading down to the righteous store then you don't understand what it is to love God if your spouse is attacked by cancer cells again how do you feel you feel the neutral about cancer I mean if your daughter's going in for surgery like mine has several times and there's germs floating around and I know her body's gonna be laid open and how do I feel about germs even if they're not attacking my body I'm worried about the infection in her body I love her I don't want infection there I don't want the doctor sneezing on his gloves and go oh yeah okay getting back to it work on my daughter I hate that I would hate you being careless about those things because it's hurting the one that I love jot this reference down if you would Hebrews Hebrews chapter 10 verse 29 leave you to rational reasons there's a simple straightforward logical reasons that we should hate sin number one it is a massive insult to God Hebrews chapter 10 verse 20 God is massively insulted by it the word that is used in the ESV to translate the word that sometimes translated insult is translated this way it is an outrage to the spirit of grace outraged outraged if something happened on the patio today and someone came up and did something insulting so out insulting it was an outrage to your loved one how would you feel about that if you could shrug your shoulders out not for me that soap store no you would respond in in and in taught me here's what hate in the dictionary a strong aversion a dispassionate dislike a repelling a sense of being repelled by something intolerant of that's how you'd feel about someone who came up cussed your wife out and slapped her in the face I hope you would be intolerant of that that's hebrews 10:29 b 1029 a starts this way it's like trampling underfoot the Son of God the picture of his hidden being crucified it's like you taking his body laying it on the ground and trampling on it if someone killed your child abused your child's dead body desecrate it how would you feel passive like oh you know to each his own you'd be like whoa talk about the insult to trample the son of God underfoot is not something you can be passive about you want tranquil feelings in your life get to the kingdom we'll have that put your feet up on the dashboard once we get to the New Jerusalem for now be ready to hate the things that Christ hates the things that the father says pinned his son to a cross yeah but jesus paid it all do you know the damage that happens even when sin is forgiven you got sin that you can look back in in your life good that you know is appended to Jesus's cross it's been paid for in full there's no condemnation for you can you look passively at those things there's a gal in the church I know her son has a problem with anaphylactic shock if he gets stung by bees he's super allergic to bee stings and you know if you've had that or anybody your family or any acquaintance you know the answer is to get that epinephrine pin you can get the EpiPen and as long as you carry that around I mean you know your kid gets stung by a bee and then you know hopefully he won't die you know okay well I got the answer so are you going to really be kind of shrugging your shoulders at your kid going up and playing catch with some neighbor friend with a bee hive no I don't want my kid to be stung by the bee even though we have the anecdote even though we the antidote even though we have the answer we can plug them with the EpiPen of the cross and the sins are forgiven that does not mean that your passive about people's sin o age of grace Jesus pays at all sins should be something that is Grievous to us and when Jesus says to the disciples who had an informed love for him not as informed as it always should be and he says you know what there's sin in this world and it's sure to come and it's gonna cause a lot of tears in this life they understood what that meant because they were learning to truly hates and I just wonder if we are I hope you can see the damage to God's kids I hope you can see the damage to God's honor I hope you can see the insult that is to the Spirit I hope you can see what pain it caused Christ on a cross and I hope you can say if I'm loving Christ I'm gonna hate sin now briefly the simple message of the passage don't you be the reason that someone does it number three put it down that way don't be the reason someone sins don't be the reason and I say that nice and calmly and measured voice but Jesus says be better for you to die a horrific suffocating drowning death of that panicked feeling of not being able to get a breath into your lungs be better for you to die that way in a drowning accident then for you to be the source or the cause or the reason or the temptation that leads someone to do something that pinned Christ to a cross you ought to be vigilant that your life does not cause someone to sin skandalon how can we do that Pastor Mike well let's go back to our example Peters there with an uninformed love for Christ or at least partially he said to Jesus you're never gonna go to the cross and die what was that bad advice what was it to be more specific unbiblical advice what was that he was telling someone God would not have that happen may it never be not gonna happen to you he gave Jesus advice that Jesus is a hindrance to me a skandalon to me and he says don't be a scandal on to anyone how was Peter a scandal on to Christ gave him undiplomatic advice you're given advice all week long are you not I mean not formally maybe not in some counseling session with a desk between you and the bus but you're at lunch someone says I just wonder if this is this the right thing to do I wonder if I should get should this should we avoid you give an advice you're weighing in on those things all I'm saying is be very very careful speaking for God or righteousness Bible says let not many of you become teachers because you're going to encourage stricter judgment so don't say anything now be slow to speak quick to hear that's true but just be super careful Peter wasn't careful that's why sometimes we make fun of him and we say he stuck his foot in his mouth all the time he was trying to be helpful but I just want you to be very careful about the advice that you give people I think this is the best thing I think this is what you should do easy to become