What is your focus?

There was a set of stories told about ministers and churches.

These stories illustrate the good and bad of ministry and church work.

One preacher was asked to write a job description of what he thought his job really was.

He spent a lot of time working on this job description.

He gave it to the elders and deacons of the church and they came back and met with him.

The elder told the preacher, we loved the job description that you typed up for us.  The good news is We loved it

But the bad news is that we loved it so much and were so impressed with it that we have decided to fire you and go out and find a preacher that fits this description.

Another preacher was told that the ladies class had good news for him.

They had voted to send him a get well card to him because he was sick.

The Bad news is that the vote was 21-20 to send the card out of the forty one women in the class.

Another preacher was told -
Hey we have good news for you – someone loves your sermons – Mrs.. Jones loves your sermons

The bad news is that she also loves heavy metal music, the move Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the Gong Show.

Well life is like that at times isn’t it?

Bad news and good news.

Today I want to talk about how we handle things in life. 

Bad things are going to happen and good things but how do we handle these events in our lives.

There is interesting  research study done by Vicki Medvec, a professor at Northwestern University.

She studied Olympic medalists and she discovered that Bronze medalists were happier than Silver medalists. Here’s why.

Medvec found that Silver medalists tended to focus on how close they came to winning gold so they weren’t satisfied with silver.

 Bronze medalists tended to focus on how close they came to not winning a medal at all so they were just happy to be on the medal stand at all.

I think that study reveals a fascinating facet of human nature: your focus determines your reality.

How we feel isn’t determined by objective circumstances.

 If that was the case, Silver Medalists would be happier than Bronze medalists because they had an objectively better result.

But how we feel isn’t determined by our objective circumstances. How we feel is determined by our subjective focus.

Here’s another way of saying it: your internal attitudes are more important than your external circumstances.

John Milton said it best: “The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make a Heaven out of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”

That’s so true isn’t it?

All of us know people who can find something good to focus on even in the worst of circumstances.

And all of us know someone who can find something bad to focus on even in the best of circumstances.

There is a universal principle I need to share with you right out of the gate: we tend to see what we’re looking for.

I think there are two basic types of people in the world: complainers and worshippers.

 Complainers can always find something to complain about. Worshippers can always find something to praise God about.

We see this in the nation of Israel when they are being lead by Moses from Egypt to the Promised Land.

Instead of seeing God’s blessing of provision of manna from Heaven and water in the wilderness the murmur and complain.

Instead of praising and worshipping God they complain that they had it better in Egypt. 

All of us develop hypotheses about everything all the time.

 Then we look for evidence to support our hypotheses and ignore evidence to the contrary.

For example, if you decide you don’t like someone you’ll notice everything that is wrong with that person.

And you’ll probably ignore anything you could potentially like about them.

 The flipside is true as well. If you’re head-over-heels in love with someone you tend to only notice those things you love about them.

We see what we’re looking for.

What does that have to do with worship?

A worshipper makes a pre-decision to look for something to praise God about even in the direst of circumstances.

We see this very thing in our passage today in Acts chapter 16

Bad Day

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas are in a prison cell in Philippi.

I’d encourage you to read the entire chapter yourself, but let me set the scene.

Paul casts a demon out of a fortune-teller.

Her master doesn’t like it because she loses the ability to predict the future so he has Paul and Silas arrested.

As a matter of fact one of the themes we see in Acts of the Apostles is how the Gospel changes the economics of the world.

The Gospel changes things so much that it even changes how people make money and how they spend money.

Consider these places in Acts when we see this in action.

1)    Ananias and Sapphirra in Acts 5 and the property that they bring to the Apostles feet.

Acts 8 when Simon the Sorceror tries to buy the gift of God with money

Acts 19 and Ephesus how the work of the Gospel had hit the pocket books of the idol makers of Artemis.

We see that when the Gospel comes to a place and changes everything about that place.

Paganism is challenged the Political authorities are challenged and even the economics of an area are challenged.

Anyone that says the Bible doesn’t talk about money or politics must have not read Acts of the Apostles.

Acts of the Apostles is one of the most challenging books to the politics of the age and reminds the Romans that even they are accountable to God.

So with all this in mind and Paul and Silas in hot water we will turn to our text.

Acts 16:22 says, 22 The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. 23 When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely 24and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks

I think we read a story like this and it’s almost tough to put ourselves in their shoes. I’ve had bad days before, but nothing like this.

