Recording Engineer: Todd Peden

Recording Engineer: Todd Peden

Recording Engineer: Todd Peden

Recording Engineer: Todd Peden

Recording Engineers: Gary Kramer & Todd Peden

Recording Engineer: Todd Peden

Recording Engineer: Todd Peden

Recording Engineer: Todd Peden

§  “How to be religious and still be a Christian.”

§  And maybe you’re here saying “what do you mean? I thought being a Christian and going to church means you are more religious?”

§  Today, I’m going to try to explain what I mean by that—and better yet, I hope that God will explain what He means to through His own words.

o   From a very young age, we’ve all been taught that there are two subjects that we should stay away from if we want to make friends: politics and religion.

§  Part of the reason is because they are such charged topics. People get passionate about them.

§  I also believe that these topics kind of get right to the heart of our existence.

• Politics—the workings of the temporal world around us… it affects our jobs, our money, our homes, our retirement, our safety—everything that has to do with physical life on this earth.
• Religion—the eternal. Where did we come from? Where do we go when we die? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people? It’s the deeper workings of the soul.
• So those two topics really hit the heart of both temporal and eternal. They shape who we are in many ways. They become our identity.

o   Are you blue, red, Christian, Muslim, a moderate, an atheist? Maybe you’re undecided, or agnostic—in spiritual terms. Whatever you call yourself, that becomes part of your identity.

• And maybe it is a generational thing, but it seems as though nowadays those two subjects are no longer taboo. In fact, sometimes it seems like that is all anyone ever talks about anymore!  

o   And because it is talked about a lot, people tend to wear their labels far more openly. It’s easy to—it is even a line on your profile… religion…. And because of phenomena like Facebook and Twitter, it becomes more clear what people really believe because their actions speak much louder than their words.

o   To be “religious” means that a person is devout in their beliefs. And they show that devotion in what they do.

§  You talk to someone and they say “I believe in God, but I’m not religious”

§  What that means is—I believe in God, but I don’t really participate in much action relating to it.

o   To be religious means that the belief changes the things you do. the way you act.

o   True beliefs are carried out in actions.

§  For instance, if I know, or believe, that 2 is more than one, given the choice I’ll take 200 dollars over 100 dollars.

§  If I believe I am in danger, standing here, I’ll move here. If I don’t believe that, I’ll stay put.

§  So, If you believe that Jesus is who He says He is—the Savior of the world who came to give His life and be separated from His Father so if by faith, you trust in His work you wouldn’t be separated from God, it will change what you do.

§  If you believe that He left us with a mission and He calls us as followers to pour our lives out to share Jesus with the world, it will change how you live.

o   Or it should.

§  But in many ways, those that have been known as religious Christians—us--have not been living out religion as God designed it.

§  And because of that, the vast majority of people see Christians as hypocritical… people who can talk a good game and know some information about the Bible—but not as people who live out what it says.

§  And because we all know it has been done badly in the past, many of us have resorted to telling people—what I have isn’t religion… it’s a relationship.

§  Religion has become a bad word to Christians… but it is not a bad word to God. In fact, God calls us to be religious—to live out the things we claim to believe.

§  Because whether you like it or not, to a world who doesn’t know Jesus, you are religious.

§  That’s exactly why the title is How to be Religious & still be a Christian.—because God calls us to be both.

o   So, today, we turn to James to see what God wants… what kind of religion does God desire for us to have? We’ll start in James Chapter 1, verse 22.

-        ²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

o   So, James starts with a command. Don’t just listen to the Word. Do what it says…  

§  He doesn’t say “God prefers it if you do more than listen to a sermon or read the Bible.”

§  He says as Christians, we should be listeners… but also be doers.

§  And if we are listeners—even the best listeners--but not doers, James basically says to us…don’t kid yourselves.

§  James starts off this passage saying “take an honest look at yourself and if you’re coming to church, doing your devotional, in Bible study, and not doing what the Bible says, don’t think you’re living the Christian life.”

o   If you do believe that, you are deceived—by your own self.