a scandal on a stumbling-block ecause the Senate temptation is it even unaware because you're just popping off what you think is the best thing when in reality it's not we read about on our daily Bible reading this morning can do the DBR with us Nathan says to David after David's ooh I'm gonna build a house with food that makes perfect sense go do it everything that's in your heart go do it did you read that this morning if not you'll read it tonight what was he to give him bad advice that's not what God wanted him to do but he didn't look he didn't inquire he didn't go to the scripture he didn't figure out what exactly God would want gave bad advice another time we see this is in this word in Revelation chapter 2 verse 14 talks about a stumbling block and gives you an example from the Old Testament you'd have to have some Old Testament history on but it says some in your church hold to the teaching of Balaam who taught Balak to put a scandal on a stumbling block before the sons of Israel now again you got to be sent a school graduate to know the story but if I say Balaam all you think of is mr. IDI right you think of a talking donkey but there's more to that story than that as a matter of fact the only reason that donkey started talking by the miracle act of God was that you had Balaam a hired gun you know a prophet for hire who was hired as some kind of you know warlock if you will to go out and curse Israel by King Balak Balak wanted Israel as they were traveling through his land I want them cursed they're getting too big they're out of control my kingdom is in peril you go cursed them so he goes out there and he tries to curse them Sunday school grads smile at me you remember the story right and as he does he's like Fonzie trying to say he's sorry old-timers remember that he can't spit it out right he wants to say you're cuckoo and instead of that it comes out you're blessed and he starts giving all these wonderful prophecies about the great things that God's gonna do through Israel even even Balaam becomes a prophet speaking of the coming Messiah it's a great passage in numbers and God makes him blessed instead of curse and if you think well there you go God one people visible were blessed by the rent you know rent a prophet well at the end of the story he succeeds but he succeeds by as Christ is saying to the church there in Revelation chapter two by a scandal an enticement to sin how did he do it he found the best-looking girls he could find in his and I'm adding a little Mike regards paraphrase here but he finds the gals in the foreign kingdom who are all in with the foreign idols and he then goes and has them intermingle with the Israelites as they make camp there and he starts through this kind of compromised sexual relationships that they start to have they fall to immorality fornication they get dragged to the temples they start sacrificing to the idols and then God does exactly what Balak wants Balaam successfully enticed Israel to sin through with immorality and sacrificing to the idols and that was all done in kind of a very subtle way his gun it was done through the flirtatious work of the women of his kingdom to try and get them to do what they do come do this with us your God to strip your God wrong one come do it this way you can become a stumbling block to someone perhaps not through the nefarious strategic work of Balak and Balaam but you can do it this way I think a lot of us are enticing Christians to sin when we're doing something that's via our conscience and compromise loves company you need to know that compromise always loves company I want you to do what I do because if you do what I do I'll feel like I'm not doing anything wrong and so we get people to do what I do go where I go wear what I wear entertain yourself the way I entertain myself tell the jokes that I tell and we start having people compromise like us and we really lure them and entice them to do something that they wouldn't otherwise do and we become someone and I'm just I'm doing a word study some 40 times in the Bible scandal on comes up scandal is oh the verb and scandal on the noun and it shows us how this happens and it reminds us that balaam was doing that very thing trying to get people to do what they did through subtle means of enticement lastly and I put this whole series on the back of the worksheet from Romans 14 the gray area series which might be a good one to listen to if you've never heard that poor five-part series is how sometimes is constantly is used both in first Corinthians 8 and in Romans 14 the word skandalon in those passages scandal Enzo and scandal on that sometimes just by living our lives the way we live them in freedom we're not trying to influence anybody we're not trying to say hey compromise loves company matter fact we think we're compromising we're just living our lives but our lives becomes an example to people that does become a scandal is oh our scandal on Rather and we are causing people to stumble into fall and to lead them into sin how do we do that because in our freedoms not thinking about how our freedoms might in some way impact someone else it gets their conscience and Boldin to do what you're doing and they start doing it and they become entrapped in it both 1st Corinthians 8 Romans 14 you just study the series if you want to give the fuller picture of this in the Bible and their day it was a sacrifice that meat sacrificed to idols it wasn't actually worshiping the temples but it was this conscience issue is about the kosher laws and they were struggling with that and so I'm just flaunting my freedom having my ham sandwich in front of this guy he was tough all of these things that were going on they were doing and it was causing their brother to sin and violate their own conscience you got to think about what you wear where you go what you say where you how you entertain yourself what you unwind with all those things that we do that you may have the right to do but become the source of sin for other people the Bible says who are weaker and it could be in conscience it could be just disposition come you think about just even you know the vices of our day how often gambling and alcohol and drugs and all these things become massive problems for people but for you oh it's all in moderation