We come home from work and think we have had a bad day but nothing could stack up to being arrested, beaten half to death and then locked up in a dungeon.

If I’m Paul or Silas I’m emotionally and physically and spiritually spent. I’m drained to the last drop. I’ve got nothing left to give.

Their backs are bleeding from their beating.

They are black and blue all over.

And they had to be ticked off. I’ve never had a mob form against me, but I’m guessing that’ll set you off emotionally.

And to top it off they land in the maximum security cell in stocks!

It just doesn’t get much worse than that. And that’s why this next verse is so amazing to me.

 Acts 16:25 says 25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;

If is were me, the text might read around midnight, he was complaining and moaning to anyone that might listen.

But not Paul, he had an attitude of worship toward God.

Zoom Out

Let me share something I’ve learned from personal experience.

When I get into a spiritual or emotional slump, it’s usually because I’ve zoomed in on a problem. I’m fixating on something that is wrong.

 I’m focused on the wrong thing. Nine times out of ten, the solution is zooming out so I can get some perspective.

I will focus on all the negative going on that I lose sight of the big picture.

I forget that I am God’s child and everything will work out for His purposes and I should be content with that.

Sometimes you’ve got to zoom out and look at the big picture.

That’s what the following college student did in writing this letter:

Dear Mom and Dad,

I have so much to tell you. Because of the fire in my dorm set off by student riots, I experienced temporary lung damage and had to go to the hospital. While I was there, I fell in love with an orderly, and we have moved in together. I dropped out of school, and he got fired because of his drinking, so we’re going to move to Alaska, where we are getting married.

Your loving daughter

PS: None of this really happened, but I did flunk my chemistry class and I wanted to keep it in perspective.

Sometimes you need to zoom out and look at the big picture. You fail a chemistry exam and it feels like the end of the world. But it’s not.

So how do we zoom out?

Let me give you a one word answer: worship.

Worshipping is taking our eyes off of our external circumstances and focusing on God.

We stop focusing on what’s wrong with us or with our circumstances.

We start focus on what’s right with God.

Paul and Silas could have zoomed in and complained about their circumstances.

God, we cast out a demon and this is what we get?

 We’re on a missionary journey and we get beaten and thrown in jail?

 Instead of “watching our back” our backs are bleeding from a beating!

They could have complained till the cows came home.

But they made a choice to worship God inspite of their external circumstances.

Here’s what worship does. It restores spiritual equilibrium.

 It helps you regain your perspective.

It enables you to find something right to praise God about even when everything seems to be going wrong.

Worship is zooming out and refocusing on the big picture.

It’s refocusing on the fact that two thousand years ago, Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin.

 It’s refocusing on the fact that God loves me when I least expect it and least deserve it.

It’s refocusing on the fact that God is going to get me where God wants me to go.

 It’s refocusing on the fact that I have eternity with God to look forward to in a place where there is no mourning or sorrow or pain.

Worship is refocusing on the fundamentals of our faith

And here is what happens: God restores the joy of our salvation.

We regain our spiritual equilibrium.

Is it easy? Absolutely not.

Nothing is more difficult than praising God when everything seems to be going wrong.

 But one of the purest form of worship is praising God even when you don’t feel like it because it shows God that your worship isn’t based on circumstances.

 Worship is based on the character of God.

Oliver Wendel Holmes said there are two kinds of simplicity: simplicity on the near-side of complexity and simplicity on the far-side of complexity.

In the same sense, I think there is worship on the near-side of suffering and worship on the far-side of suffering.

Worship on the far-side of suffering has greater density and purity! It is rising above your circumstances.

 

George Bernhard Shaw said, “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.”

Worship is reframing our circumstances.

Response-Ability

There is a book called Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl.

 Frankl was a Holocaust survivor who wrote about his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp.

Everything was taken away from these prisoners.

 They were stripped of their clothing, their pictures, and their personal belongings.

They even took away their names and gave them numbers.

Frankl was number 119,104.

Everything was taken away except one thing.

Frankl said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”

I’m absolutely convinced that the most important choice you make everyday is your attitude.

Your internal attitudes are more important than your external circumstances.

The outcome of your life will be determined by your outlook on life.

 If you have a critical or complaining spirit you’ll complain till the day you die.

Your life will get worse and worse because you’ll accumulate more and more negative experiences.

But if you have a worshipful spirit life gets better and better. Why? Because you accumulate positive memories.

At the end of the day, one way or the other, your focus determines your reality!