-        There’s a whole lot of self-deception that goes on in the world. People who don’t see themselves honestly.

o   One of the places in culture where it is pretty obvious to me is American Idol.

§  And while a lot of people like watching the audition weeks on American Idol, to me, it is one of the saddest things you’ll ever see.

o   Because here’s what happens…

§  Little Jimmy likes to sing.

§  Little Jimmy’s mom is tone deaf.

• Or worse yet, little’ Jimmy’s mom knows he can’t sing, but thinks it is important to build up little jimmy’s self-esteem. So she tells him he’s good.

§  Little Jimmy grows up singing in the shower, singing little tunes here and there… and little Jimmy thinks he is the next American Idol.

§  He makes it through the preliminary rounds and finally shows up to be on national TV thinking he has a shot—when the rest of the world knows that little jimmy sings like a dying cat—and they just want to laugh while the cat dies.

§  But while they are laughing, little jimmy finally faces the reality that he has spent years believing a lie.

§  No one sat him down and said… Jimmy… I see you’re passionate, but “here’s the thing…” you stink. You shouldn’t be singing—even in the shower. Ever. It would have saved him the embarrassment in front of the world.

o   James starts out this passage saying “I love you guys enough to tell you. Don’t fool yourselves. If you aren’t living this out—if it is just something you understand and just an ideal that makes you feel like you’re living out God’s will because you believe it, you’re lying to yourself—I’ll save you the embarrassment in front of the world, and ultimately in front of God.

-        Jesus, in Matthew 7 right after the sermon on the mount says something similar:

-        ²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

o   Don’t just be a hearer—be a doer. Jesus says you’ll fall with a great crash for the world to see. Hear the words, yes… but put them into practice.

o   Preaching, teaching, studying, reading, meditating on God’s Word is essential.

o   How will you know what to do if you don’t first hear it from God? In fact, in verse 19, James says you must be quick to listen. You must listen... but also do.

o   We can know the Bible inside and out and still be the foolish man in Jesus’ story who doesn’t put it into practice.

§  The Bible isn’t meant to be just the guiding words of God—it is the transforming Word of God. The intention is that it would lead to change.

§  For it NOT to lead to change is absurd. James shares some of that absurdity in vs. 23-24

²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

-        James gives us this silly illustration of a man looking into a mirror and seeing himself, but then walking away and forgetting what he looks like.

-        If you’re like me, sometimes you want to forget what you look like—but that’s not what he is talking about.

o   I love this illustration, because this is honestly what reading the Bible is like.

§  To me, reading the Bible is like looking into a mirror. Here’s why.

o   Someone could argue with me, but I believe that there are two main personalities in the Bible

§  I’ll list them in order of appearance, and in order of prominence

§  The first is obvious—it is the author of the book—God.

• Genesis 1 starts… in the beginning… GOD.
• Before anything else, there was GOD.
• He is on every page, in every Chapter, behind every message, moving through all of history.

§  But I believe that the second main person in the Bible is introduced in the first chapter as well. Genesis 1:26…

• God says:

o   Let US make MAN in our image.

§  So, God makes man in His image.

o   And from then on, man also appears in every chapter in the Bible…all 66 books—God creates man in His image, Man rejects God, distorting that image. God loves His now ugly creation enough to come down in the image of a man. God rescues His ugly, undeserving children, God purchases that creation through the blood of Jesus, and then begins the work of restoring man to the image He initially intentioned.

§  So, when we read the Bible, it is like looking in a mirror. We see man… but we also see God—on every page.

• Reading the Bible is like a mirror that shows us who we really are—and shows us who God really is. And God’s desire is that you and I, when we look into the mirror of the Bible would not only see ourselves—and would not only see God—but that we would see God in us… and that we would be transformed into the image of God once again.

o   2 Cor 3:18

o   ¹⁸ And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

-        If we do not live our lives as doers—as people whose very identity—our actions are being changed… transformed… we walk away from the Bible… from a sermon… from the Word of God and forget what we look like. What we are supposed to look like…

o   And when we forget what we look like—what God has rescued us from… where we deserve to be… we no longer follow Jesus—we follow our own prideful self-deception.

