THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING - You Adulterous People

well I've only been stabbed once it was by my brother we were kids in the backseat of the car and he had a knife that my dad had given him and I had the seatbelt that was in an old car you know where the middle seatbelt was long and you could stretch it out and then it had that heavy metal tip that if you sort of swinging in a whipping action can cause a lot of pain so I was I was whipping him with that and then he pulled out the knife and poked me in the leg with it which I couldn't believe I'm like you just poked me with the knife so I whipped him again and then he stabbed me again and I whipped him again and he was like don't do it again and I was like don't tell me what to do for pop and then he just sunk his knife into my leg and I remember I was like uh and his first response was Shh don't tell Dad I'm like don't tell Dad I think the pooling blood on my jeans that's gonna be a giveaway but you know that's a good summary if I childhood you know he broke a mirror over my face I threw his trophies around the room we did stuff like that we had a sister too but you weren't allowed to hit her so our warfare there was primarily psychological but the point is we always managed to make up cuz mom demanded it but siblings fight brothers and sisters fight and man we did it and many of you that have siblings probably did the same but here's the thing just as much as physical brothers and sisters fight spiritually brothers and sisters they fight I see it in the Bible you read the book of Acts and the early church was threatening to split in all these different cities primarily like ethnically and culturally Jew and Gentile lines and there was always this kind of divide that the Apostles are pulling back together you saw in the Church of Corinth Paul wrote two letters to the Corinthians begging them to get along we have a letter from the church fathers right after that where they split as a church they couldn't figure out how to get along then the church split with East and West and now even if you read the history in Europe the dirt in Europe is soaked with the blood of people who profess to be Christians murdering other people who profess to be Christians right that's part of our history America is the same I was at church history major and I remember I had to read a book called the history of the church in America and Canada and the Canadian chapters were boring because whenever they had a problem they just kind of talked and worked it out Americans we just like killed each other over every problem even people who claimed to be followers of Jesus and it's fascinating I went to what is regarded as a holy site traditionally as the place where the empty tomb was where Jesus rose from the dead there's now a church there in Jerusalem the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and you can go in there and it's a fascinating place just a few years ago police had to come in because different factions of the Christian Church will come worship at different times and there were two groups that felt that they were supposed to worship at a certain time there's literally lines on the floor you're not supposed to cross and so these monks began to punch and kick each other and there's a video of a monk that just comes flying from the back Superman punches another monk and you're like what and it's the craziest thing that you see in this holiest of place where Jesus rose from the grave his followers are throwing hard shots at each others face because you worship different and made Christians fight it's an embarrassing thing the 17th century philosopher Jewish philosopher Spinoza said this I have often wondered that persons who make a bows to professing the Christian religion namely love joy and peace temperance chair did all men should quarrel with such rancorous animosity and display daily toward one another such bitter hatred this rather than the virtues which they profess is the radiused criteria of their faith he says do you want to know a Christian watch they'll be the ones fighting which can feel a little unfair and we can say well yeah that's how it was back in the past Ben but we don't do that anymore right but it's interesting I remember a couple years ago a slew of books came out by what was coined as the New Atheists people who said there is no God and much of their philosophical arguments were not new and not particularly well articulated to be quite honest but one of the things that gave them traction is they constantly went to the hypocrisy of Christians they proclaimed to love a God of peace and yet they're so cruel to one another and we see this I remember when I was in college whenever the two Christian intramural teams would play each other in football they had extra referees right because there would be more fouls and more cussing than when other teams played each other because you're in a different Christian organization with a different verse on your t-shirt so you got to die right and we do that right we do that we fight among each other there's fights in the world today and there's fights in here and he's gonna talk about this it's interesting James says what causes the fights and quarrels among you did you notice that he assumes they're there he doesn't say does anyone ever fight the church he was like alright y'all fighting what causes him and he asked us to look at the root of him and I find that interesting so we're gonna talk about that what causes the fights right and here's the thing I'm talking about it primarily in in the church