I think response-ability is one dimension of the Imago Dei or image of God.

We have free choice. We are response-able. In other words, we have the ability to choose our response in any set of circumstances.

Paul and Silas were in prison. Their bodies were chained.

 But you can’t chain the human spirit.

That’s what Victor Frankl discovered in the concentration camp.

That’s what Paul and Silas modeled two thousand years ago. Their bodies were chained, but their spirits soared.

I could imagine what it must have sounded like with Paul and Silas singing at the top of their lungs.

You know they were probably belting out the Psalm they were signing with all the energy they could muster.

I don’t think Paul and Silas were In Sync.

 But I think they sang with a conviction that caused their fellow prisoners to listen. They praised God at the top of their voices!

And that choice to worship set off a chain reaction.

Premeditated Cognitive Commitments

Albert Einstein said, “You can’t solve a problem on the level it was created.”

 I think problems created on a human plane are solved on the supernatural plane.

That’s what happens when we worship God. It changes the spiritual atmosphere. It charges the spiritual atmosphere.

I don’t think Paul could have planned this miraculous jailbreak.

 To make a long story short, there is an earthquake.

 The prisoners are set free, but they don’t leave!

The Jailer is about to commit suicide but Paul stops him.

The Philippian Jailer is baptized with his entire household.

You can’t script that kind of thing. You can’t plan God’s intervention into your life.

But when you worship God in the worst of Circumstances you never know what is going to happen. Worship sets the stage for awesome things to happen.

 Worship causes spiritual earthquakes that can change the topography of your life.

 Worship is a shifting of the tectonic plates in your life. It may not change your circumstances. But it will change your life.

Worship is the way we stay positive in negative circumstances.

 And it’s not a placebo! It’s reality.

No matter how bad things get, as a follower of Christ, I have eternity in heaven to look forward to!

My pain is real. But so is heaven.

 The good news is that this reality is temporary. That reality lasts forever!

The key is focusing on the right reality!

I read a fascinating statistic this week. Research indicates that the average person talks to himself or herself about 50,000 times a day.

Any guess on what percentage of self-talk is negative?

Research indicates that 80% of self-talk is negative.

We say negative things to ourselves. I’m not good enough. I’m not smart enough. And, doggone it, people don’t like me.

So here’s what happens: we let what’s wrong with us keep us from worshipping what’s right about God. We’re focused on the wrong reality.

In her book, Mindfulness, Ellen Langer says that all of us have “premeditated cognitive commitments.”

Translation: we tend to see what we’re looking for.

A pessimist will always see something bad in a good situation and an optimist will always see something good in a bad situation.

Paul gives some priceless advice in Philippians 4:8.

It’ a list of eight premeditated cognitive commitments.

He says, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

A worshipper always finds something to praise God for because they’re looking for something to praise God for. Worship is a premeditated cognitive commitment based on ultimate reality.

Chains

Here’s a closing thought: the circumstances you complain about becomes chains that imprison you.

Worship is the way out.

It was worship that set Paul and Silas free physically.

And it’s worship that will set you free emotionally and spiritually. Worship sets off a chain reaction. The prison doors fly open.

 The chains break free.

Are there circumstances that you’re allowing to imprison you? Have your complaints about someone or something become chains?

Stop focusing on what’s wrong about you or your circumstances. Start focusing on what’s right about God.

Here’s an assignment.

Every time we lapse back into negative thoughts remember this verse

. Psalm 103:2 says, “Praise the Lord and forget not all his benefits.”

When we see the negative of our situation we need to stop and say this verse over and over again until it is ingrained in us.

In the words of the hymn:

Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings. See what God has done.

Your focus will determine your reality!

 

A Church Committed to Loving through Conflict

Two friends were walking in the woods one day when suddenly they stumbled upon an angry Grizzly Bear.

One of the friends did something really unbelievable.

He sat down and got his running shoes out of his back pack.

He started to lace up his Nike shoes very quickly.

The friend asked him “are you crazy, why are you putting on running shoes?”

There is no way we can outrun a grizzly bear they can run up to 30 mph.

The man looked at his friend and told him I don’t have to outrun the grizzly bear, I just have to outrun you.

Sometimes people feel that way about life and about conflict.

Instead of trying to do the hard part of working through issues many times in our relationships we see life as a competition.

It happens in our marriages and in our churches today.

Today we are going to see true conflict come to the Church.

A real controversy will come upon the early Christians.