sometimes your freedoms become a stumbling block for people to sin and all I'm saying is I'd much rather err as Paul ended up saying in both passages first printing is eighth and Romans forty I'd rather not ever touch a BLT again right never have one even though I like never have one again if I can avoid causing my brother to sin because God here says I'll become your adversary I'll put that millstone around and again millstone I'm assuming we know what that is if you were here for Good Friday I showed you one they used in the garden to press the olives but they're like a big truck tire a big cement doughnut like Randy's donut it's an Inglewood you know or we had one of those signs it's not quite that big but put that around your neck and jump off the pier Jesus abettor you do that and cause one of these little ones the little ones by the ways not children he uses that phrase continually as a diminutive and an affectionate term for his his people his disciples mark 10:24 Luke 10 21 examples of that use of the word children are little ones he said to his disciples temptations to sin are sure to come but what are the one through whom they come to be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and cast in the sea that he should cause one of these little ones to sin I was on that campus this week Thursday night with my daughter so happy for her that she was getting out of junior high having those moments of flashbacks to my junior high days when I had one I didn't mention my wife and my daughter but we're walking down one of the hallways there and I saw the entrance to the bathroom the restroom hello junior high bathrooms no can do I know is a different experience for guys and girls but a lot of drama a lot of a lot of stuff going on in there and I just remember those days ie Luke I had a tick at that moment as I walked by them the bathroom I'm so glad I'm not an engineer hi and I started thinking some of the stories that her and I'm sure I don't know I'm not sure but this apocryphal story maybe it's apocryphal maybe it's true back to the day when the girls were coming to junior high and they were all getting into wearing their really dark red lipstick back in the day and they would crowd into the the bathrooms there and the thing that they did apparently was of course I wasn't in those bathrooms they put their lipstick on him before they left they would kiss the mirror and leave their you know cute little lipstick marks on on the mirror and it became epidemic in the junior high to where it really frustrated and anger of the administration apparently principal had had enough and so he started taking big groups of gals into those bathrooms and having a little lesson with them and he got as many of these Junior High girls in the bathroom as possible and he said now face that mirror and he showed them all the mary said listen you see all those kiss marks on the mirror he's this is a terrible thing you're doing it's awful it's so much trouble to take this off the mirrors every single night we have to wipe your lipstick marks off the mirror you need to stop it as a matter of fact I want to show you how much work it is I got Ralph the custodian here he's going to show you he takes his long handled brush goes over to the toilet swirls his brush around the toilet [Applause] principal said Ralph has to do that every single night girls were horrified problem was solved if only you and I could see what the world thinks is so cool but actually from God's eyes is so disgusting God is grieved by sin God is offended by sin if you have an informed love for Jesus Christ you're gonna learn to hate the sin and when it comes down to it you don't live a Christian life at all that in any way by example by encouragement or just by being thoughtless in some way isn't it is a reason that someone puts their lips against that mirror you don't want to be the cause of that and I hope you get that kind of vigilance in your Christian life because you are looking at an informed view of Christ from the pages of Scripture and you know God hates it that's an insult it's disgusting Jesus had to die for the filth of sin and I hope this week we can love him better we can hate sin more and you and I can never be guilty of causing in any way another Christian to sin let's pray God once you stand with me I'll dismiss us with a word of Prayer god help us as we start this series and think about love the kind of love that we ought to have for you an informed love that understands that there are things that you've said so clearly so consistently so repetitively in Scripture about what you approve and about what you disdain the things that enhance the honor of God and things that detract from it and God I pray that you would help us as we start this series start to calibrate our sense of what it means to love you knowing that we need to get into the word we need to understand it and while the critics look at us and say yeah you got to go with the flow and you're too into the Bible and you're a Bible idolaters and all the things they say I pray we'd understand that we're never truly gonna love Christ until we know Christ and we're not gonna know Christ by sitting on a rock staring at a sunset well know very little about the God of the Bible by doing that we've got to open the word and see what he's revealed about himself so God please give us the diligence to be good students of the word give us the discipline the consistency and the faithfulness to do what we ought to do when it comes to studying your word help us to have such an aversion to sin in our lives and even in this world that it disgusts us so much that we would never be the cause by way of example or encouragement or enticement to see anybody else fall into sin may that start this week as none of us in this room are a reason that someone would fall into sin and Jesus name we pray amen you are dismissed

Channel: The Focal Point-CBC

Views: 724

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Christian Love, compass bible, focal point, compass bible church, christian sermons, bible compass, bible study, compass study bible, mike fabrez, pastor mike fabarez, mike fabarez sermons, mike fabarez sermon, God

Id: zxmLL9ncJDc

Length: 50min 57sec (3057 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 17 2017