because that's what James doing here but everything we're about to say unpacks in other areas of your life so just try to imagine some of you may be deal with this that there's some disagreements at your workplace I don't know anybody some of you maybe there's some fights politically across political lines I I hear tell some of you may be among your roommates right and he's gonna ask you what causes these fights he assumes they're there and here's what's interesting he's been talking kind of at the edges of our issues in the book of James why do you talk this way to each other why do you prefer rich people over poor people but what he's gonna do now in this section James is gonna get to the heart of the whole letter he's gonna say all these issues of how we talk to each other how we treat people from different socio-economic this is the heart of the letter all right so he's gonna show us our problem he's gonna show us our problems roots and then he's gonna give us the remedy you ready all right so the problem he says what's the cause of quarrels and what causes fights among you that's interesting he's asking it as a question what's the cause of your quarrels and fights and it's like he's prompting you to answer and typically we would answer with well it's because Bob is so arrogant or was because Susie's always late or it's because he's a or it's because she's always hey you expect to give an external answer right or a name and then James flizzy says is it not this is it not the passions at war within you and it's interesting that within you is not within you collectively he is a singular you there the Greek language he wrote it in has a you singular and has a y'all right so the first ones the y'all what causes fights among y'all he says it's the desires the hidden a it's where we get the word hedonism its it's the selfish desires within you and so what's interesting about that he said whatever you think the problem is it's not the problem he says what causes the battles among you are the desires within you the problems not out here the problems in there and so he goes on and says that number verse two you desire and don't have so you murder you covet and cannot obtain so you fight in plural and there's a rhythm to the text you know he's like what causes the fights and quarrels it's your pleasures within you you desire and you covet so you fight in you quarrel and so he's like what's causing the fights and quarrels it's your desires it's you internally it's something going on within you what he's saying there is the issue it's not the issue it's how you respond to the issue that's the issue let me tell you this this is a big part of premarital counseling so those of you who are like should I get free marital counseling here's some for free write it down I talked to so many couples and they have some issue well her parents keep coming to visit well she wants to spend this amount on flowers and I don't well I want to go here for the honeymoon she wants to go there and you go you know what it really doesn't matter often what the presenting issue is it's how you respond to each other when there's friction it's how you treat each other and that crisis is an opportunity to figure out how to relate in a healthy way but the issues always change but the issue is not the issue the issue is how you respond to the issue your mom's did this when you were beating up your siblings hey what are y'all okay yeah I don't care get along figure out how to get along right and what happened she doesn't care about the stuffed animal she doesn't care about who ate who smack she wants the way you handle the conflict to be healthy right so the presenting issue is not the issue it's your heart in it there is no issue that necessitates a war with among Christians let me say that again there is no issue that necessitates a war among Christians and yet it can feel that way sometimes and it can be political it can be social it can be theological I remember I wasn't there but the story was famous at my seminary I went to there was a discussion and a theology class about Calvinism verse arminianism right Arminianism emphasizes the freedom of human choice Calvinism emphasizes the sovereignty of God over all decisions and they were talking about it in class and different parts of the class started fighting among each other and it broke out into a fistfight one guy like hit another guy these two guys physically started fighting each other that great and so it became a debate at school what you should do to him right and the joke among students was well you have to punish the Armenian because he had the freedom of choice that you can't punish the Calvinists he had to hit right and little theology humor he missed it that's probably ok but hey in the past we would kill each other over stuff like that but Charles Simeon was a professor and excuse me was a pastor in Cambridge in the 1700s and he met John Wesley John Wesley one of the great Populi tzer's of our minyan ISM Charles Simeon one of the greatest preachers of the Calvinist tradition and this is what simian said when he met the Armenian John Wesley he said sir I understand that you're called an Armenian and I have been sometimes called a Calvinist therefore I suppose we are to draw our daggers but before I consent to combat with your permission I will ask a few questions praise sir do you feel yourself a depraved creature so depraved that you have never had a thought of turning to God if God had not first put that into your heart unless they said yes I do indeed and do you utterly despair of recommending yourself to God