So far in Acts we have seen the Gospel go out of Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria and now to the world.

For the first time we are being introduced to Gentile Churches.

For a time in Church history the church was 100 percent Jewish but now with Paul’s mission to the Gentiles we see Gentile Churches.

IN this first missionary journey we see new Churches planted in Asia Minor that will be predominantely Gentile.

This new situation could be explosive and bring problems to the early Church.

Our text for today comes from Acts 15, where we see the early believers having a big dispute over theological issues.

The Christian movement had been advancing rapidly up until this point, but then some Jewish believers came into the picture and told the new believers that they needed to follow the laws of Moses in order to be saved.

To set the passage up and understand the situation we need to know what was going on. 

You had Jewish Christians believing that the new Gentile converts needed to be circumcised and carrying out some of the Law of Moses.

This is a big question.

What is the role of the Law of Moses in the life of a Christian.

This had to be resolved and in the text this morning we will see this conflict come out.

It is rather lengthy reading but we need to get through it to understand the situation.

Acts 15: 1-21

1Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." 2 And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue. 3Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the brethren. 4 When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. 5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses." 6The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. 7 After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren , you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 "And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; 9 and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. 10"Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear ? 11 "But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are." 12All the people kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13After they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying, "Brethren , listen to me. 14 "Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name. 15 "With this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written, 16 'AFTER THESE THINGS I will return, AND I WILL REBUILD THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID WHICH HAS FALLEN, AND I WILL REBUILD ITS RUINS, AND I WILL RESTORE IT, 17SO THAT THE REST OF MANKIND MAY SEEK THE LORD, AND ALL THE GENTILES WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME,' 18SAYS THE LORD, WHO MAKES THESE THINGS KNOWN FROM LONG AGO. 19"Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, 20 but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. 21 "For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath."

While our first instinct would be to write these people off as troublemakers, I really have trouble believing that their intentions were all bad.

After all, as verse 1 tells us, their concern was that the new believers would be saved – doesn’t sound to me as though they were trying to make trouble for them.

 Also, verse 5 recognizes these people as “believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees.”

So they weren’t necessarily trying to destroy the new movement, but I believe that they were trying to make it work the only way they knew how – by following the laws of Moses.

Still, this brought them into sharp dispute with Paul and Barnabas, and so a council was convened at Jerusalem to settle this matter.

From this text, we get a few of ideas of what to do whenever disputes arise in the church.

Even though these men probably meant well by trying to impose the Law of Moses on the new believers it still needed to be dealt with.

I. We need to be able to distinguish between what is and is not worth disputing over

(vv. 5-6) We see from these two verses that the apostles felt this statement was worth discussing.

The Apostles thought that this matter was worth looking into.

These converted Pharisees preferred a legalistic religion to one based on faith alone.

Had they been allowed to continue teaching this without any discussion, the Gentiles would have been circumcised and essentially converted to Judaism.

This would have confined Christianity to simply being another sect within Judaism.

 So, this was a very crucial discussion.

Too often in the church, we have ignored discussing crucial matters.

Sometimes we prefer to avoid talking about our disagreements because it is easier than working through them.

 The problem with avoiding these areas of disagreement is that they don’t go away – they only fester and grow until it reaches a boiling point, and then our disagreements come out in an unhealthy way.

So, we need to know when to talk about different issues we may have.

On the other hand, we also need to realize that some things simply are not worth fighting over.

 Chuck Swindoll, in his book The Grace Awakening, writes of a church that had a vibrant ministry and was having a powerful impact on their community.

But then, a disagreement began to form.

 While it seemed small and insignificant at first, it grew and grew until the church was sharply divided.

When it was apparent that this issue could not be solved in a manner that would be suitable to every one, half of the congregation left to form their own church.

 Today, while both churches still exist, neither has the outreach ministry that they did before. Would you like to know what the disagreement was over?

Well, it seems that the church, after their services, would have a time of fellowship with coffee and light refreshments.

The disagreement was over whether the coffee should be served by the back door or in the fellowship hall. An issue that small and petty destroyed what had been a great ministry.

This congregation simply did not understand that some things are not worth arguing over.

I Tim. 1:3-5 tells us that the goal of God’s command is love, and this is the law by which we are to live.

II. Trouble needs to be handled by those who are spiritually mature (vv. 7-12)

One thing that is interesting to me as I read through the book of Acts is that you really see Peter come of age, so to speak.