-        In 2 Peter, Peter says this about someone who doesn’t engage in the practices of living out life as a follower of Jesus…

o   For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

o   We are called to have a knowledge, yes… but if you aren’t engaging with Scripture… being transformed—not just hearing, but doing… your knowledge is unproductive and ineffective.. and you forget where you came from.

-       
²⁵ But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

§  But if we look intently into it… if we look deep into God’s Word… and then continue in it--DOING IT… if we Don’t kid ourselves… then we will walk with God and as we DO… as we ACT… we will find blessing.

o   Whether you like the word or not, this world sees you as “religious” if you call yourself a Christian. What do our religious actions say about the faith we have?

-         

-         ²⁶ Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.

-         

-        - James gives us a couple of gauges… some things that should accurately reflect externally what we believe internally. Christ-like-ness starts internally. Religion is external.

- The church has spent years rejecting the word religion… they have focused on the internal of Christ-like-ness. In the process, many of us in the church have all but abandoned the practice of religion—the external.

- maybe… possibly… the reason why the world sees the church as hypocritical is because while the church has screamed about its internal beliefs, our external religion has become extinct. Let me repeat that… because I need to hear it again.

One of the most obvious things people will see externally is the way we talk. Because as people, we talk a lot. t’s clear from Scripture that it’s important—the things we say.

Jesus says in Luke 6
⁴⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  

One way people will know our internal Christ-like-ness through our external religion is by the things we say. Do I care if you curse around me? Not really… but you have to know that it says something about you to people you talk to. If when we speak, it is full of gossip, or envy, or moaning and groaning… it all says something about what is inside of us. When we talk about sharing our faith, it doesn’t start at religion… it doesn’t start at the external—it should flow out of what we are full of internally. —if we want people to see Christ inside of us, it has to flow out of us in what we say.

James then follows that up with this biggie.

-        ²⁷ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

-        God calls us to be religious people—but He defines it like this:

o   To look after those who are orphaned… and those who are widowed.

o   You want to see the heart of a father?

§  The same Father who sought after us—spiritual orphans  without a home or family—he calls us to look after those who are physically orphaned, as a picture of His heart.

§  When God lays out to us how to live faith out externally, he tells us this is how—care for those widows who have lost the one that they love—just as God lost those who He loved, and yet cared for them more than we can ever know.

o   If we want to show the world who God is and show them what transformation looks like, this is how.

-        Reading the Bible… serving… joining in community… giving of our finances for God’s work… sharing the Gospel with those who need to hear it—are all important… but God calls us to some things in ways that I don’t believe the Church has stepped up to as a whole..

-        In fact, Jesus talks about just that in Matthew 23:

-        ²³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

o   We shouldn’t stop practicing our faith in obedience… but we also can’t neglect the call of God for the church to reflect his justice, his mercy, and his faithfulness.    

-        If anyone should be angered by injustice, it should be the church. If anyone is stepping up to adopt a child, it should be the church. If anyone is becoming a foster family, it should be the church. If anyone is stopping by the widows home, it should be the church. If not the Church—then who?

-        Who should practice pure and faultless religion in not the church?

o   What hit me is that in many ways, people who hate God are practicing the religion God calls me to better than I am.

-        If we take this seriously, things will change among us.

-        If we act on the call of God to pure religion, people will see Jesus.

-        If we as a people respond, north jersey will look different.

o   There’s a church in Michigan that read through this passage and was rocked by it. They’re a large church, and they recognized they could actually make a change in the world they live in for the glory of God.

o   The church called up the city in Michigan and said to them “hey… you know that foster system you have? We’ll take care of that. We’ve got that covered.”

o   There is now no longer a foster care system in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, because the church began to live out their faith in a way they were called to.

§  I’m not saying we should take over the foster care system.