by anything you can do and look for salvation solely through the blood and righteousness of Christ yes solely through Christ but Sir supposing you at first say by Christ are you not somehow are there to save yourself afterwards by your own words no I must be saved by Christ from first to last allowing them that you were first turned by the grace of God are you not in some other way to keep yourself by your own power no I'm not what then are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God as much as an infant in a mother's arms yes all together and it's all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to preserve you into his heavenly kingdom yes I have no hope in it but him then sir with your leave I will put up my dagger again this is all my Calvinism my election my justification my final perseverance it is in substance all that I hold as I hold it therefore if you please instead of searching out terms and phrases to be the ground of contention between us we will cordially unite and those things where we agree and that fascinating rather than looking for the areas to fight he was looking for the common ground now that isn't to say we should all pretend there aren't real issues there are real issues and theologically these are serious issues to debate and some of you have serious policy issues you're debating some of you have serious friendship issues you're debating we need to all kick in for rent these are serious questions and yet they don't necessitate a war they don't necessitate quarreling fighting bickering they don't necessitate that nothing necessitates us to devolve into fighting each other there's a way toward civility right it's interesting the word quarrel in Greek is actually a the word Twitter isn't that strange just kidding but boy I tell you you know it's it's it's hard to stay on isn't it I mean I look at it sometimes and basically I followed Twitter to follow the news now I just open it up and watch Christians draw daggers they're looking for ways to fight and I'm like this is not a good witness this is not we have to have a way to discuss our issues with each other that brings peace no issue necessitates a war and so what James will say is do you know why you're fighting it's not even about the thing it's not about theology it's not about rent it's not about what you said it's it's it's the desire in you it's the selfish ambition in you and you see it sometimes in churches it's funny I just ran into this lately as people discuss other churches it's funny the way it's even discussed in like in front of me as a pastor like in town right when someone says they go to another church they kind of whisper it or break eye contact you know what I mean like well I actually go to it like they expect me to go oh really well okay if you like an authentic worship good luck over there you know like I'm supposed to be and you run into Christians who do stuff like that like it's hard to celebrate like when someone says hey I'm listening to this pastor is really helping me how many times do you go oh that's really great how many times you go oh well if you heard this guy cuz he's way better ty heard your guy you're gonna slam this guy saw and like we like why am I even fighting about that there's something in us that wants the best right and we do it in weird ways about restaurants oh my gosh you found the best taco no that's not the best I'll get the best tacos over here no that's not the best okay well you're dumb well let's go right and like we fight why cuz I want to know the best this I want to be the best that I want to be a part of the most awesome this and your awesomeness is a threat to mine there's only enough a little bit of awesome to go around and I must collect it all for me there's something selfish in us that fights like this I want more for me more for me more for me and James will say that's the issue why we're fighting the issues not the issue the fights come from a selfish desire within that's what he was saying earlier in Chapter three I kind of skipped it but he asks who's wise among you and it's funny he asks it in a way that you would raise your hands like who's wise and before you can answer he's like well nope he says don't tell me show me wisdoms shown by Good Conduct done in humility and then he talks later about wisdom those who sow and righteousness reap a harvest of peace right what's he talking about well he's talking like the wisdom literature and the wisdom literature God used wisdom to create the world the way God made the world makes sense and when the world works together it creates peace Shalom everything flourishes godly wisdom brings order out of chaos and then everyone flourishes men flourished women flourish children flourish why because we humbly serve one another and that's why I says so if you're jealous or you're ambitious he says don't boast about that or lie to the truth he said watch your heart youyou think you're wise look at your heart if there's jealousy in your heart there's ambition in your heart you're not wise because the wisdom from above produces peace he says but where you see ambition you'll see every vile practice he says it is not from above it is earthly unspiritual demonic and he's going back to Genesis when God is in the mixed he takes chaos and he brings order but not a stifling order an order that brings peace lets people flourish he says but when you have jealousy that's from the devil because the word devil comes from Diablo to judge through the devil likes to separate divide let's get Eve away from God let's get you away from each other let's sow discord