 In the gospels, Peter is always the disciple who just doesn’t quite get it, no matter how many times Jesus explains things to him.

 But in the book of Acts, after Peter has received the Holy Spirit, he finally understands what it’s all about!

I also believe that Peter has matured through is many failures and shortcomings.

Sometimes life is like that – when you make mistakes you learn from them and you grow up in Christ.

Peter emerges in Acts as a mature leader in the Church.

He realizes that the Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit when they believed by faith, not because they had done any works of the law.

 The presence of the Spirit in them was the clearest evidence that God had accepted them.

Peter understood that to make following the law necessary for salvation would be putting God to the test, because it would be doubting His wisdom and plan and arrogantly pursuing a different course of action.

 The Peter that we read about in the gospels did not understand this, but now that he is more mature, he is able to make this kind of proclamation.

(v. 12) After Peter spoke; Paul and Barnabas gave their own experience of how God had worked among the Gentiles, which reinforced the fact that God had blessed the ministry to those who were not Jews.

Again, God used the experience of two mature believers to help the early church through this conflict.

Likewise, God has given us people who are mature that we should be listening to.

This process of maturity is not an overnight thing and we should expect mature Christians as one that have had to grow up in their faith.

I don’t know if you guys remember the Russian comedian that was popular during the 1980s but he once did a real funny stand up comedy routine.

Yakov Smirnoff’s, initial response to the incredible variety of instant products available in American grocery stores.

He said, "On my first shopping trip, I saw powdered milk--you just add water, and you get milk.

 Then I saw powdered orange juice--you just add water, and you get orange juice.

And then I saw baby powder, and I thought to my self, what a country!"

Wow just add water to baby powder and poof a baby – well we know it isn’t that easy but that is the mentality of our world.

We want instant everything.

Instant food, service you name it.

But in the Church it is not so – Spiritual maturity is the type that comes with time, prayer, bible study, and life experiences that mold and shape us.

Going back to the story of the church that split over the coffee issue,

I’m sure there had to have been at least one or two voices of reason there that were trying to remind people of just how insignificant this was.

 We need to be able to look around and realize that there are spiritually mature people who can help us through times of conflict.

(Proverbs 13:10) By following the advice of those who are spiritually mature,

we can avoid the pride that so often results in the kind of harmful conflict that causes division.

So how do we recognize who is spiritually mature? Is someone spiritually mature because they have been going to church all of their lives?

No, not necessarily. The benchmarks of maturity are much deeper than that.

Someone is mature if they have been walking with the Lord.

I would say that the fruits of the Holy Spirit would be evident in their lives.

Paul tells us in Galatians 5 what a mature Christian looks like:

 

Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control ; against such things there is no law.

III. Decisions must be based on God’s Word (vv. 13-18)

Peter, Paul, and Barnabas had just given testimony of what their experiences had been, but now James gets up and quotes this prophecy from the book of Amos.

 In doing so, James turned to God’s Word as the ultimate test of truth.

This should be the way we evaluate events.

We all have beliefs. We all have experiences.

And the tendency is for us to want to measure others by our yardstick.

How many times do we hear people disagree and hear them say things like,

I just feel like this is right

Or they may say in my estimation. In my mind this is right.

That is not the standard for Christians.

Our standard in all things is the Bible. 

 It is common for believers to think that their experience and their convictions are true and should be the norm.

Different ideas are thought to be inferior or invalid.

 Ultimately, however, what matters is what God’s Word says.

The more we know God’s Word, the more we read it and study it and memorize it and meditate on it, the better we will be able to discern what is right and best in times of controversy or disagreement.

A circuit-riding preacher entered one church building with his young son, and dropped a coin into the offering box in the back.

 Not many came that Sunday, and those who did didn’t seem too excited about what was said.

After the service, the preacher and son walked to the back, and he emptied the box.

Out fell one coin.

The young boy said, "Dad, if you’d have put more in, you’d have gotten more out!"

 If we will put great effort into our reading and studying of the Bible, then we will get more out of it.

According to a 1996 Barna survey, 42% of Americans say they believe that the Bible is the literal word of God.

Yet almost half of Americans believe that the Bible is too hard for them to understand,

so on given week very few people actually read the book they claim to embrace as God’s literal word

God expects us to get into the Bible and grow up in our faith.

We are called to grapple with the text of the Bible and I promise that if you spend enough time with the Bible is will make sense to you. 