§  What I am saying is that there are some of us in this room today who know we are fully capable of living this kind of faith out. Living out religion that God desires the world to see.

o   Maybe you’re a couple and you have said “if we can’t have children of our own, we’ll adopt as plan b.” I’m here saying that as Christians, for some of us, adoption is plan A. For some of us, becoming a foster home is an act of worship we shouldn’t pass up. Inviting the widow down the street to join you for dinner is not just a nice thing to do, but an absolute compulsion by God.

o   And when God calls us and we’re open to it, He does some crazy things..

-        A few years ago, a woman at Emergence heard that there was a facility minutes from here filled with a vast majority of kids who through abnormalities, neglect, or abuse are now wards of the state and living most of their lives in a nursing center.

o   She decided to go and check it out… and in the process, invited a number of people from Emergence to join in with her—to love on these kids—most of whom are orphaned with little hope of adoption because of their conditions.

o   A group started going and building relationships—with the children… with the staff… and some amazing things started to happen.

o   One of those things is that she fell in love with this little girl who we first met when she was just months old and had just come to the center.

o   This little girl was born from a mother addicted to crack. And though there were obvious physical and possibly mental issues, was one of the most beautiful girls you’d ever meet.

o   Here’s a grandmother from Emergence falling in love with God’s little creation who is as helpless as helpless can be—and without a home.

§  I know this woman is a grandma because she happens to be the grandmother of my kids—and so I’ve had a front row seat as all of this happened.

o   My mother in law begins saying weird things… talking crazy talk like “this girl can’t stay in a facility… I need to take her home.”

o   Things like “I wonder how Ed (my father in law) would feel about us becoming foster parents.”

o   Any of you who know my father in law know the chances of that happening are below next to nothing—except, of course, if Jesus is at work.

o   They began the foster home process, and Christmas week brought that little girl, who is now 2, to a place she can call home—and to a family who loves her.

-        We may not be able to handle the entire foster care system in our area… but, who knows? Maybe we can make a dent.

o   In fact, the church could all but eliminate foster care in America if one family in every four churches in the U.S. would adopt one child. But the need is global.

-        I know of numerous families here in at emergence who have opened their homes. It IS happening… but I’d venture to say that it could happen more.

-        When the Gospel is lived out… when religion looks the way God wants it to, it changes things—in our heart, in our actions, and in the world around us.
- The world around us will know us by our religion. Yes--It must come from a place of Gospel change—it must be rooted in the saving work of Christ… but I pray we won’t be a people who reject the call of that same Jesus to be doers. To be His body… working… serving… sacrificing… loving… ACTING… on the faith we claim to have.

Recording engineer: Todd Peden

Recording Engineer: Todd Peden

Engineer: Todd Peden

o   We’ve been asking the question, “in the world we live in today, what are the idols that we are tempted to worship?”

o   As people, we have been created to worship. At every moment, we are worshiping someone or something. We can’t help it.

§  What that means is every single second, we are living to please something or someone… we are, with our lives, ascribing value to something.

§  We were designed to worship, because the designer made us to worship Him.

§  God created us to love Him, to serve Him, to desire to please Him. And that is the way life was until sin entered the world after the very first decision was made to please self—when Adam and Eve chose to eat of the fruit in the garden, their god was no longer the one who made them. The god they worshiped became themselves.

§  When you and I make any decision big or small to serve ourselves… or to ascribe value to ourselves or anything else, we become worshipers of those things.

o   And we’ve looked at some of those idols.

§  We’ve talked about love and sex, money, success and power.

§  Today we’re going to talk about an idol that hits pretty close to home for me.

§  And though I have been striving to walk with Jesus for 16 years now, if I’m completely honest, as I was in my office this morning preparing, this idol was screaming for me to bow down and worship it.

§  Over the course of this day, and any Sunday, between 800-900 people will gather in this room. This is an exciting place. It’s growing, great things are happening, but you can’t help but feel each week as you come up on this squeaky old platform that so much depends on how well you do.

• It can even start to get into your prayers

o   God, help me to not screw this up

o   Lord, these people need to know you… please let me do well today.

o   God, they come here expecting it to be good… don’t let me let them down.

o   If I don’t do good, they won’t come back.

o   What if I’m not funny enough…? What if I cry again? The dudes in here are going to hate me if I cry again!