between Cain and Abel let's rip it apart and if you let jealousy any ambition stew in your heart you'll be a divider in the culture that's what's so dangerous when you're building a church is this kind of stuff if you want advice on how to kill a church James is giving it to you by the way so if you're like man I really want to destroy passion city church let me tell you how to do it okay here's what you would do what you want to do is really have a selfish ambition inside I want to see myself elevated I want to be a leader around here I want people to notice me who gets to be on stage when's it my turn you want to get that selfish ambition just kind of at a low simmer okay just kind of put it on a simmer there all right and then what you want to do is you want to look around at other people who have some of the things you want and you want to just add some jealousy in okay just be like hey why did they get to do that who does she think she is what does she thinks she's so smart right and you just kind of want to let that jealousy kind of simmer in there and then as it simmers it's gonna kind of congeal into resentment and that's great okay that's key to destroying the church you really want resentment and bitterness to grow and then as you kind of add that in you're gonna watch it bubble over and what you want to bubble it over into is to gossip okay you don't yell out loud what you do in the initial days is you just do little things like roll your eyes when they talk right or when that person says some you're like you know they point out that person that has what you want just go like okay and then after a while you want to lean over to somebody else and go well you know what I heard she does this where you know what already is a liar she steals money from her office I bet right and you just want to kind of slowly talk about all around here you know these people are this and he's kind of want to so gossip into it cuz gossip has cancer in the church and it'll slowly kill it right so if you want to do this that's what you do it starts with the ambition and then you look for slights and then you accuse motives and then you attack those motives and then you marshal people to your side against that side and you slowly rip the church apart it's happened here in DC churches split churches divide happens all the time happens throughout history I remember when I first started in ministry listening to Charles Stanley talk about becoming a pastor and he talked about this very thing selfish ambition became jealousy became resentment became bitterness became whispering became factions and then at one point he was leading a church meeting and one of the guys walked up on stage and hit him in the face I kid you not I got a young pastor listening this I'm like what this dude hit him little Andy Stanley this big comes flying out after the guy I mean it was crazy and you know but that happens right but what's the root of it all the root of it's inside of you I want more me I want less you now I know some of you here this year wait a minute isn't ambition good shouldn't we want ambition is an ambition of great thing isn't ambition the cornerstone of Washington DC well listen to me according to James no because he's talking about a selfish ambition should you have a drive to succeed yeah but what's the end goal take it out of you for a minute what do you like like in your music do you like that person that's creating good music because they love music they love beauty they love tension and resolve and they want to share that beauty or do you want that person that just wants to be famous and music is a means to an end does that excite you that person who holds on to slights and bitterness all their musics filled with resentment right that not get it to you or what about acting do you love the person that just loves to act they love to embody a character they love to share that with you they like to tell you a story and they'll go to great lengths to tell that story well or do you like that person who just wants to be famous and whatever story they're in is just a means to an end whatever story they're telling doesn't even matter what they're trying to do is just advance themselves or politically do you love that person that really believes this is gonna help people so I'm gonna work hard to write this development work hard on this policy I'm gonna try to present it in a winsome way because I really think it'll help Society I do want that person like the issues not really the issue I just want to be in charge I just want to be the person driving which is exciting for you are you just like man I love selfishness it's so great I'm looking for that whenever I see someone that's just advancing just elbowing people out of the way I'm like I love that guy I want to get to know her she seems neat just the way she kind of SHIVs people on her way to the top that is so special no James will say that's demonic that's demonic and here's what's interesting he says you don't have because you don't ask he says in all this manipulation there's no supplication you know you're in trouble when you're not even praying for an issue you're just fighting to get to the top and then he says and then when you do ask you ask for wrong motives to spend it on your own passions he says you're praying for God to bless the advancement of you and then James will assess it he says in verse 4 you adulterous people which again is very James this guy is not afraid to come real at you right but I love the way he says I read a quote just today it says if all your prayers were answered would