Transcript for Living in God's Kingdom (Closed Captioned)

August 15, 2010 Sermon

Our text is taken from the Epistle to the Romans,

where we read from Chapter 14

beginning with Verse 13:

THEREFORE LET US STOP PASSING JUDGMENT ON ONE ANOTHER.

INSTEAD, MAKE UP YOUR MIND

NOT TO PUT ANY STUMBLING BLOCK

OR OBSTACLE IN YOUR BROTHER'S WAY.

AS ONE WHO IS IN THE LORD JESUS, I AM

FULLY CONVINCED THAT NO FOOD IS UNCLEAN

IN ITSELF. BUT IF ANYONE REGARDS

SOMETHING AS UNCLEAN, THEN FOR HIM

IT IS UNCLEAN. IF YOUR BROTHER IS DISTRESSED

BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU EAT, YOU ARE NO LONGER

ACTING IN LOVE. DO NOT BY YOUR EATING

DESTROY YOUR BROTHER FOR WHOM CHRIST DIED.

DO NOT ALLOW WHAT YOU CONSIDER GOOD

TO BE SPOKEN OF AS EVIL.

FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT A MATTER OF EATING AND

DRINKING, BUT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE

AND JOY IN THE HOLY SPIRIT,

BECAUSE ANYONE WHO SERVES CHRIST IN THIS WAY

IS PLEASING TO GOD AND APPROVED BY MEN.

LET US THEREFORE MAKE EVERY EFFORT

TO DO WHAT LEADS TO PEACE AND TO

MUTUAL EDIFICATION. This is the Word of our Lord.

Let us pray:

This is the day that the Lord has made.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Amen.

Text taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL

VERSION 1978, used by permission of

Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Dear Followers of our Lord and Savior,

Jesus Christ.

Remember Lot's wife?

Jesus said to His disciples,

in talking about the Kingdom of God:

"Remember Lot's wife"

who with her husband, moved

to the city of Sodom and Gomorrah.

They looked at that area and

it looked good to them. It was a great place

to live. There were lots of blessings.

So Lot and his wife, moved near

to that city. All of a sudden then

we hear that they were living IN the city.

And we're all familiar with the account

of when the angels came to visit Lot,

and how depraved and sick

the people of that time were.

Lot's wife was IN THAT HOUSE

when those people were beating down

the door to rape their visitors.

Lot's wife was IN THAT HOUSE

when Lot offered his daughters

to those people instead.

Lot's wife

was WITH Lot when God came to

rescue him from that depravity

from the world that was not uplifting him

and not supporting his faith

and Lot and his family ran from

Sodom and Gomorrah ...

"Remember Lot's wife".

She looked back.

I wonder what she thought ...

Oh my beautiful house,

all of those things

that I had there;

I had to leave them behind. All of my

wonderful friends. All of

the things of this world

that she had to see

one more time

but the fire and brimstone raining down from heaven

and annihilated

everything that her mind

was fixed on.

"Remember Lot's

wife".

Because how difficult it is

even for us today who live

in the Kingdom of God ...

who have received faith by the gift

of the Holy Spirit ... who know and understand what

God's will is ... how easy it is

for us ... to look back.

To want something else.

To look at the world and be envious

Scripture says that's even a problem for us.

But we live in the Kingdom of God.

And we are to live in God's righteousness

but we know how difficult that is

for us. Even how difficult it was

for the church in Rome that Paul was writing to.

That was an interesting congregation

because it had both converts

from Judaism in it as well as

new Christian Gentiles in it;

coming together ... trying to figure out how they were

going to live and work together

to promote God's Kingdom.

And it wasn't going so well

because they had difficulties

'cause they kept looking back.

The Jews kept looking back to what was so

familiar to them. Their dietary

laws, the Laws of Scripture,

circumcision. The Gentiles

kept looking back to everything that they had

in their life before coming to faith

and it was destroying their congregation ...

because everybody was passing judgment

on everyone else.

We had the Gentiles saying to the Jews: Stop

cramming the Law down us.

That doesn't apply anymore. Christ destroyed it. We

live in freedom. We can eat

whatever we want ... bacon cheeseburgers,

if we want, are fine now.

But the Jews kept saying:

Oh, it just irks me when those Gentiles

go over there and eat that meat that is on sale

because it was sacrificed to idols.

How can they even think

of putting that food

into their mouths knowing that it was that close

to an idol.

And they just kept tearing the congregation apart

by arguing and bickering and judging

each other. And the Apostle Paul

came to them and said: You know the Kingdom of God is not

about what you eat. It's not about

what you drink. The Kingdom of God is about the

righteousness of Christ. It is

what is INSIDE of you. It is not

living in such a way as to

make yourself look good. Or to make yourself

look better than the person next to you.

It is about Christ living IN you.

That faith that has been given to you

and that wonderful gift of God enables you

to live in a way that pleases God;

in the freedom from your sins.

The removal of those sins from you means that there is

no longer guilt in your life.

Because you can't have guilt for something

you don't have.

And you don't have that punishment of sin on you.