God wants us to grow up in our faith.  He wants the entire Church to grow up.

Ephesians 4: 11-15

11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ ; 13until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming ; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,

Paul talks about a non-mature Church as one being tossed to and fro.

If you are not grounded in the Bible you could be deceived by all kinds of things.

The Bible is the anchor in a sea of relativity.

The Bible gives us the gold standard for how to handle the business of the Church.

Churches that have neglected the Bible are in danger of apostasy as well as in danger of having great conflict.

If we submit as one group to the authority of the Bible it leaves little room for conflict.

 

IV. We must be aware of the sensitivities of others (vv. 19-21)

James concludes his speech by talking about the need for the Gentile believers to refrain from things that may make the Jewish believers squeamish.

He tells them to abstain from eating food that had been sacrificed to idols,

from eating the blood of animals and from eating the meat of an animal that had been strangled.

The Jews believed that one’s life was in its blood,

and by strangling an animal, you were not allowing the blood to drain out and so it’s life was still present in the body.

None of these dietary regulations had anything at all to do with the new faith that the Gentiles were accepting,

but rather they were given out of a sense of sensitivity to the Jewish believers.

 Even though the new believers were not under the law and were free to eat whatever they pleased,

they were still asked to refrain from these things so as not to offend the consciences of the Jews.

This is another lesson we need to learn in dealing with our disagreements.

 So often we get focused on our own needs and desires that we are unable to see things from other people’s perspectives.

 This refusal to consider others often only causes our disagreements to escalate into an unhealthy conflict, because others sense that they are not cared about.

 Our human tendency is to be self-centered, but we as believers have been called to be imitators of Christ.

Some people are just beat up by life in our midst.

I know as a school teacher I have learned to discern when a child is really in need. I have grown to try to see when a kids behavior might stem from a terrible home life.

People are walking around with things that they have to bear and that explains why they may not be happy or joyful people.

They are bearing things really tough.

Max Lacado relates a story in his book the eye of the storm.

 Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming.

 One second he was peacefully perched in his cage, and the next he was sucked in, washed up and blown over.

 The problem began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner.

She put the end of the hose into Chippie’s cage to clean the bottom, but then the phone rang.

 She turned to answer the phone, and barely said “hello” when she heard “ssssopp!”

Chippie was sucked into the vacuum.

The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and quickly opened the bag.

There was Chippie…still alive, but stunned.

Since the bird was covered with dust and dirt, she raced him to the bathroom, turned on the water and held Chippie under the running water.

Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do…

she reached for the hair blow dryer and blasted Chippie with hot air.

Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.

A few days after the trauma, the reporter who had initially written about the traumatic event called Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering.

Well,” the owner replied, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore…he just sits and stares.”

And it’s not hard to see why.

Sucked in, washed up, and blown over…that’s enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart.

Some people feel like life is gobbling them  up like a vacuum and they feel washed over.

We need to be discerning to this in our lives.  People may need us to bear them up when their life is really tough.

Paul lays this out for the Galatian Church.

They are to bear each other up.

Galatians 6:1-2

1Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness ; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. 2Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ

The context is one that is caught in sin and is restored to the Church- Paul talks about the importance of bearing one another.

This is the Law of Christ – what does Paul mean.

Christ was all about – His mission was about seeking and saving the lost.

Jesus existed for the purpose of others – He was all about us and others.

We as bearers of Christ’s name – Christians – baptized into his name are to do the same.

We are about the needs of others.

If that comes first then conflict in the Church and in our lives will be taken care of.

We will in some way walk through life all about others and not just about ourselves.

But when you do this you will be hurt.

Life will not be easy – when you put yourself out to help others and care about others you will be hurt by this world.

Bottom Line – Our love that we have for each other is the sign to the world.

What if I told you that I could tell you for sure one thing that would make God happy with all of us?

What if I could boil it down and say that if there is one message that Jesus thought was really important to the Church.

Many times we focus on the Great Commission as Jesus last commandments to us before he ascended into Heaven.

And I do think those are mighty important commands but one thing we neglect is the love commandment.

The love commandment was give during Jesus High Priestly prayer and last supper teachings to His disciples.

John 13: 34-35

34"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.35"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

How we love each other is going to be a sign to the entire world if Christ is present among us.

Our mandate – our command is to love each other – that will be the sign to the world that God’s love is present in us.

As God’s Church the world must see love that is beyond comprehension.

That is God’s desire for us is to love one another because he first loved us.