it change the world or just your world if all your prayers are just about you and advancing you man God's exposing your heart and then here's what James does when he's going to move to the root of the problem now the problem is not the external problem problems are internal problem the problems not our quarrels the problems our selfish ambition and he says the root of that problem and here's what's interesting you would think you would say hey why are we all fighting it's because we're all being selfish y'all just need to love each other y'all get along y'all be nice but he doesn't do that he actually leaves the conversation between you and me if you and me are fighting he says you know what your real problem is your real problem is not interpersonal your real problem is theological your real problems with God the reason you're fighting with each other is because you're an adulteress that's what he says you're a cheater you go what do you mean by that well he's grabbing Old Testament imagery Isaiah 54 says your maker is your husband talk to the people of God God wants to love you like a husband loves a wife Jeremiah 3 like a woman who's unfaithful to her husband you've been unfaithful to me oh Israel's what God says all through the Old Testament God uses this imagery I'm like a husband who wants to love his wife and he wants his wife to love him back and so he says the problem with the church is when you get people who come to church and they say I love God but what they're really here to do is advance themselves they say man I want to serve God but what I'm really doing is I'm trying to get myself to the hop top of the heap how do I get more likes how do I get more follows how do I get more Authority how do I get more in charge what do I need to use who do I need to move what do I need to manipulate who do I need to kill how do I get myself up front he said that is adultery because I want you to love me and what you're doing is you're loving you but you're asking me to marshal heavens resources for your earthly pursuits you're trying to use my church to advance you that's what I tell young pastors all the time you'd be careful there's some people that want to be on this stage because they want to serve people there's some people that want to be on the space stage because they want the spotlight they don't want to serve you they want to use you and one of the greatest things you can do as a pastor is not give a wolf access to the sheep but even though you're the wolf really wanted those sheep and yeah but your job is to say no if you're here to use people I can't elevate you I need to elevate the servants and if you're looking for leadership out of selfish ambition I can't serve you because you cheating on the God we're serving if you're saying I want to worship you but you're chasing popularity that's weird man I belong to Jesus but I keep sliding into the DMS of notoriety that's strange man I'm a Christian I serve Christ but I'm just really trying to hook up with money God says hey that's adultery you're an adulterous person he says don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God now he's not saying you can't have non-christian friends he's talking about a worldly system a worldly mentality is I got to build my kingdom from my power from my glory the Christian one says no I'm ditching that I'm building his kingdom with his power for his glory and you don't want to come in his house and try to build your kingdom that's weird it plays strange and some people when they dislike Christianity it's because of that this guy keeps putting God's name in his mouth but it looks like he's building his kingdom that's a dangerous thing the world doesn't like that it's it's adultery and God doesn't like it he says in verse 5 or do you suppose it's with no purpose the scripture says he yearns jealousy over the Spirit he made to dwell in us he's saying don't be in an adulterous why cuz God's jealous for you now it's interesting some people trip up over that I remember I heard Oprah in an interview was talking about why she walked away from faith in Jesus for a long time and she said I used to go to church and then I remember hearing a sermon where the pastor said God is a jealous God and she said I just thought that sounded so small so insecure like God is jealous for you like he's like he's that guy they keep like follows you like now and she said that seems so small so I had to leave it and the tragedy of that is it's a misunderstanding of what he means here he's not talking about the insecurities of God he's saying God wants you he's jealous for you saying he wants you just for himself that's not wrong to feel that way there's a healthy version of this missus talking about a healthy way it's not wrong for a woman to ask her husband to not date other women that's not small that's not like okay well if you're insecure whatever no that's um you made a covenant I promise to love you so she's not being insecure to say so stop stop calling this girl right say my name wait like that it's okay for her to say that and same with a guy it's okay if he's married to say to his wife I don't want any other guy to have you but me now yes there's an unhealthy broken crazy version of that but that's not God God has a healthy version of man I want you to love me and I love you but if you are saying you love me but really what you're just chasing is self-advancement he says that's what the devil does cuz when you start to advance you it's a contra over us and you begin to bite elbow kick and you begin to resent and some of you your daily thoughts are filled