Christ took that punishment on Himself.

He took that punishment

to the cross of Calvary.

And He died so that

we could be forgiven.

He took our sins upon Himself

and in place He has

given us His righteousness ...

His holiness. And we're reminded

that we're to live in that righteousness,

not some manmade righteousness that we make up and

decide this is what makes us a good Christian.

And there are a lot of groups and people

that do that today. If you wanna be a good Christian

you can't have any alcohol ever.

If you wanna live your life of faith, you should have no

caffeine. You should never treat ... mistreat animals

therefore all of us should be vegans.

We all come to this place

with our own ideas.

And there's nothing wrong with some of those ideas.

If you cannot use alcohol wisely,

then you shouldn't be drinking it.

And, for you, that is something that is going to be

outside of what you can do.

But you can't make that law and say:

This is what ALL Christians do.

Or more importantly ... to stand in judgment

on someone else and say: I am better

because you do that. The Apostle Paul says

it's not about what you drink.

It's not about what you eat, so STOP

judging each other.

Stop coming down so hard on each other and maybe

look at yourself.

Because it may be perfectly fine

for you to eat meat bought at a store

that is run by a bunch of Mormons.

How dare you support the Mormon Church with your money?

Well, let's not go to Vons anymore. You know let's never

drink a Coke because they're owned by the Mormons, too.

We may as well just run over there and give them an

offering and there are people who think that way. That's not

what the Kingdom of God is about.

It's about believing in Jesus Christ

and living that life of love

so that the people who are

your believers are encouraged

and not torn down.

And you can have your opinion.

It's not law; it is an opinion.

But if your opinion

is putting someone else who worships

with you into a place of despair,

into a place of feeling that they're somehow not as good a

Christian, or that they are second-rate in comparison

to you, you have NOT

treated your brother or sister in the faith

with love.

You put a stumbling block in the way to their

relationship with Christ.

So sometimes it means even though we know we

CAN ...

we may not do it.

Because Paul says it's all about

loving each other ... supporting each other.

It doesn't mean that you're going to let anyone else

speak badly of what you

consider good.

But you're going to educate that person.

And sometimes it's going to take years of education,

as well as years of example,

to say that this is okay.

For someone

who can't drink any alcohol at all,

and it really is a serious issue for them.

You don't bring them into your home and pour them a glass of

wine and yourself a glass of wine and toast them

even though you could.

But there may be a time when you can sit down with them and

say: I understand that this is a difficulty for you.

But God in His Scripture even says:

A little wine is good for the stomach.

But we do that in love,

not in condemnation.

Living in the Kingdom of God

means that we live at peace with God.

And that really is, I think, the first place for us

to start. We, as individuals,

need to be at peace with God

in our relationship with Him.

To honestly know and understand

that He loves us. That He

has freed us from our sins. That He

says to us: This world is

yours to use in connection with your faith

if you use it wisely.

And that's fine

and we make those decisions for our life

based on the Law of God

and the common sense that He has given to us.

And we live at peace with that.

And we realize that the person who sits in the pew behind us

or in front of us, in

adiaphora can come to different conclusions

that are the total opposite of ours.

But, in peace, we can come

and worship together.

To love each other. To understand

each other. Because it is about

the Kingdom of God and His

righteousness. Not looking back

to what we missed from the days when we were outside

of the faith. Not looking back

to holding on to the things of this world. Because Jesus

told His disciples that's what

everybody was doing.

When Lot and his wife left the house,

that's what everybody was doing.

When Noah was building the ark, everybody was

going along their merry little life, having a

wonderful time; they were eating, they were drinking,

they were sleeping, they were going to work. They were

doing the things of daily life.

Nobody heard ... the door

on the ark close.

Nobody saw ...

Lot and his wife running to the hills

and the fire and brimstone coming down.

And the Kingdom of God is going to come

in the same way to us.

You're gonna be outside of your house;

you're not gonna have time to run in and grab whatever you

think you have to have with you to go to heaven.

If you're at work,

you're not gonna get home.

You may be lying in bed with your wife,

or your husband and it's still going to happen.

And the faithful

are going to be taken to be with the Lord.

And those who do not believe

will be eternally condemned.

[Pause]

And that could happen today.

So we look at our lives

and we understand they're temporary.

We understand ... that we're

here to help each other and support each other

through the difficulties of living

in this world.

So we stop judging each other. We stop

nitpicking and ripping each other apart.

But we come back to what James said:

Submit to the will of God.

Be at peace with God.

Live at peace, and live in the joy

of the Holy Spirit. Not looking to the world

for its answers and its pleasures, but turning

to our King. Turning to our God and saying:

I live for You because

You lived and died for me.

"Remember Lot's wife".

Every time you pick up that salt shaker ...

that really was her end.

We have so much more

in store. We have

the Kingdom of God for all eternity

with Christ in His heaven.

Live in the Kingdom of God

and serve Him.

Amen.

Let us rise.

Now may the peace of God which goes beyond

all of our understanding, keep your hearts

and your minds and especially your lives,

in the one true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.