§  It’s pretty easy to go there. It’s pretty easy to become obsessed with what other people think about you. It’s pretty easy to make life about getting it right so others will think you’re pretty great.

o   Here’s the problem with that…

§  Whatever God we bow down to—that is the place we get our worth.

§  If I bow down to the god of money, then my net worth becomes my true worth

• When your bank account is low, so is your value

§  If I bow down to the god of success, my position and my victories become my worth

• When you lose your job or fail on that project, you’ve failed at life

§  If I bow to the god of love or sex, my relationships and my good looks become my worth.

• As we get old, we get ugly… as we’re in real, deep relationships, romantic love comes and goes. When it goes, we feel like our value goes as well… and people “fall out of love”

§  If we bow down to the god of people-pleasing, how other people view us… if they like us… if they’re impressed by us, defines our worth

• So when we make a decision someone doesn’t like, or when we upset someone, or when we are far less impressive than we think we should be, we become worthless.

-        Here is the reality. It is IMPOSSIBLE to please everyone in your life. But it IS POSSIBLE to please God.

o   The more we try to please everyone, inevitably, the less we please God.

o   Because the truth is, you were not designed to please other people.

o   And what pleases man by its very nature does not please God.

o   Luke 16:15

§  ¹⁵He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.

-        As we please man more, we please God less.

-        We just went through the book of Acts in our last series…

o   Much of it was centered around the Apostle Paul, as he traveled from place to place with the bold message that only Jesus Christ saves.

§  One place that Paul went with this message was to Galatia

• And people in Galatia were confused. Much like today, people didn’t know how to be right with God.

o   Some people were saying that to be right with God, you had to be circumcised like the Jews were as a symbol of their faith.

o   Others said you had to simply trust in Jesus.

o   Others said you had to do both.

o   Some said you had to do neither.

• So, Paul comes in to straighten out the mess

o   He comes in with the bold message of the Gospel.

o   As soon as he started preaching, he realized there is a big group of people who had a problem with what he was saying

§  Overnight, his approval rating plummeted.

§  Because he had an unpopular message, he was losing some of his audience.

o   He realized—if I don’t change what I’m doing, these people are going to hate me.

§  So, he changed his message for one group of people… softened it a little bit for another group… and did what he could to please everyone.

• That’s not how it happened.
• In our world, that story makes a lot of sense…

o   We’re in an election year, and this is what typically happens.

§  Someone has some radical ideas, and rather than sticking to those ideas and being honest about what they believe, they do what… they come to the center. And their poll numbers go up.

o   Paul wasn’t concerned about the poll numbers.

o   In fact, in Chapter 1 of Galatians, Paul fills us in on how he feels about winning a popularity contest:

 ⁶I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! ⁹As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

 Not only does Paul refuse to step back from the message he is preaching, but he says if you hear another version of this Gospel, it isn’t the Gospel at all! And frankly, I’m amazed that you’re deserting Jesus so easily and so quickly.

-        Then he offers up a question that I think we need to be absolutely honest about with ourselves today…

-        ¹⁰Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

o   So, how are we doing with that?

-        Even as I ask that, I realize that we can deceive ourselves. Is our answer to that question based on what is honest and true about ourselves, or are we even afraid to be honest with ourselves—because if we are, WE might even think less of ourselves.

o   For people who are people pleasers, that is one of the most painful things that can happen—because one of the roots is that deep inside, you think you’re a pretty good person, and you want to please others so they do, too.

o   And if you’re honest about your failings, how will everyone else view you?

o   We even do this with God.

§  In her book No Other Gods, Kelly Minter talks about the fact that many times, we aren’t even honest to God in our prayers.

§  When we pray, if we pray, we share with God the things that we think we should share—not the things that are just honest about who we are.

§  The kind of worship God asks for is honesty. Biblically, we’re instructed to worship God in Spirit and Truth. If we’re managing our image, even with God who knows all, we’re not really walking in truth.