with resentment for coworkers cuz they got and I didn't get there lifting and I'm falling and your whole world is kind of filled with a toxic nature of that and it's not supposed to be like that and it can't be like that in here right we're meant to run from that now here's the crazy thing let's turn the corner cuz this sermons real depressing this parts scary cuz what James is doing right now is he's pushing us to confess right you're an adulterous person you say you love God but you love you you say you're about his purposes but you're pushing you he's doing that and what he's trying to get you to do is agree but it's interesting when people press people to confess a lot of times we back up we don't want to admit it we don't want to admit I'm being selfish we don't men Amina insecure we don't want to MIT that why because in our culture today the minute you admit fault what we say in the world is aha I knew it you sicken me wounded us you are banished she'd get out you are canceled you are tossed out get out of my sight you are not worthy to look upon and so we realize I can't confess weakness because these people will eat me alive I can't confess sin because that will diminish me more I can't confess that I'm an adulterous they'll cast me out but here's the beautiful thing in the biblical terms confession never leads to your to struction confession is the key to your redemption James is pushing to admit not so he can destroy you but so that he can exalt you because God opposes the proud he has to but he gives grace to the humble right he's pushing for confession not for destruction but for redemption so I can lift you up that's what I love about verse 6 it's so different from our culture he says you're an adulterous person and then in verse 6 he says but he gives more grace more than your insecurities more than the weird things you say more than the awkward way you'd kind of bitterly hold on to resentment against others he has more grace for that he has more healing than you have brokenness he has more grace than you have insecurities he has more love than you have hate and so the remedy is not to back away from him it's to move towards him the remedy is not to hide it's to confess it's because he has to oppose the proud but he gives grace to the humble we talked about that as we were launching this church all the time with our team it is so dangerous for a church to be proud and so I encourage my team we will not be proud people we will not be arrogant if our church grows we won't be like yeah that's because our name is passion we're not gonna be that because as soon as you do that God not only can't bless you this text says he has to walk around the other side and oppose you not only will he not bless you he'll step around and oppose you and who wants to build a church oh yeah man we're building the church that God opposes God is just against it but you know what we're gonna keep going because we have a different power and earthly unspiritual demonic power some might say we're not gonna do that so he opposes the proud I want to hear it but he gives grace to the humble he puts his God power underneath and behind the humble person and he exalts and that's the kind of power we want not one that says well it's cuz they got the best whatever it's cuz their drummer rocks well it's because they got this now man no no it's because the grace of God is working in a human life and so the key is confession so I remember for me he's worried if I can give my own personal example when I was first starting to preach a lot it was a weird thing I would get really nervous before sermons I get really anxious and I usually thought it was because I wasn't prepared enough or is because it was who's in the crowd it's important that I impressed that person it's important that they like me it's important that you approve me and I would get real nervous about do I know this text and I would focus all that nervous energy on trying to get the words just right trying to get the sermon just right and then I remember one day I was before a sermon I'm freaking out and I stopped and was like why am I so anxious and I just started questioning my heart step away from the sermon for a minute why is my heart so anxious and I realized is it because I'm worried God won't be glorified is that my biggest concern I'm just so scared if I don't say the right words God won't get glorified and Jesus won't be known and you'll all go to hell he'll be my fault like is that what I think like no actually I don't think that at all like God is gonna do his work and he spoke through a donkey in the Old Testament he speak through me he can use powerful messages through weak people and I was like then where's all the anxiety coming from like am I worried the Word of God is gonna fail like no I'm not worried that God won't be glorified I'm worried that I won't be glorified and that's where it got me all this anxiety is coming from I want you to think I'm funny I want you to think I'm wise I want you to think I'm smart I want you to think I'm cool I want you to make me popular I want you to exalt me I want to see me lift it out and then the mental picture I got in my head is of a spotlight on a stage and the goal of a sermon is to put Jesus in the spotlight and I just got this picture of Jesus in the spotlight and me going and just trying to end I'm like it's so ridiculous I don't want to do that life is too short and at the end of the day you don't need me none of you woke up this week and were like man this week is hard I just need some more Ben Stuart I need his voice no one thought that but she needed more God you needed more him and no one at your office woke up and needed more you no one in this world woke up or like if Jeana would just speak no one was looking for you but they need God and the more you try to advance you it's not gonna impress anybody and it won't have the scent of heaven on it it won't but the more you let your little kingdom fall the more you confess it I'm an adulteress person I'm trying to step into the spotlight the more you confess that God doesn't cast you out you sicken me he moves towards you and says I want to empower you so admit it admit that we have this broken heart in us but don't lose hope because God loves to bless the humble that's where the rest of this goes and verse 7 and then verse 10 he basically says the same thing to submit yourself to God and then in verse 10 humble yourselves before the Lord and then all in the middle that he's just explaining how to do that he says to submit yourself to God put yourself under him I was like what Bethany was talking about I had my plan I was trying to work and then finally I was like you know what Lord you have your plan and that doesn't mean I don't do anything but it means I stopped trying to control and manipulate you and everybody else let me just do good work let me do what's in front of me well and trust you God with determining my course I'm gonna submit myself to the authority of God I'm gonna resist the devil and the devil member that word diabolo speeds to thrust through it comes from the Old Testament word Satan which means adversary one who likes to rip apart so you need to know that if there's a desire in me that wants to elevate over somebody else I'm trying to rip apart a community God's trying to build I'm trying to tear apart a family that God's trying to knit together I don't want to be an ungodly person in a godly space so I need to resist that motive that impulse to gossip no I'm gonna kill that it's interesting I remember talking with a young man once that I told him you should be a Bible study leader he was humble loved the Lord wanted to study the Bible wanted to teach it and I told him hey man you should be a Bible study leader in our community he was like man I know I just can't do it I'm like why he's like because I know there's this desire in me to to be noticed and to be liked and I'm just scared of that motive and I was like bro then kill the motive don't kill the Bible study you're gonna not help people know God because you're worried about being arrogant kill the arrogance but don't kill the Bible study and I'll meet people that come to a church and they're like man I just got sideways with this person or this person I was sort of interested in this person they did this over here so you know what I'm just out I'm bouncing I'm gone like man don't don't kill the community because of a misunderstanding right kill the misunderstanding kill them kill the toxic impulse where's this the devil he'll flee from you you got bigger power behind you than he got drawn near to God and he'll draw near to you that's what the early church used to do in Baptism and we've talked about this I love the way they did baptism I love the way we do it so it was pretty awesome like you know there's the system's not right or wrong but I love the way they did it because before they would step into the water they would turn away from it for a second because they knew the devil used to be the pit controlling power of my life he's not anymore so before they got in that water they would turn their back and say I renounce you Satan and all your pump which I love did they use the word pump you like what is that about like all your drama I'm done with it and then they would turn and they would enter the water and the picture of any of the water is I'm United with the father and the son the Holy Spirit and God's community and I'm walking in a new life I'm resisting you I don't want that in my heart and I'm drawn near to you I'm moving towards you and then he says cleanse your hands you sinners purify you hearts you double-minded he's using priestly image of the Old Testament whenever a priest would come to serve God they would always wash their hands that's why he says cleanse your hands and then God would tell them it's not just about the externals that's a picture of you need to confess in your heart what I love about that is the priest in the Old Testament they didn't pretend they were holy God told him before you come and serve in my house you have to wash your hands what's the implication it's a symbol of your admission I'm dirty that's why we say it all the time in here you're a mess you're broken you're dirty it's not to beat you up like hey you shouldn't shame people no like that's that's where it starts that's where humility begins I walk in like I'm a mess I'm ass my name is well you know like we start there but then we come in why because we're a mess but we're invited we're broken but there's redemption for those who admit it so I wash my hands i cleanse my heart for me I tell young guys in sermon preparation fifty percent of it is mortification mortification is killing I know when I come to write a sermon so many of my motives are wrong and so I just go Lord I know if I don't talk about that broken part of my heart my whole sifting criteria of what I say or don't say will be built on whether or not these people like me and so I just need to take that motive out I need to set it before you and I need to pull out a gun and just put it down put it down boom like I need to kill that motivation take it out of my heart and some of us