-        So, we have to start at a willingness to be honest…
- and some people will be honest and say… yes, I do that, but I’m just kind of a needy person.

-        people-pleasing is not primarily a personality issue. It is a Gospel issue.

§  The fact is that all of us are needy people.

§  Our needs are met in different places.

• If your needs are not met in the person of Jesus Christ, and are met in other places… it isn’t a personality issue—it is a Gospel issue.
• And it affects so much of your walk with God.
• As Paul said… you can’t truly be a servant of Christ if you’re living to please men!
• We see an example of this in the book of John.

-        In the book of John, Chapter 12, we see Jesus enter into Jerusalem to begin the last week of his earthly life

o   He is celebrated as he enters by all of the people who have heard of Him

o   He goes into Jerusalem and performs miracles, confirming His position as God, and confirming His message to save.

o   We get to the end of Chapter 12 and we see that there was a great divide between Jesus and the religious leaders, the Pharisees. They couldn’t stand His message, because it took power from them and glorified God instead of them. Jesus would go in and preach within earshot of the Pharisees—not exactly people-pleasing—and here’s what it says…

-         ⁴²Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; ⁴³for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

-        These people had trusted in Jesus, they were believers in Christ. But maybe even like some in this room, they were so concerned what others might think of them that they never went public.

-        Why? Because they loved praise from men, more than praise from God.

o   Idolatry, right?

o   Placing the view of man higher than the view of God.

o   Jesus responded to those who would keep their faith secret.

 ⁴⁴Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. ⁴⁵When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. ⁴⁶I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

-        More than a personality issue, or being “needy”… people pleasing absolutely affects your walk with God. Instead of walking in the light of Christ, you choose to walk in darkness, and completely forsake the mission of Christ.

-        How can you make a difference for Christ if because of fear, no one even knows you follow Him?

-        When you fear man, you begin to make choices you wouldn’t make before…

o   You stay quiet when you know you should speak up.

o   You boast, sometimes falsely to make yourself bigger

o   You manage your image so people don’t think less of you

-        You act in ways that are contrary to what you know you should do.  

o   And so it was 7 years ago when I first came to the Chapel.

§  I need to tell you, if you have a problem with people pleasing, music ministry in a church is not the place to be.

§  Because everyone thinks they know how music in church should be!

§  I’d do a bunch of new songs… give us the old stuff

§  I’d do a bunch of old songs… give us the new stuff

§  I’d do a mix of both… you do way more contemporary songs than hymns

§  We’d turn it up… oh, it’s too loud!

§  We’d turn it down… the music used to have so much life!

o   So, as a 23 year old trying to make a great impression in a new church, I was a mess. No one liked it! As a result, I’d spend the bulk of Monday each week, and part of Tuesday in my office with the door shut, trying to feel better about myself.

§  And rather than seeking what God wanted to do with the hour of time we had corporately every week, I started thinking through what does Bob  or Jim or Sue want me to do.

§  I stopped looking to God to lead, and looked to others because I became fearful of man.

§  Kinda pathetic, huh? Yeah… it was.

§  Thankfully, God has changed my heart over the years, but I speak from experience in this… the only way we can be freed up to live a life of worship to God is to smash the idol of people-pleasing. 

§  Because if we don’t, we will follow other people and their wishes more than the desire of God for our lives, and for the church.

o   This very issue holds tons of churches back from what God can do through them.

• Entire churches who are run by one or two families that have a bog voice and a big wallet. The church is held back because they might offend those people.
• Whole churches that feel they need to entertain people rather than preach the Gospel. Entire movements of churches devoted to diminishing the controversial, narrow message that only Jesus saves.
• They feel like if they can wow you with the show, you might stay to hear the real point.

o   1 Thess 2.

§  ³For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. ⁴On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.

• It also happens in personal choices

o   Engaged people… know it isn’t healthy

o   What will people think?

• Person in an affair…

o   Need to come clean… what will people think?

• Drug addiction… alcoholism… pornography

o   I know I need help… what will people think?