when you walk into an office you haven't even thought about the work of your office all you think about is those interpersonal dynamics and say you know what that person's being too loud it does not necessitate me gossiping gossip comes out of here it comes out of insecurity that God's not gonna advance me in my life it comes out of insecurity that God won't control my story so lord I need to cleanse my hands I need to purify my heart I need to pull this selfishness out before you and I did take it out back and put it down right and get it out of my heart verse 9 he says be wretched and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom you don't see that one on many coffee mugs but he's using profit imagery in the Old Testament that's what God would tell the prophets hey if you know there's something broken or the prophets through the prophets then there's something broken in your heart you don't act like you're fine you confess it though you come out and say hey this isn't part of my heart it's a mess and when you confess it then you repent and the prophets always end happy because though your joy may turn to gloom in verse 10 but if you humble yourselves before the Lord he'll exalt you he loves to lift the humble so I remember for me when I first got into ministry I left a college that the way that College kind of prepared you as a young person is you know when you graduate from here you'll take over the world like you're the smartest people on the planet so they kind of like built it was meant to build you up but it also put this insecurity of you when you step out into the world you should take over and I remember when I first stepped out into ministry I sort of had that in my mind and I stepped in as a youth pastor and I remember I got a group of about 4 students and 6 adults that by the end of it I remember I had grown to 0 adults and one student and I member sitting there at this Bible study with little Austin Baldrige just me and him and I was so mad and after a while I was like why am i so mad I was like I'm mad because Austin is in a hundred people he's just one person like is that about Austin right no it's about my heart and I remember I felt like God pressed into me with that same thing he'd asked Peter Peter do you love me and I felt like he was like Ben do you love me yes Lord you know that I love you and he said then feed my sheep one sheep often and and and what God convicted me in my heart at that moment was I didn't love Austin I wanted to use Austin and his friends to elevate me and God exposed the selfishness in me he says do you see it that's why I can't give you more because you'll use my sheep instead of love them we have to kill that and something broke in me that day ministry is not about self exaltation it's about serving and loving others and it's not just ministry it's the same with art it's the same with business it's the same with government God gifted you so you could help us God put ideas in your mind for the common good God gave you skillsets to make the world a better place for us you don't need selfish ambition to drive you in your goal that's a toxic version you do need to work hard but for God's glory and our good you write music for God's glory to encourage us we'll listen to it you write policies for God's glory and our good you'll have a hearing you do business in a way that helps humanity flourish God will bless that but selfish ambition you don't need it and so I'll tell you what I had to bury that all these desires to be something in ministry you know what the craziest thing happened is I just went and started studying the Word of God and teaching a little Austin and then Austin brought a friend they brought some friends suddenly I had a ministry of 15 people so I started a brand stead print my own shirts with my face on it now I'm skipping no you just keep serving man and what happened was the craziest thing this is one youth pastor asked me if I'd come speak to his kids I was like yeah I'll do that so I spoke to his kids and someone was in that room that said hey can you speak at this deal that's a citywide thing yeah sure so I spoke at that thing and then while I was there another guy said hey can you come speak at the single scene Houston like yeah sure so spoke at that thing he's like hey will you be our weekly guy that teaches of this single thing and I remember it's the weirdest thing I was sitting in the parking lot of that church and it was one of the biggest things going in Houston and I sat in the parking lot before I went in there and I was like you know what's crazy me of five years ago would have done anything to be in this position now the me right now doesn't care honestly and sincerely doesn't care I care about these people and I want him to know God but I don't care about the exaltation of Ben and I started crying kind of embarrassing I was glad I was by myself because I realized God had healed my heart not me I didn't fix it but I confessed it I was an adulterous person trying to use you to elevate me and when you confess that and humble yourself he exalts in due time he lists in due time he's gonna use you he's gonna bless you and he's gonna bless us through you

Channel: Passion City Church DC

Views: 26,290

Rating: 4.9406919 out of 5

Keywords: passion city church, passion church, passion city church worship, passion city, city church, passion, passion city church sermons, washington, washington dc, Washington dc, ben stuart, ben, Adultary, this changes everything

Id: ft-Og-PYP9g

Length: 43min 7sec (2587 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 13 2019