-        People pleasing is an addiction… it is a trap.

o   and that is exactly what God tells us people pleasing or the fear of man is…

o   Proverbs 29 talks about this

§   ²⁵ Fear of man will prove to be a snare,
       but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.

-        That word snare is a Hebrew word “mokeshe”… that very literally means a noose or an animal trap… it also means a hook in the nose.

o   And that’s what fear of man or people pleasing is!

§  It works like this…

• Hey would you do this for me… sure… you’re dragged over here.
• I’m going to stand my ground on this… oh, what does she think? Oh ok…
• Will you compromise your values… yeah
• Will you buy that to be cool?

§  And you’re dragged around by other people—you make choices for them—because you have placed them in a spot they were never designed to be.

-        So, as we’ve done throughout this series, I want to lay out a few dashboard lights about people pleasing.

o   Little things to help you gauge whether or not the idol of people pleasing is a problem for you. Whether you have fallen into the trap.

§  Here’s the first

• People pleasers tend to take criticism too personally.

o   Any of you guys struggle with this?

o   Here is the truth… worship is a very personal thing. When you begin to take everything personally, it exposes that this is a worship issue.

o   Here’s how it fleshes out.

o   If today, you stood before God and you saw He was displeased with you, it would crush you, right?

o   When other people become our objects of worship, they stand in substitution of God. When they are disappointed, we are crushed—and we take it personally.

§  The second is related

• People-pleasers have an extraordinary fear of rejection

o   Please don’t reject me… I’ll do whatever it takes for you to accept me.

o   Anyone struggle with this one?

o   As Christians, hear me out—you are supposed to be rejected. If you are not rejected for the way you live your life, for your values and ideals, there is a strong chance that one of two things are happening…

§  You may not be living out your faith as the central part of your life—so there is no contrast between you and anyone else

§  Or you have created a world of no resistance around you. You’re at church as often as you can be, you are with church people exclusively, and you’ve created a world where no one would be offended by your faith.

§  The third is this:

• People-pleasers find it hard to express their true feelings.

o   I’d like to tell you what I think, but I’m afraid I might hurt your feelings, or you may not like me.

o   How many of you struggle with this one?

§  See, and I can’t buy that, because a lot of you would answer yes, but you’re afraid to express your feelings.

§  Finally,

• People-pleasers have a hard time saying no.

o   Because you don’t want to let people down.

o   What will they think of me if I don’t agree to do that?

o   If you are a people pleaser, you have to understand this—here is the issue.

§  People are too big in your life, and God is too small.

§  Hear me… people are too big, and God is too small.

o   You say… yeah, but he’s an amazing guy, and I’m just so in love.

§  Too big.

o   You say, but they’re my kids… of course, they are supposed to consume my thoughts and life

§  Too big

o   But you don’t understand—if I don’t please my boss, and do whatever he says, even though I know it is detrimental, I’ll lose my job.

§  Too big.

o   If you are being dragged around by the nose by any person in your life… they have taken the place of God, and you have redefined the hugeness of God.

-        And look… if you’re a people pleaser, you’re taking this too personally… and you’ll want to defend your god. But here is what I know to be true…

-        That is the definition of the fear of man. You’re afraid of what men and women think of you. You are afraid of men and women’s opinions. And you have a very high view of people, and a very low view of God.

-        Proverbs tells us if we trust in the Lord, if we hear from Him and value what He thinks of us, we will be in a safer place.

-        The most dangerous place to be in our world is in a place where people, as your God, define your worth. Where you give yourself over to their control…

-        That is why young people commit suicide over fearing that people will find out their secret.

-        It’s why girls starve themselves to look a certain way and get the attention.

-        It’s why husbands leave their wives when another women gives them more attention

And the only antidote to people pleasing is to make God bigger… to put people in their rightful place

Psalm 34:
 ⁹ Fear the LORD, you his saints,
       for those who fear him lack nothing.

Matthew 10
²⁸Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

- The amazing thing is that same God who has that kind of power did all He could to bring you to Him in forgiveness through Jesus. But that doesn’t diminish who He is… it should make Him even bigger.

- No one on this earth can save you. No one has that power. We give people power when we choose to place them where they don’t belong.

- If God has become small to you today… take a moment right now and be reminded of the hugeness of God. Maybe you have never made God big. Hear this…

GOSPEL

- How big are people now?

- Fear God… be concerned about what He thinks. Live to please Him. Be drawn to places by Him. As you do, He will fill that place that man once filled, and you’ll be free from the trap of people pleasing. And you can truly be a servant of Christ.

-        I pray that we’ll be a people who don’t give ourselves over to others, but that we’ll give ourselves fully to the person of Christ.

Emergence Sermon Focus:

How many of the 10 commandments can you remember? Why are the 10 commandments important? The 10 commandments were how the Israelites where governed. What govern the U.S.? What govern you? Which is the first commandment? Why is it first?

Ryan said: “All sin in some way or another when we trace it down to the roots that is an idol.” And “People don’t have sex problems, money problems, drug problems, or alcohol problems; people have idolatry problems”. Do you agree or disagree with those statements?  What are some examples that might prove that correct? Are there any exceptions? In your life, what kind of “problems” can you identify with?

What makes God, God?  What are His essential characteristics or descriptors? What makes a god a god?  What in your life has the potential to become god?  How do you avoid good things becoming ultimate things?

Why is it so hard to recognize the idols of the heart? (our hearts are so deceptive)

What is something, if it was removed from your life, your heart would ache? Could this be the sign of a hidden idol? Why or why not?  Is it a good thing that could become the ultimate?

Read 1 Peter 4:12-13 (NIV)  Why would anyone rejoice in their sufferings? What would be a gift of suffering? (is it can expose our idols)

What are some functional saviors?

Why do people turn towards functional saviors?

Here are the penetrating questions Ryan discussed in his sermon:

          What am I most afraid of?

          What do I long for most passionately?

          Where do I run for comfort?

          What do I complain about most? (you only complain about what you care most about)

          What angers you?

          What do you brag about?

          Who’s approval are you seeking?

When your idol or idols are exposed, will you to choose to love them more than Jesus? How can you increase your love for Jesus while learning to love your idol less? Anything practical this week?

What does it cost us when we love our idols more than we love Jesus?

(1. identity, 2. Function, 3. Position. 4. Joy) Which one of these would be the greatest loss in your life?  Which one can you live without (if any)?

Ryan hinted to the fact that you are the person you are because of what you worship. So what kind of person are you? What kind of person would you like to be? How do you make those changes in your life?

Why would false Gods have no problem sharing your affection?

What did Ryan mean when he said : Idolatry truly is a worship problem?

How can you better recognize Jesus as king of your life and Lord over your decisions?

What is the solution to idolatry? (is correctly focusing your worship)

For more info on LINK, click here.

A cameo appearance by Nate Dorka--just back from Uganda, Africa, and Ken Marechek--not back from anywhere exciting.

Recorded on location at Caffe Buono in Pompton Plains or Pequannock--we're not quite sure.

Enjoy!

For photos of their trip, click here!

Live recording from Emergence on February 7, 2010

Hope you Enjoy

 3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

 5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."

 8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

God's Covenant With Noah

 4 "But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.

 6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man,
       by man shall his blood be shed;
       for in the image of God
       has God made man.

 7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."

 8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

 12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

 17 So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

The Sons of Noah

The Flood

 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

 5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

 9 This is the account of Noah.
      Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. 16 Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."

 22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Genesis 7

 1 The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."

 5 And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

 13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

 17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. 21 Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

 24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

Genesis 8

 1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

 6 After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

 13 By the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it."

 18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on the earth—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
      "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

 10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."

 13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."

 15 But the LORD said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

 10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."

 11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

 12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."

 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
      The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,
       "Cursed are you above all the livestock
       and all the wild animals!
       You will crawl on your belly
       and you will eat dust
       all the days of your life.

 15 And I will put enmity
       between you and the woman,
       and between your offspring and hers;
       he will crush your head,
       and you will strike his heel."

